TABLE DISCUSSIONS

Participant Comments:

FR. ALEJANDRO LÓPEZCARDINALE: We talked about beyond the numbers and beyond the challenges of the population that we have. We also see the challenge of the ecclesiological difference of models that we see not only in the Hispanics first generation, but also born in the United States, third generation, and the Catholic Church in the States. This is something that also we need to be aware of: how we can work with the challenges of different ecclesiology, and, of course, that impact in the ministry and in the formation of the leaders that we need to prepare?

DR. LISA URIBE: One thing that struck all of us is youth and keeping them engaged and growing leadership within the youth themselves. One thing that inspired us was talking about how we can support the continuing education of our youth, and higher education, and then leadership within the parishes and parish activity, as well as claiming commitments to social issues and engaging our youth that way. I have a 21-year-old daughter and I see that with our young people, there is really that commitment to social causes, and I think it is an energy and a direction that we can work towards.

“Of the major challenges facing Hispanic ministry and leadership in our Church, which one or ones most resonated with you? Which one is the most important challenge to you?”

“What major opportunity for Hispanic ministry and leadership in our Church most inspired you or touched your imagination?” should not forget that the Catholic Church in the U.S. is already Hispanic, and there are people who are working very hard in leadership, people from the ground up working very hard in leadership in those communities now, who do not have the benefit of formation and education to do that well, as they would like to. We need to remember to balance the need for the long-term vision for providing education with the immediate vision of the need for formation for our ministers who are in action today.

DR. CARMEN CERVANTES: Speaking a little bit further on what Fr. Alejandro said about the different ecclesiology, the different pastoral approaches in youth ministry and Pastoral Juvenil are really a big challenge. I suggest that we should hyphenate Youth Ministry-Pastoral Juvenil.

FR. WAYNE CAVALIER: It is really wonderful to see the greater increased advocacy for education for the Hispanic community. As we are doing that, we

One thing that happens is that Pastoral Juvenil has a different pastoral model that comes out from our culture and that really serves Hispanic youth and young adults. However, because youth ministry ends at 17, and does not continue into the young adult years, and Hispanic Pastoral Juvenil continues and accompanies the young person until they marry, so we go from the 13, 14, 16, 18 until 20, 21, 24, and that is really a beauty of our pastoral model because when you receive Confirmation, you enter into a greater commitment in ministry. It is not that you leave the Church!

However, I have never seen one bulletin in one parish that mentions Pastoral Juvenil as a ministry. It is a ghost in the country. We have many people doing Pastoral Juvenil—itis not recognized officially by the Church. The National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry has begun to move into that direction. The USCCB is studying now the possibility of uniting the youth ministry with the young adult ministry. I arrived in this country in ’79. At that time, in the Diocese of Stockton, there were parishes that have groups of Pastoral Juvenil. It is 30-something years later. Those parishes still have that ministry.

If the Hispanic offices in the dioceses do not recognize them, the youth ministry office will never recognize them because they are not youth ministry. At Fe y Vida, we cannot send one paper to one parish because there is no official ministry for

Hispanic youth and young adults in any parishes in the United States. So we have to go out and network, one person after another and after another, rely on the personal. There is no structure in the Church to minister to this population.

MR. GEOFFREY BOISI: We were talking about focus on education and what some of the issues were. To my ear, I was hearing this notion of the challenges between those who feel like assimilation is important versus integration, and I was curious to maybe learn from the group, what are examples of programs or initiatives that have occurred that have been successful in crossing that divide? That is one part of the question. And the second one is the cost of the parochial school education, and that obviously is an issue within the community. So of the models that are currently out there, what are the most cost-effective? The reason why the Italians and the Irish and the Polish and others were able to do it is a little bit of the demographics issue, that we had the nuns who basically had education as part of their charism, and therefore the cost of initial parochial school elementary education was aided by that. We now don’t have that advantage here, but still families are willing to pay a certain amount of their resources for the education of their kids. So what models have you all seen that you feel have actually worked?

DR. ARTURO CHÁVEZ: That is why we are here also, and the focus of some of the panels will be to highlight some of those very promising models. Certainly the assimilation model will only lessen, I think, the hope we have of our young people continuing to have a vibrant Catholic faith. So assimilation may seem to meet the desire for unity, but the Church’s teachings have consistently called us to integration rather than assimilation. In other words, I can retain my culture and my language and be part of something greater. So models of preserving and respecting the culture are the ones that are most successful with Latinos. The innovative models and initiatives of Catholic Church Extension Society serve as a wonderful model for us. We will be hearing at lunch from some of those initiatives.