Thesis research DMIN 2013 final version by Dessordi Leite

ONE TAPESTRY MANY THREADS Issues of Latino Ministries in The Episcopal Church in the United States

A thesis by Dess贸rdi Peres Leite

presented to the Faculty of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry Berkeley, California May 2013

Committee Signatures Dr. John L. Kater, Advisor

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Dr. Susanna Singer, Member

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Dr. Alicia Vargas, Member

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TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………. ii INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………..….….. 1 Chapter ONE DIVERSITY AND UNITY A CALL FROM THE SCRIPTURES….…..…...…7 Three Gospels: Matthew, Mark, John.……………………...……7 Lukan Perspective: the Gospel and Acts of the Apostles…….15 TWO THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE .………………………………….….…20 Many voices, One accord.……………………....……………..…21 THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND CURRENTS ……………………27 The Epoche……………….……………………………………..…28 Description of the Process for Interviews …….….…………..…29

FOUR FIVE KEYS ……………..………………………………………………………….…43 Latino Identity: Who are Latino?…….……....…….……..…..……44 Church and Culture shall kiss.…….………………….……..……49 What did you say? Language and Inculturation………….…….52 Where you from? Insiders and Outsiders of the U.S. society...56 The Awakening of the Eagle: Power Matters….…..…………...59

FIVE VISIONING THE DOCUMENTARY PROJECT ………………………….…65 CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………..……......71 APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………………..74 BIBLIOGRAPHY..……………………..…………………………….………………….83

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To my family who taught me living in a welcoming house To Dan, Julia and Bishop Marc who supported and trusted me To my amigo and advisor John Kater, who is truly committed to make God’s tapestry beautiful bringing together threads from all around the world To Anthony Guillen, who didn’t let me walk alone through this project To the Episcopal Church Foundation who made my research financially possible And finally, I dedicate this doctoral project to those who live in hope of a renewed church, where the differences are seen as gifts to enrich the communities

“There is a constant spinning just under my shallow breath. My heart follows this rhythmic movement, and I become one with the weaving colors. Kneeling brings me closer to these yarns that languish on the ground. I lovingly choose a new thread and think of who will wear my warm clothes. Vision becomes blurred as I take up my needle, and cradle what the colors create.” Navajo Weaver by Cristina M.R. Norcross “A single thread in a tapestry though its color brightly shines can never see its purpose in the pattern of the grand design and the stone that sits up on the very top of the mountain's mighty face does it think that it's more important than the stones that forms the base So how can you see what your life is worth or where your value lies you can never see through the eyes of man you must look at your life look at your life through heaven's eyes” Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz

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Introduction

God of welcome God whose door is always open Congregation - we are glad to meet you here! Opening sentence for worship in the Iona Community1

My hometown is on the border of Brazil and Uruguay. It is a place of diversity of language and cultural traditions. I grew up in a house in South Brazil where the doors didn’t have locks. No keys were needed because everybody was welcome. It was only after I turned 18 years old that we got a set of keys to the outside doors. My parents were adopted by their relatives and after their marriage they kept the welcoming characteristic in our family. The house was always busy with people from other branches of the family and with friends. I had Caucasian blueeyed uncles and cousins as well as an Afro-Brazilian uncle and nephews. Skin color was never an issue in our family. And a large number of Brazilians are just like that, proud of the miscegenation of our people.

Kathy Galloway, ed., The Pattern of Our Days: Worship in the Celtic tradition from the Iona

From the middle of the twentieth century, social ideas of “racial democracy” were imposed on our country. At the opening of the First AfroBrazilian Congress in 1950, Abdias Nascimento pointed out that, We found that the great mixing practiced as an imperative of our historical background since the early colonization of Brazil is turning for inspiration and imposition to the latest achievements in biology, anthropology, and sociology; ,it is a well-defined doctrine of racial democracy which will serve as a lesson and a model for training other ethnic peoples with the same complexity as is found our case.2

Brazil is only one of the Latin American countries but it is the only country in Latin America with the Portuguese language. Colonized by many other nations and mixed with the native nations, the country is a rich tapestry woven with diverse beautiful colorful threads. Language, cultural values, welcoming and family are Latin American realities that are very deeply rooted in our society. Today I live in the United States and like many other Latinos and Latinas going through life, I am trying to accommodate my past, traditions, and customs to the multicultural nature of this country.

The Object of Study and Context This work is a descriptive and analytic study of the issues related to the dialectic relations between the Latino population and the Episcopal Church in the United States; a visioning to provide instruments to improve the dialogue and help in promoting Latino ministries in the church. 2

Antonio Sérgio Alfredo Guimarães. Classes, Raças e Democracia. (São Paulo: Editora 34, 2002), 138. (Quote translated by author.)

Many times the Episcopal Church is challenged to embrace the complexity of different ministries and their constants. The Latino population can also be part of this process if the majority of the church allows them to do so. But how can the church engage the different groups without changing its primary identity? What practices need to be observed to articulate the relations between different ethnic groups and as a result strengthen and enrich the Episcopal Church in its diversity of gifts? How will the Episcopal Church embrace, nurture and sustain the ministry addressed to Latin American immigrants and their descendants in this country? In Chapter One I explore the issue of diversity in the early Christian movement. The Church is always called to be a prophetic voice in the world. But sometimes we forget that members of the church also are the ones who live and interact in society and the world. Many times established dominant societies in different parts of the world will be indifferent or insensitive to oppressed minorities. That is a pattern which often transcends time and space. Culture and traditions have a particular place in this discussion. Jesus began a movement that would question the rules of his society and time. Challenging his followers’ traditions he opened the door for new hope: “The Kingdom of God has come near”.3 The response to the Good News is explicit in the Early Church transformed by the power of the Spirit in the event of Pentecost.4 The diversity of languages and backgrounds transforms Jesus’s movement into what today we know as the Church. The conversion of the gentiles in the New Testament shows 3 4

Matthew 4:17 (NRSV). Acts 2 (NRSV)

the conviction that all people “will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus”.5 Universality is a principle for Christianity in the first century.

The aim of Chapter Two is to address the fact that Latino ministries have been suffering from the lack of clear identity and the misunderstandings of multiculturalism in ecclesial communities. Maybe the tools to overcome these challenges and conflicts can be answered through Anglican theological concepts like the ones present in the “Anglican Ethos”. In fact the Anglican Communion has principles that call us to unity in diversity, to preserve and reclaim the distinctiveness of each culture without losing the Christian dimension, as well as a wider understanding of the mission of the Church and as a result more inclusive theological approaches.

For the most part, the field research project makes use of a phenomenological methodology. The phenomenological method described in Chapter Three is focused on understanding the essence of the experience of Latino and Latinas in the Episcopal Church and analyzes that experience from different perspectives. In this case I use biblical, theological and phenomenological points of view to build the project: •

Interviewing and filming people who are immigrants from Latin America, Latin American descendants and people who work with Latino Ministries.

Acts 15:11 (NRSV).

•

Data Analyses: Identifying relevant elements for dialogue between the U.S. culture and Latin-American descendants living here, based on the interview data.

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Textual material: referring to books and periodicals that provide a theological understanding of the Anglican Ethos as well as material related to the history, culture, religiosity and social presence of the Latino population in the United States, immigrants or descendants.

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Data from major organizations: In this case there are two major resources, the United States Census Bureau Homepage and the Anglican Communion website. Other websites are also cited, including the Episcopal Church website and the Mission Insite website.

Chapter Four presents five elements emerging from the data that are important to engage in a dialogue with Latinos and Latinas who are in the Episcopal Church. I am calling these The Five Keys that will open doors to a multicultural relationship based in kindness and love of neighbor. These are drawn from my research interviews, magazine articles, media, news and governmental organizations which have addressed the issues of Latino presence in the United States. The title of the subchapters reveals the keys and their intentionality. They are: * Latino Identity: Who are Latinos/Latinas? * Church and Culture shall kiss

* What did you say? Language and Inculturation * Where are you from? Insiders and Outsiders in the society of the United States * The Awakening of the Eagle: Power Matters

Chapter Five is built upon Chapters Three and Four. In my opinion there is nothing more powerful to connect people than the experience of sharing stories. Ignorance about the other as the ‘stranger who enters my world’ can be deconstructed by getting in touch with the other person's world. This is the first step for a fair dialogue between those who have very particular positions. Because the intention of this project is to create a video series to be used in local communities, Chapter Five provides a taste of what the video documentary includes. Issues that affect all of us in the Church are presented by different people, which will lead the local communities to discuss the challenge of becoming a multicultural house, doing mission in context and welcoming all peoples and their traditions to enrich the body of the Christian community. Having presented the overall content and structure of this document I turn my attention to a final discussion of the concepts one might use in building more welcoming ways to embrace the Latinos in the Episcopal Church.

Chapter One “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” Luke 1:46-55 “God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are” 1 Co 1:28

Christians are called to share the good news of Jesus Christ with people “of all nations”.6 The New Testament has stories that provoke us to understand the universality of the call of the church. The movement that started with Jesus and later was called by Saint Luke the Way7 only became Ecclesia8 when the event of Pentecost in Acts 2 introduced a diversity of language and cultures. The story of Pentecost also shows that Jesus didn’t come for a particular group but rather breaks down the walls of Judaism. The Gospel challenged the church to be a community of beyond: beyond Jerusalem, beyond Israel, beyond Judaism’s rules and Jewish society.

Three Gospels: Matthew, Mark and John As the Gospels are writings from a particular geographical area and in a specific historical moment, they have limitations of time and space. The Christianity that spread around the globe is also historico-culturally conditioned. That means we always read the Gospels from our own particular perspective. 6

Matthew 28:19 (NSRV). Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:22 (NRSV). 8 Greek word ἐκκλησία which means assembly or church. 7

This can be considered a limitation but is an invitation to a liberating theological enterprise and also gives us a taste of the Kingdom of God. Galilean Journey, a book written by Virgilio Elizondo reminds us, “If the Gospel is not reinterpreted through the expressions, language, and symbols of the faith community, it will appear as a foreign, lifeless, or even destructive doctrine, not an incarnated, life-giving power.”9 Through this understanding we may say that the Gospel has implications for our days and can be applied to specific groups and societies according to the justice and life-giving characteristic of the church. This means that we can see the historical Jesus as a person living the issues of immigration in our days. Jesus from Nazareth is often described by the evangelists as the one who comes from Galilee just like his apostles. The Galilean Jewish Messiah has in his own body, society and history the marks of being different among the Jews. Galilee was not viewed well by the traditional Jewish society, considering that many times it was invaded by other nations, was on the border of the country and was the passage for many international routes. That created an organic environment for the mixing of races, cultures and religion. This mixture can be compared to what Virgilio Elizondo calls Mestizaje10 in his work addressing issues of exclusion suffered by the Latino population in the United States. A clear example is the fact that Jesus was a Jew but was often called Galilean in the 9

Virgilio Elizondo, Galilean Journey: The Mexican-American Promise – 2 ed., rev. and enl. (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2007), 47. 10 Virgilio Elizondo, The Future is Mestizo: Life Where Cultures Meet, Revised Edition. (Boulder, Colorado: University Press of Colorado, 2000), 77.

Gospels. The Galileans were not considered important for the Jews. Neither was Galilee mentioned as an important place in the Old Testament. In the New Testament it is mentioned sixty one times but barely cited in the Old Testament. It is a very similar situation for Latino descendants born in the United States. Being US citizens they are still being called by their grandparents’ geographical backgrounds. In an interview about the presence of Brazilians and their descendants in Framingham, Massachusetts, the Reverend Lori Mills-Curran highlights that Brazilians came to the local area more than a hundred years ago and the population in the town keeps referring to them as the Brazilians even today.11 Virgilio Elizondo explains very well the paradox of being a Galilean in Jesus time: As the Jews in Galilee were too Jewish to be accepted by the gentile population and too contaminated with pagan ways to be accepted by the pure-minded Jews of Jerusalem, so have the Mexican-Americans in the Southwest been rejected by two groups.12 Through the understanding of a mestizo Messiah, Jesus, the Church redeems its own mestizaje. We, as Christians, encounter ourselves with God and find our own place in this world as a symbol of the mestizo Christ. This is the blessing and the gift of the Latino population for the Episcopal Church. Each one of the evangelists approached the topic of the challenge of diversity in his own way. The Gospel of Mark is the first of the four Gospels, written during the period of the Roman-Judean war of 66 to 70 C.E. when 11 12

Interview with Lori Mills-Curran. Elizondo, The Future…, 77.

Jerusalem went through a difficult period of attacks and fell into the hands of the Romans.13 Mark is the Gospel that speaks about empowering people against death. Courage is one of the marks of the book considering that the author is addressing those who are suffering persecution because of their beliefs and missionary work. The period of the war was difficult for the followers of Jesus because the Jews persecuted them. They were also persecuted by the Gentiles because Jesus was recognized as a Jewish leader who was condemned to death for revolutionary preaching. The book of Mark focused on answering the question: Who is Jesus?14 and it was around this question and revelation that the Markan Community was gathered. Because they lived under fear, the identification of who Jesus is for the marginalized is a very essential empowering statement. The community experienced shame, ridicule, rejection, relegation and many times were ignored by their own families and people, and ultimately knew betrayal, prison, floggings and execution.15 On the other hand the book of Mark calls people to face the power of death and oppression. How can you build a community without hope? Without hope there is no community but confusion and chaos, without diakonia, or service, there is no life in Jesus.16 Mark’s book reaffirms that God’s Kingdom brings liberation from all kinds of oppression. The narratives show Jesus’ actions of 13

David M. Rhoads, The challenge of diversity: the Witness of Paul and the Gospels, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996), 60. 14 Bíblia Pastoral, Introdução ao Evangelho Segundo São Marcos. 15 Mark 13:5-13 (NSRV). 16 Mark 10:32-45 (NSRV).

liberation and inclusion, returning the excluded back to society. He heals the sick, drives out demons, transforms sinners by pardoning, welcoming the outcast, speaks against laws that dehumanize people, invites the rich to give to the poor, confronts the official religion and their leaders, and calls them to conversion. The book of Mark is the rock for those who live in fear and exclusion. To those who suffer discrimination and deprivation this Gospel brings hope in the person of Jesus who is very human, who knows his people’s sufferings because he is also a marginalized figure. He was “the stone rejected by the builders”17 who comes from a small town in Galilee. The author of the Book of Matthew is often described as the most “Jewish” of the four evangelists. Most of his theological writings have connections to Jewish writings from his time and earlier. The Jewish scholar Samuel Sandmel accuses Matthew of being harsh to the Jewish tradition: “One senses in reading Matthew that his anger and hatred of Jews increases as he writes, especially against the Pharisees, until in Chapter 23 it boils over into a unique, unparalleled specimen of invective.”18 So it could be relevant to ask if Matthew’s author was a Jew with anti-Jewish sentiments? Sandmel answers that question by affirming that it can be potentially an anti-Semitic book but more important than judging Matthew’s position in the society is to understand his way of writing. “Christianity is conceived of as its own entity, different from Judaism… For Matthew, as for later

17 18

Acts 4:11 (NSRV). Samuel Sandmel, Anti-Semitism in the New Testament? (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978), 68.

Christians, humanity was divisible into three distinct entities: Jews, Christians and Gentiles.”19 Also it is important to remember that the period in which the book was written was the very beginning of the Christian movement. For many of the new converts the understanding of a new religion wasn’t clear and Matthew and his community were living in the framework of Judaism. His writing is very didactic, connecting the Jewish traditions and hopes to the revelation of Jesus. His first chapter presents the genealogy of Jesus and makes sure that the readers know who the Messiah is and what are his roots. The historical Jesus is linked to King David and the Patriarch Abraham to legitimize the Messianic promise. The central message in Matthew is God’s presence. At the very beginning Jesus receives the title Emmanuel20, which means ‘God is with us’. This presence will be reaffirmed at the end of the book. The narrative in the Gospel of Matthew joins the hopes of the oppressed people from the Old Testament with the people living under the Roman and Judean oppression. The promised Kingdom will be ruled by a different power and judgment over all Creation. All who follow Jesus and breathe the same ideals are invited to be part of the New Creation, the Wedding Banquet21 prepared by God. The inclusion of non-Jews in

Sandmel, 58. Matthew 1,23 (NRSV). 21 Matthew 22:1-14 (NRSV). 20

God’s people is seen in Matthew as possible when the person embraces Jesus’ commandments.22 Finally one of the interesting characteristics of the Gospel of Matthew in comparison to Mark is the fact that in Mark the disciples frequently misunderstand Jesus, while those in Matthew understand him. Some explain this by asserting that Matthew wants to foster the disciples' model to his own Christian community. The Gospel of John has always been distinct from the other three by the style of writing and intentionality. While the other Gospels have a catechetical characteristic John’s writing developed the spirituality behind the teaching. His text presented seven miracles that represented signs to promote life: the miracle of changing water into wine,23 healing the nobleman’s son,24 healing the man at the pool,25 feeding the 5,000,26 Jesus walking on water,27 healing the blind man28 and raising the dead.29 The purpose of this Gospel is summarized in the verse John 20:31 ταῦτα δὲ γέγραπται ἵνα πιστεύσητε ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἵνα πιστεύοντες ζωὴν ἔχητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ, which has variations when

translated giving us two different senses. The scholar Schnackenburg notes that it can be understood as ‘these are written that you may go on believing” but 22

Matthew 28:19-20 (NRSV). John 2:1-11(NRSV). 24 John 4:46-53 (NRSV). 25 John 5:1-9(NRSV). 26 John 6:4-13(NRSV). 27 John 6:16-21(NRSV). 28 John 9:1-12(NRSV). 29 John 11:30-44 (NSRV). 23

prefers a translation that says ‘that you may believe for the first time’.30 Through this latter version, he claims that the Fourth Gospel is something of a missionary tract rather than a book addressed to Jews. John was the last Gospel to be written and in part speaks to a concern with the catholicity of the church. “Christianity emerged at the margins of the Jewish society and was widely seen as being a radical movement. It had therefore, a daunting hill to climb before it could Christianize Jewish society”.31 Once the Christians faced more and more rejection after the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, the Gentile mission gained a new focus.32 Samaritans and gentiles are now receiving more attention from the early church and throughout John the story emphasizes the call to the universality of the church. The language used by John when the subject is the non-Jews is interesting. Since his narrative never puts Jesus outside of the borders of Israel like the Book of Mark, he refers to outsiders as potential members of the New Order.33 There are references like “the Diaspora among the Greeks”,34 “the other sheep”,35 “the dispersing children of God”36 and the (God-fearing) Greeks who came to see

Rudolf Schnackenburg, The Gospel according to St. John (New York: Crossroad, 1982), 3:337338. 31 James D.G. Dunn, Jews and Christians: the parting of the ways, A.D. 70 to 135 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1999), 20. 32 Benny Thettayill, In Spirit and Truth: an exegetical study of John 4:19-26 and a theological Investigation of the Replacement Theme in the Forth Gospel (Bondgenotenlaan, Leuven: Contributions to Biblical Exegesis & Theology no.46, 2007), 280. Also see J.L. Martyn, A Gentile Mission that Replaced an Earlier Jewish Mission?, 134. 33 Paul William Barnett, The Birth of Christianity: the First Twenty Years (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2005), 171. 34 John 7:32-26 (NRSV). 35 John 10:16 (NRSV). 36 John 11:49 (NRSV).

Jesus in Jerusalem37. Promoting life in John’s Gospel has many meanings, but certainly the major one is restoring the dignity of the person considered impure or maculated back to the society. For the purpose of this doctoral project, there is no better story in John about inclusion than that of the Samaritan woman. Because the Gospel of John was written last and the inclusion of non-Jews was in evidence, the book presented the story of the Samaritan woman as more important than other narratives. The story appears in the very beginning of the book and is a very long narrative.38 That denotes a hint about the presence of the non-Jews in the Johannine community, which are probably Samaritans since there is suggestion of some work done by the disciples among them. Although Jesus instructed his disciples to ‘enter no town of the Samaritans’ (Matt 10:5), he had contact with individual Samaritans (Luke 17:16). The most prominent of these was a woman at Shechem (John 4:7-26). His discussion with her reached its climax when she raised the subject of the Samaritan Temple. It is possible that ‘Rabbi’ Jesus’ ministry to this ‘woman of Samaria’ prepared the way for missions to the Samaritans after Easter. John’s comment that ‘many Samaritans in that city believed in [Jesus] because of the woman’s testimony’ suggests that some of these Samaritan believers continued beyond that time.39 The intention of John in telling the stories as Jesus revealing himself as the Messiah is clear when we observe the dialogue between him and Martha40 as well in the narrative of the blind man.41 The Greek expression42 Οἶδα ὅτι Μεσσίας ἔρχεται used by John in the dialogue of Martha and Jesus is very 37

John 12:20-24 (NRSV). John 4:4-42 (NRSV). 39 Barnett, 100. 40 John 11:24-27 (NRSV). 41 John 9:36-37 (NRSV). 42 John 4:25 (NRSV). 38

similar to that used in the Samaritan woman narrative and denotes the intentionality of putting Jews and Samaritans at the same level of fulfillment of the expectations of their beliefs.43 The response to the Samaritan woman’s faith is very similar to the one given to the blind man, and Jesus’ revelation that follows is the quintessence of this statement: John 4:26

λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ ἰησοῦς, ἐγώ εἰμι, ὁ λαλῶν σοι. Jesus said to her: I am he, speaking to you.

The Gospel of John is considered highly Christological by the fact that it presents Jesus’ divine nature: “the eternal and cosmic origin and destiny of Jesus, the close identity of Jesus with God, and the revelation of God through Jesus”.44 John writes in such a powerful way to present Jesus as the Messiah to all peoples that in the very beginning of his work the Messiah is presented close to God as the Word (logos).45

Lukan Perspective: the Gospel and Acts of the Apostles The Lukan texts are separated from the other three Gospels because of the author’s characteristics. The author of the Gospel of Luke is also the author of the Acts of the Apostles and the books are linked not only by authorship but by intentionality. The Gospel of Luke is written between 80 and 90 C.E., possibly in an urban area of Asia Minor. The tradition of the Church attributes this work to a 43

Thettayil, 194. Lawrence M. Wills, Not God’s People: Insiders and Outsiders in the Biblical world, (Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2008), 133. 45 John 1:1-3 (NRSV). 44

physician named Luke, who travelled with the apostle Paul.46 In this work I will be supporting that tradition and referring to the author as Luke. His Gospel is the first part of a larger work that ends with the book we know as the Acts of the Apostles. In the Gospel, Luke presents the Way of Jesus and in Acts of the Apostles the Way of the Church.47 The Gospel presents a profound concern about the poor and incites the reader to a radical commitment to social justice. It is likely that his work is directed to a Gentile or mostly Gentile audience, but one also including Judeans and Judean Christians. The Gospel identifies the recipient, Theophilus, at the very beginning. Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.48 The name Theophilus here can be interpreted as someone with a Greek name and Hellenic heritage, or it could be a symbolic reference to the converted Gentiles as God-lovers.49 That is not the only Lukan characteristic of inclusion of the 'others'50 but the book is full of narratives of inequities between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the lowly, the elite and the outcast, the healthy and the sick, the full and the hungry, the “righteous” and the “sinners”. 46

Colossians 4:14 (NRSV). Bíblia Pastoral, Introdução ao Evangelho Segundo São Lucas. 48 Luke 1:1-4 (NRSV). 49 The name translates as Lover of God. 50 Others here refers to non-Jews or people excluded from the society by laws of purification. 47

The Lukan text challenges the rich and powerful to care about the oppressed and poor. And the response of the oppressed and poor to Jesus’ teaching is that they will follow him to testify about his wonders. Two words define the Lukan Community: Compassion and Transformation. Compassion includes attention to the oppressed, excluded and poor and being a prophetic voice in the grossly unequal society. The exercise of Compassion leads the community to action and the commitment to transform the social and religious mechanisms that separate us from God and God’s Kingdom. Luke will present these characteristics again in his second work, the Acts of the Apostles.51 Diakonia is a fundamental element of the primitive Church and is still fundamental for our day. The Acts of the Apostles describes the tensions between two distinct groups who speak two different languages: Hellenistic (Greek speaking) Jews and Hebraic (Hebrew or Aramaic speaking) Jews.52 The tension is about the lack of care for the widows and the needy. The history of installing deacons in the Church cited in Acts 6:1-6 does not make a considerable change to this meaning of diakonia. The fact that the apostles are reluctant to neglect the ministry of the word in order to wait on tables does not at all disprove the significance of the diakonical nature of the Church. Actually it was no longer physically possible for the apostles to take care of both tables and preaching, since the number of disciples was increasing. From the Acts of the Apostles we learn that the deacons ordained by the apostles did not understand their service as waiting on tables alone. The laying of the apostles' hands also gave them a charisma of missionary service. One of the seven, Philip, baptizes an Ethiopian. Another one, Stephen, crowns this successful preaching of the gospel with martyrdom.53 51

Acts 5-7 (NRSV). Spirit, Gospel, Cultures: Bible Studies on the Acts of the Apostles (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1995), 15. 53 Archbishop Jeremias of Wroclaw and Szcecin, The Orthodox Church of Poland Theological Foundations of Diakonia, From report at the 3rd Annual General Meeting of the European Federation for Diaconia – (EURODIACONIA - Poland, 1999). 52

The book of Acts presents the action of the Spirit of God in the Early Church. Darell Bock affirms that the author spent time explaining how God directed Jews and gentiles to be connected to each other through Jesus and reveals that God is the primary mover in the action.54 The new community must live in reconciliation and be guided by the Spirit and the teachings of Jesus. As mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, the event of Pentecost affirms the identity of the body of Christ as being diverse in language and nations. The Spirit of God creates the Church when everyone can express their own identity and language and be accepted and understood by the others. The movement of Jesus is transformed in the Assembly of the faithful or ἐκκλησία by the recognition of the diversity of people and cultures.

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.55

Darell L. Bock, Acts (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Publishing Group, 2007), 23. 55 Acts 2:1-11 (NRSV).

The New Testament provides words that make our current social and religious issues relevant and also offers guidance to overcome these issues, which is empowering. Many times Christians from our days look to the past with romantic eyes and forget the challenge of diversity in a multicultural Biblical world. Perhaps such issues will always be present because our spontaneous kindness to the stranger clashes with our fear of the different. The call to be a church sensitive to the multiplicity of cultures will also be addressed in the next chapter when we hear voices from the Anglican Communion touching similar issues.

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Chapter Two The Truth Will Set You Free

The Anglican Communion Compass Rose contains the affirmation “The Truth will set you free.” In many senses it is a universal symbol for Anglicans all around the world calling them to reflect about bringing light into places of doubt, confusion and fear. The fear of the truth many times promotes division and brokenness in the body of the church. The understanding of Truth here establishes the understanding of Mission and the unity of the church. The truth abides in God’s revelation to the world through Jesus Christ. Urban Holmes enriches the conversation saying “taking into account the whole of an experience – ambiguity and all… We (Anglicans) are at our best when we acknowledge the penultimate nature of our answers to the character of God and his will for us.”56 The Good News announced by Jesus and proclaimed by his followers calls us to reconciliation, restoration and freedom. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”57 The catholicity of the Church is rooted in God’s mission revealed in Jesus Christ. Often the term ‘catholic’ is mistaken as Roman Catholicism. In truth the term carries the deeper understanding of the catholicity of all Christians. The 56 57

Urban T. Holmes, What is Anglicanism (Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing, 2004), 5. Luke 4:18-19 (NRSV).

term derives from the Greek expression "kath'holou" (καθ' δλου) which refers to whole-ness. Later use in Latin language shifted to a new meaning that is often used in our days, the understanding of universal or general.58 These concepts appear in the New Testament to address a message to local communities as the reference to the Catholic Epistles. Through this prism we gain the understanding of mission (service through unconditional love) and catholicity (the body of Christ as a whole).

Many voices, One accord At the Lambeth Conference59 in the year 1988, a new process took place which placed “A Decade of Evangelism” firmly on the agenda of the Anglican Communion (Anglican Church). The challenge started with voices from Africa and they were followed by bishops from all around the world. The Archbishop of Canterbury invited the bishops to “bring their voices with them.” One of the main gifts of the conference is to listen to all voices from around the world, speaking from their own sociocultural contexts, and considering every one.60 Churches from Mozambique and from Mount Kenya East could bring their stories of

Alister E. McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), 77. The Lambeth Conference is the only meeting of all the archbishops and bishops of the Anglican Communion - the family of Churches around the world. The Archbishop of Canterbury calls the conference once every 10 years to bring those Churches together. Senior members of the clergy worship and study together during the conference and it provides a forum for debate on key issues affecting the Anglican Communion in our days. 60 Alan M. G. Stephenson, Anglicanism and the Lambeth Conference (London: SPCK, 1978), 259. 59

Evangelism and church planting under very difficult circumstances61 and share them with other Anglican Provinces. The result was a great challenge to the whole Anglican Church. Through those voices other members were called to assume the “Decade of Evangelism.” The Anglican provinces in Latin America rediscovered a new way of theological thinking by combining the views of Liberation Theology, very popular in the 1980’s, with the proposal from the Anglican Communion of the Decade of Evangelism. Some had profound changes in their theological views and became more engaged in socio-political issues broadening the discussion about social justice and the Kingdom of God. Not all Anglican Provinces embraced the Decade of Evangelism in the same way, but they were certainly challenged in their contexts to explore and work to announce the Liberating Good News of Christ (Evangelism) and to transform the societies through Diakonia. The nature of the church is to be missionary62 and the mission is shared with God (Mission Dei). Mission is the creating, reconciling and transforming action of God, flowing from the community of love found in the Trinity, made known to all humanity in the person of Jesus, and entrusted to the faithful action and witness of the people of God who, in the power of the Spirit, are a sign, foretaste and instrument of the reign of God. Coming from this understanding, the Five Marks of Mission were 61

David Gitari and Dinis Singulane’s contribution are summarized and discussed in Lambeth: A View from the Two Thirds World by Vinay Samuel and Christopher Sugden (London: SPCK, 1989). 62 David J. Bevans, Transforming Mission. Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (New York: Maryknoll, 2009), 9.

first set out in “Bonds of Affection” at the meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in 1984 ACC-6 (cf.p49) and later reaffirmed in “Mission in a Broken World” another Anglican Consultative Council meeting in 1990 ACC-8 (cf. p101). The Anglican Communion believes that God seeks to address every human need and is also concerned about the renewal of the whole creation. Wherever a person is hungry, or crying for justice, or a person is seeking spirituality, there is potential space for God’s mission. The Five Marks of Mission is one useful way of understanding this 'wholeness' of God's mission: • To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom • To teach, baptize and nurture new believers • To respond to human need by loving service • To seek to transform unjust structures of society •

To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth

“What is the Mission of the Church?” asks the Catechism in the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer.63 The answer presented summarizes the sense of “sending” to the world but also being sent as One. “The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.” Unity is often cited as social ideal or a political goal for the Church of Christ. Unity in 63

The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church; Together with the Psalter or Psalms of David; According to the Use of the Episcopal Church of America. (New York: Church Hymnal Corporation, 1979), 855.

the Bible and in the Catechism are presented several times as fine concepts of bringing together, not as merging groups and people or creating an homogenized entity, but unity has the intention of harmonizing relationships and stabilizing dialogues among different groups. Such a restoration is the mission of the church, says the Catechism. It is what the church is sent to bring about. The following question in the Catechism is the continuation of the missionary process: “How does the Church pursue its mission? The Church pursues its mission as it prays and worships, proclaims the Gospel, and promotes justice, peace, and love.”64 That supports the mission statement of the church because it includes the diversity of activities we experience in the church’s life. The worship of the church is a powerful element of transformation of society. Through liturgies the church reaffirms and renews the proclamation of a new era for justice and peace. Titus Presler in his work Horizons of Mission also presents mission concepts for the present Anglican Church and its future. Inspired by the Five Marks of Mission and the biblical basis for proclamation of the Good News in Jesus, he proposes ten marks of Anglican global mission. As churches and as individuals, Anglicans on mission in the twenty-first century will: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Proclaim the gospel with baptismal confidence. Serve as sacraments of Christ in relationship. Live as companions in solidarity with the suffering. Receive Christ as pilgrims with others. Nurture human wholeness in grassroots communities. Struggle for jubilee justice, reconciliation, and peace.

Ibid., 855.

7. 8. 9. 10.

Collaborate with other churches and Christian groups. Explore gospel expression in diverse cultures. Cooperate with people of other faiths. Celebrate Eucharistic community.65

Some of the marks above resonate more profoundly than others with the topic of this doctoral project. The call to live as companion in solidarity with those who are suffering and to struggle for justice, reconciliation and peace are marks that match with call of Latino ministries in the United States. Issues related to social exclusion, prejudice and power dynamics have an intrinsic relation to the marks above and are a challenge for a church that is working with a Latino population in the United States. The marks of mission presented by Presler reminds the church of a wider understanding of hospitality. Receiving Christ as pilgrims with others challenges us to revise our posture about culture and mission. In the worship setting several questions can be asked such as: what language should be used? What is the local culture of the community and what is the culture outside of the building? What symbols are relevant for visitors in multicultural areas and how can the church be a community that promotes dignity of life in the neighborhood? Because a major topic in the Latino communities in this country is still immigration, followed by the consequent xenophobia, it is necessary to address the dimension of welcoming and hospitality in the church. The Episcopal Church of our days is rediscovering the other dimensions of this same topic: welcoming. A few years ago much was said about gender issues and that the church should 65

Titus Presler, Horizons of Mission (Massachusetts: Cowley Publications, 2001), 159.

welcome people with different sexual orientations. This way of thinking will lead the community to another major issue in the country, that of immigration. Of the thirty-one people interviewed for this project twenty-nine affirm that immigration is a major topic in their local community. They are church leaders working with immigrants and refugees as well as with the following generations of those who came to this country. One of the principles for hospitality has to do with inclusion of those who come to the church but also with the challenge of the local churches to breaking the cycle of exclusion and discrimination related to outsiders. It is a two way street that will benefit the visitors/new comers and the community of the church. It is known that some of the Hispanic groups living in the United States have been historically under the yoke of discrimination, abuse of power, violence and social exclusion.66 The local church communities are composed of people who come from the society, and some of those are still seeing the world through a distorted lens. Christian principles are calling the church of the twenty-first century to seek a new lens. This new lens may be the challenge of the contextual mission. For local communities that are still looking to the old model of mission it is necessary to seek a new mirror. To make mission happen in context it is necessary to engender the sensitivity to recognize the silenced voices of minorities, to be open to change the existing patterns with a new awareness that different liturgical 66

Michael Connors, Inculturated Pastoral Planning: The U.S. Hispanic Experience (Roma:Editrice Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, 2001), 24.

practices and popular traditions can enrich the local community. That is also the beauty of the Anglican Communion, a diverse church that can model the creation of new lenses in the way that it embraces its diversity.

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Chapter Three Research Methodology and Currents

The previous chapters present a call to the church to embrace the diversity of the body of Christ. They are the historical and theological justifications for this project but we can’t be limited by the voices from the past; it is also necessary to listen to the voices of our time. The listening process was accomplished in my research project through interviews that can be measured and analyzed with specific research methodologies. In this case the investigation took advantage of the phenomenological approach. This chapter examines the intentionality of the interviews and the expectations of the results as they are related to the challenge of multiculturalism in the church. The church is called to be diverse in many ways and finding adequate language to engage in dialogue with the other is a goal. This investigation raised issues related to the fear of the church to change and adapt to the contextual needs of the People of God. Amedeo Giorgi’s work explores the task of the researcher as well as the descriptive process. Through his process the following steps were developed: the identification of the subject of interest, the researchable problem, and ending in the interpretation of the data, seeking results which solve or create a space to dialogue with the problem.67 67

Amedeo Giorgi, The Descriptive Phenomenological Method in Psychology. A Modified Husserlian Approach (Pennsylvania: Duquesne University Press, 2009), 58.

The researcher begins by obtaining concrete descriptions of experiences from others who have lived through situations in which the phenomenon that the researcher is interested in have taken place. Usually, the descriptions are obtained by interviews and then transcribed, but also written descriptions are also possible.68 As Giorgi describes in his book, John Creswell also outlines some guidelines to develop the phenomenological research, analysis and representation. His work clarifies that after presenting the problem it is necessary to identify the source of the problem, and then build the necessary concepts using both literature and qualitative research data.69 The literature must be carefully considered both before the analysis of human subjects and also after, when the data is being processed. In the very beginning the project should envision some results that will change according to the needs and the development of the interviews and research throughout the process.70 In this particular project, developing and presenting the expectations of the investigation is necessary. The epoche in this project is related to those in connection with the object of the study, the Latino ministries in the Christian tradition in the United States. Also at this point it is necessary to clarify that the term Latino is not limited to the Hispanic population or to those who speak the Spanish language. Latino here will have a broader understanding, which will be linked to Latin American geography, history and culture. This concept will be better explored in Chapter 68

Giorgi, 96. John W. Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design. Choosing Among Five Approaches (London: Sage Publications, 2007), 102. 70 Creswell, 103. 69

Four under the topic Identity.

The Epoche In the very beginning of my doctoral program I had a clear focus for my project. Specifically, this was to address the issues present in different ministries where the Latino population is or should be included in the church. To build the project I knew research with human subjects would be an important part of the work. After studying documentaries on Latino sacraments and theology the idea of switching the interviews from voice recorder to filming opened to me a new space for ideas. Through video recording the possibilities are broader, giving the opportunity of creating a documentary. From this comes another possibility, which is using the videos or small portions to present specific topics for discussion. Individual Dioceses or the National Office could use segments of the interviews on their websites to provoke short discussions, addressing specific themes, and thereby be accessible to local communities. Filming is more appealing in the sense that one can observe facial expressions; feelings and emotions can be captured, giving the interviews a richness that canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be known through voice recordings. Body language is a universal reality. Sometimes an interview can reveal more through body language than a voice recording that will later be transcribed to text. In my second year of the doctoral program I received a scholarship from the Episcopal Church Foundation that gave me the opportunity to explore the

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documentary project that could be used at a national level. That led me to travel around the United States to interview people who are working with the Latino population or who are related to Latin America, and the field research project upon which this thesis is based became a reality.

Description of the Process for Interviews a) Identifying the subject of interest: Who are the interviewees? The goal was to interview people – teenagers and adults, women and men, straight and gay – who have immigrated from Latin America and also their descendants who were born in the United States. Also considered for interviews were other ethnic groups engaged in Latino ministries in the Episcopal Church or in the Roman Catholic Church. The reason for choosing these particular groups was to explore the theory and perhaps prove that: • First, second and third generations each have very particular stories and to reach each one of those generations it is necessary to listen to their stories. Part of the study here entered into another important subject for the Latino communities in this country – the issue of immigration. Considering that immigration laws directly affect first and second generations, how can the church enter this discussion while keeping in mind the teaching of Jesus about the concern for the excluded? • Gender is still an issue for many Latin American countries where women

are struggling to achieve equality. It is also true that in the historical Latin American churches71 women have been more involved in lay leadership positions. • Homosexuality is an issue for many societies as it is for the Latino context. How do Latinos and Latinas living in the United States deal with that issue inside of the church context? • Non-Latinos working with Latino Ministry: non-Latino clergy and laypersons can be found in the Episcopal Church working with Latino ministries. It seems important to listen to their experiences and impressions of the impact of the Latino presence in the church, but also the challenges of the diversity of cultures.

b) How to contact and connect with the human subjects? One major issue for Latinos in the United States is immigration. Presently U.S. immigration laws and their enforcement have frightened this group. Interviews were conducted with people who are going through the fear of deportation and suffer daily with experiences of abuse of power and exclusion because of their undocumented status. Even inside of the Church there is fear. The fear of being denounced by other families or even the institution is still a reality in the Episcopal Church and other religious groups. Considering these issues, people were contacted through the leadership of 71

I use the term ‘historical churches’ here to refer to Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism and churches originated from the Reformation, like Lutherans and Methodists.

the church (priests, deacons and lay ministers) who are more acquainted with the human subjects, assuring them that the video recorded during the liturgies and interviews would not be used without their authorization, enabled them to keep their anonymity without fear. The second possibility of connecting with the human subjects was to take advantage of national events in the Episcopal Church. National events draw people from all around the country and from a diversity of backgrounds. In this case, the list of participants for specific events provided subjects who were contacted as soon as possible through the organizers of the event. The interviews lasted no longer than one hour plus an additional fifteen minutes to set up the equipment. The contact with the participants and the questions were sent ahead by the interviewer so the subjects would be familiar with the topics and have time to formulate answers. In some cases the questions were presented on the same day because sometimes subjects were attending church conferences and there would be a short time window for the preparation that is necessary for the interviews. The questions were a starting point for the conversation. They led to deeper discussions and reflection of the personal stories and experiences. Two cameras were used to provide different digital formats for future editing work. Besides the questions the researcher also provided: an orientation sheet for

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the interviewees and the adapted and Spanish version of the Consent Form provided by the GTU website in the section called: Guidelines and Procedures for Review of Research Involving Human Subjects.72 All these materials are in the Appendix of this doctoral project.73 The number of questions were no more than twenty, divided into three areas: personal information, religion and religiosity, and issues related to the social environment. Through these topics a variety of issues related to the Latino presence in the United States was addressed. Below is the list of topics that were engaged through the discussion: Immigration issues: Immigration issues are not a particularity of this country

•

or this time. They can be seen in several other countries like England and France, as well as in other periods of time like in Australia from the 1940s to 1970’s: Immigrants arriving between 1947 and 1972 were less rigorously selected than those coming afterwards, except on the basis of race. Australia has always favored youth and discriminated against disability; this relates back to the bounty system of the 1840s.74 That said, immigration is a topic very present in Latino communities in this country and interferes in the interpersonal relationships in the body of the church. •

Cultural traits: Culture and religion are human traits that are intrinsically

http://www.gtu.edu/academics/registrar/forms-and-guidelines/HumanSubjectProtocol.pdf Appendix 1 and 2. 74 James Jupp, From White Australia to Woomera: The Story of Australian Immigration (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 30. 73

connected. Closely aligned with the ability of religious material culture to activate memory is its ability to communicate group identity. People use religious goods and landscapes in order to tell the world around them who they are. Religious material culture signals who is in the group and who is not.75 It is impossible to address one without mentioning the other. In this case, Latin America has so many cultural traits connected to the history of Roman Catholicism in the colonial period of several countries. Questions posed here developed an awareness of the cultural differences between ethnic groups in the church. •

Insiders and outsiders of the society in the United States: Either because of immigration, beliefs, skin color, or ethnic background society establishes ways to classify those who are in or out. The question here was answered mostly from the point of view of those who are considered outsiders, foreigners, aliens, immigrants, or merely different. The problem of being an outsider is always present among nations and societies. One of the best examples is the encounter between the Roman Empire with European Aborigines today known by the name Celts. The word itself, “Celt,” is Greek, Keltos. We are not certain what the word means. It is not the same as “barbarians” (barbaroi), but seems to mean something like “the other” or “stranger”. The Celts never called themselves by that name.76

Gary Laderman and Luis D. León, Religion and American Cultures: an encyclopedia of traditions, diversity and Popular Expressions, Volume 3 (Oxford, 2003), 421. 76 Timothy J. Joice, Celtic Christianity: A Sacred Tradition, a Vision of Hope (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1998), 2.

•

Latin American identity and Latinos in the United States: The topic of insiders and outsiders lead us to the following question; the Identity issue. What the majority of the society in the United States considers Latino is much more a mismatch of Spanish language with strong cultural marks from Mexico and certain Central American countries. The mistake is understandable due to the geographical proximity and the larger numbers of immigrants from these countries. The question presented to the interviewees made them and the readers of this project aware of the diversity of culture and language among those who were born in Latin America and also their descendants who were born in the United States. Perhaps the knowledge of the differences between Latin Americans can be a key to develop better Latino ministries.

•

Belonging to a religious group: In November 2011, the national news service called NPR (National Public Radio) published the fact that Latinos are switching religious institutions. The topic is addressed by Barbara Bradley Hagerty, the religion correspondent for NPR, reporting on the intersection of faith and politics, law, science and culture. Her article is called U.S. Hispanics Choose Churches Outside of Catholicism: As their numbers grow, Latinos are not only changing where and how they worship; they're also beginning to affect the larger Christian faith. You can see evidence of that in the Assemblies of God, once a historically white, suburban Pentecostal denomination. When you walk into the denomination's largest church, it's sensory overload: The auditorium is jam-packed with hundreds of Latino worshipers singing in Spanish, swaying and dancing. In little more than a decade, New Life Covenant Church in Chicago has

grown from 68 people to more than 4,000 members; it had to abandon its old building and meet in Clemente High School. When you include the other churches New Life has started, its membership comes to some 12,000 people.77 The interviews listened not only to people coming from different geographic backgrounds but also from different religious backgrounds. Latin America is well known for the massive presence of Roman Catholicism but it is also true that it is changing. What are the reasons behind this change? Is this also true for the Latino population living in the United States? What can be learned from that movement? The interviews addressed people who today belong to the Episcopal Church and to the Roman Catholic Church. They could be people who left other traditions to become Episcopalians or people working in the Roman Catholic Church who have been observing the changes in the pews of the ecclesial communities. The interview began with the identification of the interviewee: full name, birthplace, current residence, and original religious tradition. From those questions the religious affiliations in the person’s life were tracked. •

Church welcoming issues: The previous topic led to a discussion of welcoming people in the church. Many Latino Episcopalians have stories to share about their conversion to Anglicanism or the Episcopal tradition. The investigation here is about making a decision to change. What are the reasons for leaving their previous tradition to become part of the Episcopal

http://www.npr.org/2011/10/19/141275979/u-s-hispanics-choose-churches-outside-catholicism.

Church? What in this church appeals to their lives? Analyzing the interviews, is there a common element between the stories? How can the church be aware of these elements and apply this knowledge in such way that it can be a positive instrument to bring more people to the Episcopal Church? In the same way, many Latino Episcopalians have stories to share about the lack of attention or not being properly welcomed in the church. The issue of welcoming is an issue relevant not only to the Latino Ministry but is fundamental for the church in general. The difference here is the fact that for ethnic groups particularities must be observed. As a researcher, my hypothesis is that the language barrier is not the only problem to face in the welcoming situation. Worship space, language, well-prepared welcoming teams and the awareness of cultural differences are relevant elements for this topic. â&#x20AC;˘

Popular Religiosity and devotions: the liturgical formation in the Episcopal Church has a solid basis in the Book of Common Prayer and some particular traditions inherited from the Eastern church. Often there is a misunderstanding of religious practices in use among the Latino population in this country which from time to time are referred to as Latino popular religiosity. What is considered official in the church often does not include rituals and expressions from Latin America. It is true that Latin America has had a strong influence from colonizers

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during a period when Spain was a powerful Roman Catholic nation. The same can be said of Portuguese colonies like Brazil. The mix of Roman Catholic traditions with Latin American native religions developed particular ways of worship, spirituality and devotions. Daly Heyck who analyzes the Latino spirituality in the United States affirms that Hispanic spirituality is the combination of complex phenomenon, “where (it) must be seen as part and parcel of the creative synthesis of the Hispanic value structure and orientation that has emerged from the three root streams that inform its cultural traits and personality. Hispanic spirituality responds to the Spanish, Amerindian, and African makeup of its ‘soul’.”78 There is a profound spirituality and devotion to the person of the suffering and victorious Christ, as well as Mary his mother. Through the interviews it may be possible to measure the need for Latino groups to revive those practices that are considered fundamentally interdependent. •

Language barriers: English? Spanish? Spanglish?79 Portuñol?80 No other issue is more clearly identifiable than the language barriers in the developing Latino ministries. Because language is one of the major problems to be solved, the church may easily forget to address other important issues. The interviews presented questions that let the subjects speak about their experiences of a church that is slowly waking up to the

Denis Lynn Daly Heyck, Barrios and Borderlands: Cultures of Latinos and Latinas in the United States (London: Routledge, 1994), 153. 79 Spanglish is the mix of English and Spanish in different degrees. In some communities in the United States is considered code-switching. 80 Similar to the use of Spanglish but is a blend of Portuguese language with Spanish.

fact that the second language in the United States is Spanish. The Strategic Vision prepared for the General Convention 2009 of the Episcopal Church by the Latino/Hispanic Ministries office presents the United States as the second largest Latino country in the world. The numbers of Latinos in this country has reached 45.5 million, while Mexico has 108.7 million and Spain comes in third place with 40.4 million.81 Language should not be considered simply a problem to be solved but a potential means to reach more and more people coming from Latino backgrounds. The church is called to be in an ongoing process of contextual mission, which means to live and testify to the Gospel of Jesus in such a way that it can be translated in a multiplicity of ‘languages’. And language here not only means linguistics but embraces the cross-cultural challenges that represent traditions, gestures, behaviors, habits, etc. Another common question faced by Episcopal communities beginning multicultural ministries is: Should we worship at two different hours, having one service in English and another in Spanish? Or is it better having one bilingual service? The interviews attempted to capture the feelings about what is already happening in communities that have those different experiences and perhaps a third alternative can be shared. •

Differences among Latinos (culture, language, social classes, etc.): For many decades the Latino Ministry in the Episcopal church has been

The Episcopal Church’s Strategic Vision for Reaching Latinos/Hispanics, July 2009

connected to the idea that it is a kind of ministry toward immigrants.82 Recently the church has been trying to change this understanding to restore the real call to evangelization. The Episcopal Church does not realize that there is no older European culture in this country than the Latina culture through the presence of Spaniards during the colonial period and in our time with the mix of Spanish speaking people from here and other Latin American countries.83 In a sense, the first Mexicans to reside in the United States managed the remarkable feat of migrating without ever leaving home. Instead, the border of their country migrated to the south and west, landing them in a new and alien nation, one in which they quickly came to comprise a small and frequently persecuted minority. Their numbers are usually estimated between 80,000 and 100,000.84 Through the centuries the country that we today call the United States of America has changed. The society has been reshaped since the arrival of the colonizers and through the centuries the borders have been negotiated or altered through wars. That also results in an organic and slow changing of cultures. Frank Shuffelton affirms this in his work on race and ethnic issues saying: “if ethnicity is a dynamic relation between different cultural groups, it manifests itself differently in what might seem to be the same cultural group in different historical periods”.85 The adjustment of cultures, political power and societies has created 82

Ibid., 2. La Presencia Hispana: Esperanza y Compromiso. Carta Pastoral sobre el Ministerio Hispano, (National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1984), 6. 84 Timothy J. Henderson, Beyond Borders: A History of Mexican Migration to the United States (West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), 10. 85 Frank Shuffelton, A Mixed Race: Ethnicity in Early America Ed. Frank Shuffelton (New York: Oxford Press, 1993), 8. 83

through generations a new system of order. To understand how the system currently works the interviews investigated the relationships between people coming from English speaking groups, Spanish speaking groups, Portuguese speaking groups and if it is possible voices of Latinos/as rooted in Native heritages. The interviews inquired if there is also a hierarchical distinction among Latino populations according their countries of origin. Some of the relevant questions developed on the topics of culture, power behavior and hierarchy between ethnic groups in the church were: who are the Latinos in your church community? How is the Spanish speaking service in your community shaped? And what are the roles distributed between the different Latin American and Latin American descendants? Is there a principal service on Sunday that is not in English? Who are the leaders of the community? Are the clergy and the lay leaders from the same ethnic background? Besides the Latino target group, there was value in interviewing and analyzing the perceptions of non-Latinos involved in similar ministries. Two or three persons were interviewed from other countries that are facing similar issues of immigration, xenophobia, and social exclusion by race, ethnicity and religious belief. These countries were England, South Africa and Brazil. England, like other European countries, is facing cultural clashes with a fast growing population of immigrants from countries on the African continent and Middle East.86 Many groups come from non-Christian traditions bringing in their luggage not only clothes but a diversity of cultural assets and religious beliefs. 86

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13189682

This is not a phenomenon of our time but is well known since ancient times. Globalization has increased migration flows not only to traditionally immigrant receiving countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States, but also to many industrialized countries and regional centers around the world. The intersection of globalization, migration and religion has a long history predicated since ancient times by such situations as the spread of Greek culture in the Mediterranean world, the travels of Arab traders who brought Islam to Asia, and the more organized voyages of discovery launched by Western Europe bringing Christianity to Asia, Africa and South America. Religion, at the time of initial contacts with the Europeans in many indigenous communities, was the ‘privileged strategy of power’ (da Silva 2001: 427) to transform these communities.87

South Africa has approximately forty years of history of Apartheid where racial segregation was a major issue. The implications of skin-color are not an issue for South Africa only but can be seen in other countries like the United States.88 Since the Latino population in the United States are considered people of color, interviewing someone who has knowledge of power, privilege and injustice based in South African memories is relevant for this research. And finally, the expectation of interviewing a person from the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil is relevant because Brazil is a Latin American country formed by several ethnic groups and profoundly rooted in Roman Catholic traditions with syncretic religiosity towards the Afro-Brazilian religions. Certainly to be Latino/a in Latin America is different from being Latino/a in the United States. History and cultures of these two countries are very particular. However, there are other elements that helped the investigation like issues of power in the 87

Glenda Tibe Bonifacio and Vivienne SM. Angeles, Gender, Religion, and Immigration: Pathways of Integration (Maryland: Lexington Books, 2010), 3. 88 Zeus Leonardo, “The Color of Supremacy: Beyond the discourse of ‘white privilege’,” Educational Philosophy and Theory Vol. 36, no.2 (2004): 138.

religious context, gender issues, and how the local cultures can challenge the shape of the worship in the Episcopal Church in Brazil as well as it is here in the United States.

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Chapter Four The Five Keys

During the period from June to December of 2011, thirty-one subjects from different places around the United States were interviewed. Most of these subjects were as outlined in Chapter Three except for a Brazilian person from the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil. The subjects were Episcopalians and Roman Catholics in the United States, as well as Father Michael Lapsley from the Institute for Healing Memories from Cape Town, South Africa, and Mother Erin Kirby, Junior Dean for Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford, England. They all released their right to remain anonymous and all names here in use are the real names of the individuals interviewed. The Appendix contains two sample consent forms, one in English and one in Spanish. This project is called Many Threads One Tapestry because there is no better symbol to represent the beauty of a diverse church than a colorful tapestry. In the tapestry, threads can have different thickness, texture and colors, they can have their own uniqueness, but woven together in harmony they can become a beautiful pattern to enchant the eyes of those who pay attention. But it is necessary to have harmony between the different threads to make the tapestry work. The absence of care and harmony can create a confusion of colors and the weaving can become a tangled ball of threads. In this chapter I explore common themes observed through interviews, Latino events (like liturgies or festivals) and as well classes on multiculturalism and

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Latino studies. The themes are grouped by major topics that are called the Five Keys. The intention is that local communities focus on the Five Keys to begin the discussion on Latino ministries and cultural diversity. Each key may challenge the local community to enter into or discover a room with new issues to be addressed in their own context. The Five Keys are: Latino Identity, Culture and Church traits, Language and Liturgical Inculturation, Insiders and Outsiders and issues of Power. The Keys share similarities and many times overlap. They are intrinsically connected and are interchangeable. Naturally, the discussion of one Key may lead to another Key topic. More than answering questions, this project intends to help local communities better understand the challenge of beginning a new ministry dedicated to the Latino population. The Keys will not completely answer for the church in general as to what should we do? or how to understand the Latino context? But certainly they will help us to start the dialogue toward being a more culturally diverse church. The Five Keys will help the local communities: a) Become aware and sensitive to cultural diversity in their congregations; b) Start ministries in more than one language, reaching other groups that are not yet in the church; c) Understand that cultural diversity can be a gift instead of a problem to be solved;

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d) Evaluate the missionary work and renew the body of the church.

Latino Identity: Who are Latino? The Mexican philosopher José Vasconcelos speaks about the birth of a new

race in Latin America saying: “…made with the treasure of all previous ones, the final race, the cosmic race.” Latin America contains the beauty of a mixed race living under a diversity of cultures. Is not easy to define the Latino identity when we become aware of this diversity. However one thing needs to be observed. In an interview with Virgilio Elizondo he says: My concern is that it is necessary to search for Self-understanding. Who are we as Latinos? Generally people tell you who you are. Rarely you have the opportunity to say: this is who I am. Enrique Dussel said that we repeat the classic mistake of Columbus. Because Columbus didn’t have the sensitivity to ask people: Who are you? He just said: You are Indians. Since then we keep calling our people Indians. A lot of Latinos are not used to being listened to. We live in a culture of being told.

One of the questions to be answered when church members talk about Latino ministries is who is Latino and who is not. It seems an irrelevant question but often people use the prism of ‘us’ and ‘them’ to qualify the other. The United States of America has a wide diversity of ethnicities and races but this generation has been using the term ‘American’ when talking of Caucasian or lighter skin color, fluent English speaking people with European Protestant roots. Looking

back to the historical formation of the country, the panorama is an amalgam of cultures coming together in the same geographical area.89 During the interviews it became clear that there is a need to widen the understanding of the term Latino and define what are the mainstreams within the Latino cultures, in order for the church to learn about this diverse group. Ignorance of what Latino means was one of the topics raised by many of the subjects interviewed. For example during the interview with Flor Aleman, she demonstrates this concern affirming: It is different. The Quinceañera in Mexico is very different from the Quinceañera in Nicaragua. There are differences in the shape of the Mass, in style of the Fiesta, the involvement of family or friends, the cultural expressions and expectations are different. Our church has Colombians, Mexicans, Nicaraguans, Peruvians, Salvadorians, Guatemalans and Americans. Many times we get confused because Spanish language can be different in different countries in South America and Central America. The term Latin America was coined by the French around the year 1860 when the emperor Napoleon III was establishing an alliance with Mexico. The emperor saw the linguistic roots as a common ground to bring allies together and also naturally isolate the Anglo-Saxon colonies. The term Latin could strengthen the identity of the nations in the New World where Spanish, French and Portuguese have settled.90

Lewis Killian, The Impossible Revolution, Phase 2 (New York: Random House, 1975), 16. “The white Anglo-Saxon-Protestant remains the typical American, the model to which other Americans are expected and encouraged to conform” 90 John Charles Chasteen Born in Blood and Fire: a Concise History of Latin America, (NY: W.W.Norton & Company, Inc., 2001), 156.

From that period on, Latin America was used to refer to a huge geographical extension of nations with different and distinct cultures. It is a large area of incredible ethnic complexity. Most Mexicans are descended from indigenous people and from the Spanish who colonized Mexico. The Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead – with its candy skulls inviting people to eat their own death – embodies a mood so unfamiliar to people from the United States precisely because its intimate inspirations are largely non-Western. The capital of Argentina, on the other hand, its ethnically more European than is Washington, D.C. Not only does a larger percentage of the population descend exclusively from European immigrants, but they also maintain more European contacts, such as dual Argentine-Spanish citizenship and relatives born or still living in Italy or England. The modern cityscape of Buenos Aires is very self-consciously modeled on Paris, and French movies have a popularity there unheard of in the United States.91 Narloch and Teixeira raise the question: “What is in common between the Amazon River’s people, Argentinian cowboys, businessmen in Mexico City, indigenous from the islands in the Titicaca River and voodoo followers in Haiti?”92 The answer that follows shows that Latino refers not only the Hispano from Central America but to a broader understanding of the term beyond language settings. What defines the Latin American trait is not the Latin roots anymore but history written through recent generations. The Latin American countries share similarities such as mourning the tragedies suffered by indigenous peoples during colonization, people who were subjected to slavery, as well as the experience of oppressive dictatorships. Latin Americans also use local culture as a model of resistance against globalization and often bring up discourse against 91

John Charles Chasteen, 17. Leandro Narloch and Duda Teixeira, Guia Politicamente Incorreto da América Latina, (São Paulo: Grupo Leya, 2011),18. Translated from Brazilian Portuguese by Dessórdi Leite. 92

capitalism. It is a very particular characteristic of Latin-American writers to express a clear rejection of the Yankee danger.93 Denouncing external sociopolitical domination is relevant to maintaining the resistance. And finally, many Latin American countries have worshiped perverse heroes.94 But who are the Latinos and Latinas living in the United States? For many years society, even the church, worked with Spanish speaking groups with the understanding that this is the group to whom Latino Ministries must be addressed. But in fact, as proved above, language cannot be the only determinant to identify the Latino population. Besides Spanish, they speak Portuguese, French, English and several other Indigenous languages. They are also people born in this country, Latinos and Latinas of the second and third generation who sometimes do not speak the language of their grandparents or who chose one or the other. In a sermon delivered by Bishop Leo Frade at the Second Conference of the Coalition of Episcopalians Latinos, Del Ray Beach, Florida, in 2011 he states, “I know in future times we will have children and grandchildren who will prefer an English speaking church, but for now they can choose. I have two children (living in the United States), one called Erika, the other is called Chad. When I call my daughter and get the voice machine I hear her voice saying: Hola! Esto es Érica Frade. Por favor deje su mensaje. – But when I call my son, his voice machine

Roberto Fernández Retamar, Caliban and other essays, (University of Minnesota Press, 1989), 11. 94 Leandro Narloch and, 19.

says: Hello! This is Chad Frade. Please, leave a message. – So, each one chooses exactly where they want to be (in this society).”95 The church needs to change the lenses being used to look at the population of the United States and then address the needs of those called Latinos according their own peculiarities. For example, during the interview with Deacon Lorraine Mills-Curran, she affirms that there have been Brazilian families in the state of Massachusetts since the end of the nineteenth century and even now, there are people who keep calling their descendants the Brazilians. There are more people of Mexican origin in Los Angeles than in all but one city in Mexico; in New York city, there are more Puerto Ricans than in San Juan; and only in Havana are there more Cubans than Miami. Together, Hispanic Americans comprise 9 percent of the total American population, making them the country’s second largest ethnic minority. If present trends continue, Hispanics may become the largest American ethnic minority sometime in the twenty-first century, surpassing African Americans.96 Finally, as stated before in Chapter Three, the term Hispanic was created by the United States Office of Management and Budget and is not used outside of the country to refer to a Spanish speaking population. The 2010 United States Census Bureau based the Federal Standards for race and ethnicity on selfidentification from each individual’s response. The Federal standards accept more than one answer for the category of race/ethnicity especially when the question is addressed to a Latino population.97 The reason is because a Latino person can be classified in more than one category; for example, they can be an 95

Unpublished sermon quoted from the author's personal video recording. Martin N. Marger, Race and Ethnic Relations: American and Global Perspectives (Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1994), 289. The issue of skin color will be addressed in the end of this chapter under the topic of Power. 97 http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg_1997standards/ 96

Indigenous from Oaxaca, Mexico, or even with African-descent from the Caribbean or Brazil. The 2010 Census Form clarifies the definition of Hispanic or Latino as that which: “refers to a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race.”98

B. Church and Culture Shall Kiss Chad Richardson and Rosalva Resendiz present in their book the conflict with cultural issues about the South Texas Border. In the section on cultural practices connected to food, they state, “A major form of the cultural practices that bind a people together are the particular ways they celebrate special occasions and the foods they eat.”99 For example, Reverend Carmen Guerrero remembered in her interview from her childhood that “I am Mexican-American, and Mexican people always make tamales on Christmas Eve.” Bringing people together around food is a universal phenomenon. This can be seen in many different groups. The Eucharistic sacrament, for example, started around a meal and a religious celebration. More than once, interviews with the subjects revealed that after local Latino congregations celebrate the mass, a meal would be served with food from different nationalities. Jose Leonel Ortez from Miami, FL shared in his interview the diverse nature of his community. He affirms:

http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf Chad Richardson and Rosalva Resendiz, On the Edge of the Law: Culture, Labor, And Deviance on the South Texas Border (Austin: University of Texas Press: 2006), 74. 99

People from all nationalities. Forty percent are Colombians, twenty five percent Hondurans, fifteen percent other Central Americans, and then a variety of people from several countries like, Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, and sometimes people from Mexico. It is a beautiful mix. Also every Sunday we invite people to stay after Mass for a meal, to create a social time after church. Each Sunday the table will serve dishes from Argentina, or Bolivia, or Colombia, etc. It is a precious gift that emerges from our community. These are opportune times for Latinos to share freely about their own cultural heritage in the church with pride and joy. In some communities they refer to holy days and celebrations followed by a meal as La Fiesta.100 But culture can have a wider meaning. It is one of the most common words in our days to define the differences between groups of people, and culture is still an organic term and difficult to pin down. Culture can include national customs,101 activities which some might consider elitist,102 mass-produced forms of entertainment,103 or local variations in symbolic meanings,104 etc. They can all be related in the context of Latinos in the United States of America as examples of culture as mentioned in the paragraph above. Through these concepts Wendy Griswold presents the definition of culture with two major

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Common Latin American expression that refers to celebration, festival or party. The quinceañeras, for example, is from the Mexican tradition but became more popular in the United States than in it’s country of origin. 102 For example, going to places to experience “culture” such as the San Francisco Symphony’s annual Day of the Dead event. The problem here is the contradiction of the comparison of “high culture” in opposition to Folk or Popular culture. 103 Telenovelas or Soap Operas have shaped the Latin culture since the 50’s in many places. Not only the Latin population in Latin America but also Latinos in the U.S. have kept the tradition of watching the TV programs. 104 Symbolic meaning is related to several practices, customs, behaviors and things that can be translated according to the circumstances and places. In this case, religion is a big element to be observed in the Latin context with different symbolic meanings. 101

ways of thinking: Humanities and Social Science (Anthropology).105 Culture can be better defined from the point-of-view of four marks: norms (the way people behave in specific societies), values (are what they hold dear), beliefs (the way they see how the Universe operates) and expressive symbols (which are representations of the first three). The second key to enter into the dialogue with the Latino population is the understanding that culture and religion share time and space. These norms, values, beliefs and symbols are intrinsically connected and often will disturb the discipline and traditions of certain Anglo communities of the Episcopal Church. These must be observed to recreate ministries for the Latino population in the Episcopal Church in the United States. The Brazilian educator Arlete Falkowski in her interview talks about a project that sets out to connect second generation of Latinos with their grandparents cultural context: “We conduct an ongoing project to bring to the next generation of Latinos here in the US the culture of their parents and grandparents in the form of traditional Brazilian songs, circular dances, children’s games, art, devotions and stories from their own forebears.” It is equally important to remember that culture is not shaped only by memories brought from Latin America but for many Latinos who are living in this country a new culture is being established by the mixing of their past or heritage with their present and the current social challenges. It was clear through the 105

Wendy Griswold, Cultures and Societies in a Changing World. (Pine Forge Press: London,1994), 11-12.

interviews that some religious celebrations, Latino traditions and family-related customs have changed and been reshaped since the subject’s families moved the U.S. For example, when interviewed, Elizabeth Hughes shows similar concern: “What I most miss from my country is the importance and unity of the family. In Mexico we are close to our uncles, cousins and all our relatives. We visit each other. Let’s go and visit our aunt! Let’s go and visit our cousin! But here (in U.S.) we live far away from each other.” Latino culture is not a singular term but must be treated as plurality. There is a diversity of cultures among the Latino population in the United States. “Latinos are from twenty different countries, each unique with rich cultures,” says Cristina Benitez in her work about the Latinization of the United States.106 This is not only because of the background of the immigrants but also because the following generations are still in a process of re-creating new cultures (or subcultures). The society and the church do not see the particularities but understand incorrectly the different as One – one cultural block, the Latinos. In the interview with Flor Aleman she speaks about the similarities and differences between Latinos who live in the US: “People think that because we are Hispanics we have devotion to the Virgen de Guadalupe, but I am from Nicaragua, and there La Virgen de Concepción is the representation of Mary.” In addition, there are layers of cultural sets that shape the general view of what Latino culture means. For example, the Mission District of San Francisco has a larger concentration of Latino population if compared to the rest of the city, 106

Cristina Benitez, Latinization: how Latino Culture is Transforming the U.S., (Ithaca, NY: James Madden, 2007), 12.

even though the Latinos there are different from each other. In the Mission, cultural layers can be expressed through different levels of behavior: it can be shown in the midst of the poverty of those who live on the streets; or can also be seen in those immigrant Latinos/as who have jobs there; or can also be expressed in gay Latinos who moved there to be closer to the Castro neighborhood. They are all Latinos, in the same geographical area, and all living different realities in different social contexts. Many elements will shape the “Latino Cultures” in the United States. The quest for the church is to identify contextual instruments that speak to the local Latino population without ignoring their unique particularities. There is only one problem related to the key culture and church, that is the fear of change. Many times people’s fears about dialoging with other cultures are tied to what we see as defense of our own culture or way of life. It is a very common thing for people to be proud about their own heritage and roots. But it is also true that people fear losing their own traditional ways of doing things after encountering new symbols, rituals and practices of community life and worship. Language and liturgical inculturation is the third key to enter into a dialogue with Latino population. C. What did you say? Language and Liturgical Inculturation “Tenemos que hablar en Español o Ingles? Como quieras? Better in Ingles!”107 Interview with Ana Sofia Saenz and Talia Aleman, Episcopalian teenagers from North Carolina As expected, the interviews also revealed a major concern about language issues especially towards the liturgy of the church, leadership training and 107

Do we need to speak in Spanish or English? As we prefer? Better in English! Trans. Dessordi Peres Leite. Berkeley, CA.

formation and community relationships. For example, in the interview with Martin Martinez, faculty member of the Mexican American Catholic College he refers to his family context as follows: Our home was bilingual but mostly Spanish because my mom didn’t speak English. The parish we used to go in my neighborhood was bilingual and we would attend the Spanish Mass. The priest was usually bilingual, so was the community. We were exposed to traditional styles of popular forms of devotion like Las Posadas. In the school all my Mexican-American colleagues would speak English and engage in the Anglo culture. Language is not a new issue for the Church. As seen in the First Chapter of this work, language diversity is one mark of the beginning of the Church.108 Living in Pentecost is what we are called to do today. Unfortunately many church communities are still living in the Babel event, where diversity of language divides, isolates and separates people. Some churches recognize the value of cultural sensitivity and find ways to connect people at an emotional level as well as devotional. During his interview Manoel Morales, former Roman Catholic gives a good example: Once my Episcopal community surprised me on my birthday by singing the Mañanitas.109 That was a very special, joyful moment. The community made me feel so important. As you know, in the Roman Catholic Church you just attend the service and in the end people leave and there are no connections. Here people give you a place and recognize you. Since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960’s, Christianity has been using the term Inculturation more and more often. The first time the term was used in an official document was by Pope John-Paul II to address the subject to the 108

Acts 2:1-11 (NRSV). Las Mañanitas is a traditional Mexican song for birthday celebrations. It has been in use for more than hundred years in Mexico. 109

Pontificia Commissione Biblica. His affirmation is a clarification of the word: “though ‘inculturation’ is a neologism it express one of the elements of the great mystery of Incarnation very well indeed.” 110 In Latin America many times we talk about the Cristo Companheiro111 or even the historic Jesus – images of Christ that will lead us to a new Sunday liturgy, a new understanding of the Resurrection. The mystery of incarnation is unique; it helps us to understand why the liturgy and the church need to be adapted to the local culture. Based on this theory the Canadian theologian E. Kilmartin says: “The prime analogue of inculturation is the incarnation, life, death and glorification of Jesus Christ.”112 We can’t fix our sight on the image of a victorious Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father when the real intention of the word incarnation is that Jesus is present in the midst of his people. Liturgical incarnation starts when the theological prism is the historical Jesus, and we feel committed to adjust rites to enrich our understanding of adoration and worship. When the church “incarnates or embodies the liturgy” she also begins to know her people and to let the people know her better. Manoel Morales who spoke about music and liturgy in his interview points out that popular devotions reflect daily life experiences of faith.

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Pontificia Commissione Biblica, Fede e Cultura alla Luce della Biblia, (Torino: Elle Di Ci, 1981), 343. 111 This expression is used in Latin America to refer to the event of Emmaus where Jesus is the one who walks with the disciples and reveals himself in the breaking of the bread. 112 E. Kilmartin, “Culture and the Praying Church”, Canadian Studies in Liturgy 5 (1990) 62.

“Las Posadas is a Popular celebration. You can have a clergy person but it is also possible that any other person can lead or officiate Las Posadas.” At the ecumenical level, in the Latin American context for example, the experience of the Basic Ecclesial Communities (Comunidades Eclesiais de Base or just CEB’s) are a huge sign of this experience of Incarnation. Sometimes we use the local experience to embody a large diversity of expressions. Because Latin America is large geographically speaking, with a multicultural ground, the CEB's will focus on social needs instead of cultural issues. More than celebrating the cultural differences, the liturgy is also a call to social justice. In his book Globalization, Spirituality, and Justice, Daniel Groody dedicates one entire Chapter to emphasize the fact that worship is not disconnected from daily life.113 “The Eucharist is central to liberation theology because it is a résumé of the entire Christian message.”114 In the CEB’s the prism is poverty, illiteracy, and social exclusion instead of culture. The liturgical beauty in this case abides in bringing together different cultures and challenging the churches to make a voice for the voiceless in the society. Michael Amaladoss in his book, Beyond Inculturation, Can the Many be one?, affirms that God encounters the human/person in community.115 That encounter promoted by God offers freedom, fellowship and justice to all. As a 113

Daniel Groody, Globalization, Spirituality, and Justice (Maryknoll,NY: Orbis Books, 2010), 211. Ibid., 212. 115 Michael Amaladoss, Beyond Inculturation: Can the Many be One?, (Delhi: Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2005), 18. 114

result, Liturgical Incarnation is not cultural imposition. One truth for a group cannot be applied to another group outside their context. The reason the document ad Gentes from the Second Vatican Council changed the terminology adaptation to incarnation that is born in the cultural environment, was to avoid cultural imposition. The term Inculturation was borrowed by theologians, missionaries and liturgists from the anthropologists and was shaped by our needs. The concern about inculturation in the Church started with the objective of safeguarding the essence of the Christian message from the natural way that culture is modified through the centuries. The Gospel is announced to transform the society but not the culture, keeping the nature of each nation. In Brazil there is a popular song that says: “the Gospel is the word of all cultures. Word of God in the language of the people…”116 Liturgical inculturation must build a bridge between the Good news of Jesus and the culture of a people. It is the dynamic and creative relationship between the Christian message and the cultures. Inculturation is necessary in the Church because culture is always present in the midst of the people. One embraces the other. In general, we can use three instruments to inculturate the liturgy. They are: dynamic equivalence, creative assimilation and organic progression.117 To satisfy our needs in this issue we also need to understand that the inculturation process 116

Song extracted from the Missa da Terra Sem Males. The Amerindian Mass was created in 1979 in Brazil to challenge all the oppressed, from the past and from the present, to march to find a “New Land where the oppressed is set free and no evil abides’. 117 Anscar Chupungco, Liturgical Inculturation: Sacramentals, Religiosity, and Catechesis (Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1992), 37. Concepts presented by Anscar Chupungco in his book Liturgical Inculturation.

has no set time scheme for maturation and effectiveness. The diversity of results will demand effort and work.

D. Where are you from? Insiders and outsiders of the United States Society

Were Adam and Eve black? In 2005 National Geographic started the multiyear Genographic Project.118 Since then more has been learned about the migratory history of humanity. The project is tracking the roots and the deep ancestry of ethnic groups from all around the world through human DNA. Where do I come from? Where did my ancestors come from? These are questions that people have asked themselves at least once in life.119 So far, all the results point to the fact that the human race came through waves of migration from the geographic area today called the African Continent. We are all connected to the scientific Adam and scientific Eve from Africa. “Now the rainbow of the earth is more colorful than the rainbow of the sky. But we are all emigrants from Africa. Even the whitest of whites comes from Africa.”120 The Genographic Project comes to the encounter with the fourth Key to enrich the discussion of who are you and where are you from. The five keys here presented are elements woven very tightly. They are interchangeable. The fourth Key, with the other Keys, has to do with identity, cultural differences, resistance to adapt to other linguistic forms and, as well, power issues. This section is called 118

https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html (accessed 23 January 2012). 119 http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2006/03/human-journey/video-interactive (accessed 23 January 2012). Written in Our DNA is set of videos where the Geneticist Spencer Wells, chair for the Genographic Project, talks about the Human Family Tree. 120 Eduardo Galeano, Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone, (NY: Nation Books, 2009), 1.

Where are you from? Insiders and Outsiders, because ninety percent of the interviewees had stories or memories to share about being seen as a foreigner in the United States, even when they were born here. The interviewer used the question, Where do you see the face of the crucified Christ in your community? - 94% of the answers related to the immigration issues in the United States. The Latino communities in the Episcopal Church have been carrying the burden that many other groups are living with, that the stranger among us maybe should not be here. That conflicts with the Judeo-Christian tradition of welcoming the stranger: “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself: for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God”.121 Arlete Falkowski in her interview shows the concern of welcoming people in a proper way, being sensitive to their barriers and needs to adapt: Immigrants here are people who walk in suffering. Most are people who work long hours per day and don’t know the English language very well. I think is fundamental that the church in the US should go where these people are. Go to the place where day laborers are to listen their needs, to share the Word of God, to seek for healing and restoration in life. This is a new time and the church need to adapt to this new time. The Reverend Mercedes Julian also expresses the hope of breaking the cycle that separate people as insiders and outsiders: “And this is the anteroom of Heaven: Ojalá that all Anglo congregations open their arms to embrace this new Hispanic community of the church, to nurture, to enrich, to strengthen, to make 121

Leviticus 19:33-34 (NRSV).

the Church that Jesus wants. Perhaps, two languages but one church, one congregation.” Another way of explaining this topic is saying that the issue is not about immigration but about rejecting Latino immigrants. Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo points out that today in the United States xenophobia targets women and children because they are essential for permanent settlement to occur. Among the various ethnic groups in the United States, the Latino population is the one most attacked by those who reject the desirability of a multi-cultural society. We are living in a different time. This is an anti-immigration era. People with Latin origins have been offended and harassed. They are living in fear, under suspicion, and are the target of hatred by many. “In this historical moment, even legal immigrants have come to be seen as outsiders, as persons of ill repute.”122 The interviewees brought up similar concerns. Martin Martinez for example affirms: “Racism, fear, uncertainty in the economy, terrorism, all these different things, are causing unfair relations in the United States society, and many times Latinos become the scapegoat. This happened in the past to other groups.” The issue of living in fear and distress was mentioned several times by those interviewed for this doctoral project. Stories of families coming to church and encountering anxiety about being reported to the immigration authorities call our attention to the type of welcoming church found in the local communities. Welcoming is a common issue addressed in churches but many times the issue 122

Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, God’s Heart has no Borders: How Religious Activists are working for Immigrants Rights, (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2008), 13.

is treated with superficiality. It is necessary to see beyond the language or the facial expressions. It is necessary to pay attention to what the society says about this particular group. People who come to church are a reflection of the unjust society and they will reflect unfair judgment about the oppressed. But not all Latino persons are immigrants. That must be clarified when the local communities are building their strategic plan for a specific Latino ministry. The second and third generations of immigrants in this country many times are still treated as immigrants as well. Born here or located where the international border of the country was realigned, Latinos/as living in the United States are citizens, with the same rights of any other United States citizen. The church has an important role in the process of restoring the New Heaven and the New Earth. The new society in Jesus has no insiders or outsiders but all are reconciled in one family, the Family of Humankind.123 Daniel Groody speaks from the Roman Catholic perspective but also calls other churches to be aware of same topic: “Beyond any national, social, cultural, racial, economic, and ideological differences, Catholic social teaching understands one’s personal family is an integral part of a larger global human family.”124 We are all called to what Groody calls the Globalization of Solidarity. Embracing the poor and the oppressed as one of us. This permeates the next Key, Issues of Power towards ethnic minorities in the United States.

123 124

Daniel Groody, Globalization, Spirituality and Justice, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2010), 114. Daniel Groody, 116.

E. The Awakening of the Eagle: Power Matters The Parable of the Eagle by James Aggrey A fable is told about an eagle who thought he was a chicken. When the eagle was very small, he fell from the safety of his nest. A chicken farmer found the eagle, brought him to the farm, and raised him in a chicken coop among his many chickens. The eagle grew up doing what chickens do. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled, living like a chicken, and believing he was a chicken. A naturalist came to the chicken farm to see if what he had heard about an eagle acting like a chicken was really true. He knew that an eagle is king of the sky. He was surprised to see the eagle strutting around the chicken coop, pecking at the ground, and acting very much like a chicken. The farmer explained to the naturalist that this bird was no longer an eagle. He was now a chicken because he had been trained to be a chicken and he believed that he was a chicken. The naturalist knew there was more to this great bird than his actions showed as he "pretended" to be a chicken. He was born an eagle and had the heart of an eagle, and nothing could change that. The man lifted the eagle onto the fence surrounding the chicken coop and said, "Eagle, thou art an eagle. Stretch forth thy wings and fly." The eagle moved slightly, only to look at the man; then he glanced down at his home among the chickens in the chicken coop where he was comfortable. He jumped off the fence and continued doing what chickens do. The farmer was satisfied. "I told you it was a chicken," he said. The naturalist returned the next day and tried again to convince the farmer and the eagle that the eagle was born for something greater. He took the eagle to the top of the farmhouse and spoke to him: "Eagle, thou art an eagle. Thou dost belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth thy wings and fly." The large bird looked at the man, then again down into the chicken coop. He jumped from the man's arm onto the roof of the farmhouse. Knowing what eagles are really about, the naturalist asked the farmer to let him try one more time. He would return the next day and prove that this bird was an eagle. The farmer, convinced otherwise, said, "It is a chicken." The naturalist returned the next morning to the chicken farm and took the eagle and the farmer some distance away to the foot of a high mountain. They could not see the farm nor the chicken coop from this new setting. 66 Â

The man held the eagle on his arm and pointed high into the sky where the bright sun was beckoning above. He spoke: "Eagle, thou art an eagle! Thou dost belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth thy wings and fly." This time the eagle stared skyward into the bright sun, straightened his large body, and stretched his massive wings. His wings moved, slowly at first, then surely and powerfully. With the mighty screech of an eagle, he flew.125 The Time and the Turn of the Eagle is a work done by Leonardo Boff visioning Church and society of the Third Millennium. The book written in the end of the twentieth-century is intended to awaken the oppressed minorities to the opportunity of a new time, to become an eagle after such a long period of chicken-life in the chicken coop. To transform Church and society in the Third Millennium we must be courageous. It is not an easy task to open a new way where there is none, says Boff.126 His concern is not only about the abuse of power under people but upon all God’s Creation. This New Millennium is the opportunity to open new ways and awaken to the eagle-dimension. It is crucial for the new future to leave behind old principles of power and classism. Those were the ones who created the impasse we are living in. We are all made from the same material. We all are threads coming from God and returning to God. We are all made in God’s image and likeness.127 But we still have people who keep reminding certain groups that they are chicken-like and not eagle-like. They are not allowed to fly, not allowed to be more than what they are told to be. 125

Leon E. Clark, Through African Eyes: The Past, (NY: CITE Books, 1991), 209. Leonardo Boff, O Despertar da Águia: O Dia-bólico e o Sim-bólico na Construção da Realidade, (Petrópolis: Editora Vozes, 1998), 34. 127 Genesis 1:26 (NRSV). 126

This story is not new; it can be found in other words told by other ethnic minorities in the United States. “That was the way they were taught and sometimes the chicken-like condition is the chosen one.”128 Conformism toward labels and prejudice against the different or the excluded of the society is often the choice. Origen, in the third century C.E., already addressed the oppression suffered by the excluded: … the rag, tag and bobtail of humanity. But Jesus does not leave them that way. Out of material you would have thrown away as useless, he fashions (people of strength), giving them back their self-respect, enabling them to stand on their feet and look God in the eye. They were cowed, cringing, broken things. But the Son has sent them free!

Silvia Ramirez interviewed in California shares her experience of abuse by church leaders: “I used to go to the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico and in the United States… and I used to be in a church with mostly Latinos members from different nationalities but with Anglo priests. Even being in the leadership I experienced abuse by the leaders of the church, emotional abuse and financial abuse.” To change society the churches must engage in a fight with the fundamentals of power and privilege, the same ones that promote cultural misunderstandings, ignorance toward ethnic and racial issues and power abuse constructions. Because of the current power dynamics, the Latino population can be considered today as the poor of the society. In so many senses they suffer under labels like: brown people, lazy, uneducated, drug dealers, dishonest and 128

Leonardo Boff, A Águia e a Galinha: Uma metáfora da condição humana, (Petrópolis: Editora Vozes, 1998), 29. Translation by the author.

many other depreciative adjectives. The Church should be inspired by the example of the Triune God, a community of relational difference, to dismantle the unjust structures. How can one become aware of the dynamics of privilege and oppression? The Episcopal Church has been calling all who have (or will have) church leadership positions to take anti-racism training. In 2006, the House of Bishops wrote a pastoral letter for the Episcopal Church addressing the issues of power and racism: “the poor and persons of color were often served last – or not at all” and reaffirming the restoration of God’s will through a list of actions. Among those we find: “recruit and empower people of all races and ethnic origins as leaders in our church, and as members of all boards, agencies, commissions, and committees.”129 The Episcopal Church has been addressing issues related to slavery and racism in the United States through its anti-racism commitment since 1991. One of the fruits of the church becoming aware of the imbalance of power privileges is a book called Seeing the Face of God in Each Other: The Anti-Racism Training Manual of the Episcopal Church.130 The book presents a variety of materials for anti-racism training workshops and challenges the participants to transform the society from racist structures. However, what was revealed by the interviews that were conducted is the misunderstanding of the purpose of the anti-racism training in The Episcopal 129

http://archive.episcopalchurch.org/3577_73047_ENG_HTM.htm Seeing the Face of God in Each Other: The Anti-Racism Training Manual of the Episcopal Church, Office of Anti-racism and Gender Equality Advocacy Center, 2010. Page 65. 130

Church. In many places the training gets stuck on skin color issues or just promotes a sense of guilt on the part of the non-African American population. The history of slavery in the United States is ugly but other forms of slavery are still present and have nothing to do with the color of the skin, but rather have to do with ethnic roots, social class and cultural background. There is an urgent need for training and workshops about multiculturalism (or cultural diversity) in the Episcopal Church. Workshops that make the church aware of the dynamic of privilege and on the same hand do not create a wall but rather create possibilities of dialogue between those with High Power to those in Low Power.131 “… maybe the church could offer a place where (Latino) people would come for worship and not be afraid. I say this because the Cathedral had many lawyers, judges and the Sheriff. ” says Canon Carmen Guerrero when she talks about the unawareness of power in members of the church. Looking through this prism, resources from institutes and organizations that are working beyond skin color issues can be helpful. For example, today on the West Coast of United States can be found the Kaleidoscope Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes workshops to engage a diverse, changing world. It is not enough to talk about race in the society of the United States, but the church also needs to address moral questions. The Brazilian Bishop Helder Camara said “when I give food to the poor, I am called a saint, but when I ask 131

These concepts are developed by Eric Law where privilege is rated by cultural background, financial and social status, color skin and level of education. Eric Law, The Wolf shall dwell with the Lamb: A Spirituality for Leadership in a Multicultural Community, (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 1993), 21-23.

why is it that the poor do not have food? I am called communist.”132 Why are people poor or excluded in the United States? Why is there inequality in the society and how is it hurting the body of the church? How can the church go beyond serving the poor and become those who support the poor as they empower themselves? How can the excluded be restored and the church be a bridge for social inclusion? What is the role of the church in transforming the social situation of powerless Latinos/as? These are difficult questions with no easy answers.

132

Porter Taylor, From Anger to Zion: An Alphabet of Faith, (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 2004), 86.

Chapter Five Visioning the Video Documentary Project

She woke up while it was still dark, as if she could hear the steps of the sun approaching from over the rooftops. Then she sat down at her loom. A soft coloured thread to start the day. Delicately she traced the color of the light, passing it over the stretched threads, while dawn rose over the horizon. Later more vibrant wools she wove hour by hour, in a long carpet that she never finished. If the sun was too strong, and in the garden the petals were drooping, the young woman placed in the shuttle thick fiery threads of thick felted cotton. Soon, in the shadow of the clouds, she chose a silver thread, which she wove in long stitches onto the fabric. Rain came tapping at the windowpane. But if during many days the wind and the cold tossed the leaves and frightened the birds, it was enough for the young woman to weave with her beautiful golden threads, so that the sun came back to bring calm to nature. Thus, casting her shuttle from one side to another and beating the great combs of the loom forward and back, the young woman passed her days. She lacked nothing. When she was hungry she would weave herself a fine fish with carefully detailed scales and soon the fish was on the table, to be eaten. If she were thirsty she would spill milky colors onto the fabric. And at night, after weaving the colors of darkness, she would sleep soundly. All she did was weaving. Weaving was all she wanted to do.133 The project has the name Many Threads One Tapestry because the perfect image of a beautiful piece of art made by many different types of colors, lines, and texture, and also the product of human hands. The previous chapters help us to understand the complexity of creating multicultural places in the church which it actually was in its diverse origins. That is Chapter One’s major topic, that the Way of Christ guided Jesus followers through to a new life, the Way of the

133

A Moça Tecelã, Poem from the Brazilian journalist Marina Colasanti, 2004.

Church. And this new way is multilingual, cultural diverse and concerned about social inequalities.134 Through the research process I realized that there would never be an ending point in this quest of the U.S. church. There will not be a moment when we will say: now it is done. We achieved the perfect point of dialogue between cultures (or the inculturation of the church). Culture is organic and its development an ongoing process. It is always dying and being born again and again. In Latino Ministries for example, we need to start talking about the process of encountering the different rather than an arriving point. I believe that is also true for the other minorities. We are all seeking acceptance and to be welcomed in the church. “You have to tell your story. Whatever happens to you, you tell your story and you are going to survive, and you are going to forgive. Because at least they have heard your story and they need to face it.” - Enedina Vasquez statement from one of the interviews The collection of video interviews organized, as a video documentary will become a resource to local communities or church leaders who are seeking to engage in the discussion of Latino Ministries in the Episcopal Church in the United States. The videos will be divided between the five major topics presented in the previous chapters. To provide continuity through the five meetings, this chapter provides a pattern to be followed by the group who will watch the videos.

134

Ben Witherington, Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids, Mich. : W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 1998), 458.

MANY THREADS, ONE TAPESTRY Five Church Meetings Topics (or Plan)

The General Objective: to create time and space for people to reflect about the need of contextual missionary work through Latino ministries to enrich the life of local communities.

The Specific Objective: to engage people in a dialogue about the implications of developing Latino Ministries in their local community. Addressing the challenges and the potentialities of widening the missionary action in the local community.

The Order of the Meetings Prayer for the Mission of the Church O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you, bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit upon all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.135 135

Establishing Ground Rules: Once a group has convened, it helps to facilitate the creation of agreed-upon ‘ground rules’ for the conversation. This will help the group to experience an environment of safety and trust, enabling authentic and meaningful participation from the beginning. Further, defining ground rules collaboratively establishes all participants as stakeholders in the outcomes. Because there five meetings through the process, people will discover the dynamics of the group will create ground rules rather easily since they already know the problems of working together. Below is the proposed list of ground rules for a group meeting: 1. Don’t take it personally 2. No interruptions – Listen 3. Candid – Speak your truth 4. Be respectful 5. Be aware of projections (yours and others) 6. No responses – Clarifications only 7. Own your truth 8. Take risks 9. Be receptive, be open 10. Portable or not portable – Can we use the information later?

After establishing ground rules the group can sing one or two songs and introduce themselves (in case it is a new group) saying their names and the

reason why they choose to be in this group for reflection on that day. Immediately after the presentation of the group, the video is played which will take approximately twenty five to thirty minutes. The video will contain the questions for the theme of the current day. The person in charge of the meeting will divide those present in groups of four of five individuals for the discussion. The questions will not request solutions for the topic or problem presented but will foster dialogue about issues, challenges and potentialities related to Latino Ministries. The group itself can raise new questions based on what they saw in the videos and the relationship to their needs and their neighborhood. No more than fifteen minutes should be allowed for the discussion followed by each small group sharing their discussion of the presentation to the larger group. The meeting ends with the Our Father which could be said in the different native languages of those present, and a song that will close the meeting. One of the following or others could be used: All are Welcome by Marty Haugen (1994) Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live, a place where saints and children tell how hearts learn to forgive. Built of hopes and dreams and visions, rock of faith and vault of grace; here the love of Christ shall end divisions: All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place. Let us build a house where prophets speak, and words are strong and true, where all God’s children dare to seek to dream God’s reign anew. Here the cross shall stand as witness and as symbol of God’s grace; here as one we claim the faith of Jesus: All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where love is found in water, wine, and wheat: a banquet hall on holy ground where peace and justice meet. Here the love of God, through Jesus, is revealed in time and space; as we share in Christ the feast that free us: All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place. Let us build a house where hands will reach beyond the wood and stone to heal and strengthen, serve and teach, and live the Word theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve known. Here the outcast and the stranger bear the image of Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s face; let us bring an end to fear and danger: All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place. Let us build a house where all are named, their songs and visions heard and loved and treasured, taught and claimed as words within the Word. Built of tears and cries and laughter, prayers of faith and songs of grace, let this house proclaim from floor to rafter: All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

Nada te Turbe Music by Jacques Berthier Nada te turbe, Nada te espante. Quien a Dios tiene nada le falta. Nada te turbe, Nada te espante. Solo Dios basta.

77 Â

Conclusion

The present project is the product of research on textual material and the collection and analyses of empirical facts in and out of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America towards ministries for the Latino population. The research and analyses reveal the dynamics of power, behavior and relationships among cultures present today in the Episcopal Church. These dynamics can be seen by the church as weaknesses but if appropriately addressed some of these weaknesses can become beautiful gifts to enrich the body of the church. What stops the church from embracing more fully the ethnic minorities is the fear of change coming from outside. Most of the interviews done for this project reveal that Episcopalians have their identity very rooted in the worship pattern which is expressed through the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. In fact, opening the doors to 'others' means that the way we have of doing things may change because the outsiders will not worship in the same way Episcopalians do on Sunday morning. And that is just one example. For Latin Americans living in the United States there are many other ways of serving God's mission and many others ways of worship that may not appear in the Book of Common Prayer. Even with a large growing Latino population in the United States, the Episcopal Church is still in the process of discovering and understanding popular religiosity and other important rituals that belong to the daily lives of many others. Some good examples of liturgies that cannot be found on the Book of Common

78 Â

Prayer are the Quinceñeras, the traditions for The Day of the Dead, patronal feasts and devotions to the saints. And the liturgical issues are just one portion of this amazing colorful tapestry. There is also the gift of multiplicity of languages, cultural diversity and unique traditions all of which reveals a different knowledge of Christianity. This project begins to remind us that the nature of the Early Church abides in the diversity of cultures and languages. Pentecost marks the definitive event of becoming a Christian community and that is in our DNA. It is the duty of the church to celebrate the differences that compose its body. The challenge is to know how to live the diversity without losing the particularities. The fear of the unknown and of the stranger many times prevents the church from experiencing the flowing Grace of God. The interviews unveil the concept that to break the walls that divide people in church is found in letting each other know about each other's stories. Making peoples stories relevant for the healing and reconciliation of the body of the Church is a powerful instrument of evangelism. Dialoging about our stories in the broader context of God's story and the Bible stories has always been central to the life of the Church. In the best sense, this is what the tradition of the community has been about, the sharing of our own experiences of life and God, as a way of encouraging one another, creating hope in one another, and in the process learning from and being corrected by one another.136 The expected result of sharing the stories of many Latinos and church leaders who are working with Latino Ministries in the Episcopal Church is that 136

John W. Drane, The McDonaldization of the Church: Consumer Culture and the Church's Future (Georgia: Smyth & Helwys Publishing Inc., 2002 ), 172.

local communities will be able to enter the dialogue about multiculturalism and become more culturally sensitive in their congregations. The first step to break walls of division and ignorance is to be open to listening to stories without seeking much clarification. The questions presented after the video documentaries will help the group who gathers for reflection to be challenged to see how those interviews can relate to their local context. What can their local church learn from those stories and how can they be transformed by the Holy Spirit to prophesize in dry places that needs God's Grace.

He said to me, Mortal, can these bones live? I answered, O Lord God, you know. Then he said to me, Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.137

The final thought I bring to this work is that the Episcopal Church is rediscovering the multiplicity of the Body of Christ and it is diversity. Through the stories presented on the videos people will find some clues about how to engage with the Latino population but the fact is that there is no single right way of doing this, but only the imperative to keep trying. As said in the beginning of this project, the work with Latino ministries is an ongoing work. The only way of doing right ministry is through unconditional love and kindness.

137

Ezekiel 37: 3-6. (NSRV)

Appendix 1 The Consent Forms (English and Spanish versions)

CONSENT FORM (Project) Interview Consent Form My name is Dessórdi Peres Leite (Sam) and I am a doctoral student at CDSP - Church Divinity School of Pacific School affiliated with Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. I am inviting you to participate in the research I'm doing for my doctoral thesis. I'm interviewing people originally from Latin America living in the U.S., people who have ancestors in Latin America but are born here, descendants of Hispanics or Latinos, and people who work with Latino ministries in Christian churches. You will be helping my research through this interview. I have a set of questions ready to ask, but I'm also interested in hearing anything else you have to say about the experience of living in the United States that may not be covered by my questions. The amount of time the interview will take is difficult to judge accurately, but I hope it will last about an hour or two. The interview can be conducted at any mutual agreeable place that is best for you. I will need to take notes and record the interview if you agree. If you prefer the interview can be confidential and anonymous. If so, I will assign a number ("Respondent # ___") so your name will not appear in the thesis and no one will be able to identity you by what you say to me. In any case, you will always be free not to answer any questions or specific questions and you can end your participation in the study at any time. While I will retain all intellectual and commercial rights and to the interview materials (copyright), I freely consent to give you access to materials pertaining to your interview to cite or quote for your own use. I can be reached at the phone number 510-847-XXXX or at samdessordi@yahoo.co.uk Thank you for your participation!

________________________________________ (Please print name) I voluntarily and with understanding consent to be interviewed by Dessórdi Peres Leite (Sam) as a participant in his doctoral thesis on the Latino presence in the United States. I understand I am free to not answer any specific question(s), and may terminate the interview and / or withdraw from the research project at any time. I understand that the report of my participation in this study is completely anonymous and confidential.

____ I consent to the recording of my interview. Please sign here ________________________________________ Date _______________

Regarding anonymity and confidentiality waiver

____ I do not agree to waive my right to anonymity and confidentiality.

____ I do agree to waive my right to anonymity and confidentiality. Please sign here ________________________________________ Date _______________

Appendix 2 Orientation for the interviewees and questioner Orientation for the interviewees Here are the questions I'm going to ask during our conversation/interview. They will be our guides. Other questions will arise as we speak. The interview should last about one hour plus 15 minutes to set up the video camera and light. When we start we will agree that none of the recorded material (film) will be used without permission from the respondent (you). The film will be edited later and will not be used in its entirety. So do not be anxious that if something does not go well, we can record it again. I hope to interview many people and not all respondents will be in the final product, but it is important that everyone understands that the interviews will be considered in my doctoral project research. I expect to interview: * People from Latin America or Latin American descendants (Christians or not Christians); * People who are working with Hispanic ministries in the Church of the USA; * People who work with disadvantaged minorities in our society. Interview questions: 1. Full name: 2. Originally from: a) place of birth and b) where you live now? 3. Age? 4. Born Episcopalian/Anglican? 5. What religion practiced before becoming Episcopalian? 6. Why did you become Episcopalian? 7. In your opinion, who is Latino/a? And who are the Latinos in your community? 8. Where do you see the face of the Christ Crucified in your Latino community? 9. Where do you see the face of the Risen Christ in your Latino Community? 10. A dream to share: We know that the Church from 20 years ago was different than the current church. Feel free to dream about the Episcopal Church in 20 years. What is your vision of the future?

85 Â

Appendix 3 List of Individuals Interviewed in 2011

1. Martin Martinez 2. Liz Ortiz 3. Silvia Ramirez 4. Manoel Morales Gonzalez 5. Alejandro Montes 6. Lorraine Mills-Curran 7. Arlete Falkowski 8. Edgar A. Gutiérrez 9. Gladys Diaz 10. Anthony Guillén 11. Isaiaz A. Rodriguez 12. Gabriel Lamazares 13. Roberto Arciniega 14. Juan Guerra-Diaz 15. Mercedes Julian 16. Carmen Bruni Guerrero 17. Ana Sofia Saenz 18. Talia Saenz 19. Flor Aleman 20. Barbara Gainey 21. Elizabeth Hughes 22. Alicia De La Cruz 23. Jose Leonel Ortez 24. Heber Mauricio Papini 25. Leo Frade 26. Guillermo Castillo 27. Erin Kirby 28. Michael Lapsley 29. Virgilio Elizondo 30. Lauren Lenoski 31. Eduardo Fernandez

Appendix 4 Demographics of the Interviewees

Men - 16 Women – 15 Clergy – 19 Laity – 12 Language Interviews in Spanish – 9 Interviews in Portuguese – 2 Interviews in English - 20 Generations 1st Generations Latinos: 19 from Latin America 2nd Generation Latinos: 7 Episcopalian – 25 Non-Episcopalian – 6 Geographical areas: * Northeast (Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island,) 5 * Southern (Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina) 13 * Midwest (Minnesota, Oklahoma) 2 * Southwest (Arizona) 1 * Northwest (Oregon) 3 * Pacific (California) 5 * England 1 * South Africa 1

Appendix 5 Songs for the Study Groups

" 44

! " #

all words wa yond songs

! " #

love one share bring house

# #

can safe - ly are strong and ter, wine and the wood and and vi - sions

give. new. meet. known. Word.

Rock And Is Bear Prayers

a a a a a

house house house house house

Built Here Here Here Built

of Christ shall we claim the in Christ the an end to proclaim from

# $ #' # # # ! "

# #

How To Where And As

And And In Be Their

# # #

to for learn God’s reign a and jus - tice the Word they’ve with - in the

hearts dream peace live words

and dreams and vi - sions, as shall stand wit - ness of God, through Je - sus, the cast and stran - ger and and cries laugh - ter,

of and vault bol of God’s in time and of God’s age of and songs

# # #

& &

all are wel-come, all are wel-come in this

Here Here As Let Let

grace; grace; space; face; grace,

end di - vi - sions: faith of Je - sus: feast that frees us: fear and dan - ger: floor to raft - er:

# $ '# # # #

can dwell love proph - ets speak, found is love hands will reach are named, all

place where saints and A Where all God’s chil - dren ban - quet hall A on heal To and strength - en, And loved and treas - ured,

of hopes the cross the love the out of tears

of faith as sym re - vealed the im of faith

where where where where where

live, true, wheat: stone heard

dren tell to seek ly ground, and teach, and claimed

! " &$ ! " #

build build build build build

us us us us us

chil dare ho serve taught

! " #$

# #

1. Let 2. Let 3. Let 4. Let 5. Let

All Are Welcome %# # # # #

(

the as we us this

'# # # #

All

are wel-come,

place.

&$ )

+ )

NADA TE TURBE NOTHING CAN TROUBLE

St. Teresa of Jesus; Community of Taizé

Jacques Berthier

¢ = 72

Ostinato Chorale

Na - da te tur - be, na - da te es- pan - te. Quien a Dios tie - ne Noth- ing can trou - ble, nothing can fright- en. Those who seek God shall

Dm 7

Cmaj 7

1. F

Dm 6

na - da nev - er

le fal - ta. go want - ing.

So - lo Dios God a - lone

2. F

Dm 6

bas fills

ta. us.

Copyright © 1986, 1991 by Ateliers et Presses de Taizé, F-71250 Taizé Community, France. Published in North America by GIA Publications, Inc., 7404 S. Mason Ave., Chicago, IL 60638 International Copyright Secured All Rights Reserved Printed in U.S.A. Photocopying of this publication without permission of the publisher is a violation of the U.S. Code of Law for which the responsible individual or institution is subject to criminal prosecution. No one is exempt.

G-5580

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