Hispanic Catholics' enthusiasm for mission is 'part of your DNA,' says pope's ambassador

WASHINGTON (OSV News) -- As Hispanic Heritage Month drew to a close, dozens of leaders of Catholic organizations and Hispanic pastoral leaders gathered at the apostolic nunciature of the Holy See in Washington, brought together by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church of and its Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs.

Amid a festive atmosphere, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the pope's ambassador to the U.S., welcomed the leaders who came from different dioceses of the country for the Oct. 16 event.

"In all of you, I have always found something special. I have lived 20 years of my life also in Latin America, in Mexico and also in Cuba," said the cardinal, recalling past diplomatic assignments as papal nuncio. "If there is something that has always impressed me and that I think is something you should never lose, it is the enthusiasm for mission ... That certainly is part of your DNA."

Since becoming papal nuncio to the U.S. in 2016, he sensed a desire to live the faith as mission, said Cardinal Pierre. He urged those present not to lose the "missionary experience as members of the church through movements, through formation."

"The dynamism, the method, the ability to prepare for the V Encuentro. That was very good," he said, referring to a multiyear series of diocesan, regional and national meetings involving tens of thousands of Hispanic and Latino leaders that culminated with a national gathering in Grapevine, Texas, in 2018, and identified key pastoral priorities for Latino Catholics. "We must continue to offer (that dynamism) to the church in this country."

The nuncio underscored that church leaders could now "finally, put into practice" the National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry, which seeks to multiply pastoral responses to address the realities of Hispanic Catholics in the U.S.

"The pastoral plan is a synodal plan; it has been a synodal journey. We have walked for months, and months, and months to be able to produce something that corresponds to the needs of today's culture to be able to evangelize this culture, to evangelize the people," Cardinal Pierre said, referring to the 10-year plan that was approved by the U.S. bishops in 2023.

The cardinal also encouraged those present not to forget that "there are 65 million Hispanics in this country, all of them of Catholic origin, but they are living through a tremendous cultural change."

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 65 million Hispanics live in the U.S. today. But a Pew Research Center analysis of data identified that the number of Latinos with no religious affiliation has increased, while the percentage of Latinos who identify as Catholic now represents 43% of the Hispanic population.

Cardinal Pierre recalled that the difficulty of transmitting the faith from one generation to another had been mentioned by the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean at the 2007 Aparecida Conference in Brazil.

"It is not only a cultural change from one generation to another; it is something deeper," he said.

The world has changed, the cardinal continued, adding that to innovate "is to go out of ourselves, to (go to) encounter people and to enter precisely, to provoke a new encounter that will produce new fruits. That is the culture of encounter. That is the new evangelization."

Cardinal Pierre later told OSV News that the best way to transmit the faith is through "the testimony of a life animated by this faith." He also said that "we have to help this community not to lose the most precious thing that (is) their faith" adding that Our Lady of Guadalupe is "the best example of a faith incarnated in the human reality, in the culture, in the people."

Addressing the leaders at the event, the cardinal said he was "very happy to see that each one of you has responsibility in the church. Responsibility at the national level, movements, groups that also come from everywhere, from the North, from the South, from the East, from the West."

The nuncio also thanked Auxiliary Bishops Bruce A. Lewandowski of Baltimore, Evelio Menjivar-Ayala of Washington, Cristiano G. Borro Barbosa of Boston and Luís M. Romero Fernández of Rockville Centre, New York, for their presence at the event.

At the reception, Bishop Oscar Cantú of San Jose, California, chair of the Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs, reflected on the Hispanic/Latino presence and the findings of recent studies led by the Secretariat for Cultural Diversity in the Church and on the importance of inculturation in the processes of evangelization, taking as an example the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531.

"When the friars had little success in evangelization ... God sent a woman, his mother, to evangelize. What was the methodology she used? She inculturated the Gospel message to the culture of that time and started from below, with the humble, with a Juan Diego," said Bishop Cantú, referring to St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin.

The prelate highlighted the efforts of the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council, or CELAM, the Mexican Episcopal Conference and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the apparitions of the Patroness of the Americas, pointing to an intercontinental novena that began Dec. 12, 2022, and ends in 2031.

Bishop Cantú invited people to participate in the Guadalupana Novena as a way to "strengthen our faith, our devotion, our church and our Hispanic population."

Following the reception, Alejandro Aguilera-Titus, assistant director of Hispanic Affairs in the Secretariat for Cultural Diversity in the Church, told OSV News that he noticed attendees were there "with a grateful, open, and inspired heart."

Aguilera-Titus said he was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who were able to attend, with over a third flying from across the country.

"It shows the love and desire they have to celebrate, to show their appreciation, to continue to communicate with their colleagues at the national leadership level," he said.

Aguilera-Titus also discussed a soon-to-be-published video that documented how four dioceses are successfully advancing in the implementation process, which was shown to event attendees.

"It was wonderful to see the level of interest they expressed, the enthusiasm, and they also wanted to know how the pastoral plan is being implemented," he added.

OSV, a Catholic publishing company that has supported the V Encuentro efforts, is supporting the creation of the video resource and also hosted the Oct. 16 event. (OSV is the parent company of both the OSV News wire service and the Our Sunday Visitor magazine).

Olga Villar, executive director of the Miami-based Southeast Pastoral Institute, later talked about how the implementation of the National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry has been bringing "a renewed sense of hope, a renewed sense of leadership, ownership of one's own leadership, and the desire to accompany others along the way."

"For us in the Southeast, it has been not only (the case) with the Hispanic communities or leaders but also with the diocesan offices, to engage in dialogue, to ask each of them how they see each of the 10 ministerial areas or the pastoral priorities of the plan and how there are already people who are beginning to build bridges," Villar told OSV News.

The priorities listed in the plan include formation and evangelization, accompaniment of families, immigration and advocacy to defend the rights of people who migrate, attention to those on the peripheries, promotion of vocations and the need to engage with youth and young adults.

The national plan "has been a push to continue to be able to leave to the generations that follow a living church, a church that is joyful, disciple, missionary and wants to launch out to continue to make the journey," Villar said.