Building a Hispanic Heritage

Between September and October of each year and coinciding with the holiday of Mexican Independence and ending with the celebration of the “Encounter of Two Worlds”, in the United States, we celebrate “NATIONAL HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH” a nationally recognized observance which has been enacted into law. 

Today, to speak of the significant Hispanic presence in this country is to speak of something obvious. The National Census Bureau indicated that there are fifty three million Hispanics, as of July 1st of 2012, residing in this Nation in addition to the three million people residing on the Island of Puerto Rico.

Hispanic presence in the life of this Nation is not a recent phenomenon. In fact, Hispanics have been here even before the arrival of the pilgrims. Since 1550, men like Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, together with other explorers, traveled and explored the width and length of the territories which today constitutes the American Union. Hispanics had established themselves in what today is called “Florida”, many years before the British founded Jamestown. Without a doubt, Hispanics have made a mark in the history of this Nation. We have participated in many of the heroic deeds during its formation and have greatly contributed to the overall development of the United States. 

Because of our substantial and growing numbers, subjects such as immigration or the legalization of undocumented immigrants are today on the front pages of the media; and rank amongst the principal preoccupations of the institutions which have in their hands the destiny of this Nation. 

It is important to note that there are three U.S. Senator and thirty House representatives of Hispanic origin in Congress. This speaks loudly to the undeniable Hispanic contribution in today’s North American society. 

Our presence here is a reality, but the mere simple existence of a large population does not give authority. Authority comes from authorship of our own destiny; we must be protagonists and not simply spectators of our own historical and social destiny within this Nation. Only then would we have gained respect and recognition from others. 

It is not enough that we are many, big numbers give not true rights; what is needed and urgent is for us to shape the quality of our contributions. 

We must define our existence as Hispanics in this Nation in a meaningful way by integrating the Hispanic Community into the greater American Life and to have social, religious, political, economic, cultural and academic influence in the life of this Nation. 

During the celebration of HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH, we allow ourselves the opportunity to reflect and truly understand our present situation and its challenges; and to be on the alert about the best way we can develop a future as a Hispanic Community and be of influence and contribute to the everyday life of the American Union. 

Some of the questions we must ask of ourselves are as follows: 

•  Why can’t we have a well lead, organized, reasonable and respectful debate on immigration? 

• What relationship (and recognition) is there between our enormous purchasing power (nine hundred billion dollars a year) and our competent and competitive presence in the economy and the commercial life of the United States?

• Knowing that the future is formed in the years of childhood, what can be done about the high percentage of drop-outs amongst the children and youth of Hispanic origin? At the same time, what can be done to address the many Hispanic youth also plunge into the world of gangs, the use of drugs and alcohol, and other forms of vices and violence in very large numbers? • While academic preparedness amongst Hispanics born and raised in our country is on the increase, great numbers of us still have very low standards of living and live in poverty. How can this be addressed?

• How do we integrate into the working world of this Nation the massive influx of illiterate youth who are in the possession of little formal education in Spanish, let alone English? These youths have arrived from extreme poverty in their home countries and become easy prey to the culture of consumerism and materialism and can easily cast aside their altruistic or transcendent values resulting in truncated ideals. How do we keep our youth from becoming perfect targets for those who traffic in human misery?

• It is important today to raise the question of where are the Christian values that have inherited. Such as humanism, integral development, solidarity, spirituality. 

The work that is in front of us is difficult and requires conscious, responsible and generous participation of all Hispanics. Hispanics need to develop internally the required leadership to thrust ourselves as a voice in the building of the present and future of this Nation. 

This effort implies a focus on encouraging our youth to obtain a higher degree of education; to develop skills in organization and respect for one another and the ability to develop a higher degree of communication with the dominant culture, so that together we can make this society more viable and humane. In a Nation which proclaims freedom, there are still many situations of slavery and licentiousness.

In a Nation which claims to be the empire of rights and law, there are many situations of injustice and abuse to the most elemental rights of man. We can still verify many inhumane situations, all within a society which preaches respect for the human being. 

We Hispanics must take the lead in the rebirth of a new American society, truly tolerant and fraternal. We should be proactive protagonists in the emergence of a new society which will finally discover the integrated and harmonious values of the whole American Continent. Such a society that discovers the true value of American Union --that is “Pan-Americanisn” will become a Society that is richer as a result of the diversity of nations, with its diverse ethnicities, histories, languages and cultures but also become united in one territory. We become a society with the same aim to be happy, with the common goal to be prosperous people, more humane and humanized, with fewer borders and divisions and more solidarity. 

For the Hispanic community to be able to reach adulthood in this society, it needs to engage in a deep reflection of its history. The celebration of HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH should not pass as a simple “fiesta”; but should be a call for a serious commitment from all Hispanics with the aim of constructing a true, great and noble “hispanicity” in the life and development of this Nation. If we do this, we will no longer be drifting at the mercy of those who do not accept us, who exploit us, or in the worse case scenario, want us to be without identity or completely assimilated to the culture of this great Nation that still needs to discover the beauty of Hispanics. 

How great it is that HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH exists! For while there is much we have accomplished there is still much more left to be done!!

The Pope’s Popularity in Latin America

Before the popes, both the Venerable Paul VI and the Blessed John Paul II, began to travel —an initiative that became routine with Pope Wojtyła — it was possible to discuss or debate the pope’s popularity, or the interest it awakened among the Latin American people. Distant, situated on another continent, object of a very insufficient catechesis, that produced myths and religious prejudice, although in Ibero-America there was never hostility or lack of confidence among the people regarding the pope, one might ask, on the other hand, whether Peter’s successor was not simply an object of indifference.

The recent visit of Pope Francis to Rio de Janeiro to celebrate World Youth Day, where he was acclaimed by more than three million participants, gives us reason to reflect on the figure of the Pope in Latin American Catholicism.

The visits of Pope Benedict XVI to Brazil, Cuba and Mexico offer us similar experiences. We have seen that each one of the traveling Popes have very different personalities, yet the people have come out to welcome them with enthusiasm and admiration. 

Paul VI’s trip to Colombia (1968), although quite brief, was the first indication of a response to that question. The people put on their best clothes, filled the streets, and the country stopped everything for four days.

During the first trip of John Paul II was to Mexico (a country in which, incidentally, the Church of Rome had no legal standing). But the country came to a standstill, and the state-run TV had to cover every aspect of the visit of the Holy Father. Possibly half of the people of Mexico saw and heard the pope directly. That clearly implied tiring walks on foot and, at times, all-night vigils. The papal trip from Mexico City to Puebla took three times as long as normal, because the highway, from the day before, seemed to snake between two walls of human beings. Even in Monterrey, in the Northern desert, which is not a megalopolis, the Pope gathered two million people (by government figures).

The Mexican case (considering the proportion of the country’s inhabitants) has been repeated with almost the same exact characteristics, in each Latin American country the pope has visited. No other foreign visitor in history, no local politician since the day of independence, no sporting event, political concentration or national holiday of any kind has achieved such power of convocation. Sociologists ask themselves why, just as do public relations experts and, above all, the political leaders in government. Even some theologians are perplexed. There have been cases (in Mexico, for instance) where political scientists and sociologists have called for a meeting with priests, in an effort to understand the phenomenon.

To attribute the pope’s popularity among the Latin American people (who are as believing as they are insufficiently evangelized) to the Polish Pope’s charisma is an affirmation that no one seriously believes. With Paul VI the same thing occurred. There is little foundation for the argument that the people adhere to one pope over another, or that one, pleases them more than another. Experience shows us that the Latin American people —everyday Christians— have neither points of reference nor ecclesiastical formation, nor any interest in evaluating their popes. That subject is left to the elite in Latin America, who also gather in the street to receive the current pope. It is a question of the pope’s popularity, simply because he is the pope.

How are we to respond to these perplexed sociologists and political scientists?

The answer of course is complex, involving several psychological and social factors, but the key factor is religious. The main cause of the experts’ perplexity is the forgotten fact in the power of the religious to convoke. For one thing, the Latin American people are more or less Christian, and all Christians are interested in meeting the pope, seeing such a meeting as something extraordinary, once in a lifetime, that they dare not miss. Add to this the matrix of Latin American popular Catholicism. This is an expressive Catholicism, happy to participate in community and multitudinous gatherings. It is a Catholicism of the tangible and the symbolic. And the pope (apart from all ecclesiological and doctrinal content, often unknown to the people) is a living religious symbol of the first magnitude. A theologian would call it a symbol of the church’s unity, and of apostolic succession; the people see it in other terms. In their religious intuition, the pope is to them the “man of God”, God’s representative, the concentration of that which is religious and sacred. “To go see the pope” is sacramental; it is also coherent with the itinerant tendency of their religious practice.

To this religious and fundamental factor other factors must be added, which are not always separate from the former marriage, given the marriage in Ibero-American religiosity between faith and culture.

We certainly should not despise the element of novelty and contagion in the collective enthusiasm that is always produced by the visits of Peter’s successor. But there are other, more profound, factors as well at work in the Latin American people and in the Third World in general. The pope is a religious leader who speaks to the people not only of God, but also concerning their life and their human, social and even political problems. In the contemporary scene (especially in the Third World) where the public and political discourse has lost credibility, where demagoguery and popular manipulation are routine, and where corruption is notorious among the powerful, the presence and the word of the pope becomes (in addition to the its relevance for faith) a breath of fresh air that brings truth, authenticity and hope. It tends to verify the gospel-saying “The sheep know their shepherd, and recognize his voice”… distinguishing it from the false prophets and others who seek to take advantage of the flock.

In a certain way, from the social and political perspective, the multitudes that gather about the pope (many of whom are poor, marginalized and oppressed) are indirectly protesting against their political and financial leaders, and are giving expression to a desire of liberty and dignity to which they aspire.

Do the people understand what the pope says? Surely not everything. But people are intuitive and understand with their heart. Probably, their approach to the Holy Father is not so much a search for teaching as for religious inspiration and human freedom and, above all, a strong experience of God, the kind they cherish throughout their life, and which justifies in itself the significant sacrifices involved in a papal visit.

A unique opportunity for the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders (CALL) delegation.

The week of April 8th, I traveled to Rome as part of the delegation of  the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders (CALL) for meetings with Vatican officials that had been scheduled over a year ago.

To our great surprise and amazement, when we arrived at the Vatican residence known as Domus Sanctae Marthae, we learned that Pope Francis was residing there. We had the unique privilege to pray, have meals and meet with him. Pope Francis has departed from the formalities of the Vatican which allowed us to see firsthand the the universal pastor of the Church as a humble, easygoing, and most gracious prelate. 

During our week at Domus Sanctae Marthae, we were deeply touched by the Pope's style and, more importantly, by his daily reflections on the scriptures.

Click here to view a few of the photos from this memorable visit.

The following are links to video interviews, in Spanish, regarding this event:

• Francisco, primer Papa latino, está despertando a los católicos latinos
• El Papa Francisco un apasionado de la Biblia

A Year for Faith

In the context of the Synod of the Catholic Church concerning the New Evangelization for transmitting the Christian faith, “The Year of Faith” is inaugurated.

Our very life is an occurrence of faith. The existence of every human being occurs as a combined sum of daily and permanent acts of faith. Faith in life, in ourselves, in all that happens and all that surrounds us. We could not live without faith, without trust (in the food we consume, in the chair that sustains us, in the shower we take and the traffic in which we move, we live trusting in the validity of the present and in our expectant hope for tomorrow…). To live is to trust. Thus the experience of religious faith implies, first of all, profound anthropological roots in the experience of every man and woman in their daily tasks.

Religion is, of itself, an experience of faith, or in faith. On the basis of their religious experience human beings trust and build their life (their yesterday, today, tomorrow and their final and definitive destiny) based on the power of the Transcendent One. As Christians we have placed all our confidence in the God revealed in Jesus Christ: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

A “Year of Faith” is a fitting occasion to plumb more deeply the meaning of our human and religious experience: our vital experience of trusting —through Christ, with him and in him— in the Father, by the Son, in the Holy Spirit. A “Year of Faith” is a providential opportunity to reflect upon our faith in Christ and the implications which the experience of trusting in God have in each of our lives, that of our families, our work and the various contexts (labor, academic, political and economic) in which we live.

The Christian religious experience is that, above all: an experience, a vital practice that coincides with our human existence and involves all our life and activity. The faith of every human being, just as that of Jesus of Nazareth, is a human experience, lived out and tested in the occurrences of every day and in every new and changing circumstance, in all of which we are able to place all our confidence and hope in the God of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, faith is not in the first sense a doctrinal matter (even though this is assumed) nor a concept, nor the celebration of a rite. Christian faith is an experience of human life: a human life that trusts in God, the same as:

The faith of Abraham: Gn 22,1-19

The faith of Job: “God gave; God took away” (Job 2,10)

The faith of Jesus: “Father, in your hands I commend my spirit” (Lk 23,45).

The faith of Mary: “Let it be to me according to your word”(Lk 1,26-38)

The faith of the leper: “If you want to, you can heal me” (Mt 8,1-3)

That of the centurion: “One word of yours is all that is required to heal me”(Mt 8,5-8).

That of Paul: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil 4,13).

And that of so many men and women who in the Gospel and in human history have placed all their confidence in God, have placed their life in the powerful and merciful hands of God, our Father, through Christ, in the Spirit.

Understood in this way, Christian faith is not a conceptual or theoretical act, nor a conceptual or rational recognition. Neither is Christian faith a singular practice, separate, divorced, distant or marginalized from daily life. To the contrary, Christian faith grants to Christian men and women a special way of looking at the daily circumstances in which all human life unfolds.

The distinction and divorce that we have assumed between the religious experience of faith and our daily life produces frequent contradictions such as the following: societies that are largely Christian possess, on the world scene, the highest levels of iniquity, injustice, violence and death… That is to say, societies in which Christian faith is not involved in the daily life of man-in-society, in which religious faith does not illumine the temporal and worldly realities and in which, to the contrary, faith seems to disturb the daily aspirations and conquests of the people.

In order that Christian religious faith might be more reasoned, better celebrated, more frequently shared, more eloquently preached, but above all, more fully lived: Let’s extend a welcome to “the Year of Christian Faith”!

New year, new life!

2013 has arrived. Another year in the countdown of human history. Another year of our personal, family and social history. Another year of life and with it a new opportunity to evaluate, refresh, project, and begin anew.

Many are the challenges that we meet and that require the best from each of us and from all of humanity to find solutions, to convert this time and space into “a new heaven and a new earth”.

The armed conflicts, the wars between nations and with internal guerrillas, the economic worries and the great gaps between persons and peoples which are experienced by all and especially by the large numbers that have nothing, the social injustice with a thousand causes and manifestations, the inequality of opportunity of access to social benefits, discrimination in so many aspects of social life, frontiers, migratory movements, the global economic crisis, administrative corruption in government and in public and private business, evasion seen in the youth (drugs, sex, fame, etc.), the waste of the few as an affront to the misery of the many, consumerism and materialism that smother and block out a transcendent vision of life, the senselessness of a hedonistic and pansexual perspective on life, the loss of value of human life, the primacy of having instead of being, and of material things over persons, the primacy of technique over ethics and moral values, the search for power at any cost to oppress rather than to serve, the privilege of production and the accumulation of riches and of capital rather than the search for a shared world economy that is more human, just, equitable and fraternal, the permanent damage to nature and the planet, etc… all are global problems that challenge us, that ask of all human beings and of those who call ourselves Christians, to provide ready answers that are adequate and reasonable.

As Christians we have plenty of reasons to celebrate the beginning of another year as a unique opportunity to make of the world and of our historical moment the space and time in which the kingdom of God might take place.

The kingdom of God occurs when we lay aside our personal choices and interests to give place to the will of God which —as lived and taught by Jesus— consists of “loving one another”. This is the kingdom of God that is possible when we see ourselves as brothers, children of the same Father.

A popular refrain states: “new year: new life”. This should be our standard, our purpose, and that of all: building new lives, new interpersonal relationships and with peoples and nations, for the building of “new” institutions in “new” societies.

May the happiness with the best desires that we offer to others these days serve to commit us to the building of a true, profound and radically new year at the personal family and social level. HAVE A HAPPY AND BLESSED NEW YEAR IN 2013!

Merry Christmas!

"If we want to find the God who appeared as a child, then we must dismount from the high horse of our “enlightened” reason. We must set aside our false certainties, our intellectual pride, which prevents us from recognizing God’s closeness. We must follow the interior path of Saint Francis – the path leading to that ultimate outward and inward simplicity which enables the heart to see."

-- Pope Benedict XVI, December 24, 2011

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I wish you and yours a very blessed Christmas. May the gift of faith be with you and yours throughout the New Year.

Great joy!

Christmas is the liturgical season in which Christians celebrate every year the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. The birth of the son of a humble carpenter (Mt 13,55) who divided human history into two parts: years and centuries before and after Christ.

The account of his birth in the Gospel of Luke, as with all human accounts, and therefore as in all biblical accounts, is interwoven with historical details and confessions of faith.

Concerning the historical information, Luke underscores his concern to provide a temporal and spatial framework that is as precise as possible for the birth of the “Savior”. Thus Luke tells us that:

·      “In those days a decree went out from Ceasar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment when Quirinius was governor of Syria.”.(Lk 2,1-2, CEV).

Further historical data of the simple yet outstanding Lukan account of the birth and infancy of Jesus are his references to:

·        “The city of Nazareth, in Galilee” (Lk 2,4).

·        “His wife Mary, who was pregnant” (Lk 2,5).

·        “There were shepherds in the region…” (Lk 2,8).

But all the strength and intentionality of the account, according to Luke, are placed on the confessions of faith of the primitive Christian community —“in light of the Passover”— concerning the child, now raised from the dead, the infant who is now proclaimed as their Lord.

In Luke’s account, the following confessions of faith are high-lighted:

·        “Of the house and family of David” (Lk 2,4)

·        “The city of David, known as Bethlehem, in Judea” (Lk 2,4)

·        “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them: ‘Do not be afraid, for behold I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today, in the city of David, a savior has been born to you who is Messiah and Lord’ ” (Lk 2, 9-11)

·   “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Lk 2.14)

After twenty centuries, even though the social, historical and cultural circumstances have changed, we can affirm that our creed is a historical faith and religion, founded on facts that occurred in a proven and irrefutable way in the time and space of human history (D.V. 2).

Yet we can especially say that after twenty centuries, in the liturgical season of Christmas, as Christians we unite in the very same confessions of faith proclaimed by the early Christians in their communities. And today, as we do every day and always at Christmas, we also confess that the child “wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” was born to us as the Savior, the Messiah, the Lord, “the way, the truth and the life” (Jn 14,6), the one who fills the sense of history of our personal, family and social life.

Thus Christmas is a liturgical season with historical foundations, yet it is especially a season of joyful celebration for the good news of great joy that the birth of the Son of God meant for the early Christians who proclaimed it as such in the beautiful Lukan account, and for us who also acknowledge this fact in the current moment of our own history.

This good news, this great joy amply justifies all the celebration of Christmas. Therefore we desire for you: Merry Christmas!