The reality of immigration and the growing population of peoples of Latin American descent is a challenge and a hope for the Catholic Church in the United States. It is a challenge, because it is the living circumstance that calls us to put into practice the evangelizing dynamic that Pope Francis calls for in Evangelii Gaudium. It is a great hope because rising to this task offers us a pathway to a renewed witness to the presence of Christ in the Church.
There are no lack of statistics and research studies to give us as pastors insight into what is happening. The Hispanic presence in the United States goes back for many generations, and immigration patterns in our times are diversifying and enriching this long historical presence. The Diocese of Brownsville is uniquely capable of testifying to this dynamic of tradition and newness.
But we priests and bishops cannot rely simply on national studies to guide an adequate pastoral response to new families and individuals in our midst. The Church is Universal, and is open to all who seek the communion of Christ in the Apostolic Faith. But Church life is local, and thus the local church must assess and respond to the basic questions of Church life: Who is here among us? Where are they from and where do they live? Do they feel welcome in our parishes and in our diocese?
The first challenge we face as pastors is to search for and encounter our people. Immigrant communities experience disorientation and fear when they arrive to a new locality. We must understand this, and find ways to seek and find and invite. It is the local community that can best answer the question “where are immigrant families establishing themselves, and what is their story?”
Here we can enlist the aid of some of the ecclesial movements. If they are present in the Diocese, a bishop can ask them to aid the pastors in seeking and finding those who have not been able to seek and find the Church. I have done so here in our diocese.
Bishops nationwide, I think, must rely on their parish pastors and active laity to report about what the situation on the ground is actually like.
But sometimes we as a Church are reluctant or lethargic in our efforts to go and find out what the population that is not with us on Sunday Morning is experiencing , or why they may not have yet reached our doors. This is the challenge that the current blessing of immigration brings to us. Evangelii Gaudium calls for just this kind of reorientation of our pastoral perspective.
In a sense, the first question for us on Sunday morning is not “how do we serve our people here?”. Rather, it is “how do all of us here, better serve the population that is not here, by seeking and finding and inviting?”. This is the work of the whole Church, as the Holy Father never tires of saying.
There is only one way to do this, really. Send active parishioners to visit the new colonias and the neighborhoods with changing populations. Invite the newly arrived to come and meet with the pastor at a town-hall, a coffee, pan dulce, or whatever seems appropriate. It is not simply the venue that speaks to the immigrant family, it is the invitation itself.
Immigrant families often feel isolated or quickly categorized. Not all immigrant families are from Mexico, for example, though the general population may assume so. Many Hispanic families claim English as a first language, many do not. What we have to find out is what the local situation is culturally, linguistically and economically. Many assume the recent arrivals are poor. A high percentage indeed is, but not all. We must find ways for these families to sense that we want to hear from them, to understand their experience in some way, and to welcome that experience into our parishes and communities.
We have a rich diversity of Latin American cultures in our midst. And each brings a new dimension and experience of Catholic Church life. We are always richer spiritually when the prayer and devotion of others is given space in our lives. This is the promise that this moment brings to the Church in the United States, and certainly here in the Valley. We will be immensely richer spiritually as we invite new families to bring their culture of faith and hope into our parishes and communities.
Word will get around that the local Catholic Church is eager to be hospitable and willing to provide pastoral care in a way that responds to the need. But that is the point, we will not know the need if we do not know our people. And we will not know them if we do not seek and speak with them.
The Holy Father has great confidence in the initiative and creative of our local communities. Sometimes it is better for a local community to assess the situation at the outset and form a plan that works for them, aiming at seeking and finding and inviting. One way of doing it is not always best; there can be a variety. Local communities genuinely open to taking a risk for the sake of the newcomers will be blessed by the Holy Spirit for their initiative.
As a diocese encourages local “seek, find and invite” initiatives in parishes and missions, it becomes more possible for the diocese to formulate a more realistic diocesan plan for addressing the overall situation in the local church. Here is where the strategic use of language and cultural resources can be thought about and put into practice.
Do we provide enough outreach and formation in Spanish in key areas of the Diocese? Is the younger population, youth and young adults—often quickly bilingual but still closely linked culturally to a Spanish speaking environment--properly recognized as a special hope and opportunity? Are our older and more established communities sufficiently hospitable?
We must think universally, and act locally. The great danger is that if we do not “seek, find and invite” we will lose our own people before we ever knew they were once with us. True, we might lose them to another religion, but it is more likely we will lose them to no religion at all. For the sweep of the secular pressure to live life with no reference to God or the Church is immensely powerful. It is an undertow that carries families away from the grace of the Gospel and the Sacraments. And, if we do not act, we will deny ourselves a chance to live a more daring Gospel, one that risks all for the sake of finding those whom Jesus has put in our midst.
In the end, how we act now can help us refurbish our pastoral priorities in that evangelical mode that the Holy Father speaks about. This in turn, serves as a paradigm for all Church action, giving us an opportunity to teach our people that the most important question for an active Catholic is “who is not here with us?”. And then, “how can we invite them to feel welcome and be with us on our pilgrimage of faith?”.
These are questions that the Lord would have us all ask at any moment in our local history. Ultimately this opens us up to the possibility of a real encounter, and involves our willingness to let the peoples with us expand and open our perspective on life and faith. In the end, it is not about making immigrant families more like us, it is about letting the encounter with others make us all more like Jesus.
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