By Rita McInerney

Days of reflection and deliberation in a monastery and a night of worship and celebration at an Atlanta parish are now woven into the history of the Hispanic community of the archdiocese.

The evening to remember was celebrated Wednesday, June 17 at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. The gathering began with a Mass concelebrated by eight Hispanic bishops and continued with a fiesta in the school cafeteria.

The bishops celebrating the Liturgy and later breaking bread with the people came to Georgia for the semi-annual meeting of the ad hoc committee on Hispanic affairs of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. The sessions were held at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers on June 15-17.

Heading the agenda for the meeting was discussion of the national pastoral plan for Hispanic ministry to be considered this coming November at the annual meeting of the NCCB. Twelve of the 19 Hispanic bishops in the United States attended.

Principal celebrant at the Mass was Archbishop Roberto Sanchez of Santa Fe. Other celebrants were Archbishop Edward McCarthy, committee chairman, of Miami; Archbishop Patricio Flores, San Antonio; Bishop Manuel Moreno, Tucson; Bishop Jose Madera, Fresno; Bishop Alfonso Gallegos, Sacramento; Bishop Placio Rodriguez, Chicago; and Bishop Enrique San Pedro, SJ, Galveston-Houston.

In his homily, Bishop San Pedro likened the Trinity wherein the Father and Son, loving each other, breathe forth the Spirit from all eternity, to the love of husband and wife which brings forth new life, and to the parents’ need to show love for their child in many ways. So in the Christian life, he said, it is not enough to study the Scriptures and pray, the church family must love and serve one another. In the great variety of the church there is the diversity of Hispanic cultures, Bishop San Pedro stressed, and unity should be resplendent in this diversity.

Deacon Evelio Garcia Carreras, of St. John Neumann in Lilburn, proclaimed the Gospel. Lectors were Sister Pilar Dalmau, ACJ, director of the Hispanic Apostolate, and Carmen Artime. Music was by the Catholic Youth Group of Atlanta.

After Mass more than 350 people were served arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), salad, crusty bread, and flan for dessert. The small army of volunteers preparing and serving the meal were from parishes in Carrollton, Lithia Springs, Marietta, Jonesboro, Lilburn and Atlanta, according to sister Dalmau. Dinner coordinator was Erlinda Ramirez, apostolate secretary. The dishes were prepared at home by the women while the men were agile waiters in the crowded hall.

The bishops shunned the head table set up for them as guests of honor and sat at the long tables around the room so they could share the meal with men and women eager to talk with them.

Dancers in traditional costumes entertained. The Cuban Club dancers performed a stately traditional dance and then a lively "Cha Cha Cha," and a young couple pleased the crowd with the "Mexican Hat Dance." To showmen among the bishops, Archbishop Flores and Bishop Moreno, sang popular Spanish songs, to the delight of their audience. The archbishop, as an encore, delighted everyone with his monologue in which a husband of many years compares his guitar with his beloved wife. Archbishop Flores appears frequently on a weekly Catholic television show, "Nuestra Familia," produced in San Antonio.

Pablo Sedillo, executive director of the bishops' committee, used the Spanish word, "alegria," to describe the joy of the evening.

At the two-day meeting in Conyers the Hispanic bishops discussed the comments made by the NCCB after studying a second draft of the national pastoral plan presented last March. Sedillo said some very good recommendations have been received from the U.S. bishops. The discussion in Conyers centered on how to integrate them in to the final version to be presented in November.

According to Sedillo, the plan has general objectives that capture the spirit of the Encuentro convoked by the U.S. bishop in 1983 in a pastoral letter on Hispanic ministry. The letter asked Hispanic Catholics to prepare a series of recommendations for a plan of action to meet the needs of the Hispanic Catholic community.

Following this request regional Encuentros were held in cities around the country with the southeast region convening March 21-24, 1985 at IHM Church. The national Encuentro was held in Washington, D.C. in August 1985.

At the monastery meeting the bishops agreed upon this statement of the general objectives of the pastoral plan: "To live and promote by means of Pastoral de Conjunto (collaborative at all levels of the church) a model of church that is communitarian, evangelizing and missionary, incarnated into the reality of the Hispanic people and open to the diversity of cultures, promoter and example of justice that develops leadership through integral education that is leaven for the kingdom of God in society."

Four specific objectives of the national plan, Sedillo said, are evangelization, formation, missionary option and Pastoral de Conjunto.

The new immigration law which will legalize many undocumented aliens, education, and scholarships for Hispanic youths were also discussed by the bishops.

On Wednesday morning the bishops heard from the wives of two Cuban prisoners being detained at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta. Father Joseph A. Fahy, CP, who drove them to Conyers, said the bishop were "very gracious" to the two wives. The bishops had no official comment on the detainees, according to Sedillo.

The committee meets twice a year in areas of the country where there are regional offices for Hispanic affairs. The southeast region office, which includes Atlanta, is in Miami. The bishop came to Conyers at the invitation of Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan.

Members of the Hispanic community provided transportation to and from the airport and to other places the bishops wanted to visit. Bishop Alfonso Gallegos was driven to Dalton by Father Fahy to celebrate Mass for the Hispanic community at St. Joseph Church. From there they traveled to Gainesville where the bishop concelebrated Mass at St. Michael's Church with Father Leopoldo Valenzuela.