By Gretchen Keiser

The December 12 ordination of Alvaro Avendaño as a transitional deacon for this archdiocese signified the inclusion of Hispanics from outside the American culture as future Atlanta priests.

Reverend Mr. Avendaño, a native of Medellin, Colombia, is to be ordained a priest June 6, 1992, and at this time four others from Colombia and Venezuela are in various stages of formation and parish involvement with the hope that they will blend with the archdiocese well and also be accepted for priestly ordination here.

Vocations Director Father Don Kenny, in a January 3 interview, said he anticipates accepting seven more candidates from Latin America for the Atlanta archdiocese in 1992, following a pastoral visit with prospective seminarians in Colombia by Father Richard Kieran this year.

The seven will be chosen from 40 applicants from Colombian seminaries who are asking to be considered for this archdiocese, Father Kenny said.

He characterized the recruiting of Hispanic seminarians in Latin America as one part, but not the main part, of a vocations response to the unfolding reality of an archdiocese with tremendous numbers of native Spanish-speaking Catholics. His perspective is that within a decade, 50 percent of the Catholics in this archdiocese may speak Spanish, but not English.

As a result of that vision, the American seminarians who are studying for the priesthood right now have been mandated to learn Spanish before ordination.

“Our men have got to learn Spanish, learn to speak it, learn the culture. Even American and Irish seminarian will have to learn Spanish before ordination,” Father Kenny said. Eight seminarians are expected to attend intensive Spanish schools in Mexico or the Dominican Republic in the summer of 1992. He said the mandatory policy took effect in September 1990.

The Latin Americans seeking ordination here are similarly required to learn to speak English before becoming priests. “Every seminarian who comes is told that they are coming to serve the diocese” as a whole, Father Kenny observed. “It is conceivable that some day Alvaro Avendaño might serve an entirely Anglo parish,” just as priests from the U.S. and Ireland are now ministering in Hispanic communities in Atlanta, Cedartown, Marietta, Clarkesville, Gainesville and other areas.

Latin Americans currently working in the archdiocese, in preparation for possible ordination, include Carlos Alberto Rocha Sosa, 22 of Colombia, who arrived in Atlanta before Christmas and spent the holidays at the archbishop’s residence and a parish. He is scheduled to spend six months at St. John Vianney college seminary in Miami to complete his bachelor of arts degree and then to study theology at St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in Boynton Beach, Fla.

Reverend Mr. Jorge Lopez, 35, who was ordained a deacon in Colombia, came to Georgia Last September and has been assigned to work at St. Mark’s in Clarkesville under Father Alex Keenan for parish work and an opportunity to learn English. Victor Reyes, 35, from Barcelona, Venezuela, has served for two years in parish assignments ranging from St. Jude’s to Grant Park. A former candidate for Evansville, Indiana, he spent the past two years in formation for this archdiocese and is scheduled to return to St. Meinrad’s next year to complete his last two years of theology. Reyes is bilingual in Spanish and English and also has a facility in Portuguese, Italian, French and American Sign Language.

Luis Zarama, 32, also from Colombia, who holds a master’s degree in canon law and a licentiate in theology, is working at St. Bernadette’s in Cedartown under Father Dan Stack. His further preparation includes a summer intensive English course in Boynton Beach and a one-year period at Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, Md. For formation and study in homiletics, sacramental practice and spirituality, Father Kenny said. “After that it is the archbishop’s intention for him to complete his doctorate in canon law and work in the Tribunal” on marriage cases.

The first trip to Colombia was made by Father Edd Salazar, SJ, then vicar for Hispanics for the archdiocese, in 1989, in response to inquiries from Avendaño about serving in Atlanta. When Father Kenny became the diocese’s first full-time vocations director, contact with seminaries in Colombia became formalized and Avendaño was received here in early 1990. Father Kieran made a visit on behalf of the vocations office in 1991 and will make another in 1992, while Father Kenny says that he, by 1993, will have learned Spanish well enough to make the trip himself.

“The Hispanic program is the priority within the vocations office,” he said, using the term to embrace the whole enterprise of education bilingual Anglo candidates, recruiting Hispanics from Latin countries, and, over the long term, fostering local Hispanic vocations in Georgia.

“I don’t think the answer is in just recruiting in Latin America,” he said. “I think the answer lies in every one of us being conscious that in 10 years time, 50 percent of the Catholic population here will not speak English. Ideally – and it is what we need to do – is to recruit from the Hispanic population of Georgia and that is going to take time.”