By Rita McInerney

Three Religious sisters from Mexico have joined the Hispanic Apostolate of the archdiocese in its mission of serving the Spanish-speaking Catholics in North Georgia.

Sisters Beatriz Taneco, Delfina Maravilla and Imelda Quechol are members of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart Ad Gentes (for all the people) of Humantla Tlax, Mexico. Young and enthusiastic, they represent a congregation of women who evangelize in Mexico, the United States, and Angola.

Sister Taneco, superior of the trio, says, “Our charism is to introduce Jesus Christ where he is not known” and to help others grow in their faith.

“We are going to go where the people live,” she adds. “We know the necessity of Church and want to share our lives and work hard with them as Jesus would do, with compassion and love.” Their challenge is great. Gonzalo Saldana, director of the office of Hispanic Ministry, estimates the number of active Hispanic Catholics in North Georgia at between 10,000 and 15,000, or about 10 percent of the estimated 150,000 Hispanics in the same area.

Saldana says the challenge that faces the sisters is “to bring the unchurched to participate in Liturgy and the Sacraments and all the catechesis, and see to the sacramental preparation of the children.” Many Hispanics, he adds, “are unaware of our presence here.”

The new sisters are continuing the work of the Franciscan Sisters of our Lady of Refuge, also from Mexico, who were instrumental in developing the ministry, specifically among the large Mexican community. “The archdiocese is grateful for the work they did since arriving in the archdiocese in the fall of 1985,” Saldana says.

There are 25 churches and other sites in the archdiocese where Mass is offered weekly in Spanish. On Dec. 12, feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the new Mision Catolica de Nuestra Senora de la Americas at 5918 New Peachtree Road, Doraville, was dedicated by Archbishop James P. Lyke, OFM. Already, it is filled to its 400-seat capacity for Sunday Mass, according to Father Richard Kieran, pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary parish, which oversees the mission.

Father Kieran is delighted that the sisters are here. He sees their first task as improving the religious education program for the children and then to evangelize in the neighborhood.

The mission on New Peachtree Road serves Hispanics in the Buford Highway area, which has seen a soaring increase in people from Latin America. Sister Taneco will serve here full-time. Sister Maravilla will work at St. Mary’s Church in Rome and will collaborate with Father Dan Stack, pastor of St. Bernadette’s in Cedartown. Both these parishes have hundreds of Hispanics living within their boundaries. Sister Quechol, youngest of the three, will help in both locations during her six-month orientation. A fourth member of the congregation will join them later this year.

At the Doraville mission, Sister Taneco will concentrate on training catechists to teach the children of the congregation. There is a large class to be prepared for First Communion in May.

“We like to work with the system. We don’t try and change anything but try and adjust to what’s here. We try to fit in.” This will mean working with Father Kieran, Reverend Mr. Alvaro Avendaño, pastoral assistant, and Grace Saldana, administrative assistant. It will also entail getting to know and working with the groups in place: Cursillo, Marriage Encounter, and “Called To Be One,” for young couples planning to wed.

The sisters are making plans to offer Via Cruces, a Lenten program traditional to Latin American countries. A Friday evening devotion, it gathers people together for a prayerful procession from one home or apartment to the next for the stations of the cross. Sister Taneco says this devotion “motivates the people to meditate on the passion of Jesus and move toward conversion during this season of penance.”

Sisters Taneco and Maravilla came to Atlanta after several years in the diocese of Tulsa, Okla., whose bishop, Eusebius Beltran, was a priest of this archdiocese. Distances in North Georgia do not intimidate the two. The Tulsa diocese has many far-flung outposts.

The story of their assignment to this archdiocese begins with Father Stack. He first met Sister Taneco and Sister Inez Ramos, superior of the Tulsa convent, at a meeting of the Mexican-American Cultural Association in San Antonio, Texas. Later he corresponded with them about holding a month-long mission in Cedartown. Given “no” for answer, he still felt there was possibility the sisters, if invited, would come on a permanent rather than temporary basis.

Sisters Taneco and Ramos came for a weekend visit with “very impressive” results, Father Stack says. “They visited in the Mexican neighborhoods and that Sunday the Mass attendance was doubled.”

Later, he put the Hispanic Apostolate in touch with them. While visiting in Mexico last Easter season, he met the mother general of the congregation. “She seemed very open,” he says, to her sisters coming to the archdiocese.

Now he is hoping “they will be putting their attention here and in Rome,” where the Mexican populations are large. St. Benadette’s has catechists and home visitation for the 300 to 500 Hispanics in Polk County, while St. Mary’s is hoping to begin evangelizing the increasing numbers in Floyd County.

The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart Ad Gentes was founded in 1949 by Mother Evangelina de la Cruz Quevedo, a Franciscan sister, and Monsignor Manuel Aguilar, of Humantla Tlax, Mexico. The foundress died in June 1980. The next year the community was refounded under the current name.

Sister Taneco is the second oldest of eight children. Her father plays the trumpet and directs a mariachi band and a brother plays guitar in the band. Both parents were active in their parish church in Tlaxcala. “When I was little, mother always talked to me about the ‘madrecitos (sisters or little mothers).’”

Religious women she met during her school days impressed her and made her think often about becoming a sister. She entered the convent at 16 after completing public secondary school. Her formation included the study of theology at the University of Peubla. She has worked in small missions and taught school.

Like her father she enjoys music and plays “a little” guitar and flute. She also enjoyed playing basketball and running during her student years.

Sister Maravilla is the fifth born in her large family. There are five sisters and four brothers. Her father works in local government and her mother runs a popular restaurant in their town close to the city of Peubla. Like all the family, she helped in the restaurant during her school years.

“I had the idea of sisterhood at about 14,” Sister Maravilla recalls. With her mother’s encouragement she spent about three years looking into the various orders, going on brief retreats and listening to the sisters explain their charisms and their differences.

She found a match for her aspirations with the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart Ad Gentes. “I liked the congregation because it works for the poor, in missions, schools and hospitals. It is for all the people of all colors and means.”

While in formation she enjoyed the recreational activities offered. She liked to run and play basketball and volleyball. Nowadays, she enjoys cooking, a skill learned at her mother’s restaurant, typing, listening to music, and reading.

The oldest child in her family, Sister Quechol has seven sisters and three brothers and comes from a small town in Peubla. Her father works in public transportation and her mother in the family store. She helped look after younger siblings and helped in the family store while growing up.

Her parents and an aunt talked to her about entering the convent. She attended retreats and vocational programs before deciding to enter at 16, after completing secondary school.

While in high school she became skilled in karate as part of her physical education and earned white, green and brown belts. Now, she likes to cook and sew and play the organ.

Sisters Maravilla and Quechol qualified as spiritual counselors by studying missionology and spirituality for four years during their formation years.

The newcomers are impressed by the “modern city” of Atlanta with its many trees. People are hospitable and generous in fact it took just a week for people at Immaculate Heart of Mary to provide the furniture and “all that was needed” for their rented house, Father Kieran says.