By Rita McInerney

The possibility of realigning clergy serving Hispanics in North Georgia was raised at Hispanic Ministry Day held March 16 at Hyland Center of the Cathedral of Christ the King.

Archbishop James P. Lyke, OFM, said he had noticed the “continuing growth” within the Hispanic community since August, 1990, and felt that Gonzalo Saldaña, director of the Secretariat for Hispanic Ministry, and his staff members had information to share with the priests, deacons and seminarians present. Pastors with Hispanics among their parishioners also attended.

“The fact is there are more Hispanic people around us and limited resources to respond to their needs.” Fiscal resources are not stretching to meet the growth, he said.

The increase in Hispanics has made the archbishop mindful of the importance of having clergy in place to serve them. He is not sure, he said, that Hispanics personnel are “best used” at present.

“Perhaps we are assigned on the basis of the way things were five or six years ago.” Major shifts and adjustments in placing clergy personnel are possible, he said.

Speaking later in the day, Father John Adamski, chairman of the Clergy Personnel Board, explained that “Archbishop Lyke has directed us to be concerned with assignments, to be part of – not separate from – the whole process.”

He mentioned that Father Jorge Christancho, vicar at the Cathedral of Christ the King and long involved with archdiocesan Hispanic ministry priests and the Clergy Personnel Board.

Personnel Board members “want dialogue and consultation. We want to work with you on recommendations sent to the archbishop,” Father Adamski said to the Hispanic clergy present.

After comments from the table groups, Archbishop Lyke commented, “I hear you say that it is a very legitimate way” for Father Adamski and the Personnel Board to be involved with the assignments of clergy and deacons on the parish, mission and deanery levels.

“The next step is to look at the concentration of people and ascertain how we can redistribute personnel,” the archbishop said.

In an interview later, Father Adamski said the archbishop is trying to incorporate the needs of the Hispanic community into the comprehensive clergy ministry needs of the archdiocese. In the past, he said, assignments were made as needed without too much attention to anything other than the one specific assignment.

The archbishop expressed disappointment that the annual collection for Hispanic ministries was “not doing well,” mentioning that the total raised last year was $30,000. This was the first year the collection was held.

Demographics and pastoral services offered by the Secretariat for Hispanic Ministry were explained by the staff members during the morning session.

Jose Amoros said a survey sent out in February sought data on Spanish-language Masses, the number of priests celebrating them, and the variety of services parishes provide to Hispanics. Replies showed 21 parishes, three missions and six bilingual American priests along with eight Hispanic priests serving Hispanic people. Replies estimated 34,000 Hispanics living in the areas served by these parishes and missions. (The U.S. census reports 72,000 Hispanics in the same area.) Of these 34,000, pastors and assistants estimate 5,000 or 14 percent attend Mass.

Reasons for this low attendance include lack of transportation, migrant mobility, lack of social services, poor use of the media, cultural factors, and unfamiliarity with registration requirements in the parishes.

Amoros reminded the group that Atlanta is in a unique situation with Hispanics coming here from every country in Latin America, professionals as well as farm workers. He explained the Caminantes (walkers) formation program begun by the Hispanic secretariat to provide leadership formation adapted to the Spanish culture. It began in 1990 at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish with a promising attendance. Class members who completed the program received pastoral agent certificates but report that the certificate is not opening any doors for them in parish ministry.

“We need to train and form people to become active at the parish and archdiocesan level,” Amoros said.

In the future, it is hoped to establish a formal program through Aquinas Center at Emory University and regional programs of formation. Cultural awareness sessions at the parish level are “good ideas to stimulate leadership integrate (Hispanics) into the life of the parish,” he concluded.

Irish Rodrigues, who directs Hispanic youth ministry for the archdiocese, explained what is being done in a ministry serving a mobile population of young people who “must go where the work is.”

Formation programs include weekend retreats for youth and young adults, programs for youth leaders and coordinators, a Lenten program in preparation for the Easter celebration, social justice events, a theater program which develops the talents of its members in writing and drama in the light of the Gospel message.

Miss Rodrigues said there is a need to identify leaders in the parishes who could guide young people in more effective evangelization.

Gonzalo Saldaña, director of the Secretariat for Hispanic Ministry, spoke of the need to develop lay leadership and how to apply the archdiocesan Pastoral Plan. “Parishes have to structure Hispanic ministry in a way to collaborate with the rest of the parish,” he said.

Objectives defined in the Pastoral Plan include collaborative ministry, evangelization, formation and working with the parish council.

Saldaña revealed that St. John Neumann in Lilburn was the only parish to request a presentation on ways to apply the pastoral plan at the parish level. Since then, the parish has developed a format to implement the plan, he added.

He expressed disappointment that only one parish expressed interest. He believes the plan “can help toward integration of American and Hispanic parishioners,” but parishes have “to be sold” on the fact that it is workable.

“How much time does a people have?” the archbishop asked when a question on integration followed the talks. “We don’t want them to be absorbed, we want them to come in as equals.”

“With only one invitation on the plan,” he remarked, “It may be a sign that integration isn’t working or the office hasn’t pushed hard enough.”

He went on to comment that he felt the archdiocesan welcome to Hispanics “was complete” at the new mission of Our Lady of the Americas on New Peachtree Road, and the centers at Grant Park and Lindbergh Plaza.

Speaking on perspective for the ministry, Father Richard Kieran, pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary parish which oversees the new mission, brought up the subject of where the Hispanic program should be based.

The talk closely followed a “revised report” he distributed. This paper, he explained, was based on meetings Archbishop Eugene Marino, SSJ, had with pastors and priests in early 1990 but never acted upon.

It defined the parish as being responsible for the evangelization and pastoral care of Hispanics living within parish boundaries; the deanery role as planning for adequate ministry in consultation with the Secretariat for Hispanic Ministry, to coordinate sharing of staff and funding within the deanery, including coalitions of parishes to facilitate this.

The paper described the role of the archdiocesan staff as one of advocacy and promotion, to use the resources of parish-based ministries in regard to leadership formation and promotion of base communities within the parish. The role of the Hispanic Archdiocesan Council would be one of ongoing consultation with Hispanics, fostering shared responsibility for decision-making concerning the apostolate.

Efforts to insure that Hispanics are integrated and not made to feel like second-class citizens should be the work of the parish, Father Kieran said. Integration, he added, does not mean absorbing or assimilating as was the view of some pastors in the past.

He feels “the Pastoral Plan came from above and is not related to the present structures in the parish.” He went on to say there is “some feeling” that the youth ministry program “is being driven by downtown,” as is the Caminantes, and the focus not always on what is needed in the parish.

An example he cited was the Easter Eve celebration at Lake Lanier sponsored by the secretariat for the Hispanic youth, when he thought youth participation at the parish was necessary. “What’s going to work is what’s going on in the parish,” he declared.

Father Christancho traced the growth of the missions in Chamblee-Doraville, Grant Park and Lindbergh Plaza and mentioned that the archdiocese has shown “sensitivity” in responding to the needs of new arrivals served by these centers. He noted the untiring work of the clergy, Religious sisters and laypersons through the years.

The new Mission of Our Lady of the Americas is serving well the Hispanics living in the Chamblee and Doraville areas, he said, and ministry in the Grant Park and Lindbergh Plaza neighborhoods is succeeding to the degree that larger quarters are necessary.

These centers, Father Christancho said, “are trying to respond to the pastoral needs of our people where they are.”

Father Bill Hoffman, pastor of St. Michael’s in Gainesville, expects immigration will continue as people seek better places to raise their families. The Hispanic population in the Gainesville area is estimated at 10,000. In his parish of 659 households, only three percent of those registered are Hispanic.

“In Latin America,” Father Hoffman said, “movements (such as Cursillo) are far more attractive than parishes. You have to expect that and not be unduly upset because they don’t hover around parishes.”

In his view there will be “less and less problems” with integration of second- and third-generation Hispanics who won’t have to deal with the insecurity of uprootedness, language and economic barriers faced by their parents and grandparents.

Suggestions resulting from table discussions included: assigning one or two Spanish-speaking priests to work on the deanery level in cooperation with local pastors; evangelization teams to serve in the deaneries in response to pastors’ requests; making a concerted effort to find just where Hispanics are living in the archdiocese’ deciding whether Hispanics targeted include the thoroughly incultured and the fallen away; meeting the needs of rural Mexicans, and involving more priests in the theological formation of lay leaders.

Archbishop Lyke, in concluding the session, commented that the deanery approach to Hispanic ministry with parishes sharing expenses was “the kind of consensus we have to work toward.”

He expressed the thought that Hispanic seminarians must be given time “to get to know this culture” before beginning work here. This followed hearing from Father Kieran that it is expected that five or six Latin American seminarians in varying stages of formation will be invited to the archdiocese.