BY PRISCILLA GREEAR

CONYERS--St. Pius X Parish in Conyers hosted its first Spanish Mass in the church Sunday, Feb. 16 at 1:30 p.m.

Father Richard Kieran, one of the first priests to initiate Hispanic ministry in Atlanta over 20 years ago, preached the homily for the beginning of the Lenten season, while Father Paul Williams, parochial vicar at St. Pius, was the principal celebrant. Father Kieran, pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Atlanta, was leading a week of renewal at St. Pius.

Father Williams, who will celebrate the weekly Spanish Mass in the future, said, "I'm being swept along with the enthusiasm. People were very enthusiastic about having their first (Spanish) Mass and I shared in it."

According to Marta, an Hispanic parishioner who attended, "This assistance is very important for the Hispanic world." The Mass included carefully selected hymns in Spanish. Approximately 125 to 150 Hispanics from Mexico, Cuba and other Latin American countries, including several families with young children, came and many appeared joyful at the opportunity to worship as a community.

Since September, 1996 Father Williams has been celebrating Mass in Spanish on Saturday nights at Lakeview Community Center in Lakeview Estates, an area of Conyers that is home to over 100 Mexican families. After receiving an average weekly attendance of 60 to 70, including many young people who, according to Father Williams, "are so enthusiastic and interested," he and Dania Marrero, Hispanic outreach coordinator, decided to expand the ministry and move the celebration to St. Pius.

The idea for the Spanish Mass in Conyers was originally encouraged by Father Severino Lopez, CMF, parochial vicar at Corpus Christi Church in Stone Mountain, who saw an unmet spiritual need for the Hispanics of Rockdale County. According to Father Lopez, Corpus Christi has been receiving some Hispanics from Conyers at his Spanish Mass. "It is better for them to have a church close by. It is good for the English speakers (of St. Pius) to reach out to these people and give them a welcome," Father Lopez said.

Father Williams' immediate goal is to spread awareness of the Mass through word of mouth and fly to Hispanic families in Rockdale County. Marrero notes the deep value of this outreach and describes how it provides the Hispanic community with fellowship time and the opportunity to "keep their fervent religious values and at the same time join the American society."

Nora Beauchamp, a Corpus Christi parishioner involved in the outreach, said this will allow Hispanic families to worship together in cases where parents speak only Spanish while their children are bilingual. Father Williams hopes eventually to offer baptisms in Spanish, marriage counseling, catechism classes and possible ESOL education as attendance and support build. He gave his first homily in Spanish Sunday, Feb. 23.

According to the Hispanic Apostolate of the archdiocese, while over 118,700 Hispanics live in the boundaries of 22 parishes, an estimated 10, 831 are attending Mass in Spanish. Father Williams said the statistics reflect the strong need for increased growth in Hispanic outreach. To reach this population, priests are now learning Spanish while in seminary, he noted.