BY PRISCILLA GREEAR

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--To meet the pastoral needs of a growing Hispanic community, St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Smyrna offers a Spanish Mass as well as baptism and marriage preparation, fellowship opportunities and other programs in Spanish.

After nearly five years of planning, parishioner Pat Burns initiated the ministry in February, relying on the help of parish priests who are learning Spanish.

Burns, who doesn’t speak Spanish, became aware of the prejudices many Hispanics encounter after adopting her daughter, who is Hispanic. This experience was an impetus for creating the Hispanic ministry at St. Thomas.

“I am overwhelmed by the response of the priests, not just from St. Thomas the Apostle but at all the parishes,” Burns said.

The Spanish Mass, held the third Sunday of every month, attracts 75-100 people. Father Paul Williams, parochial vicar at Holy Family Church in Marietta who is bilingual, celebrated the Mass for the ministry’s first six months. Father Eugene Barrette, MS, parochial vicar at St. Thomas, now celebrates the Mass while parishioner Emile Farge delivers Father Barrette’s homily in Spanish.

The bilingual program includes a music coordinator, a liturgical team with 25 bilingual volunteers and young and mature adult prayer groups. It also offers Spanish training for eucharistic ministers and lectors. The church’s religious education program now includes classes for Hispanic youth.

“We have an increasing number of people who are active in the ministry...Slowly, people who have come to the Masses are volunteering to join us (and) becoming active too,” Burns said. “I would like to see more come forward.”

To attract some of the estimated 300,000-400,000 Hispanics living in metro Atlanta, volunteers have publicized the ministry through flyers, a local newspaper and a Hispanic radio station. For advice and resources on building the all-volunteer ministry, Burns relies on Father Williams, Catholic Social Services and the Hispanic ministry at St. Philip Benizi Church in Jonesboro.

“I think we go through growing pains, but we’re learning about how to do it,” Burns said. “We’ve had some tremendous success and I hope we continue to grow. We have to continue to reach out. We can’t expect people to come without knowing about it.”

Those who do attend the Hispanic Mass are friendly and community-oriented and are both joyful and serious as they worship, Father Barrette said.

Some of Smyrna’s Hispanics, who are predominantly from Mexico and work for landscaping companies, restaurants and in other industries, still attend Spanish Mass at the more distant Holy Family Church, according to Father Barrette.

But as word gets out about a ministry closer to home, that may change for Hispanics in Smyrna and the surrounding area.

Edwenna Rodriguez, a parishioner of Puerto Rican descent who assists Burns by training lectors, represents Hispanics on the parish council and in other areas. She acknowledged that interest in the ministry is increasing.

“They’re coming around because we’ve got a group of young men who came to us and said they were going to Holy Family and now they want to get involved and do something,” she said. They are now helping with the Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration in the parish.

While some Hispanics speak English, Rodriguez said, “It’s a matter of being able to pray and worship in the way they’re most comfortable, and that’s the way they’re most comfortable.”

As they receive the sacraments in Spanish, Father James Caffery, MS, pastor of St. Thomas, is encouraging Hispanic interaction with the English-speaking community by leading a monthly planning meeting with Hispanic and English parishioners.

The meetings are to provide Hispanics with encouragement, to plan Hispanic events such as the Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration on Dec. 12, and to inform and invite them to other events such as picnics and Masses in English.

“We don’t want to be reacting negatively to problems,” Father Caffery said. “What we want to do is to encourage the growth of the Hispanic community and its interconnectedness with the English speaking of the parish.”

“It’s how we can bring together a blending and where we share what is going on in each program of the parish,” he continued. “It’s been a blessing for our lay people. They are working together with Hispanic lay people and they’re not afraid to go to the restaurants and put up signs. It’s a working together to let people know that we are trying to respond to their special needs.”

The ministry’s biggest need remains a bilingual priest who would offer Mass every weekend, Father Caffery said. “I think that would be a tremendous help having it every weekend. It would be more regular.”

As St. Thomas increases advertising and other outreach initiatives in Smyrna, Burns said she hopes to develop the Hispanic youth program and start RENEW 2000 groups for Hispanics at the parish.