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By Priscilla Greear
Staff Writer
ATLANTA--The Archdiocese of Atlanta and the Diocese of El Paso
have begun a bilingual formation program for both the priests and seminarians
of the archdiocese to better serve the needs of the growing Hispanic Catholic
communities in North Georgia.
The program entitled the "El Paso Project" is designed to allow
archdiocesan priests and seminarians the opportunity to travel to Texas where
they will serve in a Hispanic parish and experience Mexican Catholic
spirituality and learn Spanish.
Father David Talley, director of vocations, said that as
seminarians and priests learn about the Mexican theological perspective, they
can develop a greater sensitivity needed for serving other Hispanic and all
other ethnic groups upon their return to Atlanta.
 Once we have a real appreciation of Mexican culture we'll have a
greater sensitivity to see the various strengths of all the countries
represented in Atlanta.
Father David Talley
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Accompanied by Father Talley, 16 seminarians, already familiar
with the Atlanta archdiocese, and Father Frank Giusta, a native of Italy who is
currently the pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Atlanta, will begin their
work in June.
"Once we have a real appreciation of Mexican culture we'll have a
greater sensitivity to see the various strengths of all the countries
represented in Atlanta," Father Talley said. "We have a better church really
when we have all the cultures coming together respecting each other in the name
of Jesus."
Father Giusta, a priest since 1963, will serve as pastor for four
years of Santa Lucia Church, El Paso, with a 600-family, Mexican congregation
which is located just a few miles from the Mexican border. During his third
year another priest from the Archdiocese of Atlanta will serve as his assistant
before beginning his four-year cycle as the new pastor.
While already knowing Spanish and having served various Hispanic
and other multicultural communities, Father Giusta is excited to begin his new
assignment where he will be able to learn about the Mexican culture through
immersion. On weekends, seminarians will join him at Santa Lucia, where he will
help in their formation as they learn the culture from parishioners.
"I am going to go there with an open mind and an open heart," he
said. He plans to "take it as it comes and hopefully with the help of the Lord
I will be able to do something good with all of this."
While living at the diocesan St. Charles Seminary for two months,
seminarians will wake up to intensive morning Spanish classes followed by
language lab and conversation time. During afternoons they will go to the
diocesan Instituto Tepeyac and take courses on Hispanic faith, traditions and
culture and history of Mexican-American folklore.
Father Giusta noted differences between Mexican and other
Catholics that have challenged him previously in Hispanic ministry.
"It would be very good for seminarians to learn not only the
language but the way of life of the people and what they think about God and
religion and themselves...It is different than what we think about God and
religion and ourselves."
He said that Mexicans are very devout and express their religion
differently, noting how Our Lady of Guadalupe is both a religious and national
symbol and how they have large celebrations beginning in the early morning for
the patron saints of their local churches and towns, enabling them to get in
touch with God and ask for divine help.
Father Giusta said another challenge in reaching Hispanics, which
the El Paso Project may help to meet, is that many feel ostracized in America
and feel afraid of being deported which makes them fearful to talk with
priests.
Father Talley initiated the project last year, the first of its
kind in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. He conceived the program for Hispanics
while studying in Rome, where he initially experienced intense loneliness and
isolation through his lack of understanding of the language and culture. With
the rapidly growing Hispanic population in North Georgia, he began planning the
project in 1998 because of the lack of bilingual priests and understanding of
the spiritual culture of Mexicans, now the Hispanic majority. The Archdiocese
of Atlanta currently has 29 bilingual priests and 39 Hispanic ministries to
serve the estimated 450,000 Hispanics in North Georgia.
The program, being implemented together with Bishop Armando Ochoa
of the El Paso Diocese, was officially approved this spring.
In addition to cultural immersion, Father Talley said the program
provides seminarians an opportunity to develop a fraternal bond and will
provide another place for seminarians to spend a pastoral year.
"We have so few priests that are comfortable in both cultures and
both languages," Father Talley said. "My role is to offer (archdiocesan priests
and seminarians) this challenge that God is giving us---to meet the needs of
these people that are God's people too...The vision is that all of us become
bilingual."
Father Talley said the project is a long-term relationship and
will usually involve 10-15 seminarians each year. He added that while some
people have less capacity to become bilingual, all participants can gain the
cultural appreciation.
"Our needs are huge," he said. "Learning Spanish and appreciating
another culture is an enormous challenge."
Gonzalo Saldaña, director of the Hispanic Apostolate,
affirmed the importance of the project. He believes it is important for people
to learn culture as well as language, as Hispanic traditions must be respected
and not forgotten. He said project participants will have the ideal opportunity
to learn the reality of Mexican worship in America, which is different than in
Mexico.
"The need for this kind of formation for seminarians is crucial
because we already have parishes where the majority are Hispanic," he said. "We
still have less (bilingual) priests than we have places (Hispanic ministries).
We still have priests that are sharing ministries." |
