Cardinal names Philadelphia Archdiocese's first vicar for Hispanics

Published: 2005-07-25

PHILADELPHIA (CNS) -- After he had washed the feet of members of a Latino community on a Holy Thursday in Peru in the late 1980s, something powerful happened to Msgr. Hugh J. Shields. Some of the young adults whose feet he had just washed insisted they wash his. "The mutuality that was involved, the humility of them and the powerful lesson they taught me stay with me to this day. We wash each other's feet," he said. Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia has appointed Msgr. Shields, 60, currently pastor of Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Philadelphia, as the archdiocese's first vicar for Hispanic Catholics, effective Sept. 12. Recalling the lesson he learned years ago in Peru, Msgr. Shields said he and the Hispanic community in the archdiocese will "minister to each other."

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