Tex-Mex Catholicism offers blending of Mexican, Texan customs

Published: 2005-12-06

SAN ANTONIO (CNS) -- In San Antonio, where Dolorosa Street runs into Market Street and Navarro crosses Houston, Jesuit Father Jake Empereur learned to preach bilingual homilies. The trick for Father Empereur and other priests in the San Antonio Archdiocese is to switch back and forth from English to Spanish while keeping the thread of their thought going. It is not the same as saying something in one language and then translating it into the other, said Father Empereur, a parish priest at San Fernando Cathedral for 11 years and currently the church's acting rector. Is there a Tex-Mex Catholicism to go along with Tex-Mex food? "Yes," answers San Antonio Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, who sees the local blending of Spanish-speaking and English-speaking religious traditions as an example for other dioceses as the Hispanic population grows throughout the United States.

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