Archbishop says church in Puerto Rico is looking to future

Published: 2007-05-30

APARECIDA, Brazil (CNS) -- Caught between two cultures, the Catholic Church in Puerto Rico is regaining its identity and looking to the future. The "great goal" for the church is "to re-evangelize and rekindle the faith of our people," said Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves of San Juan, the capital. "In Puerto Rico, because of the identity crisis that occurred a little more than a century ago, that re-evangelization is more difficult." Although Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth, "its deepest roots are Latino," Archbishop Gonzalez said. U.S. rule began in 1898, at the end of the Spanish-American War, but indigenous, African and Spanish cultures "shaped its identity for 400 years" and that influence "cannot be undone overnight," he told Catholic News Service. Issues being discussed at the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops from Latin America and the Caribbean are highly relevant to the church in Puerto Rico, because it has more in common with those regions than with the mainland United States, Archbishop Gonzalez said.

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