World News
Mexican cardinal urges priests to promote vocations among US Hispanics
Published: October 18, 2012
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (CNS) -- Mexican Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez said he sees "many possibilities here in the United States for vocations from the Spanish-speaking people," and urged priests and other church leaders to work for vocations among Hispanic Catholics. "Go to the children, speak to the children" to cultivate new vocations, he said in an interview with The Record, newspaper of the Louisville Archdiocese. He also had a message for Hispanic Catholics in the United States. "Don't lose your faith in Christ. Maintain yourselves inside the church," he said. Cardinal Sandoval, retired archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico, was one of the keynote speakers at the annual conference of the Asociacion Nacional de Sacerdotes Hispanos (National Association of Hispanic Priests). Held Oct. 8-11 in downtown Louisville, it drew nearly 100 Hispanic priests from around the nation. The conference focused on the new evangelization to coincide with the theme of the world Synod of Bishops at the Vatican, which opened Oct. 7 and closes Oct. 28. Speakers included Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces, N.M., who talked about the church's new evangelization efforts. Father John Guthrie, associate director of the Secretariat of Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, spoke about vocations among Hispanic Catholics. The conference included two public Masses, the one at St. Joseph Church in Butchertown and one at the Cathedral of the Assumption. Cardinal Sandoval was the main celebrant of the Mass at St. Joseph Church. Speaking in Spanish, he told the congregation to live and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to work for an increase in religious vocations.
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