Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Hispanics and the Future of the Church Part I

Here is the comment I made after reading this post in Cosmos Liturgy Sex, "Christian comeback in Europe, or is Eurabia Inevitable?"
I am a traditional Catholic, attending my diocesan Indult Mass once a month, and anxiously anticipating the Motu Proprio. I got here via the Charismatic Renewal, by way of the Marian Movement and the homeschool movement, as did most of my friends. We do not see ourselves as reverts, as we never deserted any aspect of Church teaching. In fact, our "Baptism in the Holy Spririt" served to re-ignite the flame of the Holy Spirit we received in Baptism, and deepen our appreciation of the sacraments and devotions of Holy Mother Church.
Many other famous Catholics like Mother Angelica and Fr. Michael Scanlon have followed this same path, and are helping to renew respect for tradition in the Church.
I have worked within the Hispanic Community on Long Island for 20 years, and though their Masses are sometimes not as peaceful as I would prefer (I believe that hand raising, and exclamations belong in a prayer meeting not in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass) when I cathechize their children, I teach the Balimore Catechism, the Faith and Life Series, and they learn their rosary in two languages. We go to Eucharistic Adoration, Las Posadas and May crownings. I have NEVER had a complaint that I was teaching in too traditional a manner. In fact those children who have transferred into my First Communion Class from Latin America have excellent background from their very traditional catechisms. Their faith may be exuberant, but it is grounded in the Truth of the Faith.
While unfortunately some Catholic charismatics have gone over the edge to Evangelicalism, this is not due to the nature of the movement, which has been blessed by our current Holy Father, but lack of direction and leadership. My husband Francisco, here 21 years from El Salvador, was a leader in the Hispanic Charismatic Renewal, and when this trend was discovered among Hispanic Catholics, he and the Hispanic Apostolate Director shut down the prayer groups, and re-catechized the participants before they were allowed to resume. THAT is true Catholic leadership. Hispanics with this type of leadership, have the potential to revitalize the lethargic North American Catholic Church.

1 comment:

MacBeth Derham said...

Thanks for your thoughts on this, Letitia. My familiarity with Charismatic worship is through a Protestant conference I used to attend. I did not realize that the movement was so widespread in the Hispanic Catholic community. It will be interesting to follow this trend, and the days following the official release of the MP should prove interesting, as well!