Hispanic population calls on us;
what is our response?

La gente bienvenida. Da ellos lo que ellos necesitan.

“Welcome people. Give them what they need.”

Bishop Onell Soto, former bishop of Venezuela and most recently interim director of communications for the Anglican Communion, was speaking about Hispanic ministries to a group of diocesan convention-goers in Chattanooga.

He described a scene that underlined the difference between the welcome experienced in many American Episcopal churches and the one provided in many American Roman Catholic churches.

Soto said that upon trying the sanctuary door of a Roman Catholic church, one is likely to find it open. Once inside, a visitor likely has many options: He or she may participate in a Mass; quietly sit or read in a rear pew; light a candle; pray at a Station of the Cross; or simply stand and gaze at a stained-glass window.

This visitor is likely to feel welcome and at home.

By contrast, when visitors try the door of an Episcopal church, it may or may not be open. And if they can get in, they likely will be quickly greeted with a question: “May I help you?”

They are guests in someone else’s home, and guests must have a purpose. Once the purpose is met, they are made to feel they should be on their way.

In the cover story of February’s Episcopal Life, journalist Victor Ruiz quoted Census estimates that by 2025, Hispanics will be 18% of the U.S. population. And he noted that currently, less than 3% of the membership of the Episcopal Church is Hispanic.

Why such disparity? Ruiz mentioned a paper by six Hispanic bishops that criticizes the church’s dominant culture for being unaware of the needs of Hispanic people and restrained in its welcome of them. He said the message sent is “you are welcome to become like us.”

Bishop Soto emphasized the importance of belonging, and he suggested that initially, while churches work to become welcoming, Hispanic people may feel most comfortable conducting services in a storefront location that they can infuse with their own culture. In a big Anglo church building, he said, they are guests; in their own meeting place, however humble, they can be at home.

“Welcome people. Give them what they need.”

Soto named a few immediate needs of Hispanic people who have immigrated to the United States: Help them to understand immigration laws, and teach them the primary language of their new home.

In a recent edition of the weekly “The Living Church,” the Rev. Canon Kevin Martin of the Diocese of Texas also recommended congregations provide services in Spanish as a gesture of cultural acceptance; add “culturally sensitive” services, such as the Mexican quinceanera, which celebrates a girl’s 15th birthday; and offer job-related and health-care assistance.

Chris Cairns directs Esperanza Del Barrio, an Hispanic ministry of the Salvation Army and churches in the Chattanooga area.

The Episcopal Church has designated Esperanza a Jubilee Ministry Center, one of more than 800 community-based centers with that designation across the United States and around the world that work to improve lives through outreach, evangelism, empowerment and advocacy.

Cairns was present at this year’s diocesan convention. In conversation, he commented on the broad purpose of church: “It has been the constant mission of the church to take the tradition, heritage and spirituality that have stood the test of time and to translate those into a language that people can understand.”

That language, Soto asserts, is more basic than the spoken word: “There is a language that’s better than English, better than Spanish — it’s the language of love.

“This is the language we need to speak.”

La gente bienvenida. Da ellos lo que ellos necesitan.

“Welcome people. Give them what they need.”