Latin twist
On February 2nd, 2018, in the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Worcester (MA), 200 delegates from the different parishes in which there is a Hispanic/Latino community from the Diocese of Worcester (Ma) came together with our Bishop Robert McManus to attend the celebration of the V Encuentro Diocesan meeting: the second stage in the process of preparation for the National V Encuentro meeting.
The National Encuentro meeting -as it is well explained in the V Encuentro website- “is motivated by reading the signs of the times and convened by the bishops, who call the Hispanic/Latino community to raise their voices. The main objective of the process of the Encuentro is to discern the way in which Hispanics/Latinos respond as Church,” *.
The history of the Encuentro National meeting starts in 1972, followed by other national meetings in 1977, 1985 and 2000. Finally, we are close to celebrating the V Encuentro in September 2018.
Our Diocesan V Encuentro meeting was the opportunity to gather all the Hispanic/Latino communities in order to share the results of our reflection in our parishes, to identify the areas in which the Diocese should focus and to propose practical solutions to the specific needs and aspirations of the Hispanic Diocesan community.
After a time of Adoration, we began our meeting and worked to prepare a final Diocesan document with the reflections and suggestions from the Delegates to send to Bishop McManus and the National V Encuentro team. Later, we chose the Delegates that would participate in the Regional V Encuentro meeting on March 10th, 2018. Of course, we also put aside some time for singing, playing and eating “arroz con gandules y pollo” (rice with green pigeon peas and chicken).
The process of reflection in the Hispanic groups was a great journey that opened our eyes to the need for evangelization in our parishes and in our Diocese. In addition, it helped to open the path to grow in communion with the other Hispanic communities in the different parishes. Finally, to become more aware of the situation, needs, hope and strength of the Hispanic communities in the Diocese as is suggested by the national V Encuentro team: “be able to discern the Church’s best pastoral and evangelizing response to parishes, dioceses, and ecclesial movements, both at a regional and at a national level. On this joyful journey, there will be a preferential option for Hispanic/Latino youth.” *
We concluded our Diocesan V Encuentro meeting with a Mass presided by our Bishop Robert McManus; a Mass rich with joyful hymns and fraternal gestures of love, a Mass with a “Latin twist”!!!
