ORGANIZACIÓN HISPANA

October 2011

The Organización Hispana of Sacred Heart Church in Patterson wants to be a group of support and communication between the different Spanish-speaking ministries and pastoral movements. It desires to promote these ministries and share their cultural heritage with the rest of the parish and community. It seeks to be another voice of the Latinos of our parish and provide counsel and recommendations to the pastoral leaders.

The Orqanización Hispana first began in 1994. It currently meets on the 4th Thursday of the month at Fr. Connors Hall. This past year, the schedule of meetings was revised, so we will meet 7-8 times per year.

Current Active Spanish-Speaking Groups

• Grupo de Oración Nueva Alianza (prayer group) ·

• Pastoral Migrante

• Baptismal Preparation Team

  Marriage Preparation Team
• December 12 Celebration Committee
• Posadas Committee
• Via Cruces Committee

Objectives and Activities

Over the summer, the Orqanización Hispana met to redefine its purpose and goals. We focused the objectives to the following:

1. Invite the people, especially youth, to share in parish life by: -- Speaking at masses, Levantate groups to invite
2.  Personal invitation for all ministries: liturgy, marriage and baptism prep teams,
3. religious education catechists
4.  Leaving sign-up forms for ministers in the church and with Levantate groups; have more ministry fairs and opportunities to volunteer
5. Foster communication and collaboration between the Spanish-speaking groups and ministries by:
6. Establishing an annual calendar and communicating with each group to attend
7. Inviting the director of religious education and the pastoral associates to meet from time to time
8. Meetings of the leadership team with the priest at the beginning of the month if necessary to plan the agenda

Committee:

Associate Pastor, Irma Navarro, Teresa Murillo, Erazmo Jimenez, Socorro Perez, y Antonio Perez

Opportunities and Challenges  October 2011

The strengths of the Organización Hispana lie in the enthusiasm and availability of its members and the Spanish-speaking community to be active members of the parish. The strong support given to the parish and the example of faith that is shared are valuable. It continues to develop leaders in various ministries and provides a place to bring problems and concerns. It is an invaluable resource for the pastoral leadership, who rely on its members for counsel and advice regarding issues affecting the Spanish- speaking community.

With that in mind, several challenges exist for the group. There continues to be inconsistency in attendance, so that more people attend in the fall to plan the December celebrations, but not the rest of the year. Recruitment of new leaders who are willing to take on larger roles than they already have is also a challenge. In addition, there is not always open communication between the various groups. While celebrations are done well and beautifully, there needs to be some new ideas and leaders to continue to be a voice for our Spanish-speaking parishioners.