Week
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April 17, 2002
Inside the Register
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Archdiocese to open Hispanic center dedicated to pastoral and family care
Former Sacred Heart School in Denver to become Centro Juan Diego Hispanic institute
By Roxanne King
To
better serve the spiritual and material needs of the burgeoning local
Hispanic population, the Archdiocese of Denver plans to open a $3 million
Hispanic institute at 28th and Lawrence streets in Denver next summer.
The old Sacred Heart School is slated to become Centro Juan Diego: Hispanic Institute for Family and Pastoral Care. The institute will seek to address the economic, spiritual and educational needs of Hispanics in the metro area, organizers said. Renovations to the two-story 1890s structure are scheduled to begin in June. Organizers are seeking to raise $500,000 to begin the first phase of the project, estimated to cost $1.5 million. Once this goal is reached, The Catholic Foundation of the Archdiocese of Denver will match it with $1 million, organizers said.
"The Archdiocese of Denver, for 30 years, has had an office for Hispanic ministry, which has been housed in a center called Centro L.U.P.E.," said Mar Muñoz-Visoso, secretary of Hispanic ministry for the archdiocese. "What we are seeking is a permanent home for Hispanic ministries and to expand and take a more comprehensive approach to the services it provides."
The Centro L.U.P.E. office currently shares a facility with Escuela de Guadalupe in north Denver. The private Catholic school is growing and will expand into the offices Centro L.U.P.E. vacates, Muñoz-Visoso said. Hispanic ministry also has offices at the Pastoral Center and will keep those to maintain presence at the chancery, she added.
Under the supervision of the Hispanic Office, the institute will help low-income Hispanics by providing both direct services and referrals to family resources and it will train catechetical and ministerial leaders for parishes. The institute also will serve as a welcoming center where Hispanics can hold meetings and retreats.
"The Hispanic center is important as a place of welcome and a place of assistance to the newly arrived Hispanic immigrants," said Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. "It is a way for the archdiocese to both open our arms in welcome and to respond to the specific needs of those it will serve. Since the Church is both mother and teacher for us, the center will be a place of love and learning."
Over the past decade the Hispanic population in the Denver-metro area has grown 89 percent, according to the Latino Research and Policy Council Report on Census 2000. Nearly 60 percent of the state's 735,601 Hispanics live within the six-county metro area. In the City and County of Denver, the report says, the Hispanic population has increased by 64 percent over the last 10 years to a total of 175,704 Hispanics, or nearly 32 percent of the total Denver population.
Immigrants are responsible for most of the new growth. Additionally, the report shows that long-term Hispanic residents continue to dominate the city's low-income population. The median income for a family of four in the Hispanic neighborhoods of Elyria, Globeville and Swansea is $24,500, or 40 percent of Denver County's median income, according to the report.
Spanish-speaking immigrants turn to the Church first for help, Muñoz-Visoso said.
"They go to parishes, the parishes aren't equipped sometimes to help them so they send them to us," she explained. "We want to develop areas (in which) we can help people through a network of agencies and a follow-up person from the institute to make sure they don't fall through the cracks. It will be a combination of direct services, referrals and follow-up."
Rather than duplicating efforts, Muñoz-Visoso said, the new institute would collaborate with agencies such as Catholic Charities and government offices to provide resources such as English as a Second Language classes, after-school tutoring, health and financial counseling.
"We call it family care because we want to address the family's needs," said Muñoz-Visoso, adding that the services are designed to help support the family and prevent its disintegration.
On the pastoral side, the institute would seek to train Hispanics to serve as Church and community leaders by offering classes in catechesis, Bible studies and leadership. There, the goal would be to "train the trainers," who go into parishes and train others, Muñoz-Visoso said.
"Hispanics are already the largest minority in the Catholic Church," she said. "Very soon, the Census 2000 shows, they will be the majority of the Catholic Church. The bishops are telling both the diocese and the region that we need to make an extra effort for formation of that leadership.
"Although Hispanics are becoming a very large part of the Catholic Church, we find, more often than not, that Hispanics are not able to have leadership for lack of education," she continued. "Secondly we're finding that among Hispanics, the newly arrived immigrants are Catholic by baptism and tradition but do not have a whole lot of formation in their faith to be able to teach in the Church. We also find that American-born Hispanics, who for one reason or another have fallen away from the Church, preserve their language, food and popular devotions but can't exercise leadership in the Church because they haven't been formed."
Reflecting the institute goal to evangelize Hispanics, the facility is named after Blessed Juan Diego, an Aztec convert to Catholicism who helped bring about the greatest mass conversion of faith in history — eight million Aztecs to Catholicism — as a result of Mary appearing to him in Mexico in 1531.
To be successful, the institute needs support, said Bishop José Gomez, S.T.D.
"First of all we need prayers," he said. "We need people to pray for the success of the Hispanic institute. Then, in order to make it happen, we need the financial resources to be able to go ahead with the project. We are starting a fund-raising campaign and at some point we will ask for support from throughout the archdiocese.
"Once we have the programs in place, of course, we want people to participate in the activities," he continued. "We will coordinate with parishes and announce the programs everywhere so people can participate."
The first phase of the renovation project will remodel the interior of the building's first floor, will make the structure handicap accessible and will add parking spaces and landscaping, said Ruth Gonzales, construction manager for the archdiocese. The painted brick exterior, now peeling once-white pigment, will remain as is until later phases, she added.
"It's a beautiful building — the interior has beautiful woodwork," Gonzales said, adding that the archdiocese, which owns the building, recently re-roofed the structure and purchased adjacent property to increase parking spaces. "The best feature of the building is the atrium center with a basketball court and a stage. We're working hard to preserve that so we can use the stage for speakers, classes and concerts."
Sacred Heart Parish, which lacked the money to transform the building into a parish center, Gonzales said, will use the renovated facility for religious education classes and social events.
"It's pretty exciting," she said, smiling. "(The pastor) Father Marcus Medrano is getting his dream."
The new building will mean the Hispanic office will once again be able to provide overnight retreat facilities, which it lost when it began sharing space with Escuela de Guadalupe, Muñoz-Visoso said. Those facilities will be open to all in the archdiocese, she added.
The entire archdiocese, organizers said, should also benefit from the Church and community leadership that flows from the institute. The better-catechized laity, they add, will boost evangelization efforts and should result in an increase of vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
Hispanics themselves, Bishop Gomez said, are a great gift to the Church.
"In 1995 the U.S. bishops reminded us that Hispanics are a blessing for the whole Church in the United States because they have a strong incorporation of faith and culture," he said. "This institute is something very close to my heart because I see the need for evangelization for Hispanics in the United States.
"The ultimate goal is to help people live their faith," he continued. "The Holy Father has said that the goal of all apostolic projects should be holiness. It's a challenging project, but with everyone's help, I'm convinced it will happen."
Although the archbishop's idea, Hispanics embraced it and have assumed responsibility for the project. A leadership committee of over 20 people includes three sub-committee chairs: business owner Ron Montoya, who heads the Finance and Fund-raising Committee; former state senator Polly Baca, who leads the Family Care Committee; and veterinarian Delio Tamayo, who heads the Pastoral Care Committee.
The project is using an Hispanic architect and wants to acquire the services of a contractor who belongs to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Gonzales said.
"We're hoping it will be a project for Hispanics, started by Hispanics and built by Hispanics," she said.
The project is already helping the community by drawing resident Spanish speakers and new immigrants together, Muñoz-Visoso said.
"People are so excited about this," she said beaming. "It's attracting people who have fallen away from the faith — even non-Catholics are helping us.
"The bishops and the archdiocese really want to make this happen," she continued earnestly. "The Hispanic community needs to come forward to make this happen. The archdiocese can't make it happen by itself — it needs help to make this dream become a reality." To donate, send check made payable to The Catholic Foundation of the Archdiocese of Denver, 1300 S. Steele St., Denver, 80210-2599. Note in the memo section that donation is for Centro Juan Diego. For more information about Centro Juan Diego, call the Hispanic Office at 303-715-3215.Gospel call to service spurred former politician to volunteerFormer Colorado state senator Polly Baca is now CEO of Sierra Baca Services, a consulting firm. A member of Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Baca is co-chair of the Leadership Committee for Centro Juan Diego: Hispanic Institute for Family and Pastoral Care and is chair of the subcommittee, Family Care. "The purpose of the subcommittee is to develop programs and initiatives that will provide guidance and assistance for the poor — with a special emphasis on the monolingual, Spanish-speaking poor," Baca said. "These low-paid, sometimes undocumented, workers are generally unable to access governmental or private agency services and, therefore, go to their local parishes and churches for assistance. "The local parishes and churches do not have the resources to respond to these needs," she continued, "and require assistance from a coordinated, culturally appropriate, centrally located entity like the proposed Hispanic institute." Baca said she joined the Hispanic center project to heed the Gospel call to service. "Throughout the Bible, Jesus calls on us to serve and care for the `least among us,' she said. "The Hispanic institute will be a tool that Catholics in the Denver metropolitan area can use to respond to the call from Jesus to serve the poor. Through this institute, we will be able to provide direct and referral services to the poorest of the poor or the `least among us' and respond to Jesus' call. This is the reason I am committed to helping with the Hispanic institute." Baca said the center needs the support of the larger Catholic community to be successful. "We need assistance from all Catholics to develop this one-stop resource center for the poor," she said. "We invite all those who are able to respond to this call to contact one of the co-chairs of this initiative or Mar Muñoz-Visoso, secretary for Hispanic ministry, or Joe Roos at the archdiocesan Development Office." Veterinarian-broadcaster serves Church out of loveAurora resident Delio D. Tamayo-Gomez, 53, is a native of Colombia, South America. A practicing veterinarian he is also a bilingual broadcaster. A member of Queen of Peace Parish, Tamayo serves as co-chair of the Leadership Committee for Centro Juan Diego: Hispanic Institute for Family and Pastoral Care and is chair of the subcommittee, Pastoral Care. "The purpose of the subcommittee is to evaluate current pastoral programs for Latinos in the archdiocese," Tamayo said. "And identify possible new programs to recommend to the archdiocese to better serve the spiritual needs of the Hispanic community." Tamayo said he committed to the Hispanic institute project out of devotion to the Church. "In one word, love," he said. "Love for my church, love for my Latin immigrant community."Businessman seeks funding to build Hispanic instituteRon Montoya, 61, is president and CEO of Plasticomm Industries, Inc., a telecommunications company in Denver. A member of the Leadership Committee for Centro Juan Diego: Hispanic Institute for Family and Pastoral Care, he chairs the subcommittee, Finance and Fundraising. "We are charged with raising the $3 million necessary to renovate the Sacred Heart facility and to transform it into the Hispanic institute," Montoya said. A desire to respond to the needs brought on by recent rapid growth in the Hispanic community in the region motivated Montoya to sign on to the Hispanic institute project. "To serve that population we need to have services directed toward this community — pastoral and family care services for this community," Montoya said. "It's a tremendous effort and I think Bishop Gomez and Archbishop Chaput should be commended for their commitment and support of this entire project," he continued. "It's a very important project for the archdiocese.