Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
May 22, 2002
Hispanic institute to offer practical, spiritual services
Institute ministries to further efforts helping Hispanics improve their lives
By Alwen Bledsoe
A $3 million Hispanic institute set to open next summer in Denver will give a permanent home to the ministries and services already offered by the archdiocese's Hispanic Ministry Office and will allow for new programs designed to better serve the spiritual and physical needs of the exploding local Hispanic population.
Centro Juan Diego: Hispanic Institute for Family and Pastoral Care will continue offering programs that are already benefiting the archdiocese's expanding Hispanic contingent. Among these are the catechetical and small business training programs currently offered through Centro L.U.P.E., operated by the Hispanic Ministry Office.
Gloria Varela, a catechist and long-time volunteer at Queen of Peace, is in her third year of catechetical training through the Hispanic Ministry Office.
"The need for catechesis is so great, especially with the Hispanic community right now," she said.
Her own parish, she said, has experienced tremendous growth in its Hispanic populations, growing from about 50 Hispanics four or five years ago to 2,000 in attendance each Sunday.
"With those kinds of numbers we've had to really encourage our folks to take catechetical training to help with training for both children and adults," Varela explained.
And in that capacity the Hispanic Ministry Office has proved invaluable.
According to Varela, the classes offered through the archdiocese provide three years of weekly training from September to May or June to those who wish to become catechists in their own parishes. Study of Scripture, moral theology, social issues, Church doctrines and the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" all prepare catechists to teach others, she added.
Many in her parish, Varela added, haven't had any religious training since receiving their first Communion at 6, 7 or 8.
"Most of our folks have a spirituality that is very young, and to bring a person to an adult spirituality requires a lot of loving time and teaching, motivation and encouragement," she said.
The future Centro Juan Diego will allow for the continuation of these services Varela considers so vital for the Church and will allow the Church to expand its ministry, she said.
"What the center means to me is that the Church in this diocese has not only recognized but has done something about the social needs of a very large percentage of the people in the archdiocese," she said.
The Small Business Hispanic Ministry Program, originally sponsored by Our Lady of Guadalupe Church six years ago, has been sponsored by the Hispanic Ministry Office for about a year-and-a-half, said Felipe Lopez, director of the program. It will continue under Centro Juan Diego when it opens.
The nine-week course, offered three nights a week from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., has already graduated more than 400 people, he said. Courses teach Hispanics everything from how to get their permit licenses to how to understand and evaluate their talents and abilities, Lopez said. Students learn to write business plans and to develop advertising and promotional plans as well as how to use the Internet in their businesses.
"It is important because it empowers," Lopez said. "It has given them the opportunity to develop their own abilities and to stop working for someone else and build their own economic power."
Perhaps the most impressive success story is one student who began his business, a mobile unit that sells seafood, with $50 and now owns two homes and a ranch complete with horses, cows and chickens, Lopez said. Other graduates own construction or painting companies, sell jewelry, practice herbal medicine or massage and run restaurants, he added.
Miguel Aguayo graduated from the course May 18 and hopes to start his own construction business soon.
"I think I wanted to do something other than just work for someone else," Aguayo said. "I wanted to do something better for my life."
For more information about Centro Juan Diego, call the Hispanic Ministry Office at 303-715-3235. Donations can be sent to The Catholic Foundation at 1300 S. Steele St., Denver, CO 80210. Make checks payable to The Catholic Foundation. Write "Hispanic Institute" on the memo line.
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