March 4, 2009

To better serve the faithful, auxiliary bishop goes back to school

By Julie Filby

Denver Auxiliary Bishop James D. Conley has returned to school – south of the border – so he can better serve Spanish-speaking Catholics.

He is currently in Guadalajara, Mexico, completing an intensive, six-week Spanish immersion program. In addition to Spanish, Bishop Conley learned Italian during his graduate studies and while working in the Vatican, has a reading knowledge of French, and studied both Latin and Greek in the seminary.

“Given that about 50 percent of Catholics in the archdiocese are Hispanic, Archbishop (Charles) Chaput and I agreed that I should study Spanish to better serve the Catholic community in northern Colorado,” Bishop Conley said.

Of Denver’s nearly 700,000 Hispanic residents, an estimated 400,000 are Catholic. There are 89 Spanish or bilingual Masses available throughout the archdiocese each week.

“Not only am I looking forward to celebrating the sacraments in Spanish,” Bishop Conley said, “but my experience in Mexico will help me to better understand and appreciate the culture and the traditions of Spanish-speaking people.”

While Bishop Conley studies in Guadalajara, he is living with a host family. His host family lives very close to a convent of cloistered Carmelite nuns. On his second day in Mexico, Bishop Conley was surprised to find out that he had been volunteered to offer daily Mass at the convent.

“Since the sisters are behind a cloistered grill, I couldn’t tell if they were laughing at my ‘Italianized Spanish,’” he said. “But I have celebrated Mass for them every day since. I can’t think of a more forgiving congregation to try out my new Spanish!”

Bishop Conley celebrated his first bilingual Mass in Denver on Saturday, when he was in town for the archdiocese’s Living the Catholic Faith conference. He has returned to Mexico, where he will continue his studies until March 30.

The bishop, who joined the archdiocese last May, is about halfway through the rigorous one-on-one program at the Center for International Resources Inc. (CIRIMEX). The institute was recommended by one of his brother bishops who studied there.

“It is a very intensive learning environment, no chance to do any daydreaming here,” he said.

Started in 1984, the institute offers intensive, integrated immersion programs to develop language fluency and a comprehensive knowledge of contemporary Latin American people. The majority of its courses, nearly 95 percent, are pastorally oriented.

According to CIRIMEX, all programs present information about and generate sensitivity to the living and working patterns of Latin American people, using Mexico as a case study, and Guadalajara and its environment as a laboratory.

Bishop Conley has found Guadalajara to be a city filled with devoted Catholics.

“I was told that Guadalajara was a part of Mexico that is very rich in its Catholic faith, and in my short time here, I have found this to be very true,” Bishop Conley said.
In the parish where he is living, there are six daily Masses and 12 Sunday Masses. The parish also has a eucharistic adoration chapel which he described as “a spiritual hub of prayer, people coming and going all day long, mostly young people.”

Founded in 1542, Guadalajara is the capital of the state Jalisco, and the second largest city in Mexico. The city itself is home to 1.5 million residents. Adding the surrounding seven municipalities, the population of the metropolitan area is more than 4.3 million.

The Archdiocese of Guadalajara has the largest seminary in the world with an enrollment of more than 1,000 seminarians.