Four years of planning and preparation culminated on Sept. 23 in Grapevine, Texas as more than 3,200 delegates to the national V Encuentro attended the concluding Mass.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, was the celebrant. Concelebrants included Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio; Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, host diocese of the conference; Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church; and Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, USCCB vice president. Archbishop Gomez was the homilist. Dozens of other bishops and archbishops as well as hundreds of priests also concelebrated the liturgy.
Throughout the four-day conference -- Sept. 20-23 -- delegates heard a variety of speakers, both clergy and lay people. There were panel discussions, a role-playing skit and numerous breakout sessions in which delegates from various regions around the country shared ideas and data which will be used to prepare a report. Each day began with prayer and included a midday liturgy.
One of the V Encuentro goals was to identify and train new ministry leaders among Hispanic/Latino Catholics across the country. Hosffman Ospino, an author, associate professor of theology and religious education at Boston College and BC?s director of graduate programs in Hispanic ministry, said during a presentation that the goal of 25,000 new leaders was exceeded, but more will be needed as the number of Hispanic/Latino Catholics continues to grow.
Priorities for V Encuentro were to develop faith formation opportunities, to strengthen families and to develop more paid positions for Hispanic youth and young adult ministries. These three priorities surfaced repeatedly as regional reports were delivered Sept. 21-22.
The next steps are to develop a concluding report on the process by 2019 and for a series of post-Encuentro gatherings.
There was a distinct focus on youth and developing young adults as leaders throughout the conference. In fact, about 700 of the delegates were young adults, age 35 or younger. Seven of the 11 delegates from the Diocese of Cleveland were young adults.
The youthful face of the conference was evident throughout the event, but even more so on the closing day as the young delegates were called to the stage where they sang, danced and posed for a group photo prior to Mass. Their energy and enthusiasm rippled through the huge ballroom as delegates of all ages clapped, cheered and snapped photos.
In his homily, Archbishop Gomez told the gathering, ?The Lord calls each of us to hear his voice. Take your place in the history of salvation and do your part.?
