DWTX from Anaheim – A strategic plan that has been two years in the making, and on which several persons from the Diocese of West Texas collaborated, has been accepted and praised by both houses of General Convention.
Saying that “sadly, almost 40 years of documents, resolutions, good will, and immeasurable effort from talented individuals has yet to produce results,” the report from The Episcopal Church Office of Latino/Hispanic Ministries took a new approach to Latino/Hispanic ministry.
A point of departure of the report was that Latinos/Hispanics are actually not a race but a mixture of nationalities, ethnicities, and levels of integration to the U. S. mainstream culture. This leads to the reality that not all Latinos/Hispanics have the same degree of acculturation, speak the same level of English, or have access to education to the same degree. Therefore, not all Latinos/Hispanics can be evangelized in the same way.
Congruent with the report, resolution D038 calls for The Episcopal Church to increase the number of “active and viable Latino/Hispanic Episcopal congregations” from 308 to 354 – a 15 percent increase – by providing financial assistance to dioceses who are willing to make financial commitments to this ministry.
Additionally, the Office of Latino/Hispanic Ministries will identify 100 primarily small non-Latino/Hispanic congregations located in areas with high Latino/Hispanic populations and provide them with resources to help these congregations grow by 30 percent over the next three years.
In both houses of convention, deputies and bishops were overwhelmingly in favor of the resolution. With a price tag of $3.5 million at a time when The Episcopal Church budget is already strained, some questioned how it will be possible to implement the resolution. But many said even without funding, the concept of the strategic plan needs to be accepted and widely distributed.
Bishop Suffragan David Reed of West Texas said the plan may be the “best thing we do at this convention.” Even if it is not funded, said Reed, “it is something we can bring back to West Texas and work with.” With few exceptions, said Reed, “our congregations in small towns will fit this plan.”
Reed added that after reading the report, he realized that “we have not played to our strength in West Texas.” The targeted populations, he said, “have the same values, hopes, dreams, and desires for their children” as do Anglo populations.
Some 54 persons collaborated to produce the report, of which four have ties to West Texas. This included the Rev. Willie Davila, vicar of Church of Reconciliation, Corpus Christi, and the Rev. Richard Aguilar, former rector of Church of the Advent, Brownsville. Karla Fernandez Parker, former member of St. Francis, San Antonio, and Patricia Perea of St. Francis, Canyon Lake, served as consultants to the committee that produced the report.
– Marjorie George