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Feature News | Thursday, July 20, 2017

Miami delegates take stock of 2017 Convocation

Participants in Church summit offer some first impressions, take-ways from historic gathering

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Archbishop Thomas Wenski speaks at the July 2 plenary session of the Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando.

Photographer: COURTESY | Sr. Elizabeth Worley

Archbishop Thomas Wenski speaks at the July 2 plenary session of the Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando.

ORLANDO | A national church gathering this large and unprecedented was bound to evoke laughter, tears, intellectual debate, straight-talk and motivational language as well as serendipitous, grace-filled encounters among laity, clergy, presenters and a small army of event staff.

Maria Victoria Cimadevilla attends a meeting following the 2017 Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando July 1-4. Before coming home, the Miami delegation had a chance to share impressions, ideas and questions about what they heard and shared at the historic Church summit.

Photographer: TOM TRACY | FC

Maria Victoria Cimadevilla attends a meeting following the 2017 Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando July 1-4. Before coming home, the Miami delegation had a chance to share impressions, ideas and questions about what they heard and shared at the historic Church summit.

Krysthell Castillo, center, coordinator of the Pastoral Juvenil Hispana (Hispanic young adults ministry) speaks to fellow participants at the Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando.

Photographer: TOM TRACY | FC

Krysthell Castillo, center, coordinator of the Pastoral Juvenil Hispana (Hispanic young adults ministry) speaks to fellow participants at the Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando.

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski talks with Miami participants Following the 2017 Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando July 1-4.

Photographer: TOM TRACY | FC

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski talks with Miami participants Following the 2017 Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando July 1-4.

For the nearly 40 persons from the Miami Archdiocese who attended the 2017 Convocation of Catholic Leaders — one of the largest diocesan contingents here from around the country — the July 1-4 gathering will take some time to fully unpack and share back home.

The invitation-only “Convocation of Catholic Leaders: The Joy of the Gospel in America” brought together some 3,500 U.S. Catholic leaders to spend the July 4 weekend asking, among other questions: How best to identify and evangelize the “peripheries” that Pope Francis writes about.

The event was held at the Hyatt Regency Orlando and the Orange County Convention Center.

Gathering privately with the Miami delegation immediately following the summit, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski asked for the group’s initial impressions, thoughts, take-aways and a bit of initial goal-setting for the Church in South Florida.

Archbishop Wenski also contributed his own thoughts of how the many Convocation speakers, presentations, break-out sessions and conversations might apply to the Miami region, which presents plenty of its own unique “peripheries” and “invisible groups” that make for challenging evangelization efforts.

The archbishop cited the inner city, the many Latin American cultural-national groups, blue collar workers, college students and single people seemingly off the grid and who likewise may not “see the Church” or “be seen by the Church” without a concerted effort, or someone or something to bridge the divides.

 

‘Invisible parishioners’

“Can we go and find the invisible parishioners and find who’s invisible to us?” the archbishop asked. “There are a lot of people invisible to us in Miami. How many are not seen by the Church and who are not seeing the Church? That is how I define the ‘peripheries’.”

Mother Adela Galindo, founder of the Miami-based Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary religious community, who participated in two panel discussions in Orlando, said the Convocation revealed to her just how much the wider Church is a kind of family.

As a Central American-born Hispanic, she said, she has never personally felt like a member of a periphery in Miami. But the Church needs to look carefully at who is being left out of Church life in South Florida.

“We hear a lot about peripheries but we have to be very specific about the ones we have in Miami — through a process of real discernment and not just an immediate reaction,” Mother Adela said. “This (Convocation) allowed us to know the true identity of our Church so that we can be an example to the domestic family.”

Sister Ana Margarita Lanzas, another member of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts and director of religious for the archdiocese, said “we have beautiful people in the Miami archdiocese and we need to get to them and get them involved.”

She added that the Miami community has always had a big heart and open disposition toward others due to the immigration trends.

“People can look to us to see how we can embrace one another,” Sister Ana said, adding that she thinks on-going training for parish and Church staff is helpful to reinforce the need for polite and compassionate contacts and communications with the public at large.

Msgr. Chanel Jeanty, vicar general of the archdiocese, said the Convocation challenges everyone to be a Church that is “forming disciples, giving witness and healing to all the human resources we have,” he said.

He added that he was very moved by the final keynote talk by Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron.

“The conversion of hearts that we work at as a Church means I must trust in my vocation as a priest and in every capacity and place the Lord calls me to,” Msgr. Jeanty said.

 

Respect Life Director Joan Crown talks at a meeting of Miami delegates following the 2017 Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando July 1-4.

Photographer: TOM TRACY | FC

Respect Life Director Joan Crown talks at a meeting of Miami delegates following the 2017 Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando July 1-4.


‘The broken’

Father Reginald Jean-Mary, pastor of Notre Dame d-Haiti Mission in Miami, said he felt generally energized by the Convocation. “I believe this was very refreshing and gave me a sense of renewal as a Church, energizing me as both a priest and pastor.”

“We need to evangelize in a very real and human way, where the ‘broken’ can talk to the ‘broken,’ because grace is built on humanity and we should not be afraid of that,” he added, noting that the young especially need to be reached where they are as people.

Maria Victoria Cimadevilla, who came to the convocation with a small delegation from Coral Gables called the Catholic Disciples in the Public Square, said she came away from the Convocation with a message of the need for unity in the Church.

“And the importance of Catholic education and Catholic doctrine and how we can share the mission,” said Cimadevilla, a member of Little Flower Parish in Coral Gables.

Jose Juara, another member of Little Flower and of the Catholic Disciples group, said he had hoped the Convocation would deal even more directly with the social and political tensions evident in the world today and during the recent U.S. presidential election in particular.

“The concern that we have is a sense of the vision in the Church and the divisions along political lines and that was dealt with directly,” Juara said, adding that his group feels the need for more of a focused continuation of the Convocation back home. “If we are going to revitalize our Church everybody needs to be involved and if we can do that there will be a lot of hope for the Church.”

Randy McGrorty, attorney and director of Catholic Legal Services, speaks at a meeting of Miami delegates following the 2017 Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando July 1-4.

Photographer: TOM TRACY | FC

Randy McGrorty, attorney and director of Catholic Legal Services, speaks at a meeting of Miami delegates following the 2017 Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando July 1-4.

Joan Crown, director of Respect Life for the archdiocese, said participating with the 40-person delegation exposed the need to know co-workers and local Catholic leaders even better, and to invite support from across ministry lines.

“I don’t want to be alone in ministry and at times you need ‘family’ to come embrace you,” Crown said.

Miami Auxiliary Bishop Peter Baldacchino reminded the delegates that “it is the Holy Spirit who makes us an instrument of evangelization,” and the Holy Spirit who helps individuals go beyond their own fears and insecurities to be effective missionary disciples.

 

‘Culture of encounter’

Other delegates who spoke with the Florida Catholic mentioned the merits of the Convocation’s vast array of twice-daily break-out sessions and finely-tuned presentations for various ministries and topics.

Father Elvis Gonzalez, director of vocations for the archdiocese, said, “I’ve been impressed with the ‘culture of encounter’ fostered at the Convocation and an articulation of the challenges (to evangelization and Church life) that are now on the table,” he said. “Those topics came through in the plenary sessions, keynote talks and the breakout sessions.”

Father Gonzalez said he came to Orlando with a special interest in conversations fostering development of college campus and young adult ministry — which naturally ties in with vocations discernment — at a time when it seems increasingly challenging to engage college students distracted by social media and a noisy culture.

“In campuses you have so many students who are Catholic and who are not yet engaging with the sacraments,” the priest said. “Some (delegates and speakers) here said they are doing mission trips and mission programs as a way to engage young people and that they come back from those energized and with a new (faith) perspective.”

“This is a generation which wants to serve, to give and to have meaningful vocations,” Father Gonzalez added.

He said he also enjoyed catching up with old contacts and colleagues while at the Convocation.

Katie Blanco, president of the Archdiocesan Development Corporation, said that she was one of only a handful of diocesan fundraising and stewardship professionals at the Convocation.

Blanco said she attended a session, “The Feminine Genius: The Role of Women in the Church” where “they talked about the impact of women in the Church and how we need to do things to help elevate women within their roles in the Church, and to evangelize young women especially.”

But no sessions explicitly addressed stewardship and fundraising even though just about all the topics covered relate in some way to development, she noted.

“It’s shocking that there was no track on development and stewardship because fundraising encompasses a call to conversion and it is a ministry in and of itself,” Blanco said.

“In general, everything the Church does relates to stewardship: reaching out to the peripheries, marriage and family life, youth and reaching out into the community to promote tithing to the Church. They are all interrelated,” Blanco said.

 

Deacon Edgardo Farias, who heads up detention ministry for the Miami Archdiocese, speaks at a meeting of Miami delegates following the 2017 Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando July 1-4.

Photographer: TOM TRACY | FC

Deacon Edgardo Farias, who heads up detention ministry for the Miami Archdiocese, speaks at a meeting of Miami delegates following the 2017 Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando July 1-4.

Incarceration

Deacon Edgardo Farias, who heads up Detention Ministry for the archdiocese, was part of a breakout panel discussion July 3 called “Reaching Out to Individuals and Families Affected by Incarceration” during which he shared some eye-opening statistics, including:             

  • 2.4 million persons in the U.S. are currently incarcerated.
  • 5 million persons are under probation.
  • 2.7 million children have a parent incarcerated.
  • Some 11 million persons are in the U.S. with no legal status and are in fear of deportation or incarceration.

Deacon Farias said he spoke to the Convocation delegates about the need to move to a penal system that is more in step with restorative justice instead of punitive justice, which doesn’t help incarcerated individuals.

“I enjoyed coming to this because it is an opportunity to dialogue and change our culture to one of a culture of life and dignity,” he said, adding that he was alarmed by some indications that churches nationwide were being targeted by law enforcement officials seeking to deport individuals.

Monica Farias, his wife, who is program director for Miami Catholic Charities’ Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program, echoed that concern. She said it is crucial that the Church retain its integrity as a place of welcome and safety. She said she attended a session July 3 called “Renewing Hope, Seeking Justice: Understanding Migrants and Refugees.”

“The interesting part of the Convocation was that it allowed me to connect to other refugee providers, to bishops, to various leaders,” Farias said, adding that she plans to come home with a message for the wider Catholic community.

“We have to convert the mentality of our parishes that they be welcoming and supportive of refugees. We need to educate people.”

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