By Cristina Cabrera Jarro -
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
What is a youth movement without a group selfie? Used to 8' degrees and hotter, Miami Encuentros Juveniles members bundled up in their winter best during a retreat weekend in Alabama. In the photo are Marcos Mirabent, Mark Gomez, Hector Daniel Ponte, Alexander Gomez, Peter Fleitas, Gaby Garcia, CJ Cristobal, Robert Barcia, Carolina Hernandez, Gabriella gordillo, Gabriel Aguilera, Eli Martinez, Rebecca Garcia, Vicky Cheena Martinez and Zoila Murgado.
MIAMI | When it is 25 degrees outside and you are used to 80 degrees and hotter, you are going to feel homesick. When you are 700 miles away from home, staying at a place that is over 200 years old, has no insulation, and whose restroom breaks and floods everywhere, you are going to feel even more homesick.
So why did 15 young adults from the Encuentros Juveniles movement in the archdiocese endure those hardships this January in Mobile, Alabama? To evangelize.
"We are called to be the right arm of Christ. It is our duty to do God’s work here on earth and the purpose of us going to Alabama was exactly that, to do God’s work,” said Hector Daniel Ponte, a 22-year-old who has been a member of Encuentros since 2008.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
With their iconic burgundy banner displaying the right arm of Christ, and the message "You are the light of the world," Encuentros Juveniles members posed for a group photo while leading the first Encuentro in Alabama. In the photo, (back row, from left) are Marcos Mirabent, Robert Barcia, Alexander Gomez, Mark Gomez, Gabriel Aguilera, CJ Cristobal, Peter Fleitas, and Hector Daniel Ponte. In the front row, from left, are Gaby Gordillo, Zoila Murgado, Rebecca Garcia, Vicky Cheena Martinez, Eli Martinez and Carolina Hernandez.
Despite the cold, the distance, and the unpredictable housing conditions, Ponte does not complain. "I realized I couldn’t imagine a better group of people to have spent a weekend with in Alabama,” he said, "in no better conditions than that in which our Lord was born in.”
Encuentros Juveniles was established in the archdiocese in 1979 to promote the spiritual welfare of Hispanic youths between the ages of 16 to 23. Involvement in Encuentros begins with a weekend retreat, and continues with weekly formation meetings and ongoing service activities.
The retreats originally took place in Spanish, since most participants were first-generation Cuban immigrants. But as their U.S.-born children grow up equally fluent in both languages, the retreats � separate ones for men and women � are now being done in both English and Spanish.
For years, Encuentristas, as they call themselves, have gathered on Monday nights at the Youth Center next to Immaculata-La Salle High School and the shrine of Our Lady of Charity. But in recent years, their numbers have dwindled.
"When my parents were in Encuentros, there were, on average, about 150,” said Rebecca Garcia, a 19-year-old alumna of St. Brendan High School who currently serves as Encuentros’ second in command. "Times have changed. Now we have between 20 and 30 people attending on Monday nights and our retreats are always a gamble because we never know exactly how many people are going to attend.”
Like many of her fellow Encuentristas, Garcia came to the retreat to continue a family tradition, although she admits she was "stubborn” that particular weekend.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
During one of the retreat activities in Alabama, Gaby Gordillo and other Encuentristas wear masks. The youth movement from Miami recently traveled to Alabama to host a retreat in Spanish.
"My life-changing Encuentro retreat occurred on the same weekend that I had a concert I really wanted to go to. Instead, my mom told me to sell my ticket and go to the retreat. I was not very happy and closed-minded throughout the weekend. But then something changed in me and I decided to give Monday nights a shot,” Garcia said.
Alexander Gomez, a 21-year-old and current coordinator of Encuentros Juveniles, said he came to his retreat weekend feeling that he was doing more than just keeping a family tradition.
"It was at that moment, ‘the point of no return,’ as we like to call it, that I decided to take my parents’ faith and make it my own. From the weekend on I no longer hid behind my parents; I was my own man,” he said.
Laura Gomez, who made Encuentro #48 in 1984 � each retreat is numbered sequentially � credits her experience then to making her the person she is today.
"Once an Encuentrista, always an Encuentrista,” she said. "Sounds cliché, but it really is the truth. The experience one lives during the retreat weekend, and then in all the other activities of the movement, is one that creates a pride and love that live forever.”
"This is also what Encuentros does, create leaders who then go back to their parish communities to serve and lead others,” added Gomez.
The list of Encuentristas reads like a who’s who of archdiocesan priests, deacons and religious including:
- Archbishop Thomas Wenski
- Father Jose Luis Menendez, pastor at Corpus Christi, Miami,
- Father Manny Alvarez, pastor at Immaculate Conception, Hialeah
- Father Luis Rivero, parochial vicar at St. John Neumann, Miami
- Deacon Eduardo Blanco, who works at St. Brendan High School and St. Raymond Parish, Miami
- Father Sterling Laurent, chaplain at Mercy Hospital
- Claretian Sister Ondina Cortes, who teaches at St. Thomas University and formerly directed the archdiocesan Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry.
"I went through Encuentros while I was at seminary and it moved me to see how our young Church was spreading the Gospel,” said Father Alvarez, who served as the movement’s co-chaplain from 2002-2005. "For over 40 years, Encuentros has helped young people see the light of Christ and helped them experience a real joy that only Jesus can give.”
"I saw Encuentros as a group of dynamic and committed young people, full of love for God, and generosity; a group of young people that take their faith seriously, and want to share it with others,” said Father Laurent, the group’s spiritual director. "I pray that God will continue to bless the movement, so that we may be light of the world and salt of the earth.”
Perhaps it was that "salt of the earth” quality that led the Archdiocese of Mobile, Ala., to reach out to Encuentros via Piarist Father Rafael Capó, director of Hispanic Ministry for the Southeastern Region of the U.S. The archdiocese wanted to put on an Encuentro in Spanish for Hispanic youths in Alabama.
The Miami Encuentristas spent Jan. 15-18 leading Alabama Encuentro #1 for 28 young adults in Fairhope, Ala.
"I speak Spanish fluently but having to give a charla in Spanish did throw me off a little bit, especially to a room of strangers that aren’t even from the same city as I was,” said Gabriella Gordillo, 19. "Instead of over-thinking everything, I kept my heart open and prayed that everything would go well.”
The spiritual blessings traveled both ways. While in Alabama, the Miami Encuentristas witnessed how the homeless sleep in wintertime and how current immigration policies impact immigrant families.
"Even though most of the kids were United States citizens, the parents had either been deported or (were) hiding from immigration,” said Garcia. "We did have two or three that were born in Mexico and Guatemala; in fact one of them had just crossed the border six months ago.”
The Miamians also experienced something they are not used to in predominantly Hispanic South Florida: cultural discrimination. They overcame that � and the cold � by bringing bachata and quebradita music to dance to.
"We aimed to do the retreat in Spanish not only because we were asked to but because we wanted them to not be scared of their culture,” Garcia said. "It doesn’t matter where you’re from because God loves us all.”
Having had a taste for evangelizing away from home, Encuentros Juveniles is looking forward to spreading the retreats throughout the U.S. and internationally � come rain or shine, in snow or sand.
"There is a need for the youth of the world to find Christ, to have that encounter with him, and it is our duty and responsibility to make sure that it gets done,” said Ponte.
For more information on Encuentros Juveniles, visitwww.encuentrosjuveniles.com/ or their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/encjuveniles.
