At Catholic summit, Miami delegates find inspiration, ideas

By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic

ORLANDO | In what might have looked like the largest lunchroom filled with Catholics in anyone’s recent memory, groups of Miami delegates to a historic national Catholic summit relaxed over their meals to reflect on the fruits of the first day.

Gathering July 1-4 at the expansive Orange County Convention Center, some 40 Miami delegates came to Central Florida for the long-awaited Convocation of Catholic Leaders: The Joy of the Gospel in America. 

On hand were William Cueto and Desiree De Leon-Cueto, a married couple involved in various family and marriage ministries at Blessed Trinity Parish in Miami. They said the array of resources and talents in the convocation gave them hope that despite modern challenges, the Church is in good hands.

“The convocation has been a chance to identify the opportunities and challenges we have today, and we have more than we need to be witnesses and evangelizers in our cultures,” William Cueto told The Florida Catholic. “Our Church’s message of life and hope is attractive and powerful, and it begins with marriage and family.”

Sponsored and hosted by the U.S. bishops, the event includes large and small group conversations on a sweeping array of topics. They include the current political climate, intercultural awareness, social media, social violence and unrest, the state of Catholic education, vocations, parish life, family life and more.

Cueto said he and his wife had just come from a session dealing with the often hostile social and media climate and political incivility marking recent times.

The workshop panel, they said, proposed that the popular culture is defining the issues of the day and that Christians have perhaps been too passive in defining them for themselves.

“We already have plenty of people who are ready to listen, but they are not hearing our message as passionately as they should,” Cueto said. “We are given our call, mission and purpose to give hope to the world and to relieve suffering, but we are sometimes too divided among ourselves.”

A lawyer by profession, Cueto noted several instances in which the Holy Spirit seemed to be connecting people gathered at the convocation. He said he and his wife looked forward to going back to South Florida to share what he has gained here.

“There are all sorts of happenstances whenever you bring people together,” he said. “For years to come, we will see the fruits of this. The bishops had the foresight to bring people together here, but the Holy Spirit will lead us for years to come.”

The convocation includes some 3,000 lay and religious leaders from 160 dioceses and 185 national organizations, exploring challenges and strengths of the Church and its evangelization efforts.

Jorge and Angelica Santibanez of the Church of the Little Flower in Coral Gables were also taking part in Orlando. He is director of religious education at Little Flower, and she is a staff person in the Miami archdiocesan Office of Development.

“I heard about this event a few months before being invited, and I was excited about it because something like this never happened before and to come together as Church is a way to celebrate unity,” Jorge said.

After the morning plenary session, he attended a small breakout session on the state of catechesis and Catholic education nationally. Some of the information on related trends and statistics is not encouraging, he noted.

“There is a danger of losing another generation of Catholics if catechesis and Catholic education are not given adequate priority and if families are not fully doing their part,” he said. “We have millions of kids [in our programs], but there is a consumerist mentality and so on the first day of this Convocation we are just identifying some of those challenges.”

The convocation, he said, has also convinced him that the Church is changing and that the ‘Francis Effect’ of engagement and openness has been taking hold. “We are re-framing the Church as a place that is open and willing to listen and breathe a breath of fresh air.”

Dr. Sandra Rodriguez and Carlos Gomez, Miami residents and members of the Miami-based Catholic Psychotherapy Association, said they were seeking ways to enhance their ministry of bringing together Catholic counseling and mental health resources in service to the Church.

Gomez, who attends St. Thomas the Apostle parish in Miami, attended a session on social media usage. He said he learned that while overuse of social media is often associated with negative mental health and other bad effects on individuals, it is a tool that Church ministry must engage.

“The workshop presenter compared it to the invention of the printing press and asked how do we bring in Jesus into this very borderless venue as a way of communicating across the world,” Gomez said.

Rodriguez, who has consulted with seminaries and who is a member of Our Lady of the Lakes Parish in Miami Lakes, said she came to the convocation to explore how to help people find good Catholic mental health services for families in need.

The Catholic Psychotherapy Association is planning a national event in Fort Lauderdale this September, Rodriguez noted.

Miami Auxiliary Bishop Peter Baldacchino attended a workshop on immigration. He came away with a view that everyone is looking at the issue in a different way and that the gospel understanding of “the other” can simplify that for Catholics.

“The idea of being one body is still very foreign to us sometimes,” Bishop Baldacchino said, adding that the Catholic is tasked with announcing the gospel and putting aside fear for the sake of evangelization.

“Some people we need to lead, some people we need to accompany, and some people will reject us, and still we must witness to them and try to change the hearts of people,” Bishop Baldacchino said.

Father Juan Sosa, pastor of St. Joseph Church in Miami Beach, was impressed with what he described as “wonderful presentations” at the convocation. He said he was interested in further exploring a topic that was brought up in a morning plenary session: former and fallen-away Catholics.

“The millions who are not active -- that is a real concern,” Father Sosa said.