June 17, 2013
There was the “a little bit weird” aunt and uncle who church-hopped from one denomination to another, but beyond that Rene Constanza was admittedly oblivious when it came to the issue of Hispanics leaving the Catholic Church for evangelical faith communities. This was back in 1997 when young Mr. Constanza left his native Belize to study at Spalding University in Louisville, Ky.
The reality of the issue soon bulldozed its way through the Constanza family when now-Father Constanza’s oldest sister and her family joined an evangelical church. At that point a high school principal back in Belize, Father Constanza said he could only be present to and support them as best he could.
“It made Sunday afternoons very awkward, a time when we would gather as a family,” said Father Constanza, who was ordained a Paulist priest in 2012. “They returned to the Catholic Church after a couple of years, and perhaps that was why I was drawn to the Paulists. The way they were doing things was fresh and new. It made me think that I might have something to offer in terms of ecumenism.”
The Constanza family is hardly unique among Hispanics in the United States. Evangelical Christians now make up one-fifth, or 20 percent, of the 52 million members of the Latino population, according to the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference and the 2010 United States Census.
With reconciliation and Christian unity being two of the three key elements of Paulist ministry, Father Constanza was ready to take on this issue at the grassroots level even during his priestly formation.
As a deacon at St. Mark Church in Hyattsville, Md., Father Constanza the importance of having a charismatic group in the parish.
“The next thing for people attracted to that for m of worship is to go to an evangelical church,” said Father Constanza, who now serves as associate pastor at St. Austin Church in Austin, Texas. “They are looking for a deeper relationship with Christ. They want everything they do in their day to bring Christ to the forefront.”
Most of them are immigrants – regardless of legal status – who are “looking for a home, looking for a community,” Father Constanza said. “One hour a week does not satisfy that need. They call each other ‘brother’ or ‘sister,’ which mimics what they call themselves in everyday life. We need to provide them with support and a network while they are here in the U.S. We need to realize that this is what people are looking for.”
And exactly what are first-generation or recently arrived Hispanics in the U.S. looking for in a faith community?
“They want more preaching, more catechesis, Bible study during the week,” Father Constanza said. “They want more biblical citations, longer homilies, which is different than how we are trained as priests.”
And as Father Constanza gets his first year of priestly experience under his belt, he learning more about the Hispanic families at St. Austin who have been in Texas for generations, which make up at least 15 percent of the parish population. He is also connecting with the Hispanic community in Balstrop, Texas, by preaching, celebrating Mass and hearing confessions several times this year.
“The plan is to reach out with the Protestant community and see how to best engage one another in in prayer and service,” said Father Constanza. “We are truly being moved by the Holy Spirit in this direction.”
Father Constanza even attended the Lausanne Catholic and Evangelical Dialogue held April 18-20 at Mundelein Seminary, the major seminary and school of theology for the Archdiocese of Chicago. The major goals of the meeting were fairly straightforward, according to Father Constanza.
“As a diverse group comprised of reflective practitioners and several theologians, we sought to engage each other by sharing our stories of how Christ is central to our common faith and by expressing our mutual concern for evangelization and mission,” he said. “The fact that our Catholic ‘new evangelization’ language is relatively known in the Protestant circles made it easier for us to stress our similar values for faith, worship and witness in our world.”
Father Constanza came away even more energized for Hispanic ministry.
“The areas that I see particularly Paulist have to do with evangelization, especially our engagement with the American culture and our focus on young adult seekers,” he said. “I look forward to seeing how the Holy Spirit will be directing our future dialogue as we address these areas especially as it relates to my background in Hispanic Ministry given the latest reports on the rise of the Latino Evangelicals in America.”