Young Hispanic Catholics turn out for new Lenten event

More than 150 teens and young adults take a break to focus on preparing for Easter

Published: April 7, 2014

By Dwain Hebda
Associate Editor

Dwain Hebda

Violetta Camarillo, a member of Sacred Heart Church in Morrilton, washes attendees’ hands as part of the Passion Play performed during the statewide Hispanic youth gathering held March 29 in Little Rock.

Dwain Hebda

Organizers of a Hispanic Catholic youth event held in Little Rock didn’t know what to expect for its inaugural year.

Rocio Montes, director of Hispanic youth ministry for the Diocese of Little Rock, said the event at St. Theresa Church in Little Rock March 29 surpassed all expectations before it even began.

The week leading up to the event, Montes said more than 150 youth from 12 parishes had signed up for the daylong youth event.

“I didn’t expect this many to come,” she said. “Somebody told me, ‘play by the spirit.’ So we’re trying to play by the spirit.”

The scope of the delegates had also grown from just teenagers to young adults up to 25 years old. The rapid evolution from the original plans to what ultimately came about gives some hint as to pent-up demand for such an event.

“The first hope we had was to have it here in Central Arkansas,” she said. “The first thing we were thinking was to have it with St. Edward, St. Theresa, St Anne churches here. But later on we had a meeting with some mentors and youth advisors and they said why you don’t invite us? We just want to come, we want to be together, that’s when we decided OK, let’s do it all together and if you want to come you’re welcome.

“We have teenagers from 14 to 17, that was the first thought to have those ages. But later on many other younger adults came to us and said why we don’t do something for us? And we decided to do something for people from age 18 through 25 too, but separate them during activities and presentation.”

Such an event has been on the department’s wish list for some time and came about this year as a means for preparing Hispanic youth for Holy Week and Easter.

“It was an idea for many years to do something so they can more interact with God,” Montes said. “We were thinking on something to do, something during Lent so they can prepare for a better Easter. That’s why we decided to have worship, talks and we’re going to spend some time with confession, to offer something so they can prepare better for Holy Week.”

And, like other diocesan events focusing on youth, it’s also intended to help young people express their Catholic faith in their own voice and in this case, literally their own language.

“What we want to do is let the youth express themselves and express their spirituality that they want to express at their age, their charisma, and just trying to help them to express the way they want to do it,” Montes said.

The plan is to hold the event on an annual basis and move it around to different parts of the state. Montes said young Hispanic Catholics face the same pressures and doubts of their peers from other backgrounds, but have the additional stress of being caught between cultures as well as between generations.

“(Hispanic teenagers) are facing many of the other things that teenagers face like sometimes they don’t want to go to church, but at the same time they are growing up in the Hispanic community where we express our religion more openly than in other cultures,” she said. “They grow up with that image, of expression of God and then, when they enter, for instance, in school, they are dealing with some other things, such as drugs or alcohol or also they are living with people who are not Catholic. They get confused a lot.

“Besides that, they’re trying to find their place in church and they’re trying to find their place in society and they are like between two cultures. And they don’t know which way to go. The biggest thing here is to help them to get the best values of two cultures and find their own identity.”

Father Mauricio Carrasco, associate pastor for St. Theresa Church, was among several priests and religious who led discussions during the day and he also celebrated Mass at the conclusion of the event. He said the gathering was important in helping the young Catholics define their spiritual identity.

“The goal is to help them find their identity in Christ and that doesn’t happen in the abstract; that only happens in an atmosphere where people feel safe to express themselves. The Church is like a diamond, there are a lot of different sides to it,” he said.