INTERVIEW OF THE DAY

Gomez’s Latinos CALL on the Vatican. Members of the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders (CALL), a national Catholic Hispanic lay leadership organization founded by Archbishop José Gomez in the United States recently concluded a series of meetings here at the Vatican.


The meeting took place just ahead of the US State of Arizona’s new immigration law, which has drawn sharp criticism from both civil authorities and Church leaders.


The aim o fthe meeting was to initiate a dialogue concerning the large and growing Hispanic Catholic influence in the United States and in the Church in the U.S., now approaching some 50 million people. The group also met with the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, Dr. Miguel Diaz, where he shared his perspectives as both a theologian and as the U.S. government’s representative to the Vatican.


The Vatican Forum meetings concluded on Saturday, April 10.


We spoke with two of CALL’s founding members, Martha Sardina-Fernandez, the director of evangelization for the Archdiocese of San Antonio Texas, and Andres Ruzo, CEO of LInkAmerica in Dallas:


Martha Sardina- Fernandez:: Pope Benedict XVI’s appointment of Archbishop Jose H. Gomez as the archbishop coadjutor with the rights of succession to Los Angelos is a clear sign that the Church recognizes these numbers that 45 million Latinos in the United states plus another 12 million undocumented Latinos and the impact they are having on our society.
 
Q: Is CALL a primarily comprised of Laity, and how as laity do you address the issues that face Latinos in the church and society?
Andres Ruzo: In Ecclesia in America Pope John Paul II said very clearly that the next large evangelization is going to come through the Americas. We are going to be the guys who are pulling the faith to where it’s supposed to be.
 
Q: What do you take away from your meeting here at the Vatican?
Andres Ruzo: Right now, I feel – I don’t want to say a burden – but a lot of responsibility. We came here to mother Church and they have embraced us, opening the doors and rolling out the red carpet. They are asking not only “help us”, but to “join us”. We all acknowledge the church is going through a tough time. But we are going to back to the design board to find one, or two or three things that we can do – something that is scalable and that responds to the needs, which are so huge.


Martha Sardina- Fernandez: I would say that I also leave here with a great sense of responsibility. We have been extremely privileged in all that we’ve been about this week. And with privilege comes responsibility. I have a clear sense of that – I cannot go back to business as usual after this visit.
Three – or four – things I would mention in particular. The first is prayer. Most of secretaries and others asked us to pray, pray for the Holy Father, pray for their initiatives, their efforts, and their work. And I take that very seriously. Number 2: There was a specific request from Archbishop Celli in the Pontifical Council for Social Communications to utilize all mass media more effectively and to make sure that we are very good communicators. And, that we help priests and seminarians in their formation to become good communicators. Third, Cardinal Turkson from the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace specifically asked us as business men and women and leaders in various arenas to study Caritas in Veritate, as it pertains to our particular areas of specialization and to respond. He said they want feedback. And in the Vatican Secretary of State we met with Monsignor Peter Wells and Monsignor Cushley. They said these are very trying times for the Holy Father and for the Church as a whole, and said that we can support them by clarifying before secular and Catholic media what the real issues are – any contribution we can make in this regard would be welcome. So, we are committed to helping in any way we can.
Listen to the full interview: