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Diocesan Representatives Join National Encuentro, Sept. 20-23

Bishop Felipe Estévez and 19 local Catholics will join 3,000 delegates in Grapevine, Texas, Sept. 20-23, for the Fifth National Encuentro – Missionary Disciples, Witnesses of God’s Love. Among the local delegates are young people, new and emerging leaders, and seasoned leaders of the Diocese of St. Augustine.

Diocesan delegates for V Encuentro pose for a group photo at the Catholic Center in Mandarin. (Photo by St. Augustine Catholic/Brandon Duncan)

As the National Fifth Encuentro process unfolds across the United States, one of the emerging voices is the need to strengthen outreach to Hispanic youth and young adults.

The conversation should engage all pastoral leaders and not be considered an issue exclusive of Hispanic ministry, said Hosffman Ospino, associate professor of theology and religious education at Boston College and a member of the leadership team planning the Fifth Encuentro, or V Encuentro, process.

“The decision-makers, the gatekeepers, the power brokers, the people who are managing budgets and developing programs, many of these people have no idea what’s going on with Hispanic youth,” Ospino told Catholic News Service in July. “Some of them think that they know, some of them don’t want to know, some of them are scared to know. There’s got to be a massive, massive process of education.”

More than 50 percent of Hispanic Catholics are younger than 27 and were born in the United States. They’re fluent in English but learned to pray, and still, speak Spanish at home.

On Monday, Sept. 24, Father Richard Pagano will interview two diocesan delegates, seminarians Armon Antolin and Alex Sanchez, on a special Facebook Live event at www.Facebook.com/DOSACatholics

Representing the Diocese of St. Augustine at the V Encuentro in Grapevine, Texas, are:

  • Sister Lili Tutuli
  • Father Heriberto Vergara
  • Father William F. Villa
  • Father Cesar A Torres
  • Armon Antolín
  • Alex Sánchez
  • Norma García
  • William Toledo
  • Justino Moreno
  • Linnette Marcela Ostos
  • Tatiana Saldarriaga
  • Enrique Ventura
  • Manuel Herman Cortez
  • Diana Maldonado
  • Maribel Pacheco
  • Marina Medina
  • Jeannette German-Evans
  • Elia Vega
  • Alba Orozco

Join us in praying for the Fifth National Encuentro of Hispanic/Latino Ministry 

“Lord of History, we ask that the V National Encuentro be an experience of profound joy and personal and pastoral conversion, may it bear abundant fruits for the life and mission of the Church in the United States.”