RESPONDING TO PROSELYTISM

       Letter of California's Hispanic Bishops issued in May 1988.

  We, the Hispanic bishops of California, wish to express to you, the
  Hispanic people of California, by means of this pastoral letter the
  deep love and concern we have for you.  We share the same history,
  culture and struggles, and your opportunities and problems are our
  opportunities and problems. We wish to encourage you to be all that you
  can be and all that God desires you to be. You are the sons and
  daughters of God! St. Paul expresses this marvelous truth in his Letter
  to the Galatians:

  "You are no longer a slave but a son! And the fact that you are a son
  makes you an heir, by God's design" (Gal.4:7).

  Our brother bishops of California, and indeed all the bishops of the
  United States, share these same sentiments with us in regard to you.
  You are a very important part of the church in California and
  throughout the United States. This conviction was already expressed in
  the words of the pastoral letter "The Hispanic Presence: Challenge and
  Commitment" addressed to you by all the bishops of the United States on
  Dec. 12, 1983: "At this moment of grace we recognize the Hispanic
  community among us as a blessing from God." What we say here is meant
  to reinforce this conviction of ours and communicate it to you more
  effectively.

                      Your and Our Concerns Are Many

  You have many concerns. Your lives are not as full, peaceful,
  meaningful and dignified as you would like. Some of you live in
  continuous fear because of your immigration status and the inadequacy
  of the existing immigration policies. Many of you are parents and are
  experiencing great confusion and difficulty in raising your children in
  another culture, a culture which is markedly different from our
  traditional Hispanic cultures.  You do not always find understanding
  and acceptance for yourselves or your children.  A growing number of
  your children do complete high school and go on to college and a
  profession, thanks to their own dedication and the support they receive
  from you.  Many, nevertheless, are dropping out of school. An alarming
  number are involved with gangs and drugs. The unemployment rate is also
  high among you. Very large numbers work hard for low wages and often
  receive iittle or no benefits such as medical care and insurance. Your
  children's future is already threatened before birth by the lack of
  prenatal care and the anti-conception, pro-abortion mentality of many
  segments of society in the United States. The aged among you, our
  beloved ancianos, moreover, are forced to live in inadequate conditions
  because of the lack of affordable housing.

  We, the Hispanic bishops of California, take all of these realities to
  heart. We are concerned about you, body and soul, materially and
  spiritually. That integral concern inspires us today as we reflect on
  your circumstances as immigrant people and as a minority within U.S.
  society. We hope that this letter will be one of many which will allow
  us to approach these concerns in a constructive way. At this time we
  wish to concentrate on a situation that especially saddens us.

                   One Situation Especially Saddens Us

  The main concern we wish to address at this time is the drift to other
  religions of so many Hispanics who were baptized and often raised in
  the Catholic faith. We hope that our words will not be taken as an
  attack on true religious respect, on true ecumenism, as that wonderful
  movement has developed since the time of Pope John XXIII. This drift to
  other religions is usually the direct result of an aggressive and
  disrespectful proselytism on the part of some so-called Christian
  sects, not the mainline denominations of Protestant Christianity. The
  Roman Catholic Church enjoys ever- increasing mutual understanding and
  respect with the vast majority of Protestant Christian traditions. We
  are maintaining a dialogue in the pursuit of Christian unity with them.
  This was the prayer of Jesus Christ: "that all may be one as you,
  Father, are in me, and I in you; I pray that they may be one in us,
  that the world may believe that you have sent me" (Jn 17:21).

  If you are among those who are no longer practicing Catholics, ask
  yourselves why and then read this letter, which is in a very special
  way addressed and dedicated to you because we care about you. If you
  are presently an active member of the Catholic Church, you should also
  read this letter in order to reaffirm your faith and to help us bring
  back those who have fallen away.

                    Why Some Leave the Catholic Church

  What are some factors which have alienated some of our Hispanic
  brothers and sisters?

  1. Members of religious sects might have visited you and confused you.
  They lead some of you to believe that the teachings and practices of
  our church are wrong or contrary to the spirit of Jesus Christ. They
  try to "prove" this to you citing tests from the Bible. Some of you may
  have felt that your eyes and ears were opened to the truth and that you
  had been deceived by priests and other Catholic teachers. Frequently
  those who attack Catholic doctrine do not really know what the
  doctrines are. They have incomplete and unfounded ideas about what the
  church really teaches. You are told, for instance, that it is wrong to
  pray to the saints or even to Mary, and to "adore" statues as they
  claim we do. First of all, Catholics are not taught to adore the saints
  or statues. We adore only God. We do believe, however, that God has
  special friends, people of exceptional virtue and integrity -- the
  saints -- who have attained a level of holiness, of intense friendship
  with him, that allows them to be special instruments of his grace.  God
  has always reached down to us through others, most especially through
  Jesus Christ. The saints can intercede for other human beings before
  God. This has been the ancient custom and belief of Christians from the
  earliest times of Christianity. It seems very strange, moreover, that
  these sects should attack us for venerating the saints, since it is a
  common and very commendable human custom to venerate the memory, the
  image or the photograph of family, dear friends and loved ones. Do we
  not keep photographs of loved ones in our wallet and lovingly
  contemplate them from time to time?

  The church presents saints to us as heroes of virtue and as models to
  follow. The saints are special members of God's family. They are God's
  dear friends and loved ones. If great and miraculous events come about
  through the intercession of Mary and the saints, it is all due to God,
  whom we know through Jesus Christ and his followers down through the
  ages.

  2. Another reason why you may be disenchanted with the church is that
  you might have felt that you were not understood by a priest or
  religious at some time or other.  Some priests and religious are
  extremely tired and under stress due to the heavy demands made upon
  their time and human energies. Like everybody else, some priests and
  religious find it difficult at times to balance work, study, prayer and
  wholesome relaxation. Be aware that those who are called to serve in
  the church -- in our church and in any other church for that matter --
  are subject to imperfections. They are men and women burdened by the
  same weaknesses and faults as everyone else.

  Because of the heavy burdens and stress placed upon those who are
  called to serve in the church, we encourage you to show support and
  solidarity to them in a common effort to meet the spiritual and social
  challenges that we all face.

  In many places, however, it is not a question of finding a priest who,
  for whatever reason, does not attend to you adequately. Rather, you do
  not find any Spanish- speaking priest at all and therefore you do not
  find the Mass and other services in Spanish. Many seminaries and
  religious congregations are making special appeals to Hispanic
  candidates for the priesthood. Learning Spanish is a requirement for
  ordination to the priesthood in some dioceses of California today. So
  there will be more Spanish-speaking priests to serve you. There are
  also many Spanish-speaking deacons serving you throughout California as
  well as committed religious men and women.  There are many lay leaders
  collaborating with the priest. But if there is a shortage of priests,
  is it not due in part to the failure to cultivate vocations in the
  home? That is where you can help by fostering vocations, especially in
  the family.

  3. The religious sects claim that we do not read or know the Bible in
  the Catholic Church. If today we and they enjoy the Bible, it is
  because the Catholic Church preserved it over the ages as a source of
  divine revelation. Our Hispanic Catholicism, for example, is permeated
  with a graphic and dramatic sense of the truths of Sacred Scripture.
  What else do you consider our religious celebrations with their
  Christmas pageants (pastorelas), our Holy Week drama and our household
  recitation of the rosary wherein we meditate on the major events in the
  Gospel story! Are not our cathedrals, churches, chapels and shrines
  graphic displays of biblical truths and are they not frequently more
  moving than words printed on a page? Finally, the eucharistic liturgy,
  the focal point of our prayer and worship, is permeated with scriptural
  elements.

                            Why Be a Catholic?

  There are many reasons why we are blessed to be Catholic Christians.
  Let us consider now some of the advantages of being a Catholic:

  1. We beiong to a church and tradition that traces itself back to Jesus
  Christ, the Son of God made man. The religious sects pressuring you
  find their origins hundreds of years after the death of Christ. The
  continuity in faith and tradition that we enjoy as Catholics, in
  contrast, is beautifully expressed in the role of the successor of St.
  Peter, who is the pope. Peter unquestionably had a special function
  among the first apostles.  Since the death of Peter, the church has
  maintained a historical list of the bishops of Rome who succeeded him.
  We Catholics should be grateful to God for this. In Matthew's Gospel we
  hear Jesus conferring upon Peter a special responsibility: "I say to
  you that you are Peter" (rock in the Aramaic language spoken by Jesus)
  "and upon this rock I will build my church" "and whatever you declare
  bound on earth shall be bound in heaven" (Mt. 16:18).

  2. We Catholics have the privilege of enjoying a special relationship
  to Mary, the mother of Jesus. This is especially true of the Hispanic
  communities, who venerate Mary under many different titles. One of
  these is Blessed Mary of Guadalupe, whose image is venerated on the
  tilma of Juan Diego pre served in the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico
  City. That image was entrusted to Juan Diego, who had only recently
  been baptized in the Catholic faith.

  To accept the teaching of the sects is to reject Mary and what she
  stands for God's wonderful plan of redemption. To join these sects is
  to betray the Marion tradition of our ancestros, who saw so clearly the
  terrible contradiction involved in accepting and loving Christ while
  rejecting or ignoring his mother.

  The sacraments are opportunities to encounter God here and now. In the
  eucharist, or holy communion, we encounter Jesus Christ, body and
  blood, soul and divinity. This sacrament was left to us by Christ
  himself the night of his passion. The eucharistic liturgy, the Mass, is
  a biblically based celebration and incorporates almost countless
  biblical references in its various parts. The sects reject this
  marvelous sacramental encounter and therefore deprive their members of
  this incredible opportunity.

  The sacrament of reconciliation was also instituted by Christ: "Receive
  the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive sins, they are forgiven; if you do not
  forgive them, they are not forgiven" (Jn. 20:22-23). This sacrament has
  a long history and has been practiced in different ways from the very
  beginning of the church. The custom of privately confessing one's sin
  to the priest is very ancient. Those who take advantage of this
  wonderful encounter with Jesus Christ to receive absolution for sins
  committed after baptism can tell you how freeing and encouraging it is.
  Modern psychology tells us how important it is to overcome guilt and
  doubt in our lives. The sacrament of reconciliation, penance or
  confession as it is called, is a great blessing given us by Jesus
  Christ himself. It has been faithfully preserved in the Catholic
  Church.

  4. Our Catholic faith is part of an ancient heritage of which we as
  Catholics of Hispanic origin should be especially proud. Today half the
  Roman Catholics of the world trace their religious and cultural
  heritage back to Spain and Portugal and to the rich popular Catholicism
  of Latin America. This Catholicism reflects the profound religious
  traditions of the indigenous cultures of the Americas into which it was
  grafted.

  As Catholics we are part of a truly worldwide family of Faith. The
  travels of our Holy Father Pope John Paul II have called attention more
  than ever before to the universal nature of our Catholic tradition and
  its vitality in a world looking for answers to so many questions about
  the meaning of human existence.

                                Conclusion

  We, the Hispanic bishops of California, have addressed this pastoral
  letter to you, the many and diverse Hispanic communities of California.
  We have initiated a dialogue and have expressed our concern and real
  affection (carino) for you. Our love is only a faint shadow of God's
  infinite love for each and every one of you.

  We wish to encourage you to assume your proper, active role in society
  and in the church. Remember always that the Roman Catholic Church is
  the church of our forefathers, of your abuelos. If you have left its
  ranks or moved away from it, we want to welcome you back. If you are a
  faithful member struggling to live your heritage of faith, we hope you
  will reaffirm others in that faith with the assistance and under the
  protection of the Virgin Mary, our mother.

  We sincerely hope that all those involved in ministry and service in
  the church -- your parish priests, your parish staff and your teachers
  -- will take our words to heart. While these words have been addressed
  especially to you, our Hispanic brothers and sisters, it is the parish
  priest and his collaborators who have the primary responsibility to
  make our parishes and schools real communities that foster the
  hospitality and fellowship needed to make the concerns we express here
  something more than wishful thinking.

  We pledge our continuing efforts to help you achieve the level of
  dignity and respect owed you as children of a loving God and brothers
  and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We, as servants of that Lord,
  have pledged our lives to proclaim his Gospel. May you join with us in
  that joyful proclamation as Catholics of Hispanic origin: And may you
  do so with all your mind, heart and soul! Que Dios Nuestro Senor les
  bendiga abundantemente.

  The six Hispanic bishops who signed this letter are: Joseph Madera;
  Auxiliary Bishops Juan Arzube, Gilbert Chavez, Alphonse Gallegos and
  Armando Ochoa; and retired Archbishop Tomas Clavel.


    This document was taken from "Cults, Sects, and the New Age," by
    Rev.  James J. LeBar, available from Our Sunday Visitor Press,
    200 Noll Plaza, Huntington, IN 46750.


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