In growing Latino community, Episcopalians see opportunity

April 28, 2008
Via AP

At a clapboard church in this northern Virginia town, a small group gathers to rrrroll their R's and add a little diversity to their resumes.

They're members of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia clergy, seminary students and diocesan employees learning liturgical Spanish. Their goal: to conduct a church service in the language that's growing in importance as Latinos examine faiths beyond their traditional Roman Catholic beliefs.

''There's a growing recognition of the interests and the presence of Latino people,'' said the Rev. David Colin Jones, who oversees four Latino congregations in northern Virginia.

It comes as experts say many mainline denominations have experienced shrinking congregations amid demographic changes in neighborhoods their churches once anchored.

While the Virginia diocese isn't dwindling, Jones said officials do hope to expand their reach to areas like the Shenandoah Valley, with its strong population of Spanish-speaking migrant workers.

With additional funding, Jones said, ''we would establish congregations in the Shenandoah Valley, in the south part of Alexandria, also in growing areas of Richmond.''

For now, he said, many congregations simply accommodate Spanish-speakers when they can.

That's where Rebecca Gibson gets involved.

A member of Christ Episcopal Church in Winchester, the former high school Spanish teacher led the four-week liturgical course in Aldie. She stressed the intricacies of Spanish pronunciation.

''We're going to want to say it like we do in English, but we have to make sure the pronunciation is right kahn-fairrr-may-see-own,'' she enunciated, and around the room, a handful of students tried sounding out the Spanish version of ''confirmation,'' a commitment rite.

Mastery of the complex alliteration and tongue-twisting pace of Spanish pronunciation is a cornerstone for anybody learning the language. But it can be especially sensitive for clergy, charged with helping new immigrants maintain what may be one of few reminders of home their spirituality.

One misstep, Gibson explained, and a warm welcome to the church can go awry: Chop off the last three words, for instance, and ''Soy pastor de la iglesia'' goes from ''I'm a pastor of a church'' to ''I'm a sheep herder.''

''If a Spanish-speaking person comes to church and hears somebody trying, but not really knowing what they're doing, that's not going to make them very welcome,'' Gibson said.

The students already have one advantage: Episcopal priests use the ''Book of Common Prayer,'' a sort of color-by-numbers guide to leading services.

One of Gibson's students, the Rev. Brad Jackson, recently met three Mexican men seeking a church home in his community, Madison.

''More and more, there will be opportunities to have exchanges with Spanish-speaking people,'' Jackson said. ''To worship in your primary language is, I think, important.''

Mainline Protestant groups are on shifting sands.

Many have been losing congregants for years and are looking to new groups to fill emptying pews, according to Dave Travis, who tracks church growth trends with the Leadership Network in Dallas.

Travis said one in five of the churches he works with have Spanish-language worship services.

''As the percentages go up, it becomes more of an integrated part of an English-speaking church,'' he said of Latino worshippers.

At the same time, many Latinos are beginning to more closely examine faiths beyond Roman Catholicism, according to Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

A Pew survey found that while more than two-thirds of Hispanics identify as Roman Catholics, many others are trying charismatic and evangelical faiths.

''The single most important reason they tell us is the desire for a closer relationship with God,'' said Lugo, a Cuban-American who believes the more jubilant traditions in those churches drew Latinos.

With its own relatively low-key services, the Episcopal Church isn't an automatic fit. But seminary student Ann Ritonia figures an extra ''hola'' or two might help.

''If we can communicate with these communities by speaking the language,'' she said, ''we create an entry point.''

Source: Virginia Wire