Two dozen new Hispanic parish leaders are ready to go

July 19, 2023

Leadership tools and confidence. Armed with these, 24 Hispanic men and women were sent on mission June 25 by Bishop William Joensen to sow God’s spirit in their faith communities.

The 24 comprise the fifth cohort of the Hispanic Lay Ecclesial ministry program in the Des Moines Diocese. 

Started 10 years ago, the program has formed 150 Spanish-speaking leaders who work with their pastors and parish leadership in the Des Moines Diocese to help people know and love God more deeply. 

The Diocese uses instructors and curriculum from the Instituto De Liderazgo Pastoral based at the University of St. Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Illinois.

Through the program, students discovered what their gifts and talents are, what needs their parishes have, and then collaborated with their pastors on a project to help fill the need.

“Most of the projects respond to the needs of the parishes,” said Mayra Moriel de Banuelos, diocesan director of Hispanic Formation. “Many of them are in hospitality, which aligns with the mission of the bishop.”

For this post-pandemic cohort, it’s concerning that there appears to be fewer people attending Mass. 

“The reason people may not be coming back is that they don’t feel they belong to a community,” Moriel said. “There are many groups in the Church and they have to get united and work together, work in communion.”

An example would be one parish’s young adult group reaching out to other parishes to invite their young adults to join them. 
The class drew people who had different reasons for joining.

“Some students are people who were not very active in their parishes but wanted to learn and wanted to respond. They look at this program as a way to get trained to be able to respond to the needs that they see,” Moriel said. 

“We have others who see this program as a way to grow personally and they see that need in their own families. They ask: ‘How can I be empowered to respond to the needs of my family and all the families in my community?’”

Students in this latest cohort spent 20 months going through a process to discover more about themselves and how Christ works through them.

“In the Hispanic community, we talk about evangelization. We know who is God, but sometimes I don’t think we know who we are. First, think about who you are and from there you have to discover where God is in your life through all of the experience that you have,” said Nelly Lorenzo, director of El Instituto.

“Then we move to two courses on Scriptures. If you know yourself, you will discover God in you. We have a course on Christian spirituality. How do you express your spirituality in the community? Then we have mission. How are you going to express that spirituality in your community?”

The students came from seven different parishes: Christ the King, St. Anthony, Our Lady of the Americas, Basilica of St. John, all in Des Moines; plus St. Boniface in Waukee, St. Patrick in Perry and Sacred Heart in West Des Moines. Their graduation was May 6. They gathered for a retreat June 23-25 and celebrated their new mission to share God’s love in a Mass with Bishop Joensen. 
It is hoped that the next cohort can incorporate folks in Council Bluffs and other parts of the diocese. 

Students are transformed by the program.

Aura Martinez, associate director for El Instituto, said, “It’s beautiful to see how their perspective changes to ‘I am called, I am part of this Church and there is something I can offer it.’”