Maria Gonzalez, a parishioner of St. Brendan and St. Ann in the Bronx, was among attendees of the New York archdiocesan Formation Day – a daylong gathering for the faithful who are actively involved in parish formation ministries throughout the archdiocese.

“Formation Day: A Discussion on Evangelization, Christian Initiation and Family Life Ministry,” was held Saturday, November 11 at Fordham University’s main campus in the Bronx, attended by more than 400 people. One of the workshops that Gonzalez attended was “Intercultural Evangelization: Structuring a Parish Approach,” presented in Spanish by Wanda Vasquez, director of the Office of Hispanic Ministry for the Archdiocese of New York.          

“I came here to learn more about the faith, and how to defend it,” Gonzalez told The Good Newsroom after the Intercultural Evangelization talk, adding that she appreciated Vasquez’s message from Vasquez about the importance of outreach and welcoming efforts among God’s children from all cultures and nations.        

Gonzalez serves as a Eucharistic minister and a catechist at St. Brendan and St. Ann. She said she’s a lifelong Catholic who is grateful to her parents for the Catholic upbringing they provided her and her siblings.   

Vasquez has also served the Church regionally and nationally in other positions related to Hispanic Ministry. During her workshop talk, she spoke about the significance of understanding other cultures and bringing together communities from different backgrounds to help each parish in the mission of the Church, united in Christ.  

“This is about the vision, the mission, the values and the practices of the parish throughout the generations, which means including the children, including the young adults – so that they also can help bring communities together,” she said at the workshop, citing Catholic social teaching and Church leaders, including Father Allan F. Deck, SJ, former executive director of the U.S. Bishops’ Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church. She said this is important so that parishioners can truly “assist the parish in reaching the moment when all would feel welcomed.”  

She noted that diversity is important “because we are one Body, one faith, one Church. Leviticus says ‘(about the stranger)…and you will love him as you love yourself. Because all of you were strangers in Egypt. I am the Lord, your God.’ That says a lot. We must think about this. Catholic means universal.” 

Vasquez told the workshop attendees that it is important that they remember this, and she repeated, “Catholic means universal.” And she added that “Jesus celebrated diversity” by preaching to and accompanying all peoples. “An evangelistic parish builds bridges among the faithful and the communities…We must build those bridges that can take us to a place where we can welcome those persons, so that they can be part of the catechism, part of the parish; so that they can help among the communities – invite them to be missionary disciples and have the same responsibilities…Cultural diversity means respecting all the different cultures.”

Vasquez noted the annual Marian Mass celebrations at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Hispanic Ministry liturgies that honor Mary under her various titles in Latin American countries. “All cultures should work in unity to help make the parish open to and evangelize the entire (parish) community,” she said. 

Also at the Intercultural Evangelization workshop was Rosa Iturbides, a parishioner of Holy Innocents Church in Manhattan, who said she attended the workshop “because there’s so much diversity in the Church. I came to learn more about where we are, where the Church is at this moment; how we can become more united. It was a good message from the workshop – being united amid the diversity. 

Other workshop presenters at Formation Day included Father Ambiorix Rodriguez, pastor of St. Elizabeth Church in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan; Father Jose Felix Ortega, pastor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and St. Martin of Tours in the Bronx; and Oscar Cruz, archdiocesan director of Adult Catechesis, Catechumenate. The event’s keynote speaker was Auxiliary Bishop Manuel A. Cruz of the Archdiocese of Newark.