The 120 Hispanic Catholics that gathered at Divine Mercy Parish, Vineland on June 3 for the community’s V Encuentro found their mission, Celia Gutierrez knows.
“We don’t have to be priests, sisters or missionaries to encounter people and make them understand their dignity,” she said.
“We can feel confident, equipped because we are Catholic, and through our baptism, fully alive to evangelize the Good News” she said.
Gutierrez helped to coordinate her parish’s gathering, which discerns ways in which the Catholic Church can best reach out to the South Jersey’s Spanish-speaking residents.
Divine Mercy is one of the 23 other Hispanic parish ministries throughout the Diocese of Camden, and one of the communities in Deanery 5 (which includes parishes throughout Cape May and Cumberland counties), that is preparing for the upcoming diocesan V Encuentro in the fall.
To this end, the June 3 event saw young and old come together in a “beautiful process,” Gutierrez said.
“I’ve been in Vineland for 42 years, and this is the most cohesive event I’ve ever seen,” she added.
“We identified the needs for the Hispanic community,” she said, which include the importance of more programs highlighting social justice; more activities to make youth feel welcome at Divine Mercy; and increased aid for parishioners needing transportation to and from church, and translators to help them communicate with English-speaking church leaders.
Calling her church one in a “process of renewal,” Gutierrez is confident Divine Mercy will “be more” for Vineland’s residents.
“We have the Holy Spirit. God will do miracles,” she said.
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