Story by David Kilby | Correspondent 

As Catholics throughout the United States have been preparing for the next Hispanic outreach summit known as Encuentro, the Diocese has been doing its part by preparing its own team as well as taking its training to the parish level.

An evangelization process initiated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Encuentro “seeks to reach out to those who find themselves estranged from the life and vision of the Church,” according to its website, vencuentro.org.

As Sandra Lopez, diocesan coordinator of Hispanic Ministry Initiatives in the Department of Pastoral Planning, explained further, “The V Encuentro is a four-year process of ecclesial reflection and action that invites all Catholics in the United States to intense missionary activity, consultation, leadership development and identification of best ministerial practices in the spirit of the New Evangelization.”

Hispanics and Latinos, she said, constitute about 60 percent of all Catholics younger than 18 in the United States. V Encuentro helps to discern ways in which the U.S. Church can better respond to this growing presence and also to strengthen the ways in which Hispanics and Latinos respond to the call as missionary disciples.  

Dating back to 1972, Encuentro has helped establish Hispanic apostolates and youth programs in response to findings from past summits. Encuentros have taken place in 1972, 1977, 1985 and 2000, with a special Encuentro for youth taking place in 2006. The next summit, V Encuentro, will take place in 2018 in Houston.

In preparation, the Diocese’s Encuentro team met Jan. 28 in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold, to share the training it received on a regional level with a group of parish representatives from all four counties of the Diocese. Nineteen parishes were represented.

Matthew Greeley, associate director of the Diocese’s Office of Communications and Media who serves on the diocesan team, said the training gave parish representatives an overview of the Encuentro process. Participants learned about the spirituality, perspective, history and hopes of what the V Encuentro can accomplish.

From January to June, parishes and ministries are scheduled to participate in five V Encuentros in which participants from the parish teams will be given ample opportunities to ask questions and share their own experiences in the Encuentro process. Community responses will be documented and presented at a diocesan Encuentro in September. The information will then be shared at the national Encuentro in Texas. The trainings, Greeley said, are exercises in listening and consciously seeking Christ in the other.

Laura Rivas, diocesan associate director of evangelization and adult faith formation, said that while Encuentro focuses on Hispanic communities, it’s also an evangelization tool for the Church at large.

“The priorities of the Bishop include evangelization, and the theme of Encuentro is missionary disciples,” said Rivas, a member of the Diocese’s Encuentro team. “Everyone is called to be a missionary disciple by nature of our Baptism.”

“We are all going through the process,” she continued. “The fruits [of Encuentro] will impact the Church in general. We have to be open to the process and respond to it faithfully.”

The theme of V Encuentro, “Missionary Disciple,” is inspired by “The Aparecida Document,” produced in 2007 by a committee chaired by Pope Francis, then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio. Rivas said a more literal translation of “encuentro” could be “accompaniment,” or “being in solidarity with one another.”

Father Rene Pulgarin, pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Keyport, is leading the Encuentro efforts for priests of the Diocese. He also emphasized how the Encuentro process will help all Catholics.

“Encuentro is a great tool for us to reach out to our Catholics who for some reason are asleep in their mission as missionaries of God's Word,” he said. “This ‘V Encuentro’ could bring a better understanding of our mission as Catholics within our parishes and pastoral and ministerial groups – not only to the Latino community, but to the whole Diocese that has been built upon the richness of cultures and values diversity. ”

The Diocese is keenly aware of the needs addressed by Encuentro. With the Faith in Our Future decisions issued in January by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., several parishes in the Diocese have been designated as Centers for Hispanic Ministry. As such, they will provide ministerial outreach and liturgical celebrations for the Hispanic community in their respective areas.

Those parishes include:Mother of Mercy, Asbury Park; St. Barnabas, Bayville; St. Ann, Browns Mills; St. Rose of Lima, Freehold; Our Lady of Sorrows-St. Anthony, Hamilton; Jesus the Lord and St. Joseph, both Keyport; St. Anthony Claret, Lakewood; Christ the King, Long Branch; Christ the Redeemer, Mount Holly; St. Anthony of Padua, Hightstown; St. Paul, Princeton; St. Anthony of Padua, Red Bank; Jesus the Good Shepherd, Riverside; St. Mark, Sea Girt; St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Our Lady of the Angels and St. Joseph, all Trenton, and St. Joseph, Toms River.

Greeley said that while Encuentro speaks about reaching those estranged from Church, this periphery doesn't always fit the typical image that may come to mind. Peripheries in the sense of Encuentro, he said, are reaching those who seem to have distanced themselves from the community of faith. From this perspective, even people who participate in parish life can also be seen as being on the peripheries.

“The timing of this national process is perfect to coincide with Faith in Our Future,” he said.