Accompanying the Birth of a Mestizo Church: Toward a Holistic Integration of Latino Catholic Migrants into the Fabric of Parish Life in Contemporary Spain

Orozco, Jose F

Etd

Accompanying the Birth of a Mestizo Church: Toward a Holistic Integration of Latino Catholic Migrants into the Fabric of Parish Life in Contemporary Spain

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MLA citation style (9th ed.)

Orozco, Jose F. Accompanying the Birth of a Mestizo Church: Toward a Holistic Integration of Latino Catholic Migrants Into the Fabric of Parish Life In Contemporary Spain. rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/14b8e2b4-f25b-49ea-83de-63d14301899a.

APA citation style (7th ed.)

O. J. F. Accompanying the Birth of a Mestizo Church: Toward a Holistic Integration of Latino Catholic Migrants into the Fabric of Parish Life in Contemporary Spain. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/14b8e2b4-f25b-49ea-83de-63d14301899a

Chicago citation style (CMOS 17, author-date)

Orozco, Jose F. Accompanying the Birth of a Mestizo Church: Toward a Holistic Integration of Latino Catholic Migrants Into the Fabric of Parish Life In Contemporary Spain. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/14b8e2b4-f25b-49ea-83de-63d14301899a.

Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.

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Orozco, Jose F

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Abstract

Today, as perhaps never before, migrants, documented and undocumented, shape the landscape of many cities in Spain. For society in general, and for the Roman Catholic Church in particular, the global increase in migrants poses many questions and challenges that require coordinated, committed, and compassionate responses in order to welcome, protect, promote, and, above all, integrate them into the social and parish fabric. Also, the growing phenomenon of human mobility inevitably involves the encounter of different cultures, an encounter that places individuals and groups before various dynamics: assimilation, acculturation, disintegration, and integration/mestizaje. As pastor of a neighborhood parish in the south of Madrid, I am convinced that only integration/mestizaje is a valid response. But how do the host parishes –pastors, lay leaders, and the whole community- welcome these new cultures Latino Catholic migrants (LCMs) represent, how do they promote their integration into the parochial fabric? Focusing on the case of LCMs in an urban Spanish context, this thesis project drew on a completely new qualitative research with a selected group of five LCMs present in two parishes of the suburban area of Madrid. The research consisted of personal interviews using an open-ended questionnaire that aimed to answer the question of whether it is true that promoting the full integration of LCMs into the Spanish parochial fabric would result in a mutual enrichment that would revitalize not only the way the local community worships but also its own identity, vitality, and missionary commitment. The broad framework of this thesis project could be summarized in a threefold set of micro goals: to describe the current situation of the sample group, to identify certain patterns that might be common, and to put the findings in dialogue with the context of the host church to draw conclusions that can become pastoral orientations. The testimonies I collected did not allow me to answer this question as clearly as I had anticipated. Rather, what I have concluded from the interviews is that LCMs enter the parishes in Madrid without any problem. However, this integration does not seem to involve a significant element of novelty, the emergence of a new ecclesial reality, the mestizo church. A subtle but real neo-colonialism still delays, if not prevents, mestizaje in parish life. Nonetheless, this project thesis names a fourfold set of broad pastoral guidelines that, as scaffolding ideas, can inspire concrete pastoral actions that will serve to advance the birth of a mestizo church, respectful of and yet different from Latino and local cultures.

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