Seminarians visit diocese for pastoral experience

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
July 22, 2004

When most people think of missionary priests, they think of Americans braving primitive conditions in Third World countries of Africa and Central America. They generally don't think of priests from Mexico and Haiti coming to the United States.

However, as the Hispanic population and other minority groups in the Diocese of Sioux City grow, the necessity to seek missionary priests is a reality.

According to Father Brian Hughes, vocations director of the diocese, seven seminarians are currently visiting the Diocese of Sioux City. Six of the young men are Mexican and one is a Haitian, who attend seminary in Mexico. They arrived in the diocese on June 21.

"I think these people are brave missionaries. It's breathtaking that these young men would have the courage to say to their families that they want to leave home to come and work among Hispanic Catholics in the United States," he said.

Two of the men - Luis Carlos Lara Ruvalcaba and Gabino Oliva Macias - study theology at Seminario de Santa Maria de Guadalupe in Morelia and one, Succes Jeanty, is a seminarian at St. Mary's Seminary in Mexico City. The other four seminarians recently completed a spiritual year at a religious center in Erongaricuaro and they will soon begin philosophy studies.

Father Hughes pointed out that he and the former director of Hispanic Ministries for the diocese, Sister Maria Ybarra, had visited the seminaries in Mexico twice and thought it would be wise to set up a program where the Spanish-speaking seminarians could have a pastoral experience in the United States. This visit is intended for them to get a taste of the American culture and needs of Hispanic people here so they can better discern a future vocation as a missionary in the United States, possibly in the diocese.

He mentioned that when the Diocese of Sioux City was established 100 years ago, Bishop Garrigan sent priests to recruit missionaries from Germany and Ireland.

During the interview with The Globe all but one of the seminarians spoke through an interpreter, Ana Leyva, a native of Mexico who presently lives and works in Sioux City for the public school system as a language assistant.

Luis Carlos Lara Ruvalcaba, 30, said, "For me, it is very important to work with the Hispanic community and help them to find God's presence here."

He pointed out that many of the people have commented that they would like the opportunity for the Gospel to be preached to them in Spanish.

"When we visited Hawarden, I was talking with the priest there and he asked me to be a priest here, please, because the people need a Spanish-speaking priest," noted Luis.

Father LeRoy Suentjens, the pastor at St. Mary Church in Hawarden, acknowledged that he could lead services and activities for the Spanish-speaking community in his parish but they needed someone who truly understood the Mexican culture and Spanish language.

Samuel Tapia Partida, 18, mentioned that he could see why it would be important for Spanish-speaking priests to serve the Hispanic people here because for him it has been very difficult to understand when people speak in English because he doesn't know the language well.

In his time here, he could see where language "was a wall" between people - those that speak Spanish and those that speak English.

"The people have been very nice when we visited them in their homes. They have shown great hospitality," said Jose de Jesus Sanchez Quiroz, who agreed that he could see the need for people to be ministered to in their native language.

This 21-year-old noted that he believes God called the seminarians here.

"I had nice experiences among the Anglo people when we went to church with them. When they knew we were present, after Father Arts introduced us to the people, we could feel the respect," said Jose.

For Gabino Oliva Macias, 28, it is his second trip to the Diocese of Sioux City. He had the opportunity to come here last December.

"Bishop DiNardo told me about the necessity to bring the faith to the Hispanic community in our own language," he said. "We must help them try to keep their traditions and try to keep our people away from the material world."

Gabino mentioned he could also see the need to try to continue to build the church for the three communities - Anglo, Vietnamese and Hispanic.

One other seminarian, Succes, had visited the Diocese of Sioux City with Gabino last December. A native of Haiti, he spoke without the aid of the interpreter.

Like the others, he can see a great need for Spanish-speaking ministers. Succes Jeanty speaks five languages. His first two languages are Creole and French. Spanish and English are his second languages along with Italian.

Mauro Sanchez Gonzalez, 21, pointed out that learning English has been difficult and he plans to put extra effort in studying the language. He had limited English in the past.

Joaquin Guerrero Sanchez, 19, mentioned that he saw how the Anglos really respected the priests.

He was surprised to see how the Hispanic people truly attempt to keep their culture alive here. The seminarian was impressed by how much time and devotion that some people give to the church.

A great deal of their time here in the diocese has been devoted to participating in a six-week ESL (English as a second language) program. Sister Mary Lee Cox, who taught ESL at Holy Family School for six years and will teach ESL this year at Sacred Heart Grade School in Sioux City, wrote the curriculum for the program. She and two other women, Ana Leyva and Deb Jorgensen, are teaching the seminarians.

"All of us need to start with the basics," noted Sister Mary Lee. "I use some of the same teaching materials as I have with my elementary students. The strategies of learning a language are the same whether you are two years old or 55 years old."

She pointed out that initially it took a few days of observation with each seminarian, to learn their particular learning style.

The ESL school day runs from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., starting with prayer. During that time they also attend liturgy together and try to devote their talking at lunchtime to practice speaking English.

"Each seminarian has made progress. It has been exciting to see how hard they are working," said Sister Mary Lee. "I have been so impressed with the work ethic of these young men. They have worked so hard. It has been a wonderful teaching experience for me."

Mauro said they were good teachers. He is thankful for them.

In addition to helping to provide for the spiritual lives of Spanish-speaking parishioners, Father Hughes pointed out that missionary priests often become the practical leaders in parishes.

"People will come to them for medical questions and legal questions," he said. "They are usually the educated people in the community who will be advocates for the people so the sooner these men can understand American culture and how to deal with American society and American systems, the better leaders they will be."

The vocations director said missionary priests will be the bridge between their people and the American culture. Even the civic community in Sioux City, he added, are interested in this pastoral program as they realize the presence of Spanish-speaking missionaries will help stabilize the social fabric of the Hispanic community in northwest Iowa.