By Alfonso Aguilar and Mary Frances McCarthy
HERALD Staff Writers
(From the issue of 6/17/04)

Arlington County currently has more than 35,000 Hispanic residents. According to the Arlington County Police Gang Unit, less than 1 percent of those Hispanics are gang members.

"The Hispanic gang members do not represent the Hispanic community at all," Sgt. John Rizik of the gang unit said. "The majority of the Hispanic population are honest, hardworking citizens."

Rizik has said leaders in the Hispanic communities say they are "very hurt, very embarrassed when they read (about Hispanic gangs in) The Washington Post." The news reported on this is "not really a true representation of the community."

Rizik said that while there are Asian and Black gangs, as well as Hispanic gangs in the area, the majority of criminal incident reports made in the county involve the work of Hispanic gangs. Incidents can range from misdemeanor concealment to homicide, but the most prevalent crimes committed by gangs are destruction of property, mob assaults and malicious wounding.

Arlington County’s gang unit consists of four detectives and a supervisor. Their work is multifaceted, including intelligence gathering, education, intervention, prevention and enforcement. "We’re not sitting behind a desk gathering information," Rizik said. "We’re out talking to parents, talking to kids at high risk and getting them involved in other activities."

Although there are currently no specific diocesan programs or task forces to address gang violence, some parishes like St. Anthony of Padua in Falls Church, Holy Family in Dale City and Blessed Sacrament and Good Shepherd, both in Alexandria, have held discussions aimed at developing a blueprint for action.

"The fact that some parishes have begun addressing the problem is just the beginning of a message that should spread among many other parishes and ultimately constitute a milestone aimed at defining a program for the whole diocese," said Onofre Gutiérrez, parishioner of Blessed Sacrament, where chess and sports tournaments offer youths healthy choices to keep them away from gangs.

Good Shepherd Parish established its program, "Target Youth," with the coordination of Leah Tenorio, Victor Flores and Ana Yancy Alas.

"We are in the process of defining strategies to help those youths who abandon school and get involved or are vulnerable to getting involved in gang activities," said Tenorio, director of Good Shepherd's Hispanic program.

As part of this effort, the parish conducted two meetings with members of the Fairfax County Police Department (Mt. Vernon District), some of them either bilingual or Hispanics.

Holy Family Parish has organized meetings with police and community organizations, according to Pastor Father Eugenio Hoyos, and is in the process of establishing a group in the parish to cope with gang violence.

The purpose of these meetings is to cultivate a better, more trusting relationship between the police and the Latino community, while at the same time encouraging higher expectations for Latino youths and their parents.

"It is very important that we tell Hispanic youths that there are better paths for them, like graduating from university or entering the army or the police," said Tenorio.

Target Youth will be included in the parish's new budget and enhanced by the recent hiring of two ministers for youths, one of them of Hispanic origin.

The director of youth ministry at the diocesan Spanish Apostolate, Antonio Pérez-Alcalá, said that his office has no specific program to deal with Hispanic gangs.

"However, we have over 150 youths reaching out to other youths through spiritual and artistic activities, and delivering a message about human values," said Pérez-Alcalá.

Given that his ministry’s office has neither the resources, nor the professional expertise to develop a comprehensive program, Pérez-Alcalá insisted that working with the families of these youths, is a good path to keep them away from gangs.

"For me it is crucial to help youth to develop a spiritual life, bring them to Jesus, teach them noble ideas and inculcate human values in them," he said.

Last month, the diocesan Youth Ministry Office received approval to hire a coordinator of Hispanic Youth Ministry to focus on how to encourage Hispanic youths to maintain their faith and be active in their parishes.

The youth office has worked with Perez-Alcala, and while he has created a youth ministry program in Arlington, Perez-Alcala does not have the resources to reach youths across the diocese. The Hispanic youth coordinator will be a liaison between the youth office and the Spanish Apostolate.

On July 20, Bohli will meet with priests who minister to Hispanic populations to set the vision for the Hispanic youth coordinator. Bohli hopes this meeting will help the youth office better understand what kind of help parishes need to reach out to Hispanics in their area.

Actually, there are many gangs members who attend Mass, according to interviews with different Hispanic leaders in those parishes that have Spanish Masses and other social programs for the Spanish-speaking congregation.

"More that 90 percent are Catholics, or have been raised Catholic and still live in a Catholic family," said Elaine Vargas, president of Jesus Is Alive (Jesús está vivo), a Latino group established in St. Anthony Parish.

Jesus is Alive and the prayer group New Hope (Nueva Esperanza), both at St. Anthony Parish, have been working to draw out those involved in gangs and offer them, instead, "the path of spirituality, peace and understanding and convince that there is not future in gangs," said Vargas.

Catholic Charities of the Diocese or Arlington Counseling Services offers outreach services to families to help prevent gang prevention, but families must ask for help. Maricela Barroso, bilingual therapist, works with people from the community and schools, and helps support teachers by teaching them how to manage difficult teenagers. According to Barroso, Hispanic gangs are growing faster in Northern Virginia than anywhere else and "parents don’t have a clue" how to combat this. While the Hispanic population is one of the fastest growing populations, it is also one of the poorest.

"Parents tend to work more than one job, and teenagers are left at home alone and their sense of belonging is compromised," Barosso said. These teenagers turn to gangs for that sense of belonging.

Henry Moncada, 18, an ex-gang member from Honduras, understands this need. After many years of participating in gang activities and numerous incarcerations, Moncada joined New Hope group and said it "changed my life forever. This group was my hope and my re-encounter with God," said Moncada, now an active parishioner at St. Anthony Parish.

"We are strengthening our groups against gangs, and we will be successful because as a Church we can offer them [the youths] better alternatives," said Father Horace Grinnell, pastor of St. Anthony Parish.