WASHINGTON – With several hundred guests for a reception at
the Vatican Embassy Sept. 23, the Catholic Association of
Latino Leaders, or CALL, launched its first national outreach
effort at an observance of Hispanic Heritage Month.
“To be a leader is to have a clear sense of identity,” said
Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United
States, in welcoming CALL members and hundreds of others to
the embassy. “What I wish for all Latino leaders is that you
have a sense of identity and of very clearly belonging.”
CALL was founded in 2007 under the guidance of then Denver
Auxiliary Bishop Jose H. Gomez. Now the head of the
Archdiocese of San Antonio, Archbishop Gomez was among about
a dozen bishops and archbishops at the Sept. 23 event.
Cardinal William H. Keeler, retired archbishop of Baltimore,
also attended.
Mario Paredes, chairman of CALL’s board of directors, said
the group came to Washington to introduce the organization to
the leadership in the nation’s capital.
Among the guests at the event were Janet Murguia, president
and CEO of the National Council of La Raza; Luis Lugo,
director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life,
several senior staff members of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops and Washingtonians active in politics,
public policy and cultural groups with ties to various Latin
American countries. Many of the guests said they came out of
curiosity, to learn about CALL.
Manny Garcia-Tunon, secretary of the organization, told
Catholic News Service that the reception was intended to mark
CALL’s national presence. Though the group numbers fewer than
50 official members, Garcia-Tunon said local chapters are
being developed in Miami, San Antonio, Denver, Houston and
Phoenix, all of which will have events in October.
Garcia-Tunon, the vice president of his family’s engineering
and construction firm and an author and speaker on business
topics, said the broad goal of CALL is simply to work with
the church for the common good in the service of Latino
communities. That starts with goals such as helping Hispanic
youth get good educations to enable them to succeed in life,
he said.
Promotion of the sanctity of life and the sanctity of
marriage and supporting the church in the promotion of
vocations to religious life also are on the group’s agenda.
He said they also will be working in support of comprehensive
immigration reform and health care legislation.
Membership in CALL is by invitation. Its activities so far
have included a retreat in June led by Boston Cardinal Sean
P. O’Malley and a formal launch event in 2008, both in San
Antonio.
Garcia-Tunon said he’s been impressed at the “absolute
fellowship” and camaraderie that characterizes all the
group’s activities, despite the sometimes very different
perspectives of its members. Particularly on some political
topics, he acknowledged that the views of Latinos of Cuban
heritage in Miami, for example, are vastly different from
those of Mexican-Americans from Western states. But the
commonality of faith and church teaching has gotten the
members beyond such differences, he said.
“Regardless of the issues, we need to always make sure we use
mercy and justice as our barometer,” said Garcia-Tunon.
