Each Sunday, members of the Hispanic community would attend the
noon Mass at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Arlington. After worshipping
together, they would support parish initiatives by buying parishioner-made
Latino food for lunch. Father Donald Planty, pastor, would weave in and out of
the crowd, chatting with folks as they ate.
Gradually, they would all spread out to classrooms in the parish
center for different classes: religious education, Rite of Christian Initiation
of Adults, adult formation, English as a second language, marriage
convalidation and citizenship. By the late afternoon, the parish center would
be empty again.
“It’s beautiful to see and be together with the community. I love
them with all my heart,” said Teresa Reyes, director of Hispanic ministry.
“That’s where we build strong relationships, spending long hours together.”
That was before the pandemic. It’s been a difficult year for
members of the Hispanic community, many recent immigrants from Guatemala who
work in hospitality and construction. Many lost their jobs temporarily. Many
contracted COVID-19. A few have died.
The parish was there to lend a helping hand. Father Planty sent
weekly messages to the community encouraging them to reach out if they needed
any help. “It’s like a network,” said Reyes. “If somebody’s car is broken, we
know who fixes cars. Recently, I had three families infected (with COVID-19)
and I just called somebody, ‘Can you go to this pharmacy, can you bring this to
the door?’ ”
They also helped those outside the community. “A homeless man
came to get food and he said, ‘The only thing I want is to go back to my country.
I lost everything. I have diabetes, I have high blood pressure and I don’t want
to get sick and die in this country,’ ” said Reyes. “I said, ‘I don’t know how
but you’re going back to your country.’ ” The members pulled together and gave
him a plane ticket, clothes and $700 to start a new life in El Salvador.
Most importantly, the community has supported one another
spiritually. In addition to livestreamed Mass, in-person Mass and online
religious education classes, they stayed connected by praying the rosary
together virtually every night for a year. Though some are back to working
nights, at its peak around 90 families attended. Many Catholics who had never
prayed the rosary before learned to love the devotion.
Zosimo Salome relied on the parish both spiritually and
materially. The leader of the parish Charismatic Renewal prayer group and a
father of six temporarily lost his job and received assistance from the parish
food pantry to feed his family. Though he and his family prayed together at
home before the pandemic, they joined the nightly rosary almost as soon as it
began. “It united us more as a family and united us to the community,” said
Salome through a translator.
As weeks of the rosary continued, they decided that different
groups would take turns leading each day. On Saturday, the children lead the
prayers.
“It’s very touching because you see kids from like kindergarten
to eighth grade praying and demonstrating the faith,” said eighth grader
Lisania Cruz. “I have a lot of family at this church and it’s nice to see maybe
your little cousin praying the rosary. It’s very joyful at times.”
“In my opinion I think everybody should be doing this because
it’s a very helpful way to social distance but we’ve gotten closer as a
community not only to our community but to the church,” said sixth grader
Nathalie España.
“I think it’s really nice,” said fifth grader Beatriz
Montesflores. “They’re like angels all praying in unity, and we’re all praying
to God to help us in these difficult times.”
When the pandemic began, Reyes had never even heard of Zoom. But
she and the Hispanic community overcame big and small obstacles to remain one
body of Christ. “The most important thing for me as the director was to keep
the community close and not lose our faith because it was hard times,” said
Reyes. “I’m so thankful to God and to Our Lady who always guide us and help us,
but also to the community. I always say to them, ‘Let’s hold hands and go
through together with the blessing of our mother who guides us to Jesus,’ and
that’s what we did.”
