New York Latinos look forward to Pope Francis's visit: 'He brings change'

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/17/new-york-latinos-pope-francis-visit

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Margarita Flores doesn’t have tickets to any events in Pope Francis’s visit to New York, but she has vowed not to let that stop her from attending the pontiff’s procession through Central Park next Friday – even if that means sneaking past police.

After all, she saw two previous popes during their own historic visits to the city, and she’s determined to see their successor. “I’m a short person,” said the 64-year-old Bronx resident, who has a houseful of mementos from Masses held in New York by popes Benedict and John Paul II. “I’m sure I can get past some of those big guys.”

She’s not alone in her excitement. Among New York’s Catholic Latinos, Pope Francis’s dynamism and plain speaking have sparked devotion and pride, as well plenty of anticipation and preparation for his visit from 24-26 September. Latinos have been literally hands on in preparing for the pope’s visit: a group of immigrant carpenters built the chair, pulpit and altar that the pope will use during Mass at Madison Square Garden on 25 September, and a group of Latina seamstresses are embroidering linens for the Pope’s visit to an East Harlem Catholic school, where he will meet with students and immigrants.

Heavily Latino churches like Our Lady of Fatima in the borough of Queens, which credit an uptick in Latino church attendance to Francis are organizing viewing events as well as vigils to pray for the pope.

And then there’s Natalia Corridori, who hails from Pope Francis’s native Buenos Aires and is the manager of Artuso Bakery in the Bronx. She created a cookie decorated with a picture of the pope, and has sold nearly 20,000 since the sweet’s 2013 debut. These days, the bakery is selling 200 per day, and Corridori expects that number to climb into the thousands the week of the pope’s visit.

Corridori, who is has petitioned the Archdiocese of New York to sell the treats at the mass in Madison Square Garden, couldn’t be happier. “I absolutely felt a sense of pride when he was elected, not just because he’s an Argentinian pope, but because he’s a fan of San Lorenzo [a Buenos Aires football club],” Corridori says. “But aside from that he brings change to the Catholic Church that we haven’t seen in a long time, and he’s a humble individual.”

Related: Proportion of Catholics in Latin America has dropped 25% since 1970

Yet for all the excitement it’s causing, Pope Francis’s visit comes at a time when the influence of the church among US Latinos has plummeted. According to studies by the Pew Hispanic and Georgetown University’s Center for the Applied Research of the Apostolate, the proportion of adult US Latinos who identify as Catholic has fallen from two-thirds of the population to just over half. Despite the church’s efforts to expand the Hispanic lay leadership and despite its support for undocumented immigrants, Latinos are leaving Catholicism for evangelical congregations or abandoning organized religion altogether.

It’s a measure of the rise of evangelism among Latinos that when Barack Obama welcomes Pope Francis to the White House this month, Reverand Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference –which represents some 40,000 evangelical congregations – will be present.

Rodriguez says his organization had ramped up efforts to reach more Latinos, including partnering with Trinity Broadcast Network to launch a TV network aimed at young English-dominant Latinos, TBN Salsa, in June. He credits evangelical churches’ contemporary music worship, an emphasis on a direct relationship with God, and a message of personal and spiritual empowerment with the success in drawing Latinos.

“The Catholic church doesn’t necessarily teach you to be empowered,” Rodriguez says. “It talks about surviving, and to a degree, reinforces that poverty as a blessing. We say, come and experience God in such a way that you will receive power not just to survive but to thrive. I’m not talking about owning three Mercedes. It’s the idea that God has better things for you so you can become a blessing to others.”

That messaging may attract many Latinos, but doesn’t speak to young Latino adults like Flores’ daughter, Paula Creary. When she became disillusioned with Catholicism, she didn’t join a Protestant church – she left organized religion altogether. “I went through baptism, communion, confirmation, went to an all-girls Catholic school, the works,” says Creary, 26. “Back then I was very connected to the church, because it was a family thing.”

But as a teen, Creary began to question the church’s stance on gay marriage and other issues. She says parochial school teachers’ focus on eternal punishment for sins rather than positive aspects of faith turned her off and attending heavily structured masses left her spiritually unfulfilled. “It doesn’t speak to my lifestyle, and I feel like it also hasn’t kept up with the times,” Creary says.

At the same time, she made friends with diverse religious beliefs and she found herself building her own brand of spirituality from sources as diverse as Buddhism and Wicca: these days she practices meditation and burns bundles of sage at home to “attract good energy”, she says. “I’m open to everything now. I’m searching for peace of mind, having a good sense of self where I don’t carry negative energy and I’m connected with my community, friends, and family.”

At Our Lady of Fatima in Queens, Reverand Edwin Lozada believes he’s found a strategy to bring back lapsed and former Catholics: adopting Pope Francis’s own way of addressing the faithful, which Lozada calls a combination of substance and simplicity of language.

“Before I was a priest I would sit in church and the homily would go right over my head,” says Lozada, who was recruited from Colombia to come to Queens. “When you hear this pope you understand what he’s saying. It’s deep but it’s accessible. That’s what I realized I had to speak like. I understood that people were feeling unmotivated by the homily, feeling like they were scolded.”

Related: Americans are ready to hear Pope Francis – but will they listen?

As a result, he says, many members stopped attending Mass or shopping around for other parishes. “People like when you deliver a message that connects to real life and you bring it back to Jesus and the gospel,” he says. “It’s gratifying when I hear people say, I truly understood what you said.”

At a recent Sunday mass in Spanish, some 800 people – nearly double the amount just two years ago – pressed into the church’s pews or stood along the outer aisles to hear Lozada’s message on compassion. After asking why Jesus would heal a deaf or mute person, he answered his own question. “Because beyond charity, they had something to hear, and something to say.” He paused to let the message sink in. “It’s so important to see people and equate other people’s worth with yours, no matter what the difference.”

That’s the kind of message Margarita Flores hopes that her daughter has the opportunity to hear once again from the lips of a Catholic priest, and says hasn’t given up hope that someday, Creary will return to the fold. “There’s something about the Catholic Church that brings you back,” she says, simply.