With everything building towards the implementation of Beacons of Light, many parishes around the Archdiocese have been thinking and praying about how to build greater unity. Unity in our regions, unity in the new families,  and unity in our local church are all on the forefront of people’s minds. Here in the WWPR, we’ve been working towards at least one such project for some time now, hoping for greater   cooperation and community between the English- and Spanish-speaking parishioners. A consistent hurdle to this has been the language barrier that exists, but we are now seeing major strides towards overcoming this.
 
A pattern that has emerged with immigrant communities in the Church in the United States shows the initial generation of Catholics arrive and struggle to learn English while their children pick it up quickly in the schools. It happened regularly with the Germans here in Cincinnati and with many other groups in other parts of the country that aren’t quite as strictly German or Irish as we tend to be here. If history plays out once more, we will see many of the Latino parishioners fight to pick up the language and customs while also supporting their families, but their children will grow up bilingual. Their children, in turn, will understand Spanish but won’t speak it as well, and their children will, for the most part, not even understand Spanish. Since we are not personally going to be here in three generations, our hope is to speed this
process along a bit while also strengthening our ties with our brothers and sisters who worship alongside us each week.
 








With that in mind, I ask for both your prayers and your support as we move into the next  phase of our Coram initiative. On December 7, we will have an open house for the English as a Second Language Classes in our region at
St. Matthias at 6:00 pm. Several dedicated volunteers will be working with Latino families from OLR and St. Matthias in the early weeks (starting on January 4) to determine the most pertinent content for classes, as well as evaluate how best to set up the class for both parents and their children to benefit.
 
As we begin this initiative, I ask that you:
 
- Pray for the success of this initiative, as it builds towards our long-term goals of a bigger, holier, more unified parish family
 
- Consider attending the open house if you have any interest in helping out and volunteering
 
- Keep an eye out for a special Flocknote in the coming weeks with information on items needed for the class and opportunities to help out
 
On a personal note, I know that this isn’t how many of us thought the parishes (or the parish family) would look even just a few short years ago. Much of what we are working on here with the Latino community may seem like it’s far removed from our concerns and what we want from our parishes. But it certainly seems like providence has placed these brothers and sisters in our midst, and we must constantly remember the words of Our Lord when He tells us that “whatever we do for the least of these, you do unto me.” Thank you for your flexibility, your hard work, and your diligence in striving to live out your vocations with integrity each day.
 
Prayers always,
Fr. McC