News (Noticias) Tagged ‘Evangelical’

Esperanza, the largest Hispanic faith-based organization in the country, presses Congress to take advantage of opportunity to prevent youth smoking and pass H.R 1108, “The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.” This legislation gives the FDA the ability to regulate tobacco products and marketing in order to prevent tobacco companies from targeting youth.

“With H.R. 1108 the FDA would have the ability to further restrict sales of tobacco products to children and require more meaningful warnings on tobacco products,” said the President of Esperanza Rev. Luis Cortes. “This offers a great deal of hope, and we are pleased to see that this bill will receive a vote on the house floor. Congress needs to pass this historic legislation now!”

The Reverend Luis Cortes, Jr. is the founder and president of Esperanza. Esperanza is the largest Hispanic Faith-Based Evangelical network in the country. With a national network of 12,000 faith and community-based agencies, Esperanza is one of the leading voices for Hispanics in America. Esperanza “

The Brody File has learned that the Obama campaign held a conference call this morning with about 30 Hispanic Evangelical pastors. Immigration, faith and abortion were all part of the discussion. The call lasted about 30 minutes starting with an opening prayer and then closing in prayer as well. These calls will now start taking place every other week.

Obama’s faith based team was on the call along with the campaign’s Latino Vote Director. As for the groups represented, the National Hispanic Christian leadership Conference was on the call along with pastors from New York, Florida, Colorado, Texas, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and DC / Baltimore. “*

Esperanza, the largest Hispanic Evangelical network in the United States, is organizing a response to the issue of climate change. Through a partnership with the Evangelical Climate Initiative (ECI), Esperanza is producing a national Hispanic Evangelical call to action to address global warming. The Rev. Luis Cortes, Jr., President of Esperanza, will announce the partnership at the Esperanza Partners and Awards Dinner on June 25 at 7:00 p.m. This is one of the events of the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast and Conference taking place at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Washington, D.C. Special guest speakers at the event include the Rev. Dr. Jim Ball, president and CEO of the Evangelical Environmental Network and national spokesperson for ECI.

Esperanza’s efforts will focus on educating the Hispanic faith community on climate change and on advocating for legislation that will help solve the problem. The organization is developing educational resources for Hispanic pastors, to help them heighten awareness of this issue within their congregations, and to advance action to better protect the environment.

Global warming is a real problem that is critically affecting the world. Experts say that the pollution produced from burning fossil fuels is creating an ecological unbalance, causing harsher hurricanes, storms, and floodings, which are becoming more common everyday.

“This is the time to act,” said the Rev. Luis Cortes, Jr. “As Christians, we are called to care for God’s creation, and the good news is that there are solutions that will help us make a difference for the sake of future generations.”

The Reverend Luis Cortes, Jr. is president of Esperanza, the largest Hispanic faith-based Evangelical network in the United Sates. With a national network of more than 12,000 churches, ministries, and community organizations, Esperanza is one of the leading voices for Hispanics in America. For more information, go to www.esperanza.us. “

Responding to the Green Bay area’s budding Hispanic population through its spiritual and social needs is a mission for the pastors at Bayside Celebration Church.

The church is one of a number that offer a variety of services in Spanish for the Latino community, which has a small but growing presence at Bayside, one of the largest evangelical churches in the area.”*

David Iglesias is an evangelical, Hispanic Republican - yes, that one, the former U.S. attorney for New Mexico - and he has positive things to say about Barack Obama.

I interviewed Iglesias the morning after Obama became the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party: “Obama represents all the promise of America, that a biracial man from a broken family can rise and have a strong shot of becoming our next president.”"*

Three area Evangelical Covenant churches gathered with Nueva Vida Covenant Church on Sunday to celebrate the Latino congregation’s first anniversary.

Approximately 150 people participated, including individuals from First Covenant and Zion Covenant churches in Jamestown, as well as Scandia Covenant Church in Russell, Pennsylvania.”*

Esperanza, the largest Hispanic faith-based organization in the country, today announces their support of H.R. 1108, “The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.” The legislation gives FDA regulatory authority over tobacco products.

“We encourage Congress to pass this important legislation this year. H.R. 1108 has broad bi-partisan support and could genuinely help our people,” said the President of Esperanza Rev. Luis Cortes. “Within our Hispanic community lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths. With 16.2 percent of Hispanic adults smoking cigarettes, a significant part of our community is at high-risk.”

“With regulatory authority over tobacco, the FDA could further restrict sales of tobacco products to children, require more meaningful warnings on tobacco products, and enable consumers to access the information on all the ingredients in any given tobacco product,” Cortes continued. “We urge Congress to pass this legislation this year.”

The Reverend Luis Cortes, Jr. is the founder and president of Esperanza. Esperanza is the largest Hispanic Faith-Based Evangelical network in the country. With a national network of 12,000 faith and community-based agencies, Esperanza is one of the leading voices for Hispanics in America.
Esperanza”

The deportations have sent a shock wave through the large and fast-growing network of Latino evangelical churches in Arizona and across the nation, many of which are filled with undocumented immigrants.

Local pastors fearful of stepped-up immigration enforcement are canceling retreats north of the Phoenix area. Some national church leaders are concerned the deportations could open the door for immigration raids at churches.

The Prescott deportations echoed incidents in the Valley that have raised tensions between church leaders and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. A crime sweep by sheriff’s deputies in September resulted in arrests of undocumented day laborers near a church sanctuary in Cave Creek, and another on Good Friday led to arrests of illegal immigrants in east Phoenix.”*

For the Rev. Nino Gonzalez, last year’s contentious debate over immigration reform was a rude awakening — one that has propelled him into the political arena.

Mainstream white and black evangelical leaders initially denounced the bipartisan effort to create a path to legalization for undocumented workers. Some even argued for the roundup and deportation of millions of Hispanic immigrants in the U.S., the very people to whom Gonzalez ministers every day at Iglesia el Calvario just south of Orlando.

“I was stunned, shocked and surprised,” Gonzalez said of the initial reaction of those he thought of as his spiritual allies. “They turned their backs on the Hispanics.”*

The Catholic Church is presented with a challenge and a tremendous opportunity in the rise of Hispanic Catholics in this country. But if this opportunity is not seized in the moment, it could result in a serious loss of fervor, fire, and enthusiasm for the Church in America.

To date, a whopping 39% of all U.S. Catholics are Hispanic, while only 6.3% of U.S. priests are Hispanic. About 20% of all Catholic parishes in this country have a majority Hispanic presence, including a fair number of recent immigrants who speak only Spanish and some broken English. For many Catholic priests, this is a significant pastoral challenge.

How does a pastor hear minister effectively to parishioners who speak another language and come from another culture? Charity is a universal language, but words are also necessary, especially when it comes to the sacraments, family counseling, education, and spiritual guidance of all kinds.

The dangers of not meeting this challenge are already written in the statistics. About 20% of Hispanic Catholics arriving to this country end up converting from Catholicism to various branches of evangelical Protestantism, sects, or no religion at all. Of the total population of Hispanic evangelical Protestants, half are ex-Catholics.

Aware of the challenge — and the great promise — of a booming Hispanic population, many bishops are requiring their seminarians to learn Spanish and asking their priests to become bilingual.

And the Church’s shepherds are taking up the challenge. While seminarians are conjugating their verbs, many priests are signing up for online Spanish classes or CD programs to get up to speed. Most promising of all, a growing number of priests are participating in immersion programs that allow them to learn both the language and the culture of “Hispanidad” on site in Mexico and other Latin American countries.

Intensive Immersion

One of these immersion programs is the Curso de Hispanidad, a five-week intensive course from July 1st to August 1st for American and Canadian priests and seminarians. The program, sponsored by Sacerdos Institute in conjunction with the Department of Humanities and the Center for Language Studies of Mexico City’s Anáhuac University, takes them to Mexico City where they take intensive classes in Spanish language and Hispanic culture at the Interamerican Cultural Center while also enjoying priestly fraternity with other participants in the course.

The program is adapted to varying language abilities, with a beginner’s and an intermediate track, both of which use a range of teaching styles: lectures, tutorial, conversation periods, readings, listening tapes, seminars, and media. Both language levels emphasize preparation for priestly ministry, with special clinics on celebrating the sacraments and preparing homilies in Spanish. In addition, there are classes on Latin American culture and on the particular aspects of ministering to Hispanics in North America.

Integral Learning

But classroom learning is only half of the picture. The other half of this integral program is the “learning by osmosis” that takes place through exposure to the Mexican people with their fervor and celebratory spirit. On the weekends, participants go out into the community alongside a Mexican priest in guided pastoral ministry, adapted to their ability level. And of course, there are the outing days for visiting interesting cultural sites and practicing their Spanish en vivo. One of these outing days includes the opportunity to concelebrate Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, an experience that stays with the participants for a long time.

“The information on Hispanic culture and religious experience were particularly useful. As I celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe this year I recognize that without my participation in the Curso de Hispanidad I would be at the periphery of this observance rather than at its heart, which is where I want to be,” said Bishop Allen H. Vigneron of the Oakland diocese.

His experience was echoed by Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell of the Springfield diocese in Massachusetts. “I have to say that my appreciation for the Latino culture has been very much enhanced,” he said.

Seminarian Vincent Anyama agreed. “The in-depth exposure to the values and richness of Mexican culture was a very valuable tool for my future ministry to Mexican Hispanic immigrants in the local Church of Dallas,” he said.

All for Priests… and Priests for All

Legionary of Christ Father Alex Yeung, who organizes the program, emphasized that this is a program that brings priests together and offers them a chance to build a sense of fraternity while learning and growing together.

“The participants live, study, and pray alongside each other,” he said. “We teach an integral approach to ministry to Latinos, coupling practical solutions with communication skills. A love for Hispanic peoples is a great fruit of the program. Besides the accredited small-group tutoring to allow learning at one’s own pace, there are numerous pastoral experiences giving participants exposure to the day-to-day life of Latinos in various sectors of society.”

For priests, ministering to an increasing Hispanic population can be a challenge, given the language logistics and the differences in culture. But, as past participants in the Curso de Hispanidad program — and others like it — have observed, the time investment in learning the language and culture is worth it.

For more specific information about the Curso de Hispanidad, click here.

Contact:
Jim Fair
Director of Communications
Legion of Christ
Phone: 630-858-6398
CELL: 312-953-9864
Email Contact”

The Vice President of Social Justice for the nation’s largest Hispanic Christian organization, The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, meet with Democratic Presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama last Friday and discussed the importance of justice values in the Latino community. Rev. Wilfredo De Jesus, Senior Pastor of New Life Covenant Church in Chicago, Illinois, joined a contingency of Hispanic pastors and clergy from Texas with the purpose of discussing with the Senator some of the concerns within the Hispanic evangelical community. “The meeting went very well and the Senator really understands the importance of justice issues such as Health Care, Education and Immigration within the Hispanic faith community”, declared DeJesus.

The meeting represents the importance of Latino Evangelicals in the 2008 election as a significant wildcard, primarily in swing states such as Florida, Nevada, Arizona, Ohio and Pennsylvania. “Latino Evangelicals want to confront any notion of a black/brown divide”, stated Dr. Jesse Miranda, NHCLC Global Chairman. “Hispanics need to vote for the candidates that best reflects our values”, he added.

The Senator received from Rev. DeJesus an invitation to attend the annual Board Convention of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference on April 15th in Chicago. Serving 18,000 churches and close to 15million Born Again Christians, the organization currently directs a voter registration campaign in order to present a deliverable constituency that will activate the Latino faith vote to address issues such as immigration reform. “Hispanic Born Again believers are the quintessential values voters that reconcile a platform of righteousness and justice”, proclaimed Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, Conference President.

The convention is set to follow a historic April 2nd meeting in Dallas, Texas where Hispanic Evangelicals and African American Evangelicals will come together for a historic unprecedented meeting to address the black/brown divide and establish collaborative relationships that may very well impact not only the 2008 elections but the future of American cities and race relations.

“Pastor DeJesus’s meeting with the Senator a long with the April meetings coalesce around communities embracing a change message that invigorates our nation with hope”, explained Rev. Felix Poso, National Chairman.” Rev. DeJesus, one of America’s most successful and important Pastors, carries the burden of addressing the Justice issues for the Hispanic faith community” he added.

Rev. DeJesus concluded his meeting with Senator Obama in a traditional Hispanic Evangelical Manner by praying and laying his hands upon the Presidential hopeful.
“*

*From: http://www.hispanicprwire.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

It’s immigration, stupid.

That’s the message from Hispanic faith voters — the de facto swing vote in this year’s presidential election. The candidate who hears and heeds it may well win the White House in November. And despite the patterns of the past, that candidate may not be a Republican.

Hispanic evangelicals won’t be squeezed into a Republican barrio. The question in our hearts and minds this election season is this: Is the Republican Party the party of xenophobia, nativism and anti-Latino demagoguery, or is it the party of faith and family values, regardless of skin color or language proficiency? Should we vote for Sen. John McCain because of his support for comprehensive immigration reform, or should Latino evangelicals shy away from a party that has refused to repudiate the polarizing and vicious rhetoric that has accompanied the immigration debate.”*

*From: http://www.washingtonpost.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

The rhetoric about illegal immigration among Republican presidential candidates is eroding Latino support for the GOP, even among conservative Latino Christians. As part of the occasional evangelicalsseries “Feet in Two Worlds”, Lorenzo Morales, a reporter with El Diario/La Prensa, reports on New York’s more than 50,000 registered Latino Evangelical voters and the impact they could have on this year’s presidential contest.”*

*From: http://news.ncmonline.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

NORMAN, Okla. (NAMB)—Why did communist guerillas in El Salvador put Daniel Caceres so high on their murder “hit list” in 1980?

Was it because his brother was a top officer in El Salvador’s army battling the guerillas? Was it because Daniel had been a successful businessman, or because he was an evangelical Christian leader in the civil war-torn nation?

Now, 27 years later, Caceres (pronounced “Ka-se-res”) says he doesn’t care or want to know why he was targeted.”*

*From: http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Hispanic voters have been actively courted by both Democratic and Republican candidates. But a growing subset of their population is getting attention. Alex Chadwick talks with Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Leadership Conference, about Latino evangelical voters.”*

*From: http://www.npr.org
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Pundits like to talk about voting groups in big sweeping swaths - you’ll hear African Americans are voting for Obama in huge numbers, Clinton needs women, Evangelicals are for Huckabee. And often in American politics those easy umbrella terms work. But one easy phrase is a little more complicated than all the rest: the suddenly oft-discussed Latino vote.

We in the media had taken to easily, and dismissively, pontificating that Hillary Clinton has locked up the Latino vote. She counted on Latinos first in Nevada, and then looked across the country to California, New Mexico, New York, New Jersey and Arizona where, ostensibly, they were to push her into the winner’s box giving margins of 3:2 over Obama. Obama, it seemed, was too “late” to get into the wooing Latinos game and Republicans have lost them almost entirely. “*

*From: http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

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From: http://www.chicagotribune.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

When Republican presidential candidates John McCain or Mike Huckabee need advice on the nation’s surging Latino evangelical vote, there is one man to call: Rev. Samuel Rodriguez.

The young California pastor serves as president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, making him the link to nearly 18,000 Latino evangelical churches and some of the most prominent pastors in the country. In recent weeks, his constantly ringing cell phone and packed schedule have testified to his popularity among Republican and Democratic presidential contenders alike.
“*

*From: http://www.chicagotribune.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Giuliani told a Hispanic evangelical church that “faith can transform lives” and quoted scripture before a crowd of 7,000 people.

“If all the churches were this full in Florida, in the United States … we’d be a better America,” Giuliani said at the 7,000-seat theater of El Rey Jesus Church.

Giuliani quoted Joshua 10:25 repeatedly through his remarks, saying, “Fear not, be strong men and of good courage.” He said that faith could make families stronger and communities better.”*

*From: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

The couple now have a 1-month-old son, Leo. Their union represents an emerging demographic trend taking shape in Phoenix and other cities throughout the Southwest: Growing numbers of Guatemalan and Mexican immigrants are marrying and having U.S.-born children, creating mixed Latino families with ties to three countries at once.

These new inter-Latin American families are also less likely to return to their home countries, their children tend to integrate into American society faster and more are converting from Catholicism to evangelical Christianity, immigration experts and community leaders say.”*