Spanish Mass to begin in Oshkosh

As Oshkosh's new center of Hispanic ministry, St. Mary Parish will begin offering Spanish language Masses this month.

Rudy Pineda, the Green Bay Diocese's consultant for Hispanic pastoral ministry, said four Spanish Masses are scheduled for the remainder of 2002. The first, commemorating the Day of the Dead, will be at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2.

The other three Masses will be: Christ the King, 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 24; Our Lady of Guadalupe, 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, and Christmas, noon on Dec. 25.

The goal is weekly Spanish Masses, beginning in January, said Fr. Tom Reynebeau, associate pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Oshkosh and sacramental minister for the new ministry.

Sr. Judy Miller, St. Mary's parish director, said work on the Hispanic ministry began in fall 2001. After the parish council decided to welcome Oshkosh's Hispanic community, the parish as a whole ratified the decision at its annual meeting.

"We were clear that we were asking the parish: 'Would we welcome them as members of the parish?' " Sr. Miller said. "And the answer was yes."

Pineda said the 2000 U.S. census indicates that Oshkosh has 1,062 Hispanics. That number, he said, could easily be doubled and "still be wrong."

"A lot of people are undocumented" and many did not respond to the census, he said. There are Hispanic people who have been in Oshkosh "for some time" and who are served by established Hispanic businesses.

Scott Ramsey, St. Mary's liturgical coordinator, said Hispanics seem to have settled in two neighborhoods: around St. Mary, which is just off the downtown, and on the south side near Sacred Heart.

Oshkosh's Hispanics have attended Spanish Masses either at St. Mary Church in Omro or St. Gabriel Church in Neenah. After the Neenah-based ministry moved on Jan. 1 to St. Therese Parish in Appleton, many Oshkosh people considered that too far to travel.

There are other reasons for forming a Hispanic ministry, Fr. Reynebeau said. One is the language barrier. Many people "do not speak enough English to really celebrate well in our English-speaking Masses."

A second reason is "the sense of culture," he said. "People who are here from Central America, Mexico ... very much miss the culture. For them, it's going to be a coming together and meeting family and meeting friends and celebrating their own culture."

Sr. Miller said welcoming the Hispanic community was "very fitting. It has been my experience here of St. Mary's wanting to be a welcoming parish. We are a very diverse community. To welcome the Spanish community fits in with our charism."

Ramsey said the parish wants "them to make the decisions about their community."

Pineda, Fr. Reynebeau, Sr. Miller and Ramsey met with Hispanic leaders in mid-October to plan for the ministry.

Fr. Reynebeau, who will work one-quarter time in Hispanic ministry, said that for it to become a full parish ministry, people would have to train to become lectors and to participate in committees. A choir is also being formed.

Sr. Miller said the parish staff has been tutored in Spanish one hour a week since June.