Churches recruiting Latin American clergy

‘An abundance of vocations in those countries’
But some religious leaders warn against over-reliance on foreign clerics at a time when the ranks of U.S. priests are shrinking.

Monsignor Edward Burns, executive director for vocations and priestly formation at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said it’s important that young men attend American seminaries and get ordained in the United States.

“You have to wonder why we would not want to support priestly vocations coming from our own parishes,” he said. “Are we so wrapped up that we say, ’Let somebody else do it for us,’ and think that would be OK?

“Our brothers and sisters in South America have a real need for priests,” he added. “The impact of fewer priests impacts them more than us.”

The Rev. James Lobacz, vocations director at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which recruits Latin American priests and seminarians, said the diocese only sends recruiters to Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela, which have a higher number of vocations than other Latin American countries.

“I do not feel that we are so-called raiding dioceses,” Lobacz said. “There is an abundance of vocations in those countries. That’s very different from going to a bishop and saying, ’Give me some priests.”’

‘A feeling of tenderness, a feeling of love’
Unlike some Catholic dioceses, the Episcopal Church doesn’t send anyone to Latin America to recruit priests, said the Very Rev. James Lemler, director of mission at the church.

He said U.S. dioceses do partner with dioceses in Latin American countries to try to train clergy, and to provide a path for priests who want to come to the United States.

“We are very strategic about the growth of Latino congregations and have a number that are growing, and we’re planting new ones all the time,” he said.

Roger Oldham, a spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention, said each church has its own method of finding Latin American ministers, but that in general, they rely on word of mouth.

“Someone from a local church may go to Mexico, Nicaragua or Honduras on a mission, and they may meet a local indigenous pastor and have that knowledge in the back of their mind when they need someone,” he said.

Or, he said, it could be as simple as a church calling around to existing congregations and asking if they know someone who would fit their U.S. church.

Aidee Cardenas de Garcia, who came to the United States from Sinaloa five years ago, said going to her Baptist church in north Phoenix is like going home.

“The language, and coming from the same country and being able to share 100 percent with everyone, it’s like a feeling of tenderness, a feeling of love,” she said in Spanish. “I feel complete.”

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