YOUNGSTOWN – The Hispanic Catholic community here, consisting of faithful from several Spanish-speaking nationalities, came together in St. Columba Cathedral Dec. 12 to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The diocesan Hispanic Ministry department, led by Father Brian Smith, organized the Guadalupan celebration, which began with Mass celebrated by Bishop David Bonnar, followed by a reception at Ursuline High School.
Other celebrations were held in parishes with populations of Hispanic Catholics as well.
The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe honors the Virgin Mary, who, under the name of Guadalupe, appeared in 1531 to Chichimec peasant Juan Diego, on Tepeyac Hill on the outskirts of what is now Mexico City. She asked him to build her a shrine, and the basilica that was subsequently built in her honor is the most-visited Catholic shrine in the world, hosting about 20 million pilgrims every year. Pope St. John XXIII gave Our Lady of Guadalupe the name “The Mother of the Americas,” and Pope St. John Paul II called her the “Patroness of America.”
Carlos Ramirez, a Youngstown St. Brendan parishioner of Mexican descent, has lived in the diocese 52 years and feels fortunate that he has been able to help organize a Guadalupan celebration for the past 12 years, first with the support of his parish and now with the diocese. He served on the planning committee this year, along with Catholic Charities, which also played an important role in organizing the event.
“To be here today celebrating the Virgin of Guadalupe with Bishop Bonnar offering the Mass in Spanish is something even more special,” said Ramirez. “Listening to the Mass in your own language makes you feel more welcome. I remember meeting the bishop last summer at St. Luke’s in Boardman, and he told us then that he was studying Spanish to offer Mass in our language. Today he has done it and we thank him for it.”
Ramirez, his wife Celerina, his daughter and grandchildren attended as a family. Growing up in Mexico in a Catholic family, he said he learned, from a very young age, to love Our Lady of Guadalupe. “At the age of 9, my parents sent me to the city to study at a boarding school, and if someone protected me it was [Our Lady of Guadalupe]. She was the one who took care of me when my mother was not there.”
In his homily, Bishop Bonnar referred to the rippling effect of the Guadalupan message of love.
“We can never be schooled enough in the ways of love,” the bishop said. “God knows that if there is one thing the world needs, it is God’s love. Or perhaps, in the end, it is the rippling effect, the echo of Mary’s words, ‘fiat,’ which means, ‘Let it be done to me as you say,’ that are found in the trusting response of Juan Diego which now are an inspiration to all of us as we seek to live our lives.”
A mariachi band from Painesville, Ohio, played the music at the Mass, along with musicians from Mexico and Guatemala. They serenaded at the presentation of roses, where the bishop, concelebrants, deacons and members of the community offered flowers to the Virgin whose image was on one side of the altar.
Rosa Tirado, a Puerto Rican parishioner of St. Columba Cathedral, said the celebration “fills me with joy, I love the songs of the mariachi group, everything is very well organized, and it is an honor to see the bishop uniting our community by speaking Spanish.”
Carmelo Lebron, a Puerto Rican parishioner of Youngstown St. Dominic Parish, said, “The fact that the bishop presided over the Mass and it was totally in Spanish was something special for the first time for the Latino community.”
Joyce and Cor Kester from Pulaski, Pennsylvania, said they were moved by the Gospel. “It touched my soul, and the presence of God could be felt. The Mass and ceremonies were glorious. With all the readings, music and homily by Bishop Bonnar in Spanish, there was true Hispanic flavor to the liturgy.”
After the Mass, the celebration continued at Ursuline High School, where the reception featured a variety of food donated by six local Mexican restaurants.
Some guests attended the Mass and reception in order to meet and spend time with the bishop. The Martínez family, from Peru, were pleased to share their dinner table with him. The Ruano family, from Guatemala, asked Bishop Bonnar for their blessing at dinner.
The event also included a narration of the apparitions of the Virgin to Juan Diego. A group of young parishioners from St. Anthony/All Saints Parish in Canton, directed by Cristinia Hernandez, performed these narrations, and Ursuline Spanish students presented a selection of traditional dances from Mexico, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Spain. To close the feast, Danza Azteca Guadalupana, an Azteca dance group directed by Lizbeth Broache, with dancers from parishes in Salem and Canton, presented a display of native Mexican dances.
