November 19, 2010
Guadalupe Center event aimed to help families living between two cultures
Basilia Pérez and José Ayala participate in the Guadalupe Center workshop with their children Fabiola and Guadalupe. Click for a larger version.
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
Parents went to a workshop on family values, while children worked on a project recalling the appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Juan Diego, at the Guadalupe Center in Huntingburg, Nov. 6.
Christina Rosario, a bilingual counselor from Catholic Charities, presented the workshop in Spanish, “Family Values to Celebrate and to Pass On” to parents.
Meanwhile, their children watched a video of the life of Saint Juan Diego and created a tilma by coloring a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe and making paper roses.
St. Juan Diego lived between two cultures as do many Hispanic children in our area, according to Benedictine Sister Karen Durliat, director of the Guadalupe Center.
St. Juan Diego had accepted the Catholic religion from the missionaries so he was not un-derstood by his fellow Indians. At the same time, his incorporation of his indigenous beliefs into his new religion bothered the missionaries. He was caught in between.
When Our Lady of Guada-lupe came, appearing with “flor y canto” (flower and song) through the roses growing on the hillside in December and the singing of birds, Juan realized that, as his ancient culture taught, the divine was present.
When she appeared as the pregnant Virgin, he recognized the Mother Mary of his newly accepted Catholic religion, but with the face of the “Morenita” (the brown-faced one).
Children of immigrants face the challenge of incorporating values from their parent’s culture and blending it with their new American culture, said Sister Karen. Learning about Saint Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe will hopefully be a support to them in this process.
At the end of the workshop, families came together to create a shrine of Our Lady for their homes.
The workshop was sponsored by the Guadalupe Center with a grant from the Daviess County Community Foundation, a mem-ber of the Community Foundation Alliance.