This document summarizes an ethnographic study of Hispanic Catholic communities on Long Island. It finds that these communities place great importance on faith, family, community, and celebrating their culture and faith together. They also experience marginalization but have a strong sense of dignity and solidarity. The study proposes developing social ministry programs that engage more with Hispanic celebrations and traditions, provide Spanish language formation, and offer flexible social services to better address their needs. It argues these communities demonstrate principles of fellowship and countercultural witness that can renew Christian ethics.

1. LA JUSTICIA SOCIAL EN LO
COTIDIANO:
A Social Justice/Ministry Portrait
of the Long Island Catholic
Hispanic Community

2.  Catholic Social Ministry has developed on LI from a specific
cultural and historical development.
 Hispanic immigrant communities bring a new “Catholic
social imagination.”
 Lo Cotidiano – being attentive theologically to daily lived
reality of cultural groups.
 Pastoral de conjunto: Engaging “the people of God to
commit themselves actively to continue the work of Jesus
by entering into the cultural, religious, and social reality of
the people, becoming incarnate in and with the people.” -
Ana María Pineda
Seeking a Pastoral de Conjunto
Approach

3. AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE LONG
ISLAND HISPANIC CATHOLIC COMMUNITY
 Research of accompaniment with Hispanic parishes and
parishioners, The Hispanic community on Long Island is
very diverse:
 Old and established Puerto Rican, Cuban and Dominican
communities
 Ongoing and steady stream of South American (Ecuadorian,
Colombian and Peruvian) communities.
 Major impact has been the El Salvadoran influx in the 80’s
and 90’s followed by a major ongoing migration from Central
America and the Caribbean.
 Maintaining anonymity I am researching the following
Hispanic parish communities
 Blessed Sacrament parish in Winchester (Nassau)
 St. James parish in Summerfield (Nassau)
 Resurrection parish in Johnson City (Suffolk)
 St. Therese of Lisieux parish in Windber (Suffolk)

8. *
*Familia y Comunidad: A community that is defined by their
family and community relationships. Intensely relational
quality.
*Marginalización: They are aware of their marginalized role in
society and sometimes in the Church.
*Fe y Fiesta: Faith is a central component of their identity both
individually and as a cultural community. As a community of
faith their ability to publically express and celebrate their hope
filled faith (juxtaposed from their oppressive social reality) is
very important.
*Movimientos: An important aspect of their social organization
is to have smaller faith communities from which they can
express their faith and social relationships as groups that share
a particular devotion or practice.

9. Social Values of the Hispanic
Parish Community
 Dios y Dignidad: They recognize a sense of dignity that flows
from a direct relationship with God that they perceive among
themselves and with each other.
 Solidaridad (y Subsidiariedad): There is a cosmic yet intimate
relationship that they recognize with all people, this allows them
to be in solidarity with everyone (especially those who share in
their marginality) while preferring to organize around smaller local
groups.
 Compartiendo la Abundancia: God is the author of all things so
everything that they have and everything that they are belongs to
God. Because of this they feel a social obligation to share their
talents and resources with one another, especially those in need.

10. Proposed Initiative for Hispanic
Social Ministry
 Servidores Sociales: organize PSM programs that would
develop a specific volunteer corps for parish social ministry
who are recruited from the movimientos themselves.
 Engagement with the community: Intentionally engage the
diocesan programs with religious events and feasts,
especially those that have tremendous social significance for
the community.
 Formation: promote educational opportunities in Spanish to
the parish and their movimientos.
 Adaptability of services: Have the diocesan programs find
creative ways to be more flexible with their ability to offer
resources and social services so that it could address social
realities that may not be standardized within the traditional
social service programs.

11.  The social values of the Hispanic parish communities
identify a pattern of renewal for Christian ethics
which Mahoney describes as the morality of “koinonia,
or ‘the fellowship of the Holy Spirit’
 Koinonia calls us to build countercultural communities
(like the Hispanic parish communities I accompanied)that
both demonstrate “loving and just structures of
relationships” and prophetically denounce discrimination
and social injustice that are absolutely inconsistent with
the ethic of koinonia.
 The Hispanic parish communities are able to raise
moral principles of our Catholic social tradition that
tend to be less developed (or even hidden) because of
ideological concerns within the dominant culture.
 Common Good, Universal Destination of Goods, Solidarity