Iglesia de St Benedicto

One of my El Salvadoran narrators, Maria Tejada, is a member of St Benedicto and also the mother of my AHORA student, Jessica Tejada. In addition to information about St Benedicto from formal interviews, I was able to learn about the Church and some of its activities by attending St Bendicto's Sunday mass and some of their CCD classes. This participant experience allowed me both to learn through observation and also to transform what I was learning into more effective questioning.

Mass at St Benedict's Church

Through a formal interview in early October, Maria Tejada introduced me to some of the services St Benedict's provides to the Latino community. For example, on Sundays, after English Mass, there is Mass in Spanish (at 11:30 am). In conversation, Senora Tejada later communicated to me that she attended English Mass in the past but was unable to understand as much (though she speaks very good English). Thus, she really values the opportunity to participate in religious services in Spanish for, spirituality being so personal, it is difficult to cultivate the same sense of connection in a foreign language.

The priests who give the Spanish sermons at St Benedict's are themselves from Central America. In fact, for the last two weeks of October and the first two weeks of November (2003) a Priest who currently lives in El Salvador has been up in Somerville. He, Padre Hector, was mentioned by my Nicaraguan narrator. She told me that he spoke of how Central Americans come to the States and forget their roots; “ olvida la costumbre . ” He spoke of community in El Salvador and how the family is always together,“ se reuna ,” however here, kids go one way and the parents another. Here people forget the family and children watch television in their own rooms, while the adults watch a separate TV in the living room.

This same priest, Padre Hector, spoke at St Benedict's when I attended the Sunday Mass. My AHORA students told me that they know of two other priests who have come and spoken at St Benedict's in the past. These priests who come from El Salvador to speak at Mass here in the States are sponsored by the Catholic Church. Church members personally contribute money to pay for the priests to fly up, and some even know the priests from communities back home in Central America. As Jessica Tejada mentioned, during a sermon one weekend, Padre Hector pointed out people he knew in the audience from back in El Salvador. Thus, these priests are personally connected with the Latino population of Somerville and for some immigrants they are an important link to their homelands. Many Latino immigrants have not been able to return to El Salvador since they emigrated and the presence of a priest here in Somerville who currently lives in their country of origin is a meaningful connection to home. Consequently, Latino immigrants are donating their hard-earned funds to bring community leaders from their neighborhoods abroad, to Somerville.

The Little Flower Catholic Elementary

Continuing Christian Development (CCD)

In addition to Mass, St Benedicto has religious services specifically for Latino youth. Just across the street from St Benedict's Church is The Little Flower Catholic elementary school. The Little Flower houses in its classrooms youth CCD classes both in English before the English Mass at St Benedict's, and for the hour before the Spanish Mass. From 10:30 to 11:30 on Sundays, CCD classes are held for elementary aged Spanish-speaking youth. These classes are available to assist parents in presenting their faith to their young children. Catechesis of the Church's teachings is taught through stories, readings, picture books, coloring books, and other age appropriate activities. For example, for Halloween the children colored in pumpkins next to which were religious verses. These classes are free of charge and open to all children (not just those who attend the Little Flower Catholic elementary during the week).

One goal of these classes is to provide opportunities for the reception and celebration of the sacraments. Jessica Tejada told me that in some of the CCD classes teachers made up a game to remember the sacraments, and she had been most impressed at the children's retention of the information. Although the main focus of these CCD classes is education on religious teachings, my AHORA students told me that the teachers also use accounts of history and Latino culture to help enforce and make clear the biblical teachings.

Spanish CCD elementary class

Jessica teaching CCD

These classes provide a positive example of how community members come together for the improvement (via education) of their children's lives. The teachers of these classes are often parents from the community who volunteer their time to teach in the Sunday classroom. Maria Tejada (Jessica's mother), for example, spoke to me about how she often teaches CCD. She said that one need not be a professional teacher, but simply knowledgeable in the values and practices of the Catholic faith and able to buy several religious texts with which to teach. Not only do adults of the Latino community step in to teach the Spanish CCD, but teenagers like Jessica also contribute as teachers' assistants. While I was present, Jessica read to the children (about five boys and six girls around the age of six), quizzing them on their retention of what she had said, and exclaiming, “ que inteligente!” as they recalled almost every word. Both Jessica and her mother told me separately that many young people assist in these classes and that the only requirement is that they have been confirmed (undergone the Catholic Sacrament of confirmation ).

Defined by the online Catholic Encyclopedia as: a sacrament in which the Holy Ghost is given to those already baptized in order to make them strong and perfect Christians and soldiers of Jesus Christ.

One asset that the teenage Latino assistants bring to the classroom is their bilingualism. Jessica recounted how last week she was called into a particular CCD classroom (many classes go on simultaneously) to help a young Latino boy who did not speak Spanish. His parents are Latino immigrants yet he was having a hard time in the classroom. Jessica, who is fluent in English, unlike many of the Latino parent-teachers, was able to help him understand. This incident led her to verbalize to me the concern some Latinos feel over the next generation losing its Spanish language and Latino culture. As an example of the validity of this concern, at one point the elementary students were sitting around drawing without any interaction from the teachers and I didn't hear a single one addressing one another in Spanish – they were speaking only English. Later, the Latina teachers (there were two women running the classroom) were taking attendance and asked a boy his name. He told her his first name and when she asked for his apellido (last name) he did not answer. Finally Jessica came over to help and asked the boy and his brother, “do you guys speak English?” They said yes and proceeded to tell her their last name after she asked in English. Thus we can see, not only how language barriers can challenge to inter-generational community, but how high school youth are helping to strengthen their communities by linking their parents' generation with the newest English-speaking Latino generation.

Amy, Jessica, and Bich by the park on Broadway