Latino celebration at Newark Cathedral: faith, music, color, joy, and praise
“We have been singing with joy. This is our united church, suffered, but that never lost faith, hope, and charity.” This is how Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R. welcomed a crowd that gathered at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month on Oct. 1. It was a celebration of faith, culture, and praise.
The liturgical celebration began with a church full of people from all four counties, many dressed in multi-colored costumes that represented their culture and tradition. They left the fatigue of a day of work and responded to a call made by the Hispanic Ministry Office.
The procession was opened by a parade of flags from all Spanish-speaking countries, led by those of the Vatican and the United States. Many of the standard-bearers took the opportunity to display indigenous outfits that contributed to the Latin festival setting in the cathedral.
The four auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Newark concelebrated the Eucharist with Cardinal Tobin. A good number of priests and deacons from parishes throughout the archdiocese also came with their people.
The Mass was offered to celebrate culture and faith and coincided with the beginning of the month of prayer in which Cardinal Tobin invites us to pray for the Hispanic people who are suffering at this time.
In the framework of the readings of Isaiah and Matthew, which warn that “if they do not become like children, they will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven,” Cardinal Tobin invited them to maintain dependence on God just as children depend on their parents.
On the day of his feast, the Archbishop of Newark remembered Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, patroness of missions, and called for all of us to be missionaries as Jesus commands us. “He commands us to baptize every creature and that He will be with us until the end.” He recalled his missionary beginnings in Hispanic communities in the center of the country, where “I experienced poverty and learned humility and simplicity with the people there,” he said.
After the Liturgy, Deacon Asterio Velasco, head of Hispanic Ministry in the Archdiocese of Newark, began his thanks by highlighting the wonderful view that the Cathedral had full of the Hispanic people, “who pray and teach their children daily to pray in Spanish,” said.
He thanked everyone present, the attending priests and bishops, highlighting that “your presence is a hug to the Hispanic community.” Referring to Cardinal Tobin, he said that he thanks him for being the guide of an outgoing church, as directed by Pope Francis and that not only does he speak Spanish, but he likes to do it, that he loves Hispanic music and that he sings it.
Cardinal Tobin ended the celebration by exalting the assembled people, saying that “you are a visible sacrament, gifts to be shared; I am counting on you, and God is counting on us.”
Cardinal Tobin sang two verses of a Mexican song, a cappella, before giving the final blessing.
Photos by the Archdiocese of Newark/Steve Hockstein
Featured image: A flag procession honored Spanish-speaking countries from around the world during the Archdiocese of Newark’s Hispanic Heritage Mass in the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark on October 1, 2021. (Archdiocese of Newark/Steve Hockstein)
