“Creating a culture of encounter means that I am willing to meet you,” Bishop Barnes said during his homily. “To step out of myself and meet you.”
He added that the Spanish word for encounter, encuentro, has a deeper meaning that best explains his message.
“It’s a much fuller expression (in Spanish). You are entering a relationship with another. You want to know who the other is. You want to learn from the other. It’s a different way of looking at our migrant brothers and sisters.”
The Mass, attended by a capacity crowd of 1,000, was nearly two hours long and began with members of the Native American community bringing incense to the altar followed by representatives from other migrant groups in the Diocese.
“It’s a beautiful image of the Native American community welcoming the immigrant community,” said Abraham Joven, Diocesan Director of Advocacy and Justice for Immigrants and co-organizer of the Migration Mass.
Victoria Anemelu, Ph.D., an associate professor at San Bernardino Valley College and parishioner at Immaculate Conception Church in Colton, emigrated to the U.S. from Nigeria 14 years ago and has been attending the Migration Mass since 2006.
“The annual Migration Mass is a way for me to meet my brothers and sisters that have come from all over the world and see the beauty we bring to the Church,” she said.
Chuchie Doubek, a parishioner at St. Adelaide, is in her third year of attending the annual celebration.
“I’m very happy that our church is hosting this for the Diocese,” she said. “Also, seeing the love and joy of celebrating together with our different ethnic cultures in the presence of the Lord and having a joyous time embracing each other in diversity.”
Children played a big role in the celebration. They proudly carried flags of different countries during a pre-procession and placed them before the altar. Also, a
group of migrant children vibrantly sang a song of thanksgiving in Spanish.
“Bishop Barnes wanted us to make sure we integrated the voice of children into the celebration,” said Sister Hortensia Del Villar, S.A.C., Director of Community Services for the Diocese.
Highlighting the current crisis facing Haitians stranded at the Mexican-American border, Bishop Barnes received the offertory of bread and wine from a family of Haitian descent and a family of Mexican descent.
The liturgy also included a testimony by Deacon Steve Serembe about a challenge he faced while serving as Pastoral Coordinator of St. Anthony Parish in Upland. Specifically, he spoke of opposition from groups outside of the parish when he worked with the Hispanic community to implement a Spanish Mass at St. Anthony. In spite of this, they were able to successfully establish the parish’s first Spanish language Mass.
Jesus Puentes, parishioner of St. Mary, Fontana and attending the Migration Mass for the first time, recognizes the Church’s role on immigration especially during a controversial time in history.
“It’s something I think is a noble effort because we have a lot of families here who feel that they’ve been kind of set aside and they feel like they’ve been cast into the shadows because they’re not recognized by society,” he explained. “So the Catholic Church in our particular diocese is really good at going to those who have been left aside and giving them an identity; reminding them of their importance within our society. This is a big highlight of that effort within our Church.”
At the end of his homily, Bishop Barnes encouraged people to introduce themselves to someone they didn’t know at the reception that followed the Mass, specifically someone from a different culture.
“Get to know at least who that person is and share with them who you are and ask God’s blessing upon you and upon them,” he said.
Malie Hudson is a freelance writer based in Riverside, CA.