{"id":5051151,"date":"2021-04-06T16:38:58","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T16:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/malatinonews.com\/?p=5051151"},"modified":"2021-04-06T16:38:58","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T16:38:58","slug":"deacon-pedro-rivera-moran-a-latin-american-mission-from-springfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/maln\/2021\/04\/06\/deacon-pedro-rivera-moran-a-latin-american-mission-from-springfield\/","title":{"rendered":"Deacon Pedro Rivera Moran: A Latin American mission from Springfield"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Easter season is the longest of the special liturgical seasons of the Roman Catholic Church. It extends all the way to\u00a0Pentecost Sunday, the 50th day from Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ministry of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield is a conduit to 13 parishes in Western Massachusetts celebrating Mass in Spanish under the leadership of Deacon Pedro Rivera Moran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Spanish-speaking population, in general, seeks the opportunity to worship and fellowship in our native language, to celebrate the spiritual-cultural heritage we bring from our home,\u201d Rivera said in an interview with Mass Live. \u201cNovenas, traditions, celebrations, our spiritual expressions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many Spanish-speaking parishioners in the diocese have come from the Caribbean, and been joined in recent years by those from Mexico and El Salvador, as well as Colombia and Ecuador, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The parishes range from St. Mary&#8217;s in Westfield where a majority of the Spanish-speaking faithful are from Puerto Rico to Blessed Sacrament on Waverly Street in the city\u2019s North End where any worshippers are from Guatemala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rivera says Blessed Sacrament, one of the largest such bilingual parishes in the diocese is the \u201cmodel\u201d for engagement of parishioners celebrating Masses in English and Spanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Association_of_Religion_Data_Archives\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Association of Religion Data Archives<\/a>\u00a0reports the largest single denomination in Massachusetts is the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Roman_Catholic_Church\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Roman Catholic Church<\/a>\u00a0with more than 3-million followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hispanics-Latinos account for 40-percent of all U.S. Catholics, and a solid majority of school-age Catholics, according to the Associated Press. Yet Hispanic-Latino Americans are strikingly underrepresented in Catholic schools and in the priesthood \u2014 accounting for less than 19-percent of Catholic school enrollment and only about 3-percent of U.S.-based priests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere are 11 Spanish-speaking priests assigned to the 13 parishes that have Holy Mass in Spanish,\u201d Rivera said. \u201cThere are 15 priests that can say they have some Spanish-speaking skills, 19 priests that can celebrate the Mass in Spanish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rivera, who is retired from a career in teaching and information technology, has been active in Latino ministry since the mid-1980s when he and his wife settled in Westfield from Puerto Rico. He was ordained a\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usccb.org\/beliefs-and-teachings\/vocations\/diaconate\/faqs\" target=\"_blank\">permanent deacon<\/a>\u00a0in the diocese in 2005, and is assigned to St. Mary\u2019s, in Westfield, where he serves all parishioners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Publisher&#8217;s Note: Deacon Pedro Rivera Moran was profiled on Latino Ministry helps Spanish speaking celebrate faith, traditions, Mass Live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Featured Photo: Rivera with his wife in 2018, celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Easter season is the longest of the special liturgical seasons of the Roman Catholic Church. It extends all the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5051154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[2711,4729,5193],"ppma_author":[6208],"class_list":["post-5051151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-hispanics-and-religion","tag-pedro-rivera-moran","tag-roman-catholic"],"acf":[],"mb":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/maln\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2021\/04\/Pedro-Rivera-Moran1-e1617726865369.jpg",550,289,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/maln\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2021\/04\/Pedro-Rivera-Moran1-e1617726865369-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/maln\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2021\/04\/Pedro-Rivera-Moran1-e1617726865369-300x158.jpg",300,158,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/maln\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2021\/04\/Pedro-Rivera-Moran1-e1617726865369.jpg",550,289,false],"large":["https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/maln\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2021\/04\/Pedro-Rivera-Moran1-e1617726865369.jpg",550,289,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/maln\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2021\/04\/Pedro-Rivera-Moran1-e1617726865369.jpg",550,289,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/maln\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2021\/04\/Pedro-Rivera-Moran1-e1617726865369.jpg",550,289,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Hugo Balta","author_link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/maln\/author\/hugobalta\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Easter season is the longest of the special liturgical seasons of the Roman Catholic Church. 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