Abundant Life — September 11, 2026

From Celebration to Spirituality:
Embracing Latino Spirituality at St. Paul’s

Over the past several years, something important has been growing at St. Paul’s—not as a program we designed in advance, but as a ministry that has emerged through listening, celebration, and relationship.

It began with a Día de los Muertos altar (ofrenda), Hispanic Heritage Month coffee hour, and Cinco de Mayo coffee hour. Those small beginnings grew into our annual Our Lady of Guadalupe Mariachi Mass, a beloved celebration that has become part of the rhythm of our parish life. Then, following conversations and feedback from Latino parishioners, our Cinco de Mayo celebration evolved into Migration Sunday, creating space not simply to celebrate Latino culture, but to engage more deeply with the stories, realities, and faith of migrants.

This year, we are taking another step. For the first time, St. Paul’s will celebrate a bilingual Sunday Eucharist, and we are offering Embracing Latino Spirituality, a class exploring the history, theology, practices, and traditions that have shaped Latino Christianity.

Why does this matter? Because the neighborhood around St. Paul’s is changing. Latino residents make up 41.8% of the population within a 15-minute drive of the church—nearly double the national share—and the Latino population is projected to grow another 10.6% by 2031. Nearly three-quarters of the area’s children are Latino. Spanish is spoken at home by 26.1% of residents. These numbers don’t tell us what our neighbors believe, but they do tell us something about the community in which God has placed us.

Our response cannot simply be demographic strategy. The Episcopal Church understands that God is encountered in particular places, cultures, histories, and communities. The Incarnation tells us that God enters human life in a particular time, place, language, and people. Our baptismal theology calls us not merely to welcome people into our existing culture, but to recognize the gifts, experiences, faith, and wisdom they bring.

This work also builds on St. Paul’s growing commitment to racial justice and reconciliation. Through Section 14 advocacy, Sacred Ground (The Episcopal Church’s national curriculum on racism), our exploration of forming a local chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians (UBE), and the development of a Land Acknowledgement presented to the Vestry this past May, we have been asking more deeply how our faith calls us to confront racism, understand our history, and pursue reconciliation. This year, our Racial Justice Ministry and Latino Ministry will combine their strengths through a new Racial Reconciliation Collaborative. The Feast of Blessed Bartolomé de las Casas is a particularly meaningful symbol of this emerging partnership: a reminder of the church’s complicated history with Indigenous peoples and colonization, and of the Christian call to stand with those who have been marginalized. Our aim is not to create one more ministry, but to build on the strengths, relationships, and wisdom already present in both ministries.

Our ministry is therefore moving through several stages: from worship, to cultural education, to spiritual education, and ultimately to deeper relationship and outreach.

Embracing Latino Spirituality is the next step in that journey. Beginning this week, the class will bring together pastoral theologians and local leaders to help us explore Latino Christian spirituality in its historical and contemporary contexts. Dr. Brett Hoover will help us consider how Anglo parishes can be more welcoming to Latinos. The next Sunday, The Rev. Dr.Lorenzo Lebrija will give us a glimpse at the future of Hispanic ministry in The Episcopal Church. On September 20^th, we will also mark the Feast of Blessed Bartolomé de las Casas, engaging the complicated history of Christianity, colonization, Indigenous peoples, and the church’s call to justice. Luz Gallegos of TODEC will bring additional perspectives on migration, faith, community, and the lived experience of Latino communities in the Coachella Valley, as well as announcing an exciting new partnership with St. Paul in the Desert.

This is an opportunity to go deeper than celebration—to learn the history behind the traditions we have begun to share, to encounter the theological richness of Latino spirituality, and to listen to voices from our own community.

We invite you to join us for Embracing Latino Spirituality, beginning this week. You do not need to have participated in any of our previous Latino ministry events, and you do not need to know anything about Latino theology or history. Come with curiosity, openness, and a willingness to learn.

This is the next step in our journey: from worship, to cultural education, to spiritual education—and ultimately, to growing together as the diverse people of God.