By Angelica Jimenez–

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe carries deeps religious and cultural significance for Catholic Latinos in the United States and Latin America, but high-profile roles for Latinas in the Church remains further from our reaches.  One denomination, however, is breaking from tradition by installing its first Latina-American minister this September.

This selection could spark an emerging trend of Latinas taking a more respected position in the Church and might bring some Latinos who have left the Church back.

While the Virgin Mary remains a prominent figure, the presence of Latinas in ministry is minimal compared to the large percentage of Latinos who comprise the congregation of the Catholic Church in the United States.  But at the same time many Latinos are leaving the Church.  The number of Latinos identifying themselves as Catholic has dropped from 66 to 60 percent between 1990 and 2000, according to a new study by the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College.

One church in Massachusetts is embracing diversity, as reflected in its recent hiring of Rev. Lilia Cuervo.  The First Parish in Cambridge, a Unitarian Universalist church, voted 135-3 to bring Cuervo on as associate minister.  With this action First Parish, which is overwhelming white, broke a 373-year-tradition of hiring white males as their parish ministers.

“I’m very excited about this opportunity,” Cuervo said.

Cuervo’s journey has had its unique share of twists and turns, but she shared that she has always been in search of her purpose in life.  She grew up Catholic but left the faith while in college.

She studied in Colombia, her native country, then in Chile on a United Nations scholarship for demography.  She met her husband at the University of California-Berkeley, and they traveled with their family to Brazil, Tucson and Washington, D.C., where she received her masters’ degree in demography at Georgetown University.

Cuervo and her husband later separated when her husband disclosed he was gay.  Suddenly a single mother with three children, she moved to Wisconsin.  A friend invited her to attend a Unitarian Universalist church service, and the sermon combined the subjects of religion and physics, which she says blew her away.  She had a calling several years later at age 57 and enrolled in Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California.

Serving as a positive example for Latinas and reaching out to the Latino community isn’t new for Cuervo.  At the First Unitarian Church of San Jose, Cuervo was the first-ever Extension Minister for outreach to the Latino population.  There she utilized her Spanish-speaking skills, to offer a full range of ministry in Spanish which Cuervo says was a break-through for her denomination.

“I’ve always been a role model,” said Cuervo.  “I was the first Latina-American in the denomination.”

The Unitarian Universalist church stands out because of its progressive viewpoints on issues such as interfaith marriages, immigration and gay rights.  It also focuses on equality across gender lines.

“I see how Latinas are in a state of seige,” said Cuervo.  “I saw this while ministering in San Jose and later in New York while working as a chaplain; the women were miserable, victims of domestic violence, sexually and verbally abused and, in general, without rights.  This is more prevalent among the uneducated and poor.”
The struggle for Latinas to be recognized in traditional churches is real as is the fight for their rights in societies with traditional views on women’s roles.

“There is so much dogma and machismo,” Cuervo said.

The movement towards gender equality in Cuervo’s demonination is a step in the right direction.  The church is committed to diversity and multi-culturalism, aspects that are lacking in many churches.  Clinging to the images of only men wearing robes and acting as the sole source for theological and moral guidance is an outdated model.

Latinas and other disenfranchised groups would add to the richness and diversity of ideas and lead to a broader understanding and respect for one another.  Of course, there will be resistance, even defiance.  This is evident from the civil rights, gay rights and women rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

But without any outcry, real change cannot happen.
The current immigration right movement is facing serious opposition, but there is also an outpouring of support and advocacy groups across the county who will no longer sit while our rights are taken away.  Gender equality in the Church is another crucial mission to our liberation, and Rev. Cuervo exemplifies how we can overcome.

Angelica Jimenez is a graduate journalism student at Columbia College Chicago.