V Encuentro Proceedings and Conclusions

Proceedings and Conclusions of the V National Encuentro of Hispanic/Latino Ministry | 21 who are pilgrims in this land and called to be agents of solidarity with the many faces in God’s house. This vision was embodied in the USCC’s letter published in 2000, Welcoming the Stranger Among Us: Unity in Diversity, and it led to the publication in 2002 of Encuentro and Mission: A Renewed Pastoral Framework for Hispanic Ministry by the USCCB. 2006 – Primer Encuentro Nacional de Pastoral Juvenil Hispana Convoked by the National Catholic Network de Pastoral Juvenil Hispana – La RED in 2004 with support from the USCCB Committee on Hispanic Affairs, the Primer Encuentro Nacional de Pastoral Juvenil Hispana (“First National Encounter for Hispanic Youth and Young Adult Ministry”) in 2006 allowed the Church to listen to the voices of approxi- mately 40,000 Hispanic/Latino young people and to discern the best ways to respond to their needs and aspirations, as well as to rec- ognize their contributions as privileged pro- tagonists of the present and future Church in the United States. The Conclusions were pub- lished in 2008 by La RED , with warehousing and order fulfillment provided by the USCCB. 2018 – V Encuentro Like the first three Encuentros of Hispanic Ministry and Encuentro 2000, the V National Encuentro of Hispanic/Latino Ministry was convoked by the U.S. Bishops. Even so, the level of collaboration in the Church to carry out this process was both unprecedented and historic, marking the first time so many leaders assigned to pastoral services beyond what has traditionally been understood as Hispanic ministry have participated in an Encuentro process. The V Encuentro has been an outpouring of the U.S. Bishops’ encouragement for Latino Catholics in the United States to continue their journey as God’s people, to raise their prophetic voice once again, and to discern the pastoral prior- ities and strategies that are most appropriate for the present moment in history, extending into the next ten years and beyond. The Mística of the V Encuentro Inspired by both Jesus’ example evident in the gospels and by Pope Francis’ call to bring joy and hope to the peripheries, the V Encuentro process reached out to those who live in isolation, in sorrow, and in poverty, and to those who find themselves wounded along the way and need the merciful and ten- der embrace of Christ. In his meeting with the participants in the Fifth Convention of the Italian Church on November 10, 2014, the Holy Father spoke of his dream for the Church throughout the world: “In every community, in every parish and institution, in every diocese and circumscription, in every region, try to launch, in a synodal fashion, a deep reflection on the Evangelii Gaudium, to draw from it practical parameters and to launch its dispositions, especially on the three or four priorities that you will identify in this meeting. I am certain of your capacity to put yourselves into a creative movement in order to make this study practical.” On that basis, the missionary disciples were empowered to discern the Church’s best pas- toral and evangelizing response in parishes, dioceses, and ecclesial movements, both at a regional and at a national level. On this joyful V Encuentro as a Model and Guide