ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN HISPANIC LINK SYNDICATION FEB. 4, 1980

A Different Time, a Different Approach
By Archbishop Patricio Flores

The mission of the church is to evangelize, to teach the gospel. But our conviction doesn’t take us just to the saving of souls. We are interested in all of the areas necessary for the total development of people.

I walk in the Hispanic community every day. And I see that many essential services are often denied to Hispanic-American people.

I have many concerns, but education is probably my greatest. So long as you keep people uneducated, you are going to keep them in poverty.

It is a way of perpetuating servitude and slavery.

Many Hispanic students don’t finish high school. Many of those who do, come out with a seventh-grade education and end up working side-by-side with their fathers, who may have had no education at all.

DON’T YOUTHS WANT TO WORK?

The result doesn’t correspond to the investment. With the resources our public school systems have, if they really wanted to educate children, I am convinced that they could do it.

I hear people saying, “We were very happy with your parents, who were really hard workers. But you in the younger generation don’t want to work.”

I hear people saying, “What will we do if everyone gets a good education and they don’t want to do the work?” They are worried that if too many people get a good education, nobody will want to do slavery work.

The young people don’t want to work under the conditions their parents did, nor for that type of salary.

Part of my commitment is concern about education, poor housing, inadequate medical services and the problems encountered by undocumented workers.

To the extent that our resources and forces will allow us as a church, we definitely expect to find ourselves involved in trying to respond to those needs.

As a church, we have the obligation to challenge the Hispanic community to get involved at all levels of society. Among those, certainly, is the political level. Decisions are being made there. The destinies of people are being determined there.

We are not going to tell people who to vote for, but we are going to encourage them to support those candidates who show greatest interest in their well-being. We are going to encourage them to become political candidates themselves.

In the past, because our community never saw itself in the spotlight, too many people concluded that because we are poor and because we are Hispanic, we don’t have a place in important positions.

My message has always been, “We can do as much as anyone else.”

WE’RE DEVELOPING SPOKESPERSONS

We are gaining self-confidence. We have begun to see ourselves as administrators, directors of national endeavors. We can grow and make important contributions in this country, and in the whole world. We are needed by this country.

We have not forgotten the experience of struggle and poverty. When we deal with people who are coming from oppression and deprivation, we can respond with compassion and human sensitivity, qualities this country was built on, but some have already been forgotten.

It is pleasing to me to be one of many Hispanics who are being spotlighted as having achieved some success, but I do not see myself as a national spokesperson.

First of all, I know that I don’t deserve such a title.

Second, there are many others capable of speaking up. Look around you and listen. You can see them and hear them, if you want to.

HISPANICS AREN’T MARCHING

We don’t want one national spokesperson. We want many, and we are developing them. They are a young crop, many under 40.

We need them because in the years ahead, Hispanics are still going to be climbing the mountain.

The effort is broader, much greater today than it was yesterday, but it is a quieter, more settled effort, one that presupposes willingness on the part of others to discuss issues and power and to do what is fair and just.

At this hour, Hispanics are not marching and protesting.

It is a different time, calling for a different approach.

(Patricio Flores gained international fame and recognition as Texas’ “mariachi bishop.” for his service to the Mexican-American community. He served as archbishop in San Antonio,.the nation’s largest diocese, from 1978 until his retirement in 2004.)