CNEWA launches Spanish edition of ONE magazine

NEW YORK (OSV News) -- The Catholic Near East Welfare Association has launched a Spanish edition of its quarterly magazine ONE, thus expanding its outreach to Hispanic Catholics in the U.S.

In a March 30 press release, the association, known as CNEWA, said that the Spanish edition of ONE's April edition is now available on the agency's Spanish-language website https://cnewa.org/es/revista.

"We are pleased to offer this valuable resource to Latino Catholics," said CNEWA's president, Msgr. Peter I. Vaccari, "as we continue introducing the world of the Eastern churches to the growing Latino population in the United States."

An agency of the Holy See, CNEWA works in the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern Europe for and with the Eastern churches.

For 49 years, ONE, CNEWA's flagship magazine, "has introduced readers to the peoples, churches and cultures who inhabit the historic but unstable lands of the ancient Eastern churches," the statement said. Renowned for its writing and photography, ONE has consistently been recognized by the Catholic Media Association. Last year, CNEWA's media efforts won a record 44 awards from the CMA. ONE magazine was also named Magazine of the Year in the Mission Magazine category in 2022.

ONE's April 2023 edition features stories on how Ukrainians on the front line turn to faith and find God in times of war and how Lebanon's economic crisis is affecting the social service initiatives of the churches like hospitals and schools. It also includes a story about migrant workers in Jordan, a letter from a De La Salle Brother in the Northeast African nation of Eritrea, and an essay by theologian Mary B. Cunningham on the Virgin Mary in the Byzantine tradition.

The recent Spanish edition launch builds on CNEWA's outreach to Latinos and Spanish-speaking Catholics in the U.S., who make up about a third of the estimated 70 million Catholics in the nation. The agency's first outreach to U.S. Latinos involved launching its Spanish-language website in 2021, which coincided with a November prayer campaign for the souls of the departed.

"The Eastern churches are not unknown to Central and South Americans," Msgr. Vaccari said in his statement. "Significant numbers of Eastern Christians have emigrated from Eastern Europe and the Middle East to Argentina, Chile, Honduras, Mexico and Venezuela for more than a century."

Committed to living Jesus' command to "love one another," CNEWA has walked side by side with those in need for almost a century -- accompanying local churches, responding to their needs, and rushing to offer emergency relief during humanitarian disasters. One of its recent relief efforts includes working with a network of Catholic churches to feed and shelter about 4,600 people in different areas of Syria after the country experienced a devastating earthquake Feb. 6.

Founded by Pope Pius XI in 1926, CNEWA aids displaced families; provides health care; supports the education and formation of priests, religious sisters and lay leaders; and assists efforts to care for the marginalized, especially children, elderly and those with special needs.