Latino webinar gathering focuses on getting youth to Mass

(OSV News) -- While discussing the topic "How Do We Get Our Children to Attend Mass?" in a webinar, participants from the U.S. and Latin America emphasized the importance of guiding children and youth in faith while respecting their freedom to make their own spiritual choices, so they can build a deep, personal relationship with God.

The early December online gathering was organized by the Chicago-based National Catholic Council for Hispanic Ministry in alliance with the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council and its formation center, known as CEBITEPAL.

"We are not the ones who guide (our children); the one who guides is the Holy Spirit," said Enrique Soros, vice president of NCCHM, at the start of the Dec. 4 meeting, citing the importance of instilling the faith in our sons and daughters early in their childhood.

Soros and other speakers noted the significance of educating children in the faith but giving them a certain level of liberty, so there would be more of a chance they would later practice the faith because they want to, because they understand the spiritual importance and benefits. Soros also mentioned the need to respect their individual souls while seeking to "motivate and accompany them so that they grow in liberty." More than 40 people attended the virtual gathering.

Pedro Larrain and his wife, Trinidad Vergara, active church members in Chile, also spoke on the importance of "educating in liberty." They have six children, ages 7 months to 13 years; they reside in the rural outskirts of Santiago and like participating in sports and enjoying nature.

Larrain, 44, and Vergara, 41, pointed out that children belong to God and that parents are his instruments. We are all called to complete the mission that God has given to us, they said, adding that happiness is found in discovering that ideal and being faithful to it.

With guidance from the faith, Larrain said, parents should routinely engage in formation and protection, so that their children "become people of integrity and happiness." The fruits of this practice, he said, are the children growing up "to be healthy, educated and confident people."

Vergara spoke of the significance of parents "leading them to God." She said the purpose is that "they love God above all things, and their neighbor as themselves." This should be done, she noted, by showing "with joy the integration of the natural and the supernatural."

The couple said they teach their children to know and carry out their responsibilities, and to try to realize the consequences of their actions before acting. They said it is important, through personal ties, to be a model of the faith with love, to spread the faith with passion -- and to instill these virtues in our children. They introduced some of their children during the webinar, who said they enjoy attending Mass.

Maly Bianchi, 18, and her sister Josefina, 20, from Buenos Aires, spoke from the young adult perspective, talking about their spiritual growth within the church from their childhood into their teenage years, and sharing how their parents were their first instructors of the faith.

Maly said her mom and dad "educated me (in the faith) but then they also gave me my space so that I could make my own decisions. ... In my family, the plan was always to go to Mass on Sundays; we went all together as a family. They instilled religion in me." She noted that at times the family, as they were about to walk past their home parish, would stop, go into the church, sit in the front pews and pray, including prayers to the Virgin Mary.

Later, Soros told OSV News that "the goal of a Christian is not the Mass, but a deep relationship with Jesus."

"If there are deep human ties in the family, if there is healthy fun, if parents accompany their children, giving them confidence and freedom, they will feel part of the family program of going to Mass," he said.