BY HOSFFMAN OSPINO, PH.D.
Autumn Path © Sr. Pat Willems, CSJ, ministryofthearts.org
“How do you imagine heaven?” This is a question I like to ask children and adults in the parish where I teach catechesis. I also like to pose the question to my graduate students as they prepare for ministry or teaching careers. The answers I hear often reflect the vivid imagination of writers, creative artists, and the rich biblical and theological worldviews that sustain Christian spirituality. “Heaven is like a beautiful city with streets paved with pure gold,” some say. Others imagine heaven as a space with people wearing white robes eternally praising God through prayer and song. Other people say that they imagine heaven as a family, a place to spend eternity with their loved ones. This is one of my favorite images. However, I am mindful that we all have our own understanding of what a family can be. When we think about who is in our family, there is an implied assumption of who is not or cannot be included. But heaven is universal—everyone 10
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and everything will be there, contemplating God with undivided attention. Not just some, or those who we like or understand, or those who agree with us. Everyone. I recall this vision of heaven when thinking about parish ministry, specifically in multicultural churches. Of the 16,412 Catholic parishes in the United States (as of 2023), about 40 percent or more than 6,500 are multicultural parishes, most 1 serving Hispanic Catholics. These are parishes that offer liturgical services in both English and at least one additional language, and they intentionally serve the spiritual needs of several racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse groups. 1
USCCB Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church, Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs, Diocesan Survey on Parishes and Hispanic/Latino Ministry (Washington, D.C.: USCCB, August 2024), https://www.usccb.org/resources/Diocesan%20Survey%20on%20 Parishes%20and%20HispanicLatino%20Ministry%202024.pdf.