CHICAGO — Today Greenfield, California, looks and feels different because Father Enrique Herrera believed that the Church could make life better for the city’s residents.
When Father Herrera arrived at Holy Trinity Parish and saw that parishioners were struggling to feed their families and had few opportunities for a brighter future, he decided that his parish would become a beacon of hope. Together with his parishioners, he started many new programs focused on strengthening faith, education and community. Hearts were opened. Individuals started changing. Families started changing. Neighborhoods started changing. Classrooms started changing. The police department, fire department, school officials, city council and mayor all got on board.
Catholic Extension has chosen Father Herrera to receive the 2017-2018 Lumen Christi Award, its highest honor. Father Herrera will be officially presented with the award during a Mass at his parish on December 10.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the award. Father Jack Wall, president of Catholic Extension explained, “The Lumen Christi Award shines brightly to honor and give recognition to people who are great missionaries in our country. Father Herrera is a great example. He has stood up as a shepherd for his flock and raised them up. He is a ‘voice for the voiceless,’ but he is also helping people to find their own voice, helping them to aspire and to dream. He is a true missionary.”
Catholic Extension’s selection of Father Herrera and his bustling parish of immigrant parishioners also shines a light on the seismic shift that has occurred in the Catholic Church over the past 25 years. Just last week a study released by the Public Religion Research Institute documented what America magazine called the “shift from a predominantly white church clustered in the Northeast and Midwest to a church influenced by Latin American immigration and located in the South and West.”
Before Father Herrera was born, his parents had worked in the Salinas Valley, where Greenfield is located. After his birth in Mexico — he is the third of seven children — his father continued to travel there regularly as a migrant worker to support the family.
Enduring his father’s long absences, he developed a soft spot for the plight of migrants. By age 10, Father Herrera felt the tug toward priesthood. Wanting to be “a voice for the voiceless,” he entered seminary in Guadalajara after high school. But when his family immigrated to the Salinas Valley, he caught the attention of the bishop of Monterey, who asked him to join the diocese. Ever since, he has served the poor in several parishes, working primarily with immigrants.
“I have come full circle,” he said. “As the son of immigrants, I am now able to serve immigrants in the same location.”
As pastor of Holy Trinity, Father Herrera shepherds the only Catholic church in Greenfield. Catholic Extension helped to build the church in 1934.
Greenfield is in the heart of the valley, nestled between the Gabilan Mountains to the east and the Santa Lucia range to the west. A city of 16,000, it is comprised mainly of immigrants who come to harvest lettuce, broccoli, grapes and strawberries in the area’s rich soil. Half of the city’s population is under age 21. The average income in his community is almost 40 percent below the national poverty level, creating hardships for families trying to make ends meet — let alone, plan for the future.
Father Herrera is particularly focused on the youth of the parish. Most of their parents, 90 percent of whom are farmworkers in nearby fields, have demanding schedules that keep them away from home. He wants young people to be safe, connected to the community and to understand their potential and responsibility to contribute to the common good.
This past May, 446 children received their first Communion. Father Herrera has also ramped up the number of teenagers who are being confirmed at the parish. Hundreds are in the confirmation program each year, and he encourages them to be leaders. The teens become his core group of volunteers because they have the “energy, wisdom and understanding” to guide others.
With Catholic Extension’s help, this summer the parish started a new summer camp for children. The program, which includes lessons on faith and on science, was so popular with the children that after the first day many brought their friends and cousins along.
For adults, Father Herrera tries to work around their long work schedules. When agricultural fields are dormant, he holds daily Bible classes that attract more than 400.
The parish, located in the center of town, is a busy place. With six Masses each weekend, including four in Spanish, plus baptisms and Quinceañeras, about 4,000 people come to church each weekend.
Father Herrera believes that the Church has a role in addressing human needs alongside the spiritual ones. He knows that his parishioners confront pervasive poverty and complex problems, and he wants to “bring the Catholic faith to the streets.” He explained, “We need to put the Catholic Church in the social arena, so it not only helps people grow in their faith but also to grow as members of a community.”
The parish has a food bank, English classes, immigration assistance, nutrition and parenting classes. Every year during spring break, 300 high school students attend anti-bullying and anti-violence classes. The priest has established soccer and basketball leagues to keep young people engaged during their free time.
“Father Herrera advocates for our community to ensure that we get what we need spiritually as well as physically, emotionally, intellectually and in other aspects that are needed for a balanced life,” said Jesús Olvera García, the mayor of Greenfield and a Holy Trinity parishioner. “Holy Trinity Catholic Church has the doors open to welcome everyone to be part of their events and services.”
Father Herrera’s dream is that all his young parishioners will attend college. Most of their parents did not have that opportunity. More and more young people in Greenfield now attend college, some even at prestigious universities like UCLA and UC Berkeley. To offset the financial burden, the parish holds fundraisers to provide college scholarships and connects students to other resources and scholarships. One of Father Herrera’s favorite things to do during Mass is invite a local college student to address the congregation. He knows how powerful it is for younger people to have role models.
Catholic Extension’s Father Wall said, “We are so inspired by Father Herrera’s efforts to enable young people to go to college. Education is one of the great liberating forces that uplifts people.”
Father Herrera was nominated for the Lumen Christi Award by Bishop Richard Garcia of Monterey “Father Herrera has put together a wonderful team helping him in the community,” said Bishop Garcia. “He is building the community so that everyone feels at home, like one family. He cares so much about advancing the whole community.”
Catholic Extension, the Chicago-based papal society devoted to building churches and the Church in America’s poorest places, has been honoring individuals or groups with its Lumen Christi Award for 40 years. Past recipients include Catholics from all walks of life — laywomen and men, priests, religious sisters and brothers, deacons and one bishop.
It all starts with building faith communities, said Father Wall. “We firmly believe that if you build up faith communities in poor areas, you transform hearts, lives and communities,” he added. “When we bring good people together in faith, good things happen. Pope Francis says the Church is not self-referential, not member-centered, but always mission-driven. We are all called to do God’s work, so if you build up a vibrant faith community, like the one that Father Herrera has lifted up, you are going to see change.”
Father Wall noted that Catholic Extension has been supporting dioceses in California since 1911 and is now serving six of the 12 dioceses, which make up 92 percent of the state’s territory. “We are so proud of what’s happening in California,” he said. “People here are living in mission. And Father Herrera is a great example.”
We asked some of the country’s top faith leaders, scholars and activists to predict what changes the religious landscape will see after the New Year.
2018 will be the year that churches, mosques, temples, synagogues, gurdwaras and sacred spaces will work together to protect the most vulnerable. 2018 will be the year that faith-based organizing will no longer be an aberration. Read more.
Margari Aziza Hill is the co-founder and co-director of Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative (MuslimARC), a human rights education organization.
I predict the coming of #MeTooJew. I predict that accusations and stories of sexual harassment will embroil Jewish institutions, organizations, seminaries and synagogues.
Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin writes the award-winning column “Martini Judaism” at RNS. He also serves as the senior rabbi of Temple Solel in Hollywood, Fla.
In 2018, Latino evangelicals and other evangelicals of color will join younger evangelicals in moving U.S. evangelicals beyond partisan politics.
There will be a new technicolor evangelical manifestation that broadens U.S. evangelicalism’s public engagement with a focus both on evangelism and the common good.
The Rev. Gabriel Salguero is president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition and serves as a pastor at Calvario City Church, a large Assemblies of God congregation in Orlando, Fla.
I predict that in 2018 race and poverty will be front and center in the national dialogue as faith leaders step out into the public square to issue a cry for justice.
This cry will galvanize people around the country with the truth that poverty and racism are structural in our society and We the People can and will change that reality. Read more.
Sister Simone Campbell is the executive director of NETWORK, a Catholic social justice lobby, and leader of NETWORK’s “Nuns on the Bus” movement.
This is the year the Catholic Church will get serious about discussing the possibility of married priests.
The church has experienced a shortage of priests around the world, especially in developed countries. There are not enough priests to provide the sacraments, celebrate Mass or give pastoral care to the Catholic people. Read more.
The Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest, is a senior analyst at RNS and writes its “Signs of the Times” column.
In the hot-button Supreme Court case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, a finding for baker Jack Phillips would confirm that businesses can use religious beliefs to shield them from anti-discrimination laws.
A finding for the same-sex couple seeking a wedding cake would put religious business owners in the position of having to perform some services that they would rather not.
Patrick Hornbeck is an associate professor of theology at Fordham University. He has been analyzing the Masterpiece Cakeshop case in a series at Religion Dispatches.
In the course of my still-young career, my religious liberty casework has gone from covering largely uncontroversial topics such as land use and prisoners’ rights to cases at the core of culture wars.
This shift reflects the state of religious liberty today — something no longer uncontroversial and largely unchallenged, but suddenly highly politicized. And in 2018, I expect this trajectory toward increased politicization to continue. Read more.
Asma T. Uddin is a fellow with the Initiative on Security and Religious Freedom at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations and Georgetown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.
I predict that in 2018 some event involving President Donald Trump will pose a decisive moral test for his strongest base of supporters, white evangelicals.
Sadly, I think that we already know what will happen. A core of #Trumpvangelicals will remain loyal no matter what. … And it will be even more clear that whatever happens to Donald Trump will happen to these evangelicals, because they have become indistinguishable. Read more.
The Rev. David P. Gushee, who wrote the popular RNS column “Christians, Conflict & Change,” is the director of Mercer University’s Center for Theology & Public Life.
The Mormons have never liked Trump. As Mitt Romney put it, Mormons generally view Trump as a “a phony, a fraud.”
In 2018, Mormons in Utah might help turn the ruby red congressional districts in Utah blu(ish). Perhaps more importantly, the lasting effect for young Mormon voters coming of age in the Trump era could be a generational fissure between the GOP and their most loyal religious voting bloc. Read more.
Max Perry Mueller is the author of “Race and the Making of the Mormon People” and an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The public is looking for leaders to articulate a direction for this country that is just and compassionate.
This means we will speak truth with love. In an atmosphere of anger and hateful rhetoric, we seek to fill the void of productive and civil discourse that people around the country are thirsting for. Our values and objectives remain the same regardless of who is in power or the political climate. Read more.
2018 will likely see white evangelical Protestants remaining locked in for Republican candidates in the midterm elections.
Even if the 2018 midterm elections turn out to be a wave election for Democrats, as the best barometers currently suggest, white evangelicals will likely remain tethered to tribal Republican loyalty, or at least to Democratic Party antipathy, no matter who is on the ballot. Read more.
Robert P. Jones is the CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute and author of “The End of White Christian America.”
The very first day of this year will be marked by Ravi Singh Bhalla’s inauguration as one of the first-ever turbaned Sikh mayors in Hoboken, New Jersey. And it will set the stage for a noticeable increase in the representation of Sikhs in various spheres.
Sikhs remain largely unknown in the American context, but the tides are starting to turn. Read more.
Simran Jeet Singh is a professor of religion at Trinity University and a senior religion fellow for the Sikh Coalition.
I believe 2018 will mark a period where we see Catholic female laity and women religious continue to be a strong collaborative leadership model, not only for the institutional Church, but on key social policy issues.
Female Catholics are leading parishes and bringing national attention to issues such as healthcare, immigration and poverty. Read more.
Jeanine E. Kraybill is an assistant professor of political science at California State University, Bakersfield.
The hashtag #ChurchToo began in the fall to address that the church is not void of violence against women. At the end of 2017, the #SilenceIsNotSpiritual campaign began targeting the silence around sexual assault and harassment in the church.
As all these movements go into 2018, I believe that they will become prophetic voices in the Church. Read more.
Grace Ji-Sun Kim is an associate professor of theology at Earlham School of Religion and the author of “Embracing the Other.”
The new Poor People’s Campaign will be one of the biggest religious stories of 2018. Spearheaded by Rev. William Barber and Rev. Liz Theoharis, this campaign is consciously taking up the radical politics and unfinished work of Martin Luther King Jr.
If the PPC is able to build a broad religious coalition around issues such as poverty, environmentalism and peace, it might reignite King’s political vision which religious liberals abandoned. Read more.
Daniel José Camacho is a contributing opinion writer at The Guardian US. He writes about politics and religion.
We want to hear from you, too. Send RNS your predictions here before January 10, 2018, and we may feature your responses on our site.