Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger will celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the culmination of the Diocese of Albany’s participation in the local level of the Fifth National Encuentro of Hispanic/Latino Ministry with a Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Tuesday, December 12, at 7:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend the liturgy, which will be bilingual.
Seven parishes in the Diocese have been journeying through the Encuentro experience: St. Anthony, Schenectady; St. Anthony, Troy; St. Edward the Confessor, Clifton Park; St. Clement, Saratoga Springs; St. Joseph, Stuyvesant Falls; St. Mary, Amsterdam; and the Shrine Church of Our Lady of the Americas, Albany. Those parishes have been holding faith formation classes and other events to focus on the Encuentro theme of “Missionary Disciples: Witnesses of God’s love.”
An initiative of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Encuentro is a process of evangelization, consultation and mission that was launched last year to discern ways for the Church in the United States to better respond to the ever-growing Hispanic presence, and to help Hispanics Catholics to strengthen their Christian identity and their response as missionary disciples for the entire Church.
In addition to the December 12 local celebration, there will be a regional celebration in Albany in June, and a national celebration in Dallas in September.