Unity in diversity

COSTA MESA — Come into the courtyard after a Sunday service at St. Joachim Catholic Church, and you’ll likely find two tables, side by side, bearing tamales and doughnuts.

Since last fall, members of St. Joachim’s Latino ministries began selling tamales to help raise money for a new church kitchen. They set up next to the coffee and doughnuts table that usually operates each Sunday.

Combined, the two foods may make for indigestion, but they represent the church’s success at blending a diverse congregation while the city around it stands divided.

Creating unity is even more important now, with tensions heightened by the City Council’s plan to train police for immigration enforcement and the nationwide fervor over immigration reform.

“In general, prejudice is based on ignorance, and if you get people to understand each other, that prejudice falls by the wayside,” Rev. Enrique Sera, the church’s leader, said.

Sera has tried his best to break down the barriers between the different segments of his own parish community, which includes about 2,500 registered families and others who attend the church but aren’t registered. Latino families typically don’t register, he said.

Before Sera came to St. Joachim in 2004, relations between the English- and Spanish-speaking congregants weren’t as good.

“What everybody seems to mention is there was not much connection between the two sides,” he said.

But the congregation has spoken multiple languages for at least 30 years, Sera said, and it is part of a diverse city.

“It reflects all the blessings and all the challenges of the city of Costa Mesa,” he said.

In response, the church tailored its offerings to bring everyone into the fold.

A Mass in English and one in Spanish are held daily, with several in each language on Sundays. Sera wanted more opportunities to bring speakers of different languages together, so he incorporated both languages into major celebrations such as confirmations and Easter services.

“I don’t really like for those great solemnities like that to have two different services,” he said. “It should be one that everyone can come and feel like they’re part of one family.”

Besides events for everyone, like the annual spring fair, the church also hosts events to help Latino parishioners settle in and become part of the community. Through the Orange County Congregation Community Organization, the church has offered sessions for people who want to apply for U.S. citizenship or get a matricula consular card.

And in return, some Latino parishioners have given back through food.

The church embarked on a multi-million-dollar building program in 2004 after four years of planning.

It included a new parish hall and gym, an administrative building for the church and school, computer and science labs and classrooms for the school, and remodeling of other classrooms and the church itself.

The last major piece was the new kitchen. The Latino ministries wanted that to be their contribution.

“Since the Spanish community uses the kitchen the most, it was important to us to have the kitchen,” said Paty Madueno, a bilingual parishioner who has helped organize events at the church through the congregation community organization.

To raise the money for outfitting the kitchen, different parish groups took turns making tamales and selling them on Sunday mornings between services.

“Hispanics are very much geared toward ad hoc giving,” Sera said. “The concept of stewardship and tithing is foreign to us, but if you tell us, ‘We need this,’ we’re very much on board.”

They started last fall and they’re now about $5,000 from their goal.

“For them to have given that much is like, wow,” said Martha Monteleone, who was working a table at the rummage sale during the spring fair. “Here, where there isn’t so much money, and there’s so much being done.”

Construction of the kitchen is now underway. Sera said the church will continue to blend its diverse congregation ? for example church members hope to raise more money for scholarships to the school.

And food, that universal commodity, will continue to play a part in the life of the congregation.

“When we have activities here at St. Joachim with food, everybody comes out,” Madueno said.