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The Railroad Town. This is how many know Dunellen, a borough in Middlesex County with a population of about 7,200 people.
Today, Dunellen — as many other communities in the diocese — is known as a town where the Hispanic population is rapidly growing. Not long ago, Hispanics accounted for 14 percent of Dunellen’s population. Today, Hispanics account for 33 percent. The transformation took place in a span of about 20 years.
Last November, at St. John the Evangelist Church in Dunellen, the first Mass celebrated in Spanish in the history of the town took place. The growing Hispanic community inspired Father Alphonsus Kariuki, pastor, St. John the Evangelist Parish, to begin to minister its members in the parish with the collaboration and support of the diocesan Office of Hispanic Evangelization. Highlights of the Mass included a banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe, vibrant music and parishioners of non-Hispanic descent graciously welcoming the Hispanic community into the life of their parish.
A sense of joy and unity was visibly present during the Mass. The Church was occupied to capacity, a demonstration of the long desire Hispanic Catholics in Dunellen had for this event to finally take place.
“Welcome to your parish,” said Father Kariuki at the beginning of his homily. Noting that it was of great joy for the community to welcome Hispanics into the life of the parish, Father Kariuki also invited Hispanics to take part in the various ministries of the parish and to invite relatives and friends to the new weekly Mass.
“We truly felt welcomed and at home,” a group of Hispanics expressed at the end of Mass while signing up to be trained as extraordinary ministers of holy Communion and lectors.
What used to be a phenomenon restricted to places like Los Angeles, Miami, Houston or San Diego is becoming the new norm for many towns in the diocese. The stunning images of Our Lady of Guadalupe, quinceañera celebrations, Masses in Spanish and some good empanadas after worship are becoming some of the signs of the rapid demographic changes our diocese is experiencing.
In 1965, there were 48.5 million Catholics in the country. Fifty years later, the number had risen to 75 million. Despite millions of baptized women and men who stopped self-identifying as Catholic, the number of Catholics in the United States keeps growing.
Hispanics are at the heart of the Church’s growth. They account for 71 percent of the growth of the Catholic population in the United States since 1960 and are 40 percent of the approximately 78 million Catholics in the country. This new reality has led 26 of the 90 Catholic parishes in the diocese to intentionally serve Hispanics. Today, Catholics of all cultural backgrounds are sharing their churches with fellow parishioners about whom they know little.
This presents the faithful of the diocese with the opportunity to make an effort to know more about each other. It is through collaboration and a faith rooted in the Gospel that allow different communities to collaborate to proclaim the Gospel, pass on the faith to the next generation and to care for the poor and the vulnerable. It is in our home parishes that we are called to overcome the challenges facing society today. Despite our background or country of origin, we are called to be permanent missionaries of the Word of God and to show future generations by our example what it means to be Catholic.
Caballero is director, diocesan Office of Hispanic Evangelization and Pastoral Ministry, and director, diocesan Office of Evangelization