Budding Spanish Service in Pacific Beach

• Las Hermanitas are Latinas between the 7th and 12th grades. Each is paired with a successful Latina as her mentor who belongs to MANA (Mexican-American Women’s National Association).  A group of 23 women spent an  enjoyable evening at St. Andrew’s carving pumpkins.
• As part of our striving to have cultural interaction with both congregations at St. Andrew’s, our Latinas, prior to celebrating El Dia de los Muertos, decorated a large table with pictures and other memorabilia of their deceased family members. Alex Howard, our children’s minister, involved the children in making altars and other decorations. These were all put in the spacious alcove on the left side of the entrance as you enter the church and enjoyed by the parish community.
• On Sunday, December 11 at 1 p.m. we will celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe with traditional hymns. We will then tell the story that took place between December 9 – 12, 1531 of the appearance of the Lady of Guadalupe as an indigenous Aztec pregnant teenager to a poor indigenous Aztec, speaking to him in his native language. This began the mass conversion of the natives to Christianity.
• On Dec 18 at the one combined service at 10 a.m., we will begin with the traditional sung Posadas — Joseph and Mary seeking lodging (posada): with half of the congregation singing outside the doors asking for lodging, and the other half responding from inside, saying they have no more room until the seekers reveal who they are. Then for the first time we will have an all-parish bilingual Eucharistic service followed by pan dulce y chocolate. All are welcome!