From April 16-20, 2007, theologians from five of the seven dioceses in Province IX and one from the Diocese of Atlanta gathered in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to write basic materials that will form a comprehensive Spanish-language Christian education resource by, for, and in the Episcopal Church. While there have been a number of Spanish-language educational resources developed by individual dioceses and offices at the Episcopal Church Center, this is the first joint effort since a lectionary-based curriculum was developed in Province IX over twenty years ago.
The project responds to a continuing need to develop educational resources that address the specific needs of the Episcopal Church, both in Province IX and Spanish-speaking congregations in the USA. Most resources available in Spanish are produced by the Roman Catholic Church or evangelical churches.
Rather than beginning with translation or adaptation of English-language materials, the theologians brought their own collections of materials together and wrote new essays in Spanish rendered in an accessible, non-academic style. This was the first meeting in anyone’s memory that brought together Episcopal theologians trained in Spanish to write such materials. The idea for the project was conceived at a meeting of the Episcopal Council for Christian Education, the church’s network of provincial education leaders, in 2004.
Topics to be covered include: the scriptures, fundamentals of the faith, ministry, church history and governance, stewardship, mission, Christian values, and spirituality, with an emphasis on Anglican/Episcopal distinctiveness in these areas.
Funded by a grant from the Executive Council through its Constable Fund for Christian education, this project brought together diocesan leaders in Christian education and formation in several configurations to develop an outline that this writing team filled in with expert essays that will inform the next group of curriculum writers drawn from across Province IX who will meet in November 2007. The first round of materials for field-testing will be ready in mid-2008. In the interim, documents will be available on http://www.episcopaleslatinos.org/, including “21 most important questions about the faith.”
Participants in the writing conference included: Adrián Cárdenas (Venezuela), Veronica Flowers (Honduras, Province IX Christian education coordinator), Cristobal León Lozado (Ecuador Litoral), Jack Lynch (Honduras), Marco Mejia M. (Ecuador Central), Moisés Quezada Mota (Dominican Republic) and Isaías Rodríguez (Atlanta). The event was assisted by Ruth-Ann Collins, staff officer for children’s ministries and Christian education, and Thom Chu, director for ministries with young people at the Episcopal Church Center.
