Hispanic Ministries

St. John’s Hispanic Ministries provide Spanish-speaking parishioners with the opportunity to live the Catholic faith in their own language and cultural traditions. Sacraments, religious education, pastoral counseling, and other pastoral care are offered in Spanish.

Hispanic Committee

This committee advises the Hispanic clergy. It is a mechanism to coordinate all the Spanish-language ministries. Ministries coordinators and representatives meet monthly on the first Tuesday.

Contact: Deacon José Rivera, jose.rivera@sjerc.org

Faith Formation Ministry

Religious education programs in Spanish are provided for children, teens and adults. Sacramental preparation programs are offered for the sacraments of initiation – Baptism, First Eucharist, and Confirmation – and Marriage. Read more »

Contact for Children: Consuelo Petro, consuelo.petro@sjerc.org or 410-964-1425 x319
Contact for Teens: Andrea Torres, andrea.torres@sjerc.org or 410-964-1425 x318 and Lamberth Peñate, penatelemberth@yahoo.com and Aida Peñate, penateaida@gmail.com
Contact for Adults and RCIA: Janet Ochoa, jeannetteochoa63@gmail.com or 301-213-6809 and Manuel Aliaga, maliagar@hotmail.com or 973-699-8190
Contact for Marriage: Melinda Ruiz, mebarca@hotmail.com or 443-561-4373 and Santiago Ruiz, stgoruiz@hotmail.com or 443-469-5620

Walking Together with Jesus Prayer Group

The prayer group’s approach is that each person can have a personal encounter with God. As a prayer group of the Charismatic Renewal, we promote programs offered at the Archdiocesan level, such as the Catholic Charismatic Encounter, Initiation Retreat “Life in the Spirit,” Encounter of Women, Encounter of Men, and Vigils. Through these activities, the prayer group promotes a personal, mature, and continuous conversion toward Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Programs are carried out to teach and follow up with new members of the groups. There are also work-shops for leaders and servants of the different ministries.

The prayer group enhances and enriches the parish since many of the members of the group are active servants in the different ministries such as ushers, lectors, ministers of the Eucharist, choirs, and catechesis. Come and join this prayer group and let yourself be loved by God, have a personal experience with Him, witness His love, mercies and grace for each of us, His children. Enrich and strengthen your faith through your word. The prayer group meets on Wednesdays from 6:30pm – 7:00pm for Holy Rosary and 7:00pm – 9:00pm. for Prayer Assembly. During COVID, meetings are virtual (Zoom). Contact us for more information or if you know of someone who needs prayer.

Contact: Ángel Magaña, aj864130@gmail.com or 443-996-9435, and Jorge Fuentes 443-310-2084

Bereavement (Grupo Esperanza)

Contact: Paulina Jimenez, paulinaj@gmail.com or 443-864-1685 or Alejandra Garcia, alejandragarcia7181@gmail.com or 443-518-9965

Hispanic Community Representative

Contact: Laurentina M. Takovich, tinatakovich@verizon.net or 443-904-2672

San Andrés Evangelization

Contact: Ismael Esteva, isma6974@gmail.com or 301-717-4073 and Patricia Esteva, pesteva73@aol.com or 301-675-2259

Boy Scouts of America USA Cub Scout Pack 2010, Troop 2010, and Venture Crew 2010

St. John’s Hispanic Ministry charters three Spanish-speaking BSA scout groups. La Manada (Cub Pack) 2010 is for children ages 7-10 and emphasizes the commitment between children and their parents, adult scout leaders, and friends. Troop 2010 is for youth ages 11-17 and helps them develop character, citizenship, and personal qualities. Crew 2010 is for boys and girls ages 14-20 and emphasizes leadership, as well as the development of life skills and outdoor skills. Our scouts contributed to service projects including participating in a food drive for food banks, supporting a health fair, and collaborating on St. John’s parish activities.

Contact: Victor Torres, tropa2010@gmail.com or 301-928-5197

Legion of Mary, Maria Reina de la Familia Praesidium

The Legion of Mary is the largest apostolic organization of lay people in the Catholic Church in which members seek to sanctify themselves and others through a program of prayer, study, service, and spiritual works. There are three local units of this group, called praesidium. Maria Reina del la Familia is the St. John Hispanic praesidium. Active members and auxiliary members work to console the sick, the lonely, and the bereaved. Another area of focus is bringing the faith to others.

Contact: Hilda Luna, lunaestrella5678@gmail.com or 443-255-9295

Eucharistic Ministry

Eucharist ministers serve at the three Spanish Masses on the weekend. They also assist by taking the sacred Eucharist to the sick and others who are not able to participate in the Eucharistic celebrations. They meet monthly to share a biblical reading, discuss important subjects related to the ministry, and visit and meditate with the Blessed Sacrament.

Contact: Shirley Cruz, diazji2@yahoo.com or 410-294-0402

Lectors

Lectors participate in the liturgy as the readers of biblical texts other than the Gospel, which is assigned to the priest or deacon.

Recently, the number of readers has increased to 21 serving three weekend Masses (six readers per weekend). Coordinators develop a schedule for two consecutive months and assign readers based on their availability. A coordinator is elected every two years. The goal is for each member to serve as a coordinator. In the past year, we returned to a monthly schedule and, before Covid-19, the plan was to spend most of our meeting presenting and discussing a chapter of a book related to our ministry. The topic of discussion is assigned to a reader who introduces it and guides the conversation. Our goal is to provide enrichment opportunities for our members to better understand our ministry. We meet the second Thursday of each month. Typically, about 70 percent of our members attend. We currently meet through Zoom..

Contact: Marianela Estrada, emailnella22@gmail.com or 973-223-1024

Ushers

The mission of the ushers is to provide all present at Mass with a comfortable, safe and welcoming environment. Some of the responsibilities of the ushers are to welcome those who come to holy Mass, deliver missals and songbooks, make sure the offertory gifts are in place, collect the offerings, direct the flow of people at communion time, deliver the weekly bulletin, and clean up the church for the next service. The Usher Ministry is open to all – families, married couples, singles, and young people are all welcome.

Contact: Espiridión Hernández, pilohernandez2011@gmail.com

Music Ministry

The music groups provide music at Masses, First Communion, Holy Week, Posadas, Christmas Eve, Quinceañeras, weddings, and Baptism celebrations. The choirs also participate in special events such as the Concert to Santa Cecilia, the Mid Atlantic Congress (MAC) Hispanic Heritage, and retreats in Glen Burnie and Columbia.

Saturday 6:30pm Mass (Sagrada Familia) Contact: Veronica Baldizon, 443-570-0657
Sunday 8:00am Mass (San Juan Evangelista) Contact: Orlando Villalonga, guitarristapalante@yahoo.com and Juana Espinal, juanaespinal73@gmail.com or 443-500-0400
Sunday 12:15pm Mass (Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe) Contact: Victor Torres, 301-928-5197
Thursday 7:00 p.m. Mass (Renacer en el Espíritu Choir, Prayer Group) Contact: David Piña 443-463-4778

Altar Servers

In the celebration of Holy Mass, children and young people can approach Christ during this ministry. As altar servers, they help in the liturgy, ringing the bells, helping in the preparation of the altar in the offertory, helping with bread and wine, carrying the cross, etc. They are thus with their actions approaching Christ. This is also the place where they can begin to discern the vocation to which the Lord calls them. For many, the desire to be a priest or nun begins as they help as altar servers.