DALLAS — On Good Friday, Catholics at Blessed Sacrament Parish here, as in many other gatherings around the world, will re-enact the Way of the Cross. They will accompany Jesus on his way to Calvary. But the day won't end at that.

Following a Latin American custom, the people of Blessed Sacrament will also accompany Jesus' mother on her way home.

A solemn drum beat accompanies the devout crowd, as they walk behind an empty cross and a statue of the Sorrowful Mother surrounded by torches. This marcha en silencio (the march in silence) is but one of the many customs Father Paul Weinberger encourages his Latin-American parishioners to observe at the church, some seven hours north of the Rio Grande.

Blessed Sacrament is in a tough area of Dallas, and when Father Weinberger became pastor in 1993, the church property was in disrepair. Sunday collections amounted to less than $2,000, hardly enough to help close a $500,000 parish debt.

The 42-year-old priest has shown what can be done to revive a dying parish, and his story might well be an inspiration for those seeking ways to keep Latin Americans in the United States from leaving the Catholic Church.

Father Weinberger does not seem too concerned about the growing number of Latin Americans apparently leaving the Church.

When he was studying Spanish in Victoria, Mexico, he noticed that American missionaries sometimes visited the Baptist congregation down the street. They gave out food and blankets, and a lot of the local Catholics attended the services. “But when they left, everyone went back to the Catholic Church,” he said.

“For Hispanics, it's less a case of going from the Roman Catholic Church to no church,” he said. But he does admit that people will go elsewhere if they're “not being fed” spiritually. That's paramount, as far as he's concerned.

Father Weinberger's parishioners get fed. He is the only priest at Blessed Sacrament, but he has overseen a dramatic rise in Sunday Mass attendance. Assisted by a permanent deacon, he performs about 100 baptisms a month, most of them of the children of Spanish-speaking immigrants. There are 800 children in the religious education program, which Father Weinberger teaches in English.

To be sure, Blessed Sacrament is not the only church in Dallas experiencing growth, and much of it may be due to immigration. The Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is 95% Hispanic, has had a marked increase in attendance. And the percentage of Hispanics in the Diocese of Dallas last year went up from 69% to 72%, said Lynn Rossol, director of pastoral planning and research.

Nor is Blessed Sacrament the largest Latin American parish in town, and in fact it has a substantial Anglo community. But it has shown that immigrants from Latin America can find a home alongside Anglo worshippers and Catholics of Irish or German descent like Father Weinberger.

The priest has pioneered a way to serve English and Spanish-speaking congregations together. At his Masses, the Eucharistic Prayer is said in Latin, with translation cards provided in Spanish and English, and the homily is delivered in both English and Spanish.

Constant Teaching

Soon after he became pastor, Father Weinberger started a full program of spiritual and educational services at Blessed Sacrament. Whether or not anyone came to the church, he got into the pulpit every day and preached a lesson on the life of a saint, the Scripture readings from the day's Mass, the writings of Pope John Paul II or some aspect of the catechism.

He also sat in the confessional for three hours a day — and still does.

Eventually, word got around, and people started coming.

Now, his marathon schedule begins at 9 a.m. with morning prayer and includes Mass, eucharistic adoration and Benediction, two conferences, the Liturgy of the Hours and the rosary. Night prayer is conducted in Latin and sung in Gregorian chant.

Every Friday, he teaches an apologetics class called FAQs, or Frequently Asked Questions. The class helps Catholics to better respond to the questions of non-Catholics.

As he sits in the confessional, people line up to confess in English or Spanish. There are “so many confessions that the people don't notice but they are standing in line with people who only speak Spanish or only speak English,” he said. “But there they are in the same line for confession and they begin to see the others as real people also.”

Welcome Wagon

His parishioners help the parish efforts, too. One, Donald Schumacher, began potluck suppers recently to help bring the Spanish-speaking and English-speaking parishioners together. “Hunger is the universal language,” Father Weinberger said.

Charles Nipp, a social service worker active helping Latin Americans, also helps teach catechism.

It's important that the church maintain a “strong flavor” so people know where to go when they're ready to return, Father Weinberger said.

He described the scene in his parish on the first day of Lent, when some 6,000 people came to Blessed Sacrament for ashes.

Many people have come to know the church's schedule of services on Ash Wednesday throughout the day. “So many who have left the Church, their lives are a mess, and on that day of conversion they can walk up as if they are going to Communion, get ashes, hear a homily,” said Father Weinberger.

He summed up his mission this way: “I'll do my little part to put in the yeast and leave the rest to the Holy Spirit.”

Latinos Leaving

At 35.3 million, Hispanics make up 12.5% of the total U.S. population. That's up from nearly 23 million 10 years ago. Yet as America magazine reported in 1997, 1 in 5 Hispanics who were raised Catholic are no longer with the Church. A United States Conference of Catholic Bishops report showed that the percentage of Hispanics who are Catholic dropped from 71% in 1994 to 67% in 1998.

Last year, the Barna Research Center in Ventura, Calif., claimed that only 53% of U.S. Hispanics identify themselves as Catholic, down from 68% in 1991.

Some observers dispute that as being overstated. But there is no doubting the growing presence in Hispanic communities of storefront Pentecostal churches and proselytism on the part of Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and Scientologists. Even Islam is reaching out to the Hispanic community, with some success.

Ron Cruz, executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs, points out that Hispanic immigrants from a strongly Catholic culture encounter an American culture with a lot of options. “They are looking for a place to belong, where they're wanted, where they can feel connected and pray in their language,” he said.

Small storefront churches often provide that, while Catholic churches are often large. “Not all of them are prepared to receive Hispanics,” he said.

— John Burger