CRUX 2019

Shepherd/Buen Pastor hosts community
festivals on its front lawn; rents building
space to other faith groups as well as
community, civic, and arts groups; hosts
Foodshare’s mobile truck twice weekly;
distributes donated clothing and furniture
in collaboration with other churches; and is
part of the revitalization committee for its
immediate neighborhood, Sheldon/Charter
Oak. Sermons, worship, music, printed
material, newsletters, and its website are all
bilingual, English and Spanish.
Loyda is ready to work with their existing
programs and help them reach out even
more.
“For so many families there is no answer;
they live day to day,” Loyda said. “As I
continue learning, I hope [we move] more in
the direction of social services.” She’d like to
see them help people find housing and jobs,
for example.
She explained that most people she’s
meeting in the community don’t feel secure
about their future and don’t have enough
income to take care of basic expenses.
“They’re worried about what will happen
to their home if they get sick, or what will
happen to their children as they grow up –
whether they’ll be able to afford college or
get an apartment, or how they will be able to
raise a family.”
She thinks one component is helping people
to identify their talent – their passion, that
which brings them joy – as a way to help
them to provide a living.
“Think out of the box, be more creative, and
that way the spirit will open up minds and
hearts so they can start trusting themselves
again, and transforming the structures that
they live in,” she said.
She advocates a creative process, merging
spiritual and material, with the congregation
as well.
“Let’s focus on ways where we can find
God, doing that gospel work, recognizing
the reality that it takes to do God’s mission
today.”
She emphasizes the importance not only of
always having faith, but also of always being
kind with each other, in that work.
“Kindness is very much needed in this
world, precisely because people don’t know
about the future,” she said. “Kindness opens
doors and allows people to start working
with each other. The mission of Jesus, to
walk and find the way, to put both together,
the spiritual and the material, to work
together to build.”
For Loyda, that work reveals God’s creation,
also.
“We also have to think of the environment.
Life depends on the Spirit, and God’s gift for
creation. We have to put those together and
be more conscientious of how our actions
affect both.”
Her prayer practices include celebrating
at the Eucharist, praying for those who
come to the altar, and working with a
spiritual director. She also listens for God in
conversations with people in the community
and to nature all around her whether on
walks or even in church.
She recalls one Sunday service when she
left time for what was supposed to be
silence, and yet, to everyone’s delight, it was
filled with the sound of birds singing.
“It’s healing, and it also brings you to reality,”
Loyda said, of her experience of being in
nature.
She knows that nature can also be harsh.
When Hurricane Hugo hit Puerto Rico in
1989, she was still living there and working
at the bank. Yet she saw the hand of God in
the storm as well, both in the way it called
people to work together before and after
the hurricane, and in the unexpected way it
scattered seeds across the island with new
greener surroundings .
“Nature spoke to us - It was like renewing
the earth,” she said.
NEW TO ECCT AND ALREADY
A LEADER
Loyda said she’s glad to be part of the
Episcopal Church in Connecticut now and
and recognizes many of the same issues as
those in New York. She’s already involved
in ECCT’s Hispanic Ministry Network and
serves on the Leadership Team for the North
Central Region.
She knew Christ Church Cathedral’s now-
Dean Miguelina Howell from earlier work
in the church and is looking forward to
working with her in Hartford to address
common concerns. She knows of some
resources for Spanish-speaking congregants,
including retreats and video-based training;
she is hoping for more, particularly for more
documents translated into Spanish.
Asked what else she might want to share
that hasn’t yet been mentioned, Loyda is
quick to name and praise the live band that
plays for the Spanish language worship
services at Good Shepherd/Buen Pastor,
although her story turns out to be as much
about how the parish has become part of her
larger family already as about music.
As described on the church’s website, the
band plays music from South America,
Central America, Mexico, the Andes, and the
Caribbean. The multicultural ministry got its
start in 2003 with support from ECCT and
a Colt bequest. Two members of the band
Sucari plus additional musicians perform
every Sunday and include a variety of Latin
American and Andean instruments.
One Sunday, the band played a well-known
song often played at Christmas in Puerto
Rico. Loyda was very moved, she said, and
told the band she wished her father, now
retired and living in Florida, could have heard
them. They told her to call him on the phone
and they’d perform again, which they did,
bringing tears of joy and gratitude to both
Loyda and her father.
If mutual ministry is one marker of a
parish’s potential for “success” in making a
difference for God in its community, this one
is off to a great start. ◊
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