By Fr. Rafael Rodriguez
Pastor, Cristo Rey Parish in Lincoln
The other day I was in a meeting, and I asked a few parishioners: “What does Cristo Rey mean for you?”
One of them answered: “We have at Cristo Rey a spiritual home.”
There are about 1,250 active families who are registered at Cristo Rey Parish in Lincoln. Most of the parishioners come from Mexico, but many others come from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Peru and many other countries. Cristo Rey offers an opportunity to not only practice and live our beautiful Catholic faith, but also a place where Hispanic traditions are experienced and celebrated as part of parish life.
As the pastor of Cristo Rey, it has been a blessing to learn from my parishioners’ different religious traditions and beautiful devotionals that different families have at home and at the parish. As a kid, I grew up in Mexico City, very close to where the Basilica of Guadalupe is located. I was aware of many devotions, especially to Our Lady of Guadalupe. However, I have learned to appreciate and love Mary our mother even more here.
At Cristo Rey it is a great blessing to be part of the novena prayers that lead us into this important feast day. As part of the novena, we pray the rosary, singing beautiful Marian hymns proper to Guadalupe in between decades, and at the end of the rosary we recite litanies in which we ask the intercession of the saints. On the night before the feast, we celebrate the vigil Mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The pinnacle of the festival is the celebration of the dawn Mass Dec. 12, many times celebrating with the bishop. After Mass there is a true fiesta with mariachi, tamales, hot chocolate, and often live representations of the apparitions.
There are other beautiful celebrations through the year that celebrate local traditions. Among them, El Señor de los Milagros (the Lord of Miracles) from Peru, El Cristo Negro de Esquipulas (The Dark Christ) from Guatemala, and Santa Gertrudis (St. Gertrude), who is the patronal saint from a town in Mexico from which many of the first parishioners of Crito Rey come.
Cristo Rey is also very blessed to have the presence of Passionist Sisters assisting at the parish. There are four Passionist sisters in our Diocese of Lincoln. Two of them work in Hastings, and the other two work at Cristo Rey. The sisters help us in our efforts of evangelization and catechesis. One of the sisters oversees the OCIA program that takes place every Sunday and helps young people and adults to obtain their sacraments of initiation (baptism, first communion and confirmation).
Also, the Passionist sisters help us with the regular baptism classes, quinciañeras, Engaged Encounter retreats, catechism, bible studies, home visits, and other activities.
Cristo Rey also has a vibrant CCD program. There are 40 catechists who teach 250 kids. Because many parishioners have very diverse working hours, CCD classes are offered on Wednesday evenings and on Saturday mornings. We are so blessed to have an amazing team of catechists that helps educate in the faith all our children. Most of our kids are bilingual, and we have been blessed to have members of other parishes help us as catechists. If you would like to help us educate our young children, please let us know.
There are also great challenges at the parish. At the moment, we are contemplating how to remodel and enlarge the present church building. The capacity inside the church is approximately 300 people. During large Masses, parishioners must watch the Mass on a screen located in the adjacent parish hall. It would be great to have church with capacity for 450 people. Our parking lot also needs some fixing. With the help of God and with the generosity of our parishioners and friends we hope to make this project a reality.
Cristo Rey has been an amazing first parish as a pastor. Despite some challenges, there are also a lot of great blessings that come with working together with the Hispanics of the city of Lincoln.
