Vanguard hosts national conference

Danette Goulet

COSTA MESA -- Vanguard University played host to a conference Friday

that looked at the preliminary findings of a national study that promises

to have monumental effects on the Latino community.

The small, faith-based school became the venue for the major

announcement because of the recent addition of professor Jesse Miranda,

director of the new Center for Urban Studies and Ethnic Leadership.

Miranda is one of two executive directors of the Hispanic Churches in

American Public Life project, which will examine the effect of Catholic,

Protestant, Evangelical, Pentecostal and select other religious

traditions on the political and civic life of Latinos.

The completion of the first phase, a telephone survey of 2,400 Latinos

nationwide, found that while religion plays a prominent role in their

lives, most are no longer Catholic.

While this finding has no direct effect on the community, Miranda

assured that the study will in the long run.

The Latino community in Orange County is larger today than it is even

in San Antonio, Texas, he said.

“So I believe the obstacles and the impact lie in focusing and getting

rid of the myths and stereotypes,” he said. “Life in America impacts all

of us. We don’t live on islands. We come together on the street and in

business, so it’s important we recognize it is in religion we are most

separated.”

Miranda, along with Virgilio Elizondo, the second executive director

of the study from the University of Notre Dame, and the project manager

for the study, Gaston Espinosa, who is a visiting scholar of Latino

studies at UC Santa Barbara, gathered nearly 80 academic and religious

leaders, as well as community members, to act as sounding boards for

their initial findings.

With the help of these leaders, the study team hopes to find a way to

bring the various churches together to enhance Latinos’ role in the

community and raise Latinos’ civic and political standing.

“What I really love about this is the Catholic and Protestant church

coming together,” said Maria Elena Avila, a prominent local activist and

business owner. “I hope what we get from this we will be able to use in

Costa Mesa. The church needs to be the change we see in bringing

understanding and bringing healing.”

The next phase of the study, now underway, is the survey of 800 Latino

religious, political, civic and educational leaders. That will be

followed by community studies.

The next regional conference will be held Oct. 5 in San Antonio.

Miranda hopes to begin by modeling change at Vanguard and in Costa

Mesa, he said.