Preparing The Way: Hispanic Ministry And Community Transformation In Marshalltown, Iowa

Anne C. Woodrick
Department of Sociology ,Anthropology, and Criminology
University of Northern Iowa

ABSTRACT: Recent anthropological studies of new immigrant destination communities recognize Marshalltown, Iowa, as one of the unusually successful U.S. towns in its accommodation of recent Latino immigrants. This paper examines the crucial role that Rev.John Allen of Elim Lutheran Church played in establishing the foundation for a Latino community identity and forging an integrated and diverse Marshalltown community. One person, with a vision and passion for his work and respect and empathy for others, made the difference. However, Hispanic ministry can never be static, and over time others more effectively built upon Allen’s foundation. Hispanic ministry is a process that must evolve in order to effectively respond to changing social, cultural, and advocacy needs of the immigrants it serves.

Prologue

The Rev. John Allen, pastor of Elim Lutheran Church (E.L.C.A.)in Marshalltown, Iowa, and his family were enjoying a Chinese dinner in Wong ’s Restaurant a few weeks before Christmas. Their after-dinner conversation engaged a couple of young Latino men who were bussing tables. Until this moment Allen had not really had a chance to speak with some of the Latino newcomers who had been arriving in Marshalltown during the past year. An inquisitive Allen discovered that none of the men had plans to celebrate Christmas in church. The Latinos explained that they wished to attend mass, but wanted to participate in a Spanish mass. All worship services in local churches were in English. In response to their dilemma, Allen invited them and any other Latinos to a Spanish mass at Elim on Christmas Day afternoon.

On Christmas Day, 1990, Rev. John Allen, assisted by a translator, celebrated a Spanish Christmas liturgy for 15 Latinos, and began an 18-month Hispanic ministry in Marshalltown. The Latino congregation grew to more than 250 registered families. A choir was formed. Baptisms and First Communions were performed. Padre Juan, as John Allen was affectionately called, and the mostly Mexican immigrants worked together to create a dynamic Latino congregation. Many Elim parishioners were supportive and appreciative of the new ministry.

However, the Elim Hispanic ministry also had its challenges. A few vocal individuals were not supportive of Allen’s ministry to the Mexicans. Catholics worshipping in a Lutheran church raised concerns among Anglo-Lutherans and Catholics alike. And the expanding Latino congregation expressed to the Elim Church Council their desire that a Spanish-speaking priest be hired by the local Catholic Church.

In July 1992, the Archdiocese of Dubuque appointed Father Paul Ouderkirk as the Hispanic Minister of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Marshalltown. This was the first Hispanic ministry appointment in the Archdiocese. That summer John Allen accepted a call to a church in Wisconsin and was to leave town in early August. The two clergy overlapped a month in Marshalltown. Father Paul attended the Spanish masses held at Elim, and the priests worked together to plan Padre Juan's final Spanish worship service. On a Sunday afternoon in late July, Rev. John Allen began his last Spanish mass at Elim. Immediately following the benediction, Padre Juan and Father Paul, dressed in full vestments, the entire Latino congregation, the choir and guitar players, and the statue of the Virgen de Guadalupe processed from Elim down the sidewalks of Marshalltown to St. Mary’s Catholic Church. In the basement of St. Mary’s Rev. John Allen passed his Hispanic ministry to Father Paul and bade goodbye to his Latino friends.

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https://www.jstor.org/stable/40553464?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

James O’Keefe films himself committing voter intimidation by stalking a church van bringing people to polls

Can you imagine how conservatives would react if a group of Black Panthers activists spent an entire day following around groups of Christian voters and filming their every move as they went to the polls?

That’s what right-wing propagandist James O’Keefe is doing on Tuesday in Philadelphia, as he and his crew are now tailing a bus that was set up by a black pastor to bring voters to the polls.

“So we’re behind this bus, which is like a pastor bus, busing people around to the polls in Philadelphia,” O’Keefe says in a video posted on Twitter. “And we’re going to be releasing video here today showing some people doing some improper things, busing people around, maybe they shouldn’t be doing it.”

Bradley Moss, an attorney who specializes in litigating national security matters, notes that O’Keefe seems to be clearly engaging in voter intimidation, as many people will feel unnerved having a car follow them around and film them as they go to vote.

In fact, as the Washington Post’s guide on voting laws makes clear, the definition of voter intimidation includes when “a voter is being followed and photographed or has his license plate numbers recorded” — which is just what O’Keefe is doing in this video.

Nonetheless, O’Keefe promises that he and his Project Veritas goons are operating “undercover” across the country to expose the horrors of voter fraud in urban environments. While it’s unlikely they’ll turn up any “game-changing bombshells,” they will likely provide fodder for conspiracy theorists via deceptively edited videos.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/11/james-okeefe-films-himself-committing-voter-intimidation-by-stalking-a-church-van-bringing-people-to-polls/

"Gramma, why does God let that mean man run for President?"

me- To remind us of the goodness in others.

Voters Can Text “GUNSDOWN” To 91990 To Report “Poll Watchers” Who Use Firearms And Other Means To Intimidate



Amid heightened concerns about voter intimidation involving the open carrying of firearms at polling locations on Election Day, a project called Guns Down is providing a resource for voters to report intimidation to voter protection advocates and to share their experiences on social media.

According to The Washington Post, “many election officials across the country are, for the very first time, bracing for intimidation or even violence on Election Day,” and these fears are compounded given that “most states have no laws regarding guns in polling places.”

Under federal law it is illegal to intimidate people trying to vote with guns or by other means.

Yet the Post reports that “state laws about guns and voter intimidation are a patchwork of wildly varying regulations,” and determinations of violations of voter intimidation laws can be difficult to ascertain because each one is “a fact-sensitive, context-based decision,” according to UCLA law professor Adam Winkler.(Further complicating determinations are discordant federal appeals courts rulings on what behavior constitutes voter intimidation).

This state of affairs has created an opening for individuals who wish to intimidate voters with guns at the polls while retaining some semblance of plausible deniability concerning the legality of their actions.

Voters who text “GUNSDOWN” to 91990 will receive information on a national voter protection hotline (866-OUR-VOTE) operated by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. Appropriate reports will be passed on to law enforcement and election officials, and voters will have the opportunity, if they feel safe doing so, to share photos of voter intimidation on social media.


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http://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/11/03/guns-down-project-fight-back-against-firearm-related-voter-intimidation-election-day/214271

Pastors expect high turnout for 'Souls to the Polls' effort

Updated: Nov 4, 2016 - 11:33 PM

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - Dozens of Central Florida churches are getting together to help increase the number of black early voters.

This Sunday, pastors are getting together to put parishioners on a bus and take them to the polls.

Pastor Derrick McRae pf the Experience Christian Center is one of dozens of church leaders in Central Florida helping the black community vote early.

“Souls to the Polls has historically been the time the African-American community comes together and votes very strong,” he said.

He expects hundreds of black voters to show up to vote.

He said in 2012, 800 people boarded buses and were taken to vote.

“Usually we kind of wait for that great time with the church when all the church members come together,” McRae said.

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http://www.wftv.com/news/local/pastors-expect-high-turnout-for-souls-to-the-polls-effort/464182484