Jornada Movement Marks 40th Year in the Diocese

By Marie Elena Giossi

Forty years ago in a small retreat house in Brooklyn, the doors opened to a new beginning, the beginning of a “journey” that continues today.

The Movimiento de Jornada de Vida Cristiana (The Journey of Christian Life Movement), called the Jornada Movement, celebrated its 40th anniversary in the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens during a Mass and reception May 19 at St. James Cathedral-Basilica, Downtown Brooklyn.

Father Jesus Guadarrama, C.M., J3 (Mexico), the movement’s spiritual director, and Carlos Bustamante, J138, president of Equipo Base, welcomed a few hundred Jornadistas, representing the almost 11,000 active members of the movement in more than 35 parishes in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan.

Marie Elena Giossi Photo 

Presente: Jornadistas from the past four decades marked the movement’s 40th anniversary.

Auxiliary Bishop Octavio Cisneros celebrated the bilingual Mass in Spanish and English. Concelebrants included Fathers Augusto Cortez, C.M., assistant spiritual director of the movement; Joseph Agostino, C.M., pastor of St. John the Baptist, Bedford-Stuyvesant; Astor Rodriguez, C.M., parochial vicar at St. John the Baptist; Aidan Rooney, C.M., St. Joseph Seminary, N.J.; Lorenzo Ato, pastor of St. Emeric Church, Manhattan, and assistant director for Hispanic Media in the Communications Office for the New York Archdiocese; and Charles Plock, C.M., St. John’s University, Jamaica.

Silver-haired Jornadistas, like Pedro Dumeng, J88, and his wife, Naty, J97, who led the movement for many years at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Sunset Park, sat among new Jornadistas, namely Andy Estevez, J153, from Transfiguration, Williamsburg, and young families, like the Ortegas from St. Elizabeth, S. Ozone Park – Joe, J89, and Yvette, J78, who are raising two children, Pre-Jornadistas, in the movement.

The Jornada Choir, led by Howard Crespo and his wife, Jacqueline, opened Mass with “Caminare Hacia el Sol.”
As they sang, colorful banners from various parishes within the movement processed down the center aisle, followed by several Jornadistas and Pre-Jornadistas from Guardian Angel, Brighton Beach, who were dressed in Aztec costumes, an homage to the Movement’s roots. Marist Brother Arturo Chavez de la Mora founded the Jornada Movement in Mexico City in 1959.

Jornadistas took part in every aspect of the Mass. Brenda Cisneros, J164, and Sandra Capellan, J13, served as lectors; several female Jornadistas read the petitions, and representatives from various parishes carried an array of symbolic offertory gifts, including bread and grapes, a Bible, and a blue missalette. 

Father Agostino, J56, read the Gospel from St. John and delivered his homily from the center aisle.

He reflected on the past 40 years and those who began the movement in Brooklyn, specifically two Vincentian priests from the Province of Barcelona, Spain, Fathers Jose M. Biosca, C.M., and Augustin Condal, C.M. In 1967, they conducted the first retreat, based on the Cursillo format and with the support of Cursillistas at Our Lady of Montserrate, Bedford-Stuyvesant, primarily for Spanish-speaking public school teenage girls from the parishes of Our Lady of Montserrate and Our Lady of Pilar.

The movement is centered around a three-day retreat for young adults, especially those of Hispanic and Latino descent, so that they may grow united in faith, confident of God’s unconditional love, and able to lead Christian lives and evangelize others. After the retreat, Jornadistas, as they are called, continue to develop their spirituality through prayer and service and receive continual support from peers in the movement.

The Escuela de Auxiliares, School of Auxiliaries, began in 1971 to train teenage girls to give the retreats to each other. The following year, the first Jornada for boys was held, and the first Equipo Base, a leadership group with representatives from each parish, was elected in 1973. That year, a fish with a lower case “j” for an eye, was chosen as the movement’s symbol.

Thirteen years after it began, the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens officially recognized this movement of youth evangelizing youth and gave it an official home at 118 Congress St., the St. Vincent de Paul Evangelization Center.

He explained about how the movement’s spiritual and lay leaders have changed the structures to respond to the changing needs of youth and the realities of the times.

Father Agostino pointed out three realities facing today’s Church and youth: the changing structure of parishes caused by mergers and consolidations; the need for parents to be evangelized just as much as teenagers, and the challenge to effectively communicate the Good News in this technological age. 

“Con Jesus, mis hermanos, todo es posible (With Jesus, my brothers and sisters, everything is possible),” he assured his fellow Jornadistas.

Bishop Cisneros congratulated the Jornada Movement on their anniversary and expressed gratitude to the Vincentian community for their labors and contributions over the past four decades.

Among the fruits of their labors are several vocations, including Father Astor Rodriguez, C.M.

Next month, 24-year-old Michael Lopez, J139, vice president of Equipo Base, who served as master of ceremonies at the Mass, will enter the Congregation of the Mission, better known as the Vincentians.

Lopez, a former emergency medical technician, has spent the past year serving as full-time youth minister at St. John Vianney and St. Michael’s parishes, both Flushing. He credits his involvement in the Jornada Movement and the example of the Vincentian Fathers with sowing the seeds of his vocation.

He will enter the new Vincentian Discernment House based at St. John the Baptist parish, Bed-Stuy, on June 17.

“My personal spirituality fits with the Vincentians’ charism and lifestyle. I think being in the world and helping the poor in a missionary lifestyle with the Vincentian Fathers, that’s the life for me. I want to be a part of that,” he said.

Currently, there are two Jornadistas in the diocesan seminary, Jason Espinal and Emmanuel Pena, and Lopez is one of at least four young men in the Brooklyn Diocese discerning a vocation to the Vincentian community.

According to Carlos Bustamante, several young women in the movement are considering religious life as well.
Bishop Cisneros told the “daughters and sons of the Jornada Movement” that they must “never forget where we have been, where we are and where we are going.”
He pointed to several older faces in the crowd, including Sister Claudia Parades, CCV, J46, who “bring the history, the background, the past to us. Not that we linger in … the past, but that we bring that knowledge to the present.”

As the “present and future of the diocese,” he said they must work with fervor to address the realities Father Agostino noted. He instructed them to always be open to whatever vocation God is calling them to and respond with a generous heart.

“Go on,” he said, “but go on rooted in Christ.”

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