MEDELLÍN: FERTILE SEEDS OF PASTORAL CONVERSION IN THE UNITED STATES

Abstract

This article explores the way in which the event of Medellín as well as the document have played a significant part in the unfolding of pastoral and social ministries with and for Hispanic/Latinos in the United States over the past fifty years. The reception in the United States of Medellín in the wider context of the follow-up to the Second Vatican Council has been wide and deep in terms of several developments outlined here. Faith-based social ministries in Hispanic/Latino communities in the form of grass root community organizations in the tradition of Saul Alinsky found inspiration in Medellin's option for the poor and pastoral de conjunto. Many other examples of Medellín's impact are placed in the wider historical context of the past fifty years, the half century in which Hispanics/Latinos emerged as the majority of U.S. Catholics under the age of 35.