How a Latino Congregation in California Found Itself at the Center of ELCA’s Racial Reckoning

Rabell-González is asking to be reinstated to the ELCA roster “after a thorough and just investigation has been completed.”

Many members of Iglesia Luterana Santa María Peregrina have been with Rabell-González since about 2019, when he led another church in the nearby city of Lodi.

Jovita Torres began driving from her home in Stockton to Lodi for services about two years ago, after years of worshipping at a Roman Catholic Church that she and her husband didn’t find fulfilling. She recalled a time when she tried to organize outreach efforts at the parish to benefit victims of an earthquake in Morelos, Mexico, only to be scolded by the priest as “opportunistic.”

“We thought we were a part of the church,” she said.

Carlos Navarro, another congregant, made finding a new neighborhood parish a main goal after moving to Stockton from Oakland, where his Catholic parish was “very united.” He hoped to find something similar. Instead, he was dismayed when he said many of the area Christian churches he visited would immediately ask him for money.

His wife heard about Rabell-González’s congregation. “When I entered their church, everyone received me. Welcome, they said.”

On a recent Sunday in late July, dozens of the church’s members attended a noon service in a meeting room at the First Congregational Church in Stockton. A small statue of Our Virgin of Guadalupe was placed prominently. Tamales and doughnuts were on hand.

At the service, Rabell-González focused on the Lord’s Prayer and challenged parishioners to not center themselves and their needs when they’re praying.

“When you’re crying for justice, for equality, for health, for economic prosperity, for the bread of every day, don’t forget to ask for your brothers and sisters, for other countries in the world,” Rabell-González said.

“It’s important to connect yourself to the rest of the world,” he said.

As Rabell-González petitioned for prayers, congregants prayed for immigrants and migrant workers, for peace in Ukraine and Central America. Rabell-González’s wife asked that they pray for “justice within the church of God.”

“We understand that, although God is the center of the church, its leaders are humans and they make mistakes,” she said.

This article originally appeared here.