Nuevo Momento
Nuevo Momento: Leadership and Capacity Building for Ministerial Organizations Serving Hispanic Catholics is a five-year initiative of the Clough School of Theology and Ministry. Supported by a $15-million grant from the Lilly Endowment, Nuevo Momento aims at strengthening the capacity of 15 ministerial organizations dedicated to serving Hispanic Catholics throughout the U.S.
Nuevo Momento is a creative effort that seeks to provide high-quality and culturally-appropriate professional resources for ministerial organizations serving Hispanic Catholics to grow in their sustainability and effectiveness. At the heart of this effort is the dual commitment to strengthening current leadership while cultivating a new generation of visionaries to carry out the various missions that give life to these organizations.
Nuevo Momento proposes a vision of partnership and collaboration that relies on four fundamental building blocks:
All organizations participate in periodic assessment experiences. Based on the insights learned from those assessments, a series of capacity-building programs and resources are offered with the goal of placing ministerial organizations on the path to being more effective in their specific missions while joining a multi-organization cohort model. Participant organizations discuss best practices, explore and adapt existing resources, and test innovative ideas with the guidance of qualified mentors and coaches.
Organizations receive access to formation and coaching opportunities while working in tandem with experts specialized in fundraising, philanthropic, and financial sustainability practices for faith-based, non-profit entities.
Key leaders from the participant organizations engage in regular professional, academic, ministerial, and spiritual formation experiences. Current organizational leaders enhance their skills and vision. A new generation of ministerial organizational leaders, with a particular focus on U.S.-born/U.S.-reared Hispanic young adults, are formed and welcomed to support the mission of the organizations. Some of the new leaders will graduate from a Master of Arts in Ministerial Leadership program developed to support the Nuevo Momento vision.
Each organization receives a sizable subgrant to strengthen its internal structure and capacity, using measurable criteria of progress and success, in order to advance long-term organizational goals. Use of funding follows a simple process of approval and disbursements occur at various moments (determined by the nature of the use) during the life of the project. Grant funds cannot be used for programming.
Nearly 45% of all Catholics in the United States self-identify as Hispanic. Hispanics make up about 60% of the Catholic population younger than 18. We are living in one of the most transformative moments of U.S. Catholic history. It is a new momento (un nuevo momento), a Hispanic moment, a time to be church creatively and to build strong Catholic communities.
Many are the opportunities and challenges that come with advancing the mission of evangelization in an increasingly Hispanic Church. Ministerial organizations serving Hispanic Catholics are clearly at the forefront of this mission in our day with their leaders, programs, intercultural competencies, stories and wisdom.
Nuevo Momento affirms the great energy and experience that these ministerial organizations have accumulated over time. Many of them are strong and thriving; others need more support to achieve stronger results as they fulfill their mission. In a spirit of Pastoral de Conjunto and mutual learning, Nuevo Momento aims at accompanying Ministerial organizations serving Hispanic Catholics by making available resources that will strengthen their capacity, expand their effectiveness, and increase their sustainability.
Meet the Organizations
Meet the 15 national Catholic ministerial organizations invited to be part of Nuevo Momento. All of them have risen up to the historical challenge of accompanying – walking alongside – Hispanic Catholics, and other Catholics, while drawing from the best of the Hispanic cultural and religious wells. The (mostly Hispanic) pastoral leaders in these organizations embody intercultural competencies that allow them to connect well and effectively with Hispanic Catholics, immigrants and U.S.-born. The programs and initiatives these organizations offer incorporate important aspects of the Hispanic spiritual experience such as bilingualism, popular Catholicism, faith formation, family engagement, and a deep-seated sense of missionary discipleship, among others.
- Asociación de Hermanas Latinas Misioneras en América
- Asociación Nacional de Sacerdotes Hispanos
- Corazón Puro
- Federación de Institutos Pastorales
- Federation for Catechesis with Hispanics
- Instituto Fe y Vida, Inc.
- Iskali
- La RED Nacional de Pastoral Juvenil Hispana
- Mexican American Catholic College
- National Catholic Council for Hispanic Ministry
- National Catholic Association of Diocesan Directors of Hispanic Ministry
- National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry
- Northwest Regional Office for Hispanic Affairs
- Pastoral Migratoria
- Southeast Pastoral Institute
M.A. in Ministerial Leadership
BC CSTM is developing a new, hybrid-modality, cohort-based Master of Arts in Ministerial Leadership degree program.
The first cohort starts classes during the Summer 2025. The program is being designed to be completed in 18 months. Students in the early cohorts will be exclusively leaders recommended by and affiliated with the organizations participating in Nuevo Momento.
After the first two cohorts, the program will open up enrollment to other applicants. Students in this Master's degree program will engage in rigorous formation and benefit from expert mentorship at the academic and professional levels.
Leaders for Today's Church
The mission of CSTM is animated in a particular way through our commitment to form Hispanic ministerial leaders and advance groundbreaking research to understand better how Hispanics are transforming U.S. Catholicism. Hispanic faculty and advanced-level graduate students bring the best of their gifts and experience to make the CSTM a preeminent national center of Hispanic Catholic studies.
Meet the Team
Dr. Hosffman Ospino
Professor of Hispanic Ministry and Religious Education
Brenda Noriega-Flores
brenda.noriega@bc.edu
Vivian Martin
Fiscal and Events Specialist
Meet Our Partners and Collaborators
Leadership Roundtable
An organization of laity, religious, and clergy working together to promote best practices for church management, finances, communications, and human resource development.
For Impact
A global fundraising company dedicated to assisting organizations by creating campaigns, influencing culture, and delivering successful funding outcomes.
Lake Institute on Faith & Giving
Part of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. They work on building a deeper understanding of the dynamic relationship between faith and giving.