Arturto Banuelas Analysis

Like Fr. Deck, Msgr. Arturto Bañuelas tends to focus on practical theology and real issues that affect Latinos and Hispanics in the United States; and of course, no discussion of these issues would be complete without touching on immigration reform. Bañuelas’ experience with immigration is a personal one. He grew up in the El Paso-Juárez communities on the U.S.-Mexican border and saw the massive disparity between the cities firsthand; the situation, as he himself was described it, was that “For the past 15 years, El Paso has been ranked as the second safest city in the nation [The United States], while, just across the border, Ciudad Juárez ranks the second most dangerous city in the world.” (The Lies Are Killing Us: The Need for Immigration
During his time as the pastor of the St. Pius X Parish in his native El Paso, Texas, a primarily Hispanic Parish, Msgr. Bañuelas turned his parish into an outstanding examples of what he wanted to see in other parishes around the country. In an interview with U.S. Catholic, Bañuelas gave a rundown of the various features that distinguished his parish from others and how it was based around the tenets of U.S.-Hispanic theology. One of the most recognizable differences in the parish is that it has “people who speak no English at all, people who speak no Spanish at all, and people who are comfortable in both” and lacks any tension over language differences between these groups (It Takes a Parish, 29). There is also a strong sense of community; not just within the parish but also with the people of Juárez across the border due to the strong sense of social justice that Bañuelas taught his parish from his theological works. Bañuelas brought about these changes by changing the theological outlook of the parishioners to one where they “had a role in the life and the mission of the church”, that the church belonged to them rather than the priest or the Pope or anyone else (29). This emphasis on placing religious power and spirituality in the hands of the people rather than the priests is very much in line with his and Deck’s theological writings. This emphasis is made particularly evident by the amount of power the St. Pius X Parish puts in its parish ministry council. Unlike other parishes, the council has the ability to override Bañuelas and has exercised this right. Bañuelas even takes pride in this, talking about how the council unanimously voted to fund the creation of additional offices and community center despite his misgivings about taking on new projects after having just recently