Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States
Citation Presenting the 2005 ACHTUS Award to the
Given at St. Louis, MO.
June 7, 2005
It is my great pleasure to present the 2005 ACHTUS Award. The Award is given to worthy institutions or organizations that merit recognition for their excellent work in the service or promotion of U.S. Latinos/as in accordance to the mission of ACHTUS. Though the Award is not given every year, recent recipients include Orbis Books (2004), the Center for the Study of Latino/a Catholicism of the University of San Diego (2003), the Hispanic Summer Program (2002), and the Catholic Theological Union (2001). All have been very worthy recipients and this year’s recipient is no exception. For that reason the Board of Directors has voted to give the ACHTUS Award to the Instituto Nacional Hispano de Liturgia, affectionately known as the Instituto.
The Instituto was founded in 1979 in San Antonio, Texas. Among its founders and current and past members are some of our own ACHTUS founders and members including Virgilio Elizondo, Arturo Pérez, Bishop Ricardo Ramírez, Rosendo Urrabazo, Peter Casarella, and yours truly. Currently, the national offices of the Instituto are housed at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Over the course of the last 26 years the Instituto has fulfilled its mission by supporting the inculturation of the liturgy of the Catholic Church in the Hispanic multicultural community of the United States. It has promoted the development of a liturgical spirituality among Hispanics that reflects the “full, conscious and active participation” called for by Sacrosanctum Concilium no. 14. In addition, the Instituto has assisted the Bishops of the US over the years, at first functioning as a quasi-subcommittee of the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy. Since then, some of its members have served on the official Bishops’ Subcommittee for Liturgy in Spanish charged with the task of translating, preparing, and publishing liturgical books and rituals for the celebration of the sacraments in Spanish in the United States. Through the efforts of the Instituto, the Bishops have recently approved a liturgical rite for the celebration of Quince Años in the US.
In addition to promoting liturgical catechesis through a number of publications, mobile teams, and workshops, the Instituto has also fulfilled its mission by conducting ten national conferences held in such diverse places as Seattle, WA, Houston, TX, New York City, Phoenix, AZ, and Los Angeles, CA. The Instituto has also fostered liturgical theological reflection by means of two symposiums to date, one co-sponsored by Catholic University in 1997 resulting in the book, El Cuerpo de Cristo: The Hispanic Presence in the U.S. Catholic Church (published by Crossroads 1998) and the second co-sponsored by the University of Notre Dame in 2003, resulting in the book Languages of Worship / El lenguaje de la liturgia (published by LTP 2004).
On the occasion of its twenty-fifth anniversary, the Bishops’ Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs granted the Archbishop Flores Award to the Instituto and this year we are proud to recognize its great contribution to Latino/a religion and theology by granting it the ACHTUS Award 2005. Congratulations to the Instituto Nacional Hispano de Liturgia!
Copyright 2006 by the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States. All rights reserved.
