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By Carrie McClish
Staff writer
Socorro Duran marked her last day as coordinator of
the Hispanic community at St. Leander Parish in San Leandro on Sept. 30
and, not surprisingly, was the center of attention.
There was a Mass in her honor followed by a reception with food-laden
tables and a room filled with family, friends and other well-wishers.
The Oakland Diocese also recognized her years of service by awarding her
the Diocesan Merit Medal. For the 77-year-old community leader, the celebration
was beautiful, but the attention on her seemed misplaced.
“Everyone is making a big thing about this, but a lot of people
do a lot of things around the parish,” she said. Despite her humble
protests, many people wanted to applaud Duran’s many contributions
to the parish.
Duran created the Hispanic ministry at the invitation of then-pastor Father
Richard Mangini who was concerned that there were no services for Spanish-speaking
parishioners. At that time, the number of Latino parishioners was much
smaller than today, said Duran. About 20 people would attend the Spanish
Mass in the auditorium on Sundays. As more Latino families moved to the
community, the Spanish Mass was moved to the parish church. Today some
700 Hispanic families are members of the parish.
Duran said she has been involved in nearly every parish ministry, program
or activity that has impacted Latino Catholics. “I have coordinated
weddings, anniversaries, CCD, everything,” she said. “I have
worked with people with AIDS, with young people and teenagers, and with
Eucharistic ministers and lectors.”
Duran said her ministry received much needed support from parishioners
as well as priests and seminarians, especially those from local religious
communities including the Jesuits, Franciscans and Dominicans, who helped
in the religious education programs. Duran encouraged seminaries to send
their students to St. Leander so that they could “be in the parish
and with the people.”
Among the priests who concelebrated her farewell Mass was Jesuit Father
Eduardo Fernandez, a theologian on the faculty at the Jesuit School of
Theology in Berkeley.
Although she is retiring as ministry coordinator, Duran plans to continue
her outreach to Latinos, serving as a translator, responding to immigration
issues and being a compassionate listener to people dealing with problems
with their children or in their families.
She said that a priest friend once told her that she hears confessions
all day. She responded, saying “I give resolutions, not absolutions.
I just try to help all the people I can.”
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