Hispanic ministry coordinator named
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Sister Gladys Echenique
Dominican Sister Gladys Echenique has been appointed Coordinator of Hispanic Ministry for the Diocese of Tucson, effective Oct. 1. She had been the Coordinator of Hispanic Ministry for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish since 2009.
Sister Gladys is in residence at the Benedictine Monastery in Tucson but she belongs to an international Dominican Congregation whose Motherhouse is in South Africa in a place called Oakford. The name of the Congregation is Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Sienna of Oakford Natal.
Sister Gladys is a native of Argentina, the province of Misiones. She felt her religious call in Argentina and entered the community there to be a missionary.
“Sister Gladys comes to us with more than a decade of experience in Hispanic and multi-cultural parish ministry,” said Sister Lois J. Paha, O.P., the diocese’s director of pastoral services, who made the announcement. “Before coming to Arizona she ministered and studied in California and Argentina.”
Sister Gladys holds a Master of Arts degree in Multicultural Ministry from the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley and a Bachelor’s Degree in Sacred Studies from the Catholic University of Montoya in Misiones, Argentina.
“Those who know Sister Gladys have experienced her energy and love for ministry, her religious community and for the Church,” Sister Lois said. “In her interview she stated that her ministerial goal is ‘to get to know the Hispanic Community of the parishes of the diocese and to work together for unity and support of each other. I am looking forward to meeting each one of you and share our faith together! My prayer is that I can be a presence of bridge builder opening doors and creating pathways for leadership and ministry in this diocese and in the church.’”
Three of her congregation members also serve in the Diocese of Tucson. Sister Guadalupe Jurado, Pastoral Administrator at Most Holy Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ and Sister Caroline Lumactod reside in Rio Rico. Sister Lynn Allvin ministers at the detention center in Florence.