Just Big City Girl Trying to do Ministry In Small Town Indiana

Hello Internet, my name is Crystal Serrano-Puebla, but I usually drop the Puebla. I am was born and raised in the best City in the world, which hands down is Chicago, IL to two hardworking Mexican Immigrant parents. I am the oldest of three kids. My family means the world to me because of all that we’ve had to endure to succeed in this country. Everything that I do is for my family and that is why I was the first to go to and graduate from college. I went to Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois and graduated with my B.A. in Psychology with a double minor in Theology and Human Resource Management.

Little Village in Chicago Mexican Heritage Mural

I, like many young Latinos, grew up Catholic, and it was a big part of my cultural heritage growing up as a kid. For my parents who came to this country with nothing, and who had to work night and day to support my siblings and me, their faith was the only thing that kept them going sometimes. However, they never really received good catechesis and they had a really hard time passing it on to my siblings and me. Therefore, I fell away from the Church and didn’t come back until college, but I came back with full force.

I am now in my second year of the Echo program, earning my M.A. in Theology and serving in the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana. I work in the Office of Family Life and Hispanic Ministry. My personal experience as a young Latina in the Church, as well as working with the Hispanic Community in Family Life Ministry, is really what motivated me to take this class. There are so many faithful Hispanic families who are not married through the Church, go to Church every Sunday, and cannot receive the Eucharist or sometimes can’t even take their children to receive their sacraments. This is due to the fact that they have a lack of catechesis in regards to the Sacrament of Marriage, as well as shame. Sometimes they even fall away from going to Church because they don’t even feel worthy enough to go to Church. I hope that this class helps me to help them to understand the Sacrament better, alleviate some of their shame, and motivate them to get prepared to receive it. I also hope that this class helps me to talk about the Sacrament of Marriage and Sexual ethics with the younger generation because in our Latino culture sexuality is still something that is considered taboo. It is especially difficult to maneuver this topic with Second Generation Latino youth and young adults because at home they just don’t talk about it but live in a society where they are inundated with it. I hope this class helps me to be able to help other young Latinos like myself understand the beauty of the Sacrament of Marriage in the face of these two conflicting cultures.

)
Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade