Sister Gabriela Ramírez

Director of Hispanic Catholic Social Services (La Casita) in Homewood and her organization reached out to the diocesan-wide Hispanic Community as well as others.

In October of 2013, Sister Gabriela formed the Hispanic Social Services Outreach Program at Prince of Peace Church in Hoover. Albert Manzella, executive director of Catholic Social Services for the Diocese of Birmingham, urged Sister Gabriela to expand the successful program to other parishes in the diocese.

Sister Gabriela surveyed the community needs at the Hispanic Masses at Prince of Peace and visited some of the area’s mobile home communities. She divided the survey results into four categories: Immigration, Family, Language, and Household Administration and Health. She then formed a board of directors from the members of the Prince of Peace JustFaith graduates and parishioners, and put each member in charge of one or more programs.

The vision and mission of the Board is to provide programs that meet the everyday needs of the Hispanic community.

During the same preriod, Deacon Andres Rodriguez, director of Hispanic Ministry for the Birmingham Diocese, joined the Board.

Since 2010, the Board has established several programs for the Hispanic community at Prince of Peace and named leaders.

They include:

Immigration – Ernesto Usma
 The rights of immigrants, immigration assistance, U.S. culture and citizenship.

Family – Isabel Oliveras
 Parent/child communication, disciplining childre, children’s rights in the U.S.A.

Parenting preschoolers – Lourdes Tron

English as Second Language (ESL) – Linda DeRocher
Classes for adults: 12 volunteers from the parish were trained by Ms. Linda DeRocher of the Literacy Council to teach these classes.

To date, nearly 50 Hispanic adult students have registered for these classes that concentrate on everyday needs of the person and the tools they need to fill out applications, job interviews, perform their jobs, shopping, and daily conversations and comprehension. The students pay a very small fee and the church covers the cost of books, videos, CD’s, other related material, and provides the classrooms.

Household Administration
Health and nutrition, finance and money management.

Growing Seeds
 The importance of nutrition on health, University of Alabama at Birmingham Nutrition Group.

Health Clinic
It is hoped to tap into an existing mobile health clinic that will come to the church periodically, and provide basic health care services such as taking vital signs, blood pressure, blood sugar, etc., and send the patient to a community physician or health care provider.

This model is already established by the Sacred Heart Church in Cullman and Holy Cross in Alberville, that reaches out to a large Hispanic community north of Birmingham. Several meetings have taken place under the supervision of Sister Gabriela working along with parisioners.