Amid calypso rhythms, steel pan sounds and Jamaican-flavoured food, Caribbean Catholics living in the United States were urged to make an impact on US Church life.

“We must become like the ballpoint pen, so essential that the US Church makes no decision regarding our spiritual well-being without us,” said Norma Blaize, a math and science instructor at Medgar Evers College , part of the City University of New York.

“Going to church on Sunday is not enough. We have to get involved,” said Blaize, a native of Grenada and a member of Caribbean Catholics of North America, known as CCNA.

Blaize spoke at the opening of the first national convention of Catholics from the English-speaking Caribbean living in the United States . The Aug 26-28 convention, held in Arlington , was organised by CCNA and sponsored by the US bishops' Office for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees.

The organisation was formed in 2003 as a response to the bishops' 2000 statement, “Welcoming the Stranger Among Us”, which discussed the new immigrant US Church.

An umbrella group for local Caribbean Catholic groups, CCNA aims to foster greater participation in Church life by Caribbean Catholics. The organisation is planning to gather data about the size of the Caribbean Catholic community in the United States .

The convention featured speeches and workshops on immigration issues, strengthening family life and Caribbean youth.

Mixed in were liturgical ceremonies and Caribbean entertainment and cuisine.

Mark Franken, executive director of the US bishops' Migration and Refugee Services, said new immigrants are “the Church of tomorrow” in the United States and will determine its “future strength and vitality.”

Yet the Church has to fight to keep the traditional US openness to immigrants alive, he said Aug 26.

“There is a growing public debate in this country over whether we will continue to be a welcoming nation that takes pride in our immigrant heritage or whether we will slam the door closed,” he said.

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001 ,”restrictionists have had the upper hand in this debate,” said Franken.

“They have played on our fears and they have distorted the reality, causing many Americans to question whether we can afford to be as open to newcomers as we have in the past,” he said.

Franken said the bishops favour a reform of immigration law which retains the policy of openness.

Regarding Church life, Franken encouraged “creative ways” to bring Caribbean faith and culture to the US Church.

“Though you may encounter at times some resistance, please persevere,” he said.

Sister Barbara Flores, vice president of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and a native of Belize , said the Caribbean has much diversity yet is united in a common history.

This provides an important lesson for a society which “fears those different from us” and “teaches one way of being is better than others,” she said in an Aug 26 speech.

Sister Flores said an important lesson about unity amid separate identities can be learned from watching the spot where the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean .

“The seas converge, there is a mingling of the water and then the waters recede back into their own identity,” she said.

Sister Flores compared Caribbean people to the coconut palm which at the top has many young, green fronds while many of the lower branches are drying and shredding.

“We are used to living life and death together,” she said.

“In the Caribbean you see much pain and struggle, but people also sing and dance,” she said.

A spirituality deeply rooted in God and nature helps people of the Caribbean be flexible amid good times and bad times, she said.

“We are close to nature, the sun, the sea and the sand,” she said. “We see these as gifts of God.”

(CNS)