La Quinceañera del Norte: Rite of Mass Passage

One of the most prominent signs of US Catholicism's Latin(o) Revival is the consistent uptick in celebrations of the Quinceañera -- the traditional wedding-like Mass and party to celebrate a girl's entrance into young womanhood at her 15th birthday.

Much like weddings, the rite -- now with Rome-approved texts for use in the States -- has become an ad intra flashpoint, with an emerging handful of dioceses embracing the event not just as cultural milestone, but teaching moment.

From my spiritual birthplace, AP reports:

On the day she is to become a woman, Monica Reyes sits in front of the church for Mass. Her white dress — sewn in her mother's Mexican hometown — spills over her chair like an oversize lampshade.

The priest urges her to live as a daughter of God. Her parents give her a gold ring shaped like the number 15. Near the end of the service, Reyes lays a bouquet of roses before a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Then she steps through the worn, wooden doors of St. Joseph's, a Roman Catholic parish for generations of poor, Hispanic immigrants, and into a 20-seat white Hummer limo that rents for $150 an hour. Before long, a stretch Lincoln Town Car arrives for the next Quinceanera Mass.

An elaborate coming-of-age ritual for Hispanic girls on their 15th birthday, the Quinceanera has long been divisive in the U.S. Catholic Church, where it's viewed as either an exercise in excess or a great opportunity to send a message about faith and sexual responsibility.

The latter view won an important endorsement last summer, when the Vatican approved a new set of prayers for U.S. dioceses called Bendicion al cumplir quince años, or Blessing on the Fifteenth Birthday....

[I]n the Archdiocese of Denver, Hispanic ministry leaders view the Quinceanera craze as not just a chance to strengthen faith and family but as a weapon against teen pregnancy.

Before Reyes could get her Quinceanera Mass, she and her parents had to enroll in a four-week curriculum introduced last year at Hispanic-dominated parishes that combines Catholicism 101 with a strong pro-chastity message.

"Some girls come to the class expecting to be taught how to dance," said Alfonso Lara, the archdiocese's Hispanic Ministry coordinator.

The girls in Reyes' class gathered in a stuffy room with a map of Mexico on the wall and a crucifix on the table.

One lesson included tips for safe dating (avoid dating Web sites in favor of group outings in public places like the mall or family barbecues). Then there is an explanation of the difference between simple abstinence (a way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases) and chastity (living like Jesus and Mary)....

A blend of European court traditions and ceremonies from Latin American countries, the Quinceanera at times has the feel of an out-of-control prom in the United States.

A $400 million-a-year industry has sprouted up catering to Hispanic immigrants seeking to maintain cultural traditions while showing they've made it in their new countries, offering everything from Quinceanera planners and cruises to professional ballroom dancers to teach the ceremonial waltz.

At the same time, the ritual is a point of tension with the Catholic Church because Catholic families want their faith to be part of the celebration, yet it isn't a sacrament, like marriage.

The Reyes family does not attend Mass regularly but would never consider the Quinceanera legitimate without the blessing of a priest. A portrait of Our Lady of Guadalupe watches over the living room of the family's apartment.

"The reason to have the Mass is to be blessed and to say thanks to God," said Monica's mother, Luz....

It's also the American dream realized. Reyes is giving her daughters something she never got growing up in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where her Quinceanera dress was a tattered gown and dessert was a simple layer cake.

There were perhaps 15 people at the Reyes' Quinceanera Mass. The rental hall, Martha's Golden Palace, has a capacity of 500, and Monica welcomed most of her classmates, a favorite teacher and the police officer assigned to her high school.

After an hour, the DJ turned down the deafening border music and strobe lights, and played the waltz that Monica and her court had been practicing for weeks in her apartment complex parking lot.

Later, Monica wiped away tears as she danced with her grandfather.

On the dance floor, she changed from flat shoes into heels, signaling her departure from childhood.

Her first meal as a woman was a bowl of beans washed down with strawberry soda.

"The big thing isn't to have a party," Monica said. "It's that you're going from a little girl to a woman. You're thanking God you have been in this world for 15 years."

PHOTO: AP/Ed Andrieski

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