No abstract

No abstract

On a Saturday evening in December 2002, more than 100 primarily undocumented immigrants from Mexico and other parts of Latin America gathered in the warehouse-turned-sanctuary of the Misión Católica de Nuestra Señora de las Américas in the Atlanta suburb of Doraville, Georgia, to participate in a Catholic Charismatic prayer group called Grupo Fe y Esperanza (Faith and Hope Group). Toward the end of the evening, after a lively session of praise and worship and a brief lesson, Selena came forward to offer her testimony. This single Mexican woman in her late twenties had participated in the group since she arrived in Doraville three years earlier. She worked day shifts in a local factory, barely earning enough to pay for her rented room, but she was unwilling to take on more shifts because the extra work would interfere with her activities at the Misión Católica. She was very active in the Grupo Fe y Esperanza, often leading prayer and giving lessons.On this evening, Selena entitled her testimony "From Shame to Confidence." She explained that, like many other members of the group, she had first started attending simply to have something to do on Saturday nights besides sit alone in her room. At first, she was very shy and would not clap her hands or lift them toward the sky to praise God. She thought that praising God aloud was what members of la otra religión (the evangélicos) did and was embarrassed to do it. Then, to her surprise, she said, "my embarrassment turned into confidence, and I began to pray aloud and praise God in word and song." In a discursive gesture very common among female leaders in this group, Selena proclaimed, "I never would have imagined myself in front of such a large group leading prayer, but here I am by the work of the Holy Spirit!" 1 27 Marie Friedmann Marquardt received her Ph.D. in sociology of religion at Emory University. She is coauthor of Globalizing the Sacred: Religion across the Americas (2003) and has published articles on globalization, Marian apparitions, and religion and immigration to the United States.

No abstract

No abstract