On September 22, 1980, we left Madrid, Spain, for the United States. Virginia Martinez Malo, the same person who was waiting for us at the airport on March 1, accompanied us on our departure to say good-bye. Soon we found that the flight was carrying migrants from Vietnam, Cuba, Latin America, and different countries of Europe. All of us had the same expression on the face: a mixture of hope, happiness, anxiety, and apprehension.
Eight hours later, we arrived at Kennedy Airport in New York and stood for a while moving with the long lines of immigrants in front to the office of immigration. There the clerk received our papers, gave us the documents that we would need to start our life all over again in this new land, and with a smile told us, “Welcome to America.” We gave him our hands in a salute that wanted to transmit all our gratitude, and with tears in our eyes we left the office of immigration and arrived in America. At the airport were my brother, his wife, his two daughters, and the siblings of my sister-in-law. It was an emotive encounter. They gave us gifts—monetary and other valuable things to furnish our house. At nine o’clock at night, we took the second flight, this time to Tampa, Florida.
In Tampa, Pepe’s older brother, his wife, and their children received us. We went with them to their house where they opened a bottle of champagne and Julio welcomed Pepe and his family to America. We lived at their house for a month and a half. The next day we went to the office of social security with the papers received in Kennedy Airport to register our residence. There we received our social security numbers and then were sent to other office where we received food stamp coupons and a check to help us during the first six months, as well as a Medicaid card for each one of us. The same day, we went to register Pepito in the nearest school, Alexander School. He was registered in the bilingual second grade and the next Monday he began to attend school.
During the first week we went to the employment office. We were enrolled in a free program at Hillsborough Community College in Ybor City to receive classes of English as a second language at night. A week later we were employed by a city program to create a directory of Hispanic business and organizations.
The public transportation in Tampa was very limited, thus we needed a car to go to work and to go to the college. First, we took the exam for the driver license, and with the money that we saved in Madrid we bought a 1977 Ford Torino. So by October 15, 1980, we both were studying and working, we were in our feet again. A very important person who helped us in this process was Haydee, the wife of Pepe’s brother. She took Pepito under her wing—drove him to the school and back, prepared his snack after school, and babysat him at night while we were learning English.
When we received our first paycheck we went to the office of social security to notify them that we were already working and would no longer need food stamps or Medicaid. The clerk looked at us as if we came from another planet or were crazy, with a smile in his face he suggested for us to continue using the food stamps and the Medicaid cards for the remaining six months. He said, “This is federal help to all the newcomers to the United States to help you while you are walking your first steps in this country”. At the end of his explanation, he thanked us for “our act of generosity,” which I still consider was just an act of justice. The savings that the food stamps and checks brought to our limited budget helped us to give a month in deposit for renting our house just a few blocks away from Pepito’s school and Julio’s house and near our new place of work.
In December 1980 I requested an interview with the principal of the school attended by Pepito. We had noticed his improvement in the learning of English by his understanding of the comics on the TV, by playing with the neighbors, and by talking to his cousins. However, the content of his academics was very poor to the extent that we believed he was regressing, since no new learning was incorporated in three months. Consequently, Pepe and I had decided to request to change him from the so-called bilingual program to the regular second grade class. The principal was very upset with our arguments and tried to change our mind, but we remained firm in our right as parents. So Pepito was transferred to regular class under our responsibility and in June we were very pleased with the results. Once again, Pepito was able to overcome the obstacles and ended the second grade with excellent grades.
As part of our assignments at work, we went to visit the two radio stations in the Spanish language. After a brief interview with the owner of one of the stations he discussed with me the possibility of a weekly one-hour radio program to discuss issues that the Hispanic families have to go through as part of their adjustment in the United States. I accepted the challenge and we began a program called Pensando en Usted. The format of the program was the presentation of a topic, open microphones to receive questions and give answers to the people listening, and conclusions. The program went very well, better than I was expecting. Soon I started to receive invitations to deliver presentations in churches, public libraries, Hispanic clubs, and schools. I was invited to be part of sessions of discussion and debates regarding Hispanic culture and education of parents and of family relations. A few months after the beginning of the program I was also invited to have a column in the newspaper of the town: El Sol de la Florida. Following the suggestion of various friends, among them Maria Miranda, the most successful topics developed in the programs was compiled in my first book: Pensando en Usted.
After a year with the radio program, the radio station was sold to an English-speaking radio company, but the program Pensando en Usted was off the air only for fifteen days! A new Spanish-speaking radio station called me, this time for a daily half-hour program. The name of the new program was more suggestive this time: Vivir cada Día.
After the first trimester of English as a second language ended, I requested an interview with the head of the Department of Psychology at the college. I brought to the meeting my resume, my credentials, and letters of recommendations and asked her to allow me to take courses on psychology so I could get familiar with the terminology and terms of presentation of the subject. She not only welcomed my desire but also obtained financial help so I was able to take four courses without making any payment fee: introduction to psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, and psychopathology. At the end of the fourth course, the head of the Department suggested the possibility of me applying to the department of psychology of the University of South Florida to begin to complete the necessary courses to validate my studies in the United States.
I requested an interview with a counselor of the school of psychology at USF. He guided me through all the steps to regain my title of psychologist in the United States. It was a complicated process, long and difficult, especially to a forty-two–year-old mother and wife, a newcomer to the country, and with poor English-language skills.
The Center for World Studies in New York reviewed the certified documents that I brought from Cuba with my grades from Bachillerato en Ciencias y en Letras, the grades of the courses that I took in Villanueva University, the grades of the courses I took in Habana University from 1959 to 1961, and the grades from my five years of studies for the Licenciatura in clinical psychology of Habana University. The answer received read as follows: “It is the judgment of World Education Services, Inc. that Gelasia Marinas Marquez has the equivalent of a Bachelor of Arts Degree in the United States, with a major in clinical psychology and one hundred and forty-two extra credits.” That’s it. With that, what job in my field I could find? The answer received over and over again was that with a bachelor’s degree, one is not considered a psychologist in this country. Moreover, it would be illegal to call myself a psychologist unless I got a PhD in psychology. In other words, I found that, in the United States, I was not a psychologist.
Many professionals have gone through the same path. I met in Tampa one dentist, the owner of one gas station, that was unable to go back to study and get his credentials in this country because he needed to put beans and bread on his table to feed and shelter his children and wife. I met in Miami one psychiatrist who became a successful real estate agent because he didn’t have energy to go back to learn the language, pass the tests, do his time of internship, and start all over again.
In the meantime, at a suggestion of a priest that I knew in Cuba who was now in Brooklyn, I was invited by the Diocese of Brooklyn to give a series of conferences about immigrant families. It was April 1982, two years and a month after leaving Cuba. The conferences went very well in attendance and in enthusiasm from my sponsor, The Office of Catholic Education of the Diocese. A day after the conferences ended I received an official invitation to work for the Office of Catholic Education in the capacity of Hispanic Family Minister I loved the idea so I called Pepe and discussed with him the scope of the job proposed. He liked the idea too. I returned to Tampa with a contract to work in the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York. We moved there at the end of the month of June.
The moving was easy—just a few books, some pieces of furniture, and clothes. My brother and Pepe drove the U-Haul truck and Pepito and I took a plane to New York. We went to live with my brother and his family and I started to work two weeks later, on July 1, 1982. The diocese includes parishes in Brooklyn as well as in Queens. Brooklyn is one of the few dioceses in the United States that is made up of 100 percent urban territory. The Hispanic population comprises more than the half of the total population who attended mass on Sundays. They came from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Cuba. All of them were newcomers and/or first generation; all of us were immigrants. All of them like my husband, my son, and I were dealing with giving closure to the losses associated to migration and dealing with the struggles associated with the process of acculturation.
Years later, in my dissertation, I studied and wrote about the process of acculturation. Based on my readings, review of bibliography, field experience, and research, I could describe acculturation as an open-ended process, which involves complex processes of attitudinal and behavioral modifications and/or changes for accommodating to the new cultural context. Acculturation always results from cultural learning through mutual interactions when people of two cultural groups are in constant contact with each other. For the majority of all the Hispanic immigrants, the key component in the process of creating a relationship with the new world is learning the language that makes possible the direct contact with this new reality. The growth that results from exchanging information and the self-meaning given by direct communication cannot occur without this basic ingredient. If this important step doesn’t take place, individuals will become dependent on intermediates for communication and for getting meanings from their surrounding circumstances.
But before I wrote my dissertation, I designed interventions to accompany the immigrant Hispanic families of the diocese while they were living in transition from one culture to the other, or between two cultures, or in two cultures.
During the summer of 1982, I prepared the content of my framework as Hispanic Family Life Minister. After it was approved, I did an inventory of the Hispanic leaders in the different communities, met with them, and explained to them the scope of our work together. Similarly, I started to visit the pastors and sisters in charge of the ministry of those immigrants with the same agenda. In September, I was able to deliver a program called “Iglesia, Familia y Sociedad” (Church, Family and Society) in two different parishes with a larger number of Hispanics—one in Brooklyn and one in Queens. The program had four workshops that moved the participants from analyzing the effect of migration and acculturation in themselves, in our immediate reality—our families—and in our interaction with the two other social realities: society and church. The newspaper of the diocese in English, The Tablet, and in Spanish, Nuevo Amanecer, did a wonderful report of the importance of the new Ministry of the Office of Catholic Education. Probably as a by-product, in November, 1982 I started to write for the newspaper Nuevo Amanecer until it was terminated due to financial difficulties in the early 1990s. During those years writing in the newspaper, my writings obtained two first places and a few mentions from the National Association of Catholic Press.
By August 1982 we moved to a two-bedroom apartment in Flushing, a neighborhood in Queens. Flushing was founded in 1645, and it is one of the largest and most diverse neighborhoods in New York City. The numerous ethnic groups that reside there, including people of Asian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, European, and African-American ancestry, reflect Flushing’s diversity. We moved just a block away from the first stop of the subway line no. 7, and of the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue, which is the third busiest intersection in New York City, behind only Times Square and Herald Square. On the weekends, we used to walk to its parks—Botanical and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park—that held the World’s Fair in 1936 and 1964. Also Pope Paul VI, the first pope to visit the United States, visited the park. After the fair, the New York City pavilion was converted into a roller rink and ice-skating center where Pepito went to learn skate. Finally, the New York Mets of Major League Baseball’s National League have their home in Flushing.
The apartment was near the Catholic parish of St. Michael. Pepito attended St. Michael School from September 1982 to 1987. When he was going to begin his fifth grade in St. Michael he commented to us, “This is the first time that I am doing two grades consecutively in the same school.” That is one reality faced by the children of immigrants. Their parents are in continuous moving from one place to the other, looking for better conditions to find jobs, housing, and, as important as the previous reason, relatives and/or friends to find support, encouragement, and advice. There is a sense of confusion and disorder associated with the process of moving that is perceived for whoever is moving as emotionally stressful. There is also an element of grief. No matter how eager you are to move, there will be places, things, and people you will miss. When moving is brought about by migration, the sense of loss and sadness is more acute.
Pepe started to work in a travel agency as assistant of an accountant in Bronx, later as waiter in a Cuban-owned restaurant named Victor’s Cafe in Manhattan, and later in one recognized national accounting firm in Manhattan. I want to stop to give a written recognition to the owner of Victor’s Café. Victor’s Café was the first Cuban restaurant in New York City when it opened in 1963. Its owner, Victor del Corral, opened his doors to all and every one of the Cuban expatriates, and to all and each one of the Cuban exiles that knocked on his door for employment. You didn’t need a letter of recommendation other than your Cuban citizenship and your condition of political exile.
After we settled down in Flushing, I began to study to take the two tests needed to apply to study in a master’s program in psychology. The first of the tests was the GRE. Taking a GRE test is an essential early step toward a graduate degree. Graduate schools use GRE test scores to evaluate the applicant’s readiness for graduate-level work. The second test was the TOEFL test, which measures the ability to use and understand English at the university level. It evaluated how well I combined my listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills to perform academic tasks. In November of that year I took the TOEFL test and the GRE test at Columbia University in Manhattan. For being in the United States for only two years, I passed both tests with very good scores. I felt very happy and proud of myself because, as usual, I studied every night, and on Saturdays and Sundays, slept only a few hours daily, and worked at the Office of Catholic Education during the day, in addition to taking care of my husband and son. However, years later when I applied for the Ph.D. program at Fordham University and I showed my GRE scores, one of the professors on the search committee commented, “You are a very good test taker.”
In January 1983 I had the intake visit at St John’s University for the master’s program in clinical psychology. Since I was working for the Office of Catholic Education of the Diocese of Brooklyn and St. John’s was the Catholic university of the diocese, I was entitled to half tuition. I registered for the spring of 1983 taking two subjects: perception and child psychology. I had no problems with child psychology because the professor’s syllabus and textbook were the same and he relied more on individual papers for grades. With perception, that was another thing. It had no textbook but time in the library making copies of different sources, frequent quizzes to build up the final score, but the worst situation was the professor’s heavy German accent. I didn’t understand what he was saying. I brought a tape recorder and sat in front of the class. I bought a scientific dictionary because the normal one didn’t carry all the words that he was using. At the end of the semester, I got a respectable B grade and I felt that the world was in my hands.
During the summer program—July 1983—I registered for psychopathology I. The professor was Dr. Sauna, a very well known Spanish psychiatrist who did a very controversial scientific study about migration and schizophrenia in the 1970s, a topic that was still making waves. Since my professional background was in clinical psychology, I enjoyed the intensive course. But more important than that, Dr. Sauna introduced me to the field of mental health and migration and how family life is affected by the process. The final term paper was on that topic; the first time in the United States that I wrote on what later became the area of expertise and passion of my professional life. Dr. Sauna gave me an A and very important comments that were the golden rule for my subsequent papers and publications.
For the fall of 1983 I registered for psychopathology II and methodology and statistics. I don’t remember the name of the professor of psychopathology. He was a more methodic teacher, following the syllabus and the textbook religiously, and not allowing comments or discussions like Dr. Sauna had allowed. The head of the department who was my advisor taught methodology and statistics. I had taken various courses on statistics and methodology in Cuba and I felt confident in the subject. However, statistics and methodology was totally based on computers and I didn’t know anything about its technology. Every night after classes I went to the computer department of the university to learn, to do my homework, to ask questions, to repeat homework, etc.
Since the beginning of my work at the Office of Catholic Education, I incorporated my scientific background to my work. Thus, the use of psycho-social research and analysis of the spiritual, social, and psychological needs of the immigrant Hispanic families of our diocese were the constant source of new and more educational programs and leadership training for the volunteers that were working with me at the service of the immigrant families of the diocese.
Throughout the eleven years working with and for the immigrant Hispanic families I developed a handful number of programs. Among them, la three years formation program of Hispanic Family Ministries; four models for one day of preparation for the reception of the Marriage Sacrament; several programs of four workshops each one to address different topics related to migration and acculturation like communication, bilingual and bicultural parenting, and so on. But the most precious jewel of my years of study and work for the Diocese of Brooklyn was a comprehensive and culturally sensitive counseling program to accompany immigrant Hispanic families in cultural transition. This program was developed, tested and evaluated under the supervision of a Clinical Psychologist during my internship for the Professional Diploma degree as Bilingual School Psychologist.
At the end of my work at the Office of Catholic Education of the Diocese of Brooklyn near a hundred people attended the three year Formation Program for Hispanic Family Ministers, It is, tear a hundred people were prepared, trained, and supervised in the Diocese of Brooklyn-Queens. In addition, for some programs, like” Toward the Future”, I also trained a group of adolescents and young adult to be in charge of the dynamic groups and/or to present topics like bilingual communication and bicultural values using role-play scenarios. In opportunities, Pepito has had to accompany me to some presentations of programs due to conflicts of schedules between Pepe and myself, so when I asked him to be “officially” part of the group of adolescents and young adults to be trained, he was my best partner. We traveled together, joked together, make plans and evaluative comments together, Needless to say that it was not time of working with my son but time of real pleasure and joy.
To all and each one of these programs I wrote a proposal that includes these four parts: an introduction with a psycho-social and religious description of the need that the program was going to accomplish, analysis of the proposed intervention, description of the program—its objectives, duration, methodology followed—and means to do an evaluation of the program.
This Jesuit University of Fordham at Rosa Hill Campus in the Bronx has a master’s degree program called Religious Education of the Child and Family Life Ministry. Since I was working as Family Life Minister and, moreover, since I had to stop and hold back my dream of validating my degree as a psychologist (as I will explain later), I applied to this program. Fordham University is a private university with three campuses located in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St. John’s College, placed in the care of the Society of Jesus shortly thereafter, and has since become an independent institution under a lay board of trustees which describes the university as in the Jesuit tradition.
During the initial interview with the head of the Religion and Religious Education School, he surprised me when the university granted half scholarship during the three years of the master’s program. The classes were three days per week, in the Bronx from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm. Thus, I went to work at the Office of Catholic Education in Brooklyn from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm, and then took a subway from Brooklyn to the Bronx (with a change of trains at Grand Central Station) and at 5:00 pm I took the bus from Bronx to Flushing. I was able to follow that schedule thanks to a very generous woman, Finita Gutiérrez. She took care of Pepito. He was either picked up at 3:00 pm by Finita at the end of the school day or allowed to walk to her house, where he always had a snack and waited for me to go home doing the homework or watching TV.
Fordham University at Rosa Hill Campus was a very spiritual and educational rewarding experience. At the same time the knowledge acquired gave me the opportunity to provide theological and pastoral foundation to all and each one of the educational and leadership programs I was doing in the Diocese of Brooklyn. I got my master’s in science Degree in May 1987. The graduating paper was on the Importance of Hispanic Values in the Adjustment of immigrant Hispanic Families. I got an A and comments of congratulations for the topic and the effort done with that specific research.
Since 1945 the Catholic Church in the United States had acknowledged the Hispanic presence with the creation of a national office in San Antonio, Texas. In 1983, US bishops issued the pastoral letter “The Hispanic Presence: Challenge and Commitment.” The document affirms that Hispanic people are a blessing from God to the church and to the nation, recognizes past efforts, identifies urgent needs and their pastoral implications, makes the commitment to redouble their pastoral efforts and call for a III Encuentro Nacional. The document opened the door to a grassroots process from the pews to its conclusion in the III Encuentro Nacional Hispano de Pastoral, held at The Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC from August 15–18, 1985. Over 2,000 participants attended the process from 123 dioceses. I had the privilege of being part of the process and of the Encuentro. I used the opportunity to present the programs developed in the Diocese of Brooklyn to a national audience, as well as to do a public strong defense and advocacy to place the family at the center of all pastoral responses discussed during the three days of the Encuentro. The III Encuentro gave me exposure to a great number of dioceses and educational departments who were interested in learning more about the pastoral response to the characteristics and needs of the immigrant Hispanic families developed in the diocese of Brooklyn.
Soon I was asked to prepare weekends of training to be part of the existing programs of leaders formation in most of the dioceses with a strong Hispanic presence. As a result, I started to travel to teach the weekend program in dioceses, such as Houston, Texas; Monterrey, California; Santa Ana, California; Seattle, Washington; Yakima, Washington; and Portland, Oregon. Also I was invited to be the main speaker and/or a speaker at different forums, conventions, and congresses to analyze the quality of the pastoral responses of immigrant Hispanic families, the importance of the family, the role of culture in our faith, and so on in different dioceses. Also I was asked to be part of different committees at the national, regional, and state level to discuss issues regarding the Hispanic family and/or about pastoral responses to Hispanic presence. Some of those presentations are parts of books, magazines, and specific publications. For three consecutive courses, the College of St. Elizabeth invited me to teach a course on Sociology of the Hispanic family.
In 1987, I attended a conference on the school difficulties of immigrant school children. There I met the presenter, Dr. Giuseppe Constantino, whom I asked to help me continuing the process of validation of my psychology degree from Cuba. He directed me to Dr. Giselle Esquivel, the head of the school psychology department at Fordham University at the Lincoln Center Campus. I met Dr. Esquivel at the end of 1987. That was “the day” I was expecting year after year. Dr. Esquivel gave me the opportunity to validate my studies beginning with a two-year study for a professional diploma as bilingual school psychologist. And later she encouraged and guided me to obtain a PhD in psychology so my previous knowledge and professional experience became meaningful and productive in the United States.
In addition 1987 was also a year of changes for my husband and for Pepito. Pepito exited his eighth grade with excellent grades and was accepted by Regis High School. Instead of describing the importance of his acceptation by this high school I am going to share its mission statement from Pepito’s letter of admission: “Founded in 1914 by an anonymous benefactor and supported by the generosity of her family, its alumni and friends, Regis High School offers a tuition free Jesuit college preparatory education to Roman Catholic young men from the New York metropolitan area who demonstrate superior intellectual and leadership potential. In the admissions process, special consideration is given to those who cannot otherwise afford a Catholic education. As a Jesuit school Regis is committed to both academic excellence and fostering a spirit of generosity and service to those in need. With an emphasis on academic rigor and Catholic formation, the school’s program is designed to promote each student’s intellectual and spiritual growth grounded in a deepening relationship with Jesus Christ. Regis seeks to inspire and train the ethnically diverse young men in its care to become imaginative leaders committed to promoting justice and exerting leadership in the church, in the civic community, and in their chosen profession.”
Regis High School made the difference in Pepito’s character, gave him an intellectual, inquisitive spirit, and, moreover, helped to mold his sincere empathetic understanding of human nature.
On the other hand, Pepe changed his job from the national accounting firm to a Mexican noncommercial bank. There he found Cuban friends and was expecting to find less stress associated with the rhythm of the work demands and with the competitive style that characterizes the labor field in the United States. After being subjected to the stressors associated with the post-jail time in Cuba, the double migration (to Spain and to United States), the different language, and the different cultural styles, Pepe decided to go back to continue his treatment of psychoanalysis. A few years after being in prison, Pepe suffered a crisis of anxiety and one of the fellow prisoners, who was a psychiatrist, took care of him and helped him to understand his situation and his life as a whole. The good effects of the therapy on Pepe accompanied him throughout the years after his release from jail and the following years in Cuba, Spain, and United States.
I cannot finish this chapter about my work as Hispanic Family Life Minister from July 1982 to December 1993 without giving thanks to all and each one of the religious and professional staffers of the Diocese of Brooklyn and to those at the regional and the national levels who provided me with their advice, support, and encouragement to begin and to continue developing a comprehensive response to the Hispanic family presence within the Catholic Church. Specifically, I want to thank all and each one of the family life ministers of the Diocese of Brooklyn and New York for their disposition to prepare themselves as leaders in their communities of faith. No doubt they gave the best of themselves and many lives were touched by their generosity. All of them accompanied me during eleven years and to all of them go my deep gratitude.