The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

14 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday September 10, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Living Oakville Beaver LIVING EDITOR: ANGELA BLACKBURN By Hiba Kesebi SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Phone: 905-845-3824, ext. 248 Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: ablackburn@oakvillebeaver.com Guiraldo embracing Spanish community St. Michael's Roman Catholic Parish is embracing Oakville's Hispanic community, thanks to Father Cesar Guiraldo, a priest newly arrived from the Arch Diocese of Medellin, in Colombia, South America. Guiraldo, who has been with the Oakville church as an associate pastor since April, is now giving Sunday mass in Spanish. He performed his first mass last Sunday at 6 p.m. and will do so every Sunday from now on. It marks the first weekly Spanish mass for the church, ever. According to St. Michael's pastoral minister Kathleen Fitzpatrick, the church used to hold monthly Sunday masses in Spanish with Father Ted Slaman. However upon his departure from the church, the practice fell by the wayside and the parish's Spanish community headed to St. Joseph's Church for mass. assimilate," said Fitzpatrick. That's why Guiraldo will be visiting Catholic high schools to talk to the students. "It's very quickly spreading that Father Cesar is here, and he's Spanish. The community is really building up quickly," she said. Guiraldo has also expressed a desire to work with immigrants. "Father Cesar is very big on building community. He's very inclusive of everybody," said Fitzpatrick. "It's not easy for them (immigrants) because they came to another country and we want to offer them a special place to help them to be strong in their faith, personality and commitment to community," said Guiraldo, who is here from Medellin, the second largest, and most progressive city in Colombia. Its population is nearly three million and it is the capital city of the State of Antioquia. For more information or to contact St. Michael's church, call 905-844-7971. MICHAEL IVANIN / OAKVILLE BEAVER MI CASA ES SU CASA: Father Cesar Guiraldo, a priest from the Arch Diocese of Medellin, in Colombia, South America, is providing pastoral care to Oakville's Spanish community at St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church. Now that Guiraldo is at St. Michael's, the church hopes to not only bring back its Spanish community, but also to provide them with several new initiatives. "He'll be doing marriages, baptisms and catecheses in Spanish," said Fitzpatrick, adding the associate pastor will also be working with married couples and starting an AA group. Guiraldo also hopes to focus some of his efforts on youths. "If we don't have the youths, we don't have the future," he said. "You find it in high school, there's a lot of Spanish children out there, that really they're trying to fit in to the school life, but they are not fitting in because their culture is different. They're trying to Hot Tub Clearout Sale Emergency Tent Sale All Self-Cleaning Salt Water Hot Tubs on Sale! Limited Quantities Available 2007 L MODE T EAROU CL Save $$$ LAST ND WEEKE E V TO SA Sept. 4 Sept. 14 CALL FOR DETAILS Winston Churchill Blvd. Hwy #403 Located in The Brick Parking Lot www.hydropoolhottubs.com Dundas St. The Brick in Oakville 3025 Ridgeway Dr. Mississauga CANADIAN MADE (905) 829-4991