Detroit — About 380 Hispanic women and 50 young Hispanic girls gathered Oct. 14 at Sacred Heart Major Seminary to connect, share their faith and receive encouragement as “women missionary disciples in the Lord.”

The primary goal of the eighth archdiocesan Hispanic Women’s Conference was to “make women aware of the mission we all share” in spreading the Gospel, said Karla Flores, coordinator of Hispanic ministries for the Archdiocese of Detroit.

“One of the main goals was to make everybody aware of how Archbishop Vigneron’s pastoral letter is asking young adults, Hispanics and women to become a missionary Church,” Flores said. “The conference was amazing. Everybody was really happy and the Holy Spirit was with all.”

The conference’s theme in Spanish was “Mujer Discipula Misionera al Servicio de Dios: Todo lo que hagas hazlo de corazón” — “Woman, missionary disciple at the service of the Lord: All you do, do it with your heart.”

The keynote speaker, María Clara Macías, reflected on the role of women within Scripture as “missionary disciples in their own circumstances,” citing the example of saints such as Mary Magdalene as heralds of the good news.

In between talks — which were all given in Spanish — women sang praise and worship hymns and shared fellowship with one another, celebrating a common heritage and culture as Catholics.

“This was an amazing experience for all of us to make us feel we are part of a great Church,” Flores said of the all-volunteer-led conference. “There are many struggles among our community, especially at this time. We wanted them to feel they are part of the Church and beloved daughters of God.”

The conference served as preperation for the Archdiocese of Detroit’s role in the upcoming V Encuentro process, a nationwide effort to coordinate and set direction for Hispanic ministry efforts across the continent.

The national V Encuentro — the fifth such gathering since 1972, hence the Roman numeral “V” — will take place in September 2018, with local diocesan gatherings taking place throughout the fall, winter and spring leading up. The Archdiocese of Detroit will host its own “Encuentro” on Dec. 9.

“Encuentro is a process of five sessions in five weeks where we prepare people to become missionary disciples,” Flores said. “At the end, people will have the practical tools to be missionary disciples. We want to be missionary disciples, but we don’t know how to do it. We often think of St. Paul or missionaries in Africa, but we don’t know how to do it ourselves. Encuentro gives us those tools, and we had the same goals for our Hispanic Women’s Conference.”