RECA FERNANDEZ, PHD
Areas of expertise:
Popular Education
Participatory Action Research
Organizational Development
Workshop: Exploring Youth-led Organizing Models to Renew the Church
How do we make space for youth and young adults not just to participate—but to lead—in the life of the Church? This workshop focuses on two youth ministry organizing models (PASCUA JUVENIL, a practical popular education process and Investigación del Mundo Juvenil, a research process lead by youth about their own world) to recruit, form, and accompany young people into active leadership within parish ministries, especially those rooted in justice and service. We’ll explore ways to create welcoming, meaningful, and mission-driven spaces where young Catholics feel seen, heard, and empowered implementing first a youth lead research process and then a youth lead curriculum development process for, with and by the youth to engage other youth in their neighborhoods.
Participants will reflect on the unique gifts young people bring, examine barriers to engagement, and learn how to build authentic relationships that lead to long-term involvement, using these two organizing models to engage them. Grounded in Catholic social teaching and in Popular Education and inspired by the energy of youth, this session offers tools for cultivating leadership that is rooted in faith and responsive to the needs of our world.
Bio:
Originally from El Salvador, Reca Fernández has lived in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Spain and now in the United States. He graduated from law school in Honduras. He worked as a lawyer for the Catholic Church in rural Honduras, defending farmers and teaching human rights. Reca obtained his P.h. D. in Education from the University of Oviedo, Asturias, Spain. His doctoral thesis (Summa Cum Laude) focuses on Participatory Action Research applied to social development projects. He is also a specialist in Popular Education methodologies applied to community organization and organizational development. As part of his work as a consultant, he has facilitated educational processes for community leaders on human rights, social leadership, popular education, gender, masculinity and community development. He has been working intensely on Strategic Plans and Strategic Campaign Plans in the United States. Reca served on the Board of Directors of the Highlander Center in Tennessee, the historic Popular Education Institution of the South.
