For Hispanic Family of the Year, faith is lived
Community involvement a priority for the Cortes family

By Sam Lucero, Catholic Herald Staff

MILWAUKEE — Although they come from different cultures, a shared desire to serve God united Roberto and DeAnn Cortes in 1988. Seventeen years later, church ministry continues to be a centerpiece in their lives, influencing their roles as parents and community activists.

Last October, Roberto, DeAnn and their four children — Alejandro, 12, Daniela, 11, Ana Isabel, 7, and Leticia, 5 — were recognized by the United Migrant Opportunity Services Inc. as Milwaukee’s Hispanic Family of the Year.

Roberto, a native of Mexico, serves as a parish consultant for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. He works with parishes in District 14, which covers Milwaukee’s south side and includes a large Hispanic population. As a parish consultant, he facilitates the collaboration of programs and services for parishes in the district.

Cortes also assists the vicar for Hispanic ministry, Fr. Bob Stiefvater, in Racine, Kenosha and Walworth counties, where the Hispanic presence is growing.

Passion for working with immigrants

DeAnn is associate director at the Casa Romero Renewal Center located next to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Milwaukee. Much of her time is spent assisting immigrant families referred to the center by area parishes or by others who have been helped.

“Working with immigrant families has always been my passion,” she said.

Whether it’s working with immigrant families, parish council members, or teachers and administrators at Bruce Guadalupe Community School, where their four children attend, the Cortes’s lives are like seamless circles of activity revolving around service to others. “Our background in parish ministry and as volunteers are skills that have become a part of us,” said DeAnn.

Their faith keeps the wheels of activity in motion, the couple said.

Seminary studies began at age 12

When Roberto was 12, growing up in Aramberri, a town in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, his parents sent him to San Felipe Seminary, a minor seminary in Linares, Mexico. He finished his high school education there and went on to the major seminary in Monterey. After two years of studying philosophy, he left the seminary in 1976 and went to work for a cigarette company. At nights he attended the University of Nuevo Leon and earned a bachelor’s degree in December of 1981.

But without real prospects for a job, Roberto decided he needed to learn English. On Jan. 7, 1982, he flew from Mexico to Milwaukee, where he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee’s English as a Second Language (ESL) program. Roberto’s goal was to learn English, return to Mexico and go into business.

When he arrived in Milwaukee, a fellow airline passenger who befriended Roberto put him in a taxi and instructed the driver to drop him off at the university.

Invited back to the seminary

Roberto lived in a dormitory for one semester, then moved in with a family from Burlington the next semester. While in Burlington, he met Fr. Brian Holbus, who was associate pastor at St. Mary Parish.

In January 1983, Roberto returned to Mexico. Before leaving, Fr. Holbus asked Roberto if would consider entering the seminary in Milwaukee. His response, “Are you crazy? I already tried that.”

However, after returning to Mexico, Roberto said he began to reconsider Fr. Holbus’s invitation. “I always had a thing about serving (other people),” he said, but Roberto also wanted to raise a family.

He finally decided to give the seminary another try. He contacted Saint Francis Seminary and on Jan. 17, 1984, he returned to Milwaukee.

“It was a really good experience and I was very sure I was going to be ordained a priest,” said Roberto. “I had no doubt.”

Last minute second thoughts

However, just before he was scheduled to be ordained to the diaconate in 1986, Roberto decided he could not go through with ordination. “I took a leave of absence and they let me go back to the lay formation program.” Fr. Stiefvater, who was pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, invited Roberto to live at the rectory while he completed his studies. During this time, Roberto also served as parish youth minister.

In 1988, Roberto completed his master’s of divinity degree and was hired as a parish consultant, a new outreach ministry that the archdiocese created. That year, Fr. Stiefvater began interviewing youth ministers to replace Roberto. One of the candidates was DeAnn Scrobel, who was studying youth ministry at Cardinal Stritch University. DeAnn was hired for the position and Roberto helped her adjust to the Hispanic culture prevalent in the parish.

New job was culture shock

“When I first came to Our Lady of Guadalupe, it was a cultural shock for me,” said DeAnn. “This was a very traditional faith that I didn’t understand. It’s been quite a spiritual journey for me to be embraced by a culture that has faith so integrated into their lives.”

DeAnn welcomed the Hispanic culture into her life when she married Roberto on April 21, 1990. She began taking Spanish classes and has become fluent in the language.

As an Anglo growing up in Greenfield and following in her parents’ footsteps as active volunteers at St. James Parish, in Franklin, DeAnn said the biggest difference between the Hispanic and Anglo Catholic culture is the way Hispanics integrate faith into their everyday lives.

“In the Anglo culture, faith is part of their lives, it’s not integrated,” she said. “I’ve come to appreciate that faith in God guiding everything you do.”

Couple welcomes growing family

After their wedding, DeAnn resigned from her parish position to complete her college degree and begin raising a family. She and Roberto had their first child, Alejandro, in 1992, followed the next year by a second, Daniela. DeAnn cared for the two children while running the confirmation program at Our Lady of Guadalupe.

In 1995, Saint Francis Seminary began to offer its certificate division for lay ministers in Spanish. DeAnn was hired as coordinator of pastoral formation in the certificate division. “I worked there for four years, learning about multi-cultural ministry, communication and formation,” she said. “In the meantime, I had my third child and got pregnant with my fourth child. I took a year leave of absence, then two years.”

She finally resigned from her seminary post in July 1999. While raising her children, DeAnn and Roberto became active at Bruce Guadalupe School, where Alejandro and Daniela were enrolled. “We began running the Parent Involvement Committee,” she said. “This year we started a core committee of eight parents to run everything with us. The focus is on empowering more people.”

‘God places you where you need to go’

In 2001, DeAnn was hired by Jesuit Fr. David Shields to serve as associate director of Casa Romero. “At that time I was thinking, ‘I don’t want a ministry job,’” she said. “I knew that it could turn into something so time consuming and I really wanted to dedicate myself to my family.”

But “God places you where you need to go,” DeAnn added. “To be part of (Casa Romero), I got caught up in it and it turned into a big ministry job.”

Roberto has also gotten involved in the renewal center’s work. He previously served on the board of directors and occasionally gives retreats in Spanish.

Casa Romero seeks to complement the services of inner-city parishes, said DeAnn. “These parishes are not the million-dollar parishes in the suburbs. People coming from Latin America aren’t used to coming to government programs. They are used to going to the church first.”

Family spends one month in Mexico

When Roberto and DeAnn are not busy working or volunteering in the community, they enjoy visiting Roberto’s family in Mexico. They pencil out one month on their calendar each summer and drive south for a family vacation. It’s a time for the children to connect with their Mexican roots, said DeAnn. “It’s something we have to do so our children have a sense of their culture.”

Since Roberto is the oldest of 12 children, there are many cousins and aunts and uncles for his children to visit. “Roberto’s family is very musical and people sing all of the time,” said DeAnn. “That has really spilled into our family.”

Alejandro plays the piano and performs in the Bruce Guadalupe School’s Latin jazz band. Daniela plays the flute and Ana Isabel recently started playing the violin. “Music is just a real part of our everyday lives,” said DeAnn.

As members of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Rafael parishes, the Cortes family attempts to live out their faith by emulating Christ as servant. “... following Jesus’ example of compassion and love, and having that be part of our daily routine, I see that as an important part of our lives,” said DeAnn.

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