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May 6, 2021Sister Galdeano, former director of the archdiocesan Office of Hispanic Ministry, died peacefully Feb. 22 in Houston.
In seeing the local challenges facing the Catholic Hispanic community in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, Archbishop Charles Salatka took the first step to minister to the Hispanics by going to San Antonio to learn the Spanish language.
In 1993, Archbishop Eusebius Beltran established the Office of Hispanic Ministry at the Catholic Pastoral Center to serve the Hispanics of the archdiocese. He staffed the office with three members – Father Don Wolf, Sister Galdeano and Ana Romero.
“I considered Sister Elsa’s time in our archdiocese as one of our greatest blessings. By her words, her demeanor and her joyful attitude, she generously shared the Good News of Jesus with us. She was a good and faithful steward of God. As a woman of valor her example was louder than her words. Through her outstanding, dedicated ministry the Anglo and Hispanic communities both grew in faith, hope and in love. Sister Elsa Galdeano was more than a ‘gem,’ she was and is a saint!” Archbishop Beltran said.
Sister Galdeano considered evangelization as the axis around which all other activities rotate. Her main focuses were evangelization, religious education, family life, youth and young adults, Renew 2000, liturgy and spirituality.
She wrote bilingual homilies, prepared a weekly radio program, organized three annual spiritual retreats for families, couples and parish leaders, set up six schools of leader formation, worked with youth Encuentros, and trained catechists, lectors and communion ministers. She travelled many miles to reach out to the Hispanic people and many parishes, scattered across the archdiocese. Sister Galdeano assisted a committee of parishioners and non-Spanish speaking priests, who were seeking to implement Spanish Masses in their communities.
Her central goal of evangelization was the Cursillo movement.
“The Cursillo is the movement of the Church that aims to teach ordinary people how to evangelize their environments,” she said. “By first encountering Christ in their own lives, they are invited to move out into the many environments that make up the world and transform them through their presence and example.”
Two of the major events that Sister Galdeano organized were the annual Archdiocesan Bilingual Rural Field Masses to integrate the different cultures with the Church carried out at different rural areas of the archdiocese followed by a reception, fiesta and closing prayer.
“Sister Galdeano was instrumental in helping the Hispanic community feel like we were one family,” Lisa Carrasco said. “Hundreds of people from all around the diocese would gather to attend the annual field Mass. From Guymon to Altus, we all would come together and share our gifts and talents.”
She also started the annual celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe with a bilingual celebration of the Eucharist at The Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help followed by a reception. The procession would begin at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, pass by Little Flower Catholic Church and Holy Angels Catholic Church and finally arrive at the cathedral. Many people including priests, deacons and religious men and women participated with Matachines Dancers leading the procession.
“I am blessed and honored to have worked with Sister Elsa. I thank God for her presence among us. Sister Galdeano was very generous and helping people was her No. 1 priority,” Romero said. “She served the Lord and his people with joy and zeal as a missionary sister, counselor, friend and co-worker in the archdiocese for more than 16 years. She left an imprint on our hearts. We will miss her dearly.”
