(OSV News) — Four workshops throughout the year. Reflection and conversations in a synodal style. Young people exercising the power of their voice, creating with words.
These activities describe the process in which young adults from dioceses in the Southeastern United States have immersed themselves year after year since 1980. They have one goal: to write and publish an Easter book that can help deepen the faith of young people like them during the Lenten season.
On the weekend of Feb. 15-16, the participants of this inspiring project saw their dedication and hard work from the past year become a reality in the official presentation of the 2025 Easter Book, published by the Southeast Pastoral Institute, or SEPI, the educational branch of the Southeast Regional Office for Hispanic Ministry. This office is an effort of the U.S. bishops to support Hispanic ministry in 30 dioceses in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Hope Begins With Jesus
Gabriella Escalante, coordinator of SEPI’s youth and young adult ministry for Hispanic Catholics, told OSV News that this year’s book draws from this Jubilee Year and its “Pilgrims of Hope” theme. The book’s title is “Hope Begins with ‘J’/Esperanza empieza con ‘J'”
“‘J’ stands for Jesus,” Escalante explained.
The book’s central theme is chosen at the project’s first meeting, also called Workshop 0, where representatives from different dioceses share findings on what their young communities need.
“It’s a discernment workshop, where we can collectively determine which is the theme that God is calling us to work on for the following year,” Escalante said. “For that, we take into account where the church stands that year, what events have taken place, what moment it is at the national level, at the international level — everything is important. We also consider the needs of our young people.”
In the next workshop, Workshop 1, the theme is presented, and the book title is chosen, now with a broader audience of all project participants.
Process of Creating Easter Book
Marcos Capistrano, a young adult from the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, who experienced the process of creating SEPI’s Easter Book for the first time in 2025, told OSV News that although “hope” does not literally begin with “J,” it is through this emotion that Jesus begins to act.
“When a young person has that hope, that spark, or that little grain that makes him say, ‘I want to keep going,’ that’s where Jesus begins. That’s the starting point,” Capistrano said.
Once the title is chosen — which is one of “the tensest moments of the process because, obviously, every diocese wants their title to win,” Escalante noted — topics are then explained and distributed among the dioceses, and participants get to work on their respective sections.
Workshop 2 takes place a month later. With each diocese bringing its section, interdiocesan groups are formed, where each presents its chapter and receives feedback.
Although the chapters that make up the Easter Book (sometimes known as the Libro de la Pascua Juvenil or Pascua Joven) are written by different dioceses, this workshop is where the power of collaborative and collective work reaches its fullest expression, as young people begin the editing process together.
Lived Reality of Young People
While each section of the Easter Book encapsulates the lived reality of the young people from a specific diocese — in Capistrano’s case, a growing Hispanic community of individuals from various countries who arrive in Charlotte with hope, eager to begin “a new chapter” — the message extends beyond territorial boundaries, he said.
“There are young people from different backgrounds,” Capistrano said. “God loves everyone and everything … so I must take the opportunity to help those who are vulnerable. This process helped me immensely with my faith because I said, ‘I need to keep praying.’ So, for me, it was service and prayer that impacted me the most.”
Between the third and fourth sessions, SEPI’s editorial team begins the final editing and formatting process before sending the bilingual book to print. During this period, the digital resources that will accompany the book are also created.
“These include the podcast, which features life testimonies recorded by young people, uploaded to a Spotify channel and other podcast platforms. There’s also a leader’s guide, which is used to present the book in parish youth groups,” Escalante explained.
The unveiling of the final product — which this year marks its 42nd edition — takes place in the fourth meeting, known as Workshop 3. The book arrives packaged, and the young participants open it in a moment of admiration.
‘A Very Emotional Moment’
“It’s a very emotional moment to see the faces of these young people as they realize they were part of something much greater than themselves, something that will endure over time,” Escalante said.
Capistrano said he felt a great honor to be a participant in this project.
“As Hispanics, we can fight and grow together and have a voice,” he said, adding that he hopes young people see that “we are active, here, in the present.”
“We must be a voice for everyone,” he said.
Maria del Pilar Guzman writes for OSV News from Boston.
