September 16th, 2015 – Excerpted from Put Out Into the Deep, Bishop DiMarzio’s column in The Tablet:

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

The month from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 has been declared Hispanic Heritage Month. This celebration began in 1968 as a week-long event, and was made a month-long-celebration under the presidency of Ronald Regan in 1988.

National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed not only in the United States, but also in Canada and many places in Latin America because this time period coincides with the independence day celebrations of five Latin-American countries on Sept. 15: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile observe their day of independence on, respectively, Sept. 16 and Sept. 18.

Read the full text of the Bishop’s article on The Tablet website.