Claudia de la Cruz
Dominican Women's Development Center

Claudia de la Cruz was born in the Bronx in the year 1980 to first-generation immigrants from the Dominican Republic. For over 10 years, Claudia has been doing community organizing from a faith-based perspective in the Washington Heights/Inwood and West Harlem communities.

She is a founder and adult ally of the youth leadership development project at the Dominican Women’s Development Center, Da Urban Butterflies, which works on behalf of the empowerment, leadership development and political education of young women between the ages of 13 and 25 in the New York City area. She is also program director of the health promotion program and the community organizing unit for the Dominican Women’s Development Center. Meanwhile, she is on the ordination track to become an ordained pastor within the denomination she has served since 2003, the United Church of Christ. She is pastor of her homechurch, San Romero de Las Americas Church - UCC.

Claudia, do you find that your faith either empowers or affirms you as a woman? In what ways does or doesn't it?

As a young Black Latina living in New York City, I feel that my faith is what keeps me strong, what keeps me focused, and what makes me a survivor. My faith is what challenges me to transgress and subvert the order that has been imposed by a male–dominated society that seeks to subjugate me due to my condition of being a poor Black-Latina woman in a capitalist, sexist and racist/xenophobic society. Through my faith I feel God’s calling to do radical Urban Ministry within the Latino@ community. Although my capabilities are not limited to serving the Latin@ community, since I am bi-cultural and bi-lingual, the Latin@ community is a priority for me. Hence, my interest as a Black-Latina woman of Christian faith and as a pastor is to scrutinize the major theological dilemma of the possibility of organizing the Latino/a churches’ spirituality from a social, political and economic perspective.

As a young woman who has lived in a neighborhood suffering from lack of access to many things—including safe spaces for both men and women, particularly young men and women—I have been moved by my faith to work with young women in the community and explore with them our essential role as part of a movement for liberation. As a young woman myself who had difficulties growing up in a sexist household, in an ageist society, in a cruel world, I have felt the need to create spaces with young women in the community where we can discuss these experiences, and learn from women in our Herstory who have been able to dismantle oppressive realities and create alternatives of peace with justice. My faith tells me that as women, we need to create spaces of support, of growth and of cootemplation to defy and combat the systems of oppression that are in place and against us.

Who has been the most influential woman in your life?

The most influential woman in my life has been my grandmother, Amantina Aquino. Her name comes from Latin. It means someone who loves plenty. She was a Black-Dominican woman, a worker all her life, simple, soft-spoken, firm, open-minded, loving, independent and fierce.

She taught me to never be apologetic for being who I wanted to be as a Black-Latina woman in a society controlled by men. She taught me not to take no for an answer and be consistent. She also taught me to do for others what I wanted to be done for me. She taught me to love unconditionally, to plan purposefully and to be in harmony with others within diversity. And most importantly, she taught me that faith was active — we can say we believe in God’s love and mercy, but that is all talk unless we show that we believe in God’s love and mercy in our relationships with others.  She taught me about the gospel of Jesus before I even learned how to read and write.

Do you find that your faith either informs or guides your social activism? In what ways does or doesn't it?

My sociopolitical agenda and activism are intrinsically connected to my understanding of spirituality and theology. I understand that spirituality is a way of living, of practicing our faith, which we demonstrate in our relations with all of Goddess’s creation. The primary source of spirituality is human reality. Thus, human reality manifests itself in a specific time and space and never in a vacuum. Human reality is composed of a social, political and economic reality that cannot be ignored in our spirituality, our way of living. When we talk about our human reality, in the Latino/a community I work with, we are talking about the meaning of being a Latina in this racist society, and the meaning of being a woman in this male supremacist society. Furthermore, all human beings have spirituality, be they religious people or not. Spirituality shall not be limited to those who practice religion. This interpretation of spirituality allows people who do not believe in God to be able to manifest their spirituality.

Hence, for me, spirituality has sociopolitical dimensions that we need to address if we are to be relevant and reverent to the needs of communities in the margins (e.g, women, communities of color, LGBTQ communities, immigrants, youth, etc.). What is the role of faith in this understanding of spirituality? My faith is the ground where I am able to stand firmly, and act lovingly and humbly towards the transformation of this world, of human beings and our relationships with each other and the universe. My faith leads me to believe in the possibilities of new women and new men working together towards a better world. My faith challenges me to be part of the struggle to create a world where the right to live with dignity, have access to education, health care, housing and employment are not privileges privatized by a few at the expense of the many, but these human needs are recognized as human rights and are accessible to all people. What is faith, if it is not what moves us to be better beings, and to impact our surroundings in such way that we can live with respect, solidarity, love, and in peace with justice for all God’s creation?

Have you ever had a personal "aha" moment? What was it? And what made it so special?

Well, I have had a series of “aha" moments and all have been special and meaningful in the context in which they took place. The most recent one was during a period of life in which I felt I was being pulled in different directions; I was being moved from a space of comfort to an uncertain space. You know, the times in life where you find that you are very close to going crazy because you are overwhelmed with work, you have the “superwoman syndrome”—you think the world will end if you take one day off, because you are THE one to do it all—life is just becoming hard to work with… and so I decide to go away for the first time in maybe 8 years or more. In this trip, I decided that I want to bungee jump. Now, I am petrified of heights, always have been. On this trip, I decided that I needed to bungee. Go figure. And I went up 140 feet (about 15 stories high) above the ground, and in this process I realized that the strength of this action required me to strengthen my faith. (Aha moment!) I was allowing for the chaos to overpower the strength of my faith. And I jumped! I jumped! I took a leap of faith… and found that “todo lo podemos en Cristo que nos fortalece”—we can do all in Christ, who strengthens us…