Charismatic Congress has more than 1,000 participants

Friday, Sep. 02, 2016

DRAPER — Reflections, music, prayer, praising, The Sacrament of Confession, meditation and Mass were the frame of the 10th annual Familial Congress of the Charismatic Diocesan Renovation Group, which took place the Aug. 20-21 at the Skaggs Catholic Center in Draper.

Families Hugged by God’s Mercy (Familias Abrazadas por la Misericordia de Dios) was the theme of the Congress, in which more than 1,000 Catholics from all over the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City participated.

Among the speakers at the Congress were Fr. Ricardo Campos, from Mexicali, Mexico; Father Arokia Dass David, parochial vicar of Saints Peter and Paul Parish in West Valley City; Father Eliseo Rosario Rivas, from El Salvador; Father José Fidel Barrera Cruz, administrator of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Salt Lake City; and Father José Barrera Hernández, parochial vicar of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus Parish in Midvale, who is the Charismatic group’s spiritual advisor.

The topics of the presentations throughout the two days were wide-ranging, but all had the theme of mercy as their core.

Fr. Barrera Hernandez was in charge of welcoming everyone to the congress.

“I hope that everyone can have a beautiful closure of this Year of Mercy; that’s why, because we are in the last months of it, our themes are gathered around the theme of mercy and of all the teachings of the pope and the teachings here in our diocese, which are an echo of the pope’s teachings,” said Fr. Barrera Hernández.

Then Fr. Campos gave presentations on God’s Mercy in the Testament, Families hugged by Jesus’ Mercy, and Families and Today’s Technology: Problems and Solutions.

Fr. Campos is the founder of a center to help drug addicts and dysfunctional families in Mexicali, Mexico.

“In today’s world we stop growing spiritually because we don’t spend time in and with God. … We spend hours and hours hooked with the technology,” said Fr. Campos.

For Martina Herrera, a Sts. Peter and Paul parishioner, attending the congress emphasized the importance of continuing  spiritual growth. 

“People need spiritual growth. Every time that we come to these types of events, we feed our souls,” said Herrera.

The congress also had a small retreat just for children, at which they had the opportunity to pray together, play and hear reflections from the Bible.

“It’s very important that we focus on our new generations,” said Rosendo Lemus, a Our Lady of Lourdes (Magna) parishioner. She added that here in Utah Catholics need to always remember to keep their roots and their faith alive.

“We are Catholics and we were raised Catholics, so it is on us to keep teaching and forming our kids as Catholics,” said Lemus.