Diocesan Pastoral Congress: Cathedral of the Madeleine

IC photo/Linda Petersen

+ Enlarge

Fr. Martin Diaz, rector of the Cathedral of the Madeleine, joins the small-group discussion during the English session of the Pastoral Congress.

SALT LAKE CITY – A small group of catechists and parishioners of the Cathedral of the Madeleine joined with their pastor, Father Martin Diaz, and Cathy Paiz, family faith formation coordinator, the morning of Sept. 18 in the cathedral’s Scanlan Hall for the English-speaking portion of this year’s Pastoral Congress.

The Spanish-speaking community gathered in the afternoon. Most of those who attended already are involved in various ministries, but three families are not, said Deacon Guillermo Mendez.

Although both Fr. Diaz and Paiz missed the traditional format where Catholics gather from across the diocese at one location for the Pastoral Congress, there were distinct advantages to this year’s event, they said.

“It really gave us simple ways to do things that maybe we’re not in touch with,” Paiz said. “Talking about ‘forgive and forget,’ (one of the topics of Brother Loughlan Sofield’s video presentation) for example – we always say that, but that’s not what you really mean. I think the topics that the speaker shared were very beneficial.”

Most of the faith formation teachers were unable to attend because of scheduling conflicts, so Paiz was pleased that she will be able to have them view Br. Loughlan’s presentation later, she said. In an upcoming meeting of catechists, she plans to discuss what was shared at the Pastoral Congress and to gather feedback from the teachers on how to integrate it into their curriculum, she said.

The participants said they particularly enjoyed this year’s small-group discussions after the video, something that is not usually part of the Pastoral Congress following the keynote presentation.

Religious education teacher Janice Bosen said that the information from the congress will help her teach the fifth- and sixth-graders who are in her charge. “We need to stir a fire in their hearts that they have something that they can give. Their gifts are special, and we need to explore that in the classroom and have Christ lead them into ‘What does this look like in their lives?’”

Others felt the principles they learned could help them in their own lives.

“I learned a lot about forgiveness; I think that’s pretty important,” said Jerry Moralez, who is a lector at the cathedral. “I think one of the takeaways is what you learn from the action of forgiveness, how you apply it,” he said. “The light bulb that went off in my head was about the 70 times seven; how you forgive but don’t forget. It’s remembrance that keeps you forgiving.”

Another person who attended, who asked that her name be withheld, shared in the group how her husband’s death from COVID-19 in December propelled her to get training in vaccination administration so she could spread good from this tragedy in her life.

“I have learned a lot; I thought the speaker was excellent,” she said of the Pastoral Congress.

Fr. Sergio’s presentation to the Spanish-speaking group was well-received, and the discussion afterward “was really, really positive,” Deacon Mendez said.

The important thing that came from the congress was that those who attended realized that everyone has God-given gifts to put to the service of the people, the deacon said.

“Some of the people, they commented that they never think about it, about those gifts,” he said. “But after the presentation, they were thinking about it, and said, ‘Yeah, definitely, I have gifts from God to put to the service of God, to the Church … to the people.”

For him personally, the message that hit home was that the Catholic Church opens its arms to everyone, the deacon said. The thought of the Catholic Church as the universal church “was really nice to share with everybody,” he said.

“I think what we’re going to find is more people are attending Pastoral Congress because it’s local,” Fr. Diaz said. “There’s a greater opportunity, especially for people who don’t live in Salt Lake County, to participate and to experience the Pastoral Congress.”

Fr. Diaz said he hopes to share Br. Loughlan’s presentation with the parish council and to use the questions discussed “as a way of challenging ourselves as a community of leaders to guide the parish. That’s a real advantage of having that video available to us.”

Because several of the cathedral’s Spanish-speaking council members attended the congress, he doesn’t think he’ll share Fr. Sergio’s presentation, he said.  

However, he plans to encourage parishioners to watch the presentations themselves.

“I think it will be a great opportunity for people to watch separately and alone what was said,” he said.

Marie Mischel contributed to this article.