Diocese celebrates the Patron of the Americas

Intermountain Catholic

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SALT LAKE CITY -The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe was celebrated all over the Diocese of Salt Lake City Dec. 11-12, with parishioners, no matter their culture, gathering to celebrate the Patron of the Americas. The Catholic Church calendar schedules the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12, the day the Virgin appeared to Saint Juan Diego near Mexico City, and celebrations with different touches gave the diocese a unique color this past weekend.

At Saint Francis Xavier Parish in Kearns, the Knights of Columbus organized an event under the direction of Father Robert Moriarty, pastor, and Father Joseph Frez, associate pastor.

"Fr. Joey said that we were going to have a different cultural group Mass during the Feast of Our Lady, and Fr. Rob suggested we do a procession," said Robert Masse, a St. Francis Xavier parishioner who also is a Fourth Degree Knight.

Leading the procession was an icon of our Lady of Guadalupe that was blessed by Pope Benedict XVI and contains dust from Tepeyac, where Our Lady appeared to Saint Juan Diego.

The icon arrived in Utah in September.

"This is the first time the Knights have brought the image to Utah, and it will be traveling to different parishes over two years," said Masse. "Each time we are doing processions with this icon."

The icon has a lot of meaning for the Knights of Columbus because the Supreme Knight, Carl Anderson, dedicated his 10-year service term to Our Lady.

Although celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Hispanic tradition, in Utah "we are becoming just one Catholic community," Masse said.

"Everybody is a Marian," said Paul Yribar, another Fourth Degree Knight. "If it’s Catholic, no matter the representation of it, we celebrate her. It doesn’t matter if you are Hispanic or not."

La Danza Guadalupana, a dance group from Saint Therese of the Child Jesus Parish in Midvale, led the procession at Saint Francis Xavier Parish, followed by an honor guard provided by the Knights of Columbus and then all the parishioners, together as one community.

"She is our patron; this is our religion and it’s the only one," said Eugenio Zavala, Saint Francis Xavier parishioner.

The procession in Kearns was followed by another at the Cathedral of the Madeleine that was led by the Most Reverend John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City. A special float was designed for this celebration in which parishioners represented Our Lady of Guadalupe and other characters such as Fray Juan de Zumárraga and Saint Juan Diego.

After the procession, children from the catechism class at the Cathedral led the rosary.

Many other celebrations honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe took place throughout the diocese. For example, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus had the Guadalupe dancers and a big celebration and Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Salt Lake City had a procession from the state fair grounds to the parish.

"Our Catholic faith is the most important thing that we have, and we have to celebrate and honor our Mother," said Marisol Lopez, a parishioner of Saint Francis Xavier.