Hispanic leaders spend a year walking a path toward Jesus

Friday, Jun. 11, 2021

UTAH — A year ago, nearly 50 Hispanic leaders from all over the Diocese of Salt Lake City began a path toward getting to know Jesus Christ better, undergoing training in order to share his words as missionary disciples. 

As a way to help implement the diocesan pastoral plan, called Charting Our Mission, “all these Hispanic leaders will be going to all the parishes and missions all over the diocese to share the Word and to learn about the needs that the communities may have,” said Maria Cruz Gray, director of the diocesan Office of Hispanic Ministry.

Gray led the leadership formation, called El Camino de Cristo (Christ’s Way).

Over the course of the past year, the Hispanic leaders from parishes such as the Cathedral of the Madeleine, Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Ann, St. John Bosco Mission, St. Mary in West Haven, and St. Joseph in Ogden, among many others, gathered virtually to hear the presentations provided by the leaders themselves.

Almost all of the participants in the past year’s training previously were certified through the diocesan Hispanic lay ecclesial ministry formation program, called EMAUS. 

Now that the men and women have finished the training, they can continue “following God’s call  to go and preach the Gospel to everyone, as our bishop through the pastoral plan has asked us,” Gray said. “We are one Church, professing one faith in one Lord, and we have one mission – to proclaim the Gospel or the Good News of salvation to all people.”

Participating in the weekly formation sessions was a big effort, Gray said, especially at the beginning, when some of the participants were hesitant about the online format.

“I used to be against [online] media; I thought we were losing human contact, but throughout the pandemic the social media became a blessing,” said Rafael Castillo, a St. Francis Xavier parishioner and lay ecclesial minister, adding that the formation class “gave me the opportunity to listen and be with people right when I was leaving my job, in the parking lot.”

Although Castillo lost one of his sisters to COVID-19, he is grateful that the pandemic led him to the formation course – a learning experience that he is grateful for.

“I consider the loss of my sister hard, but thanks to the formation course [the pandemic] became a blessing,” said Castillo, who also teaches his parish’s Confirmation classes.

Considering himself an instrument of God, Castillo was surprised that he has been able to present themes through social media, feeling that God was holding his hand through it all, he said.

The formation course was “very complete; all the themes were very interesting and very formational,” he said.

The same feeling was shared by Marylin Acosta, a St. Rose of Lima parishioner who also is a certified lay ecclesial minister. 

The recent training was important because “there is always something more to learn, and despite the challenges that the pandemic brought, we were able to keep on learning through the technology,” Acosta said, adding that the class “helped the leaders to keep and to remember the basic teachings, but also to go deeper on them.”

The course, filled with “life-shaping biblical principles,” was also a response to Pope Francis calling for formal recognition of “those lay men and women who feel called by virtue of their baptism to cooperate in the work of catechesis,” Gray said.

On May 11, Pope Francis instituted the “ministry of catechist,” writing in the apostolic letter Antiquum Ministerium: “The Spirit is calling men and women to set out and encounter all those who are waiting to discover the beauty, goodness and truth of the Christian faith.”

The El Camino de Cristo training adds to the mission of the pastoral plan, Gray said. “With the support of our pastors to laypeople in answering the Spirit’s call to enrich the life of the Christian community through the lay ministers who are very capable of contributing to the transformation of society, our faith will continue flourishing in all.”

El Camino de Cristo leaders are Charo Alcocer, Jakelinne Capella, Hilda Diaz, Obdulia García, Alejandra Gomez, Blanca F. Mercado, Roberto Mercado and Nadia Molina, all from the Cathedral of the Madeleine; Rosario L. Cano (Notre Dame de Lourdes Parish); Martha Gaeta (Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish); Alicia Olayo, Jorge Olayo and Jackie Rivera, all from Our Lady of Lourdes Parish [Magna]; Karla Rodriguez (Sacred Heart Parish); Roberto Ceja (San Isidro Mission); Martha G. Chadaz (Santa Ana Mission); Eduardo Pérez and Elizabeth Pérez from St. Andrew Parish; Monica Miramontes and Imelda Soto from St. Ann Parish; Catalina Beristein, Laura Castillo, Rafael Castillo, Rosa Rodriguez and Elizabeth Wiggins, all of St. Francis Xavier Parish); Guadalupe Hurtado (St. John Bosco Mission); Olga Antonio, Ruben Arredondo, Yolanda Carillo, Joel Romero and Genoveva Solis, all of St. Joseph Parish; Hugo Arrambide (St. Lawrence Mission); Jose Arreaola (St. Marguerite Parish); Ma. Carmen Coronado, Margarita González, Luz Luna and Anaveli Tarango, all of St. Mary Parish; Marylin Acosta (St. Rose of Lima Parish); Leticia Alcantar, Cecilia Lopez and Lourdes Ortiz, all of St. Therese of the Child Jesus Parish; Mariana Ceron and V. Noe Ceron of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish; and Juanita C. García, Fabiola Trujillo, Delfia Gutierrez and Alfredo Valenzuela, all of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish.