Dinner acknowledges efforts of volunteers who contributed to Eucharistic Rally’s success

IC photo/Laura Vallejo

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Hundreds of volunteers gathered once again to celebrate the fruits of the Diocesan Eucharistic Rally. Here some of the volunteers enjoy a thanksgiving dinner in their honor. The event was celebrated Aug. 12 at Saint Vincent de Paul Parish’s Holy Family Hall.

SALT LAKE CITY — That 10,000 Catholics gathered in one place at one time in Utah, celebrating and sharing the source and summit of their Christian lives, was an effort that was possible thanks to the more than 300 volunteers who donated their time, talents and treasure for the celebration of the Diocesan Eucharistic Rally that took place on July 9.

Those volunteers were celebrated at the After the Rally appreciation dinner that took place on Aug. 12 in St. Vincent de Paul Parish’s Holy Family Hall.

The volunteers and participants at the Diocesan Eucharistic Rally and Mass reflected the diversity of cultures, languages and ethnicities in Utah’s Catholic community, said Kim Tosti, the Diocesan Eucharistic Rally Committee chairperson, who also helped organize the celebration for the volunteers.

Going from just a few volunteers who signed up in the early phases of the rally preparation to the hundreds who came through at the end was something like a miracle, she said.

“For me it was a way of seeing the Body of Christ in action,” Tosti said.

The volunteers came from both the English and Spanish-speaking communities as well as from other cultural backgrounds. They did everything from creating the decorations for the Family Zone, where the Rally participants were able to take a “spiritual pilgrimage” through Utah, to acting as ushers at the Mass. They also offered resources to people with disabilities, offered security and guidance throughout the event, served as judges for the youth Eucharistic Rally contest, and sang in the choir at the Mass, among many other activities.

Tosti thanked all the volunteers for putting their Catholic faith into action at the rally.

For many of the volunteers, the rally was inspiring and spiritually moving.

“It brought me to life,” said Jack Walls, a St. Vincent de Paul parishioner who participated with the choir. “I was amazed that, despite that we are many parts, we are all one body. We were all there for the Body of Christ.”

That feeling was shared by Irene Espinoza, another St. Vincent de Paul parishioner. “To be in there then and to be here now – it was an experience not to be replaced by anything else,” she said, recalling how participating in the choir with people from many parishes and of all ages left her with a joyful feeling.

“To see and feel how is to be with all those Catholics, was beautiful,” she said.

For Pam Walls, a St. Thomas More parishioner, volunteering for the rally’s youth arts contest made her feel that she is never alone.

“To be in the Catholic community in a larger way was very joyful,” she said, adding that seeing the participation by the youth in the community made her very proud.

“I like feeling reinforced that our community is alive,” she said.

For 13-year-old Ray Cano, who attends Notre Dame of Lourdes Parish in Price, being a volunteer at the rally “was very eye-opening to see how we came together to worship,” he said. “Now I feel and know that there are more people like me, young Catholics.”

Cano helped represent his parish by carrying a banner at the Mass; he also distributed programs at the different events.

“To see how we were all very happy and motivated meant the world,” said Elizabeth Ortega in Spanish.

A parishioner of St. Joseph in Ogden, Ortega  said that the joy of seeing thousands of people all from different cultures and backgrounds united as one Catholic family was priceless.

“It changed me in the sense that now I see that we all, no matter our differences, are daughters and sons of God,” she said.

For Our Lady of Guadalupe parishioner Sofia Palestino, volunteering at the rally was a great joy, she said. “It was a good energy all over the place; it made me very proud to be a Catholic in Utah.”

The rally was able to make the Eucharist and the Catholic community visible in Utah, she added. “The thing that was most powerful was to see how the community came together as one church, and to recognize how many of us are out there,” she said.

The rally was the culmination of the diocesan phase of the three-year Eucharistic Revival of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is meant “to restore understanding and devotion to this great mystery here in the United States by helping us renew our worship of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist,” according to eucharisticrevival.org. The current stage is the parish phase; next year the revival will end with a national gathering.