Five women complete Latina leadership program

Friday, May. 02, 2025

UTAH — Several members of the Diocese of Salt Lake City recently graduated from Mujer Valiente (Brave Woman), a leadership certificate program for Latina Catholic leaders from dioceses across the United States.

The program is a collaborative effort of Catholic Extension. Its goal is to create a network of women leaders in the Church.

This is the second group from Utah to participate in the program. The first cohort consisted of six Hispanic women leaders in the diocese. This year there were five local participants: Esperanza Arias, Yolanda Carrillo, Delfina Gutierrez, Genoveva Solis and Elizabeth Wiggins.

Being able to live this experience “has been a huge opportunity. I have been serving for some years, and I love to learn,” said Gutierrez, a parishioner of Sts. Peter and Paul in West Valley City.

“Knowledge is very important,” she added, because when people learn new things they can serve the community better.

“Being part of this program where you grow spiritually, emotionally and having that knowledge helps a lot,” she said.

When she thinks of the people who don’t have the opportunity to participate in this type of program or who are unable to participate in programs offered by the diocese, “it makes me realize how important it is to step up and do as much as we can do,” she said.

Because the Diocese of Salt Lake City is comprised of parishes and missions with long distances between them, “people live there with the hope to be able to participate in the pastoral programs, so having participated [in the Catholic Extension program] is a huge blessing,” Gutierrez said.

The program opened Gutierrez’s mind to all “the things that I can do to go out to the peripheries and serve,” she said. “God wants us to serve everyone, everywhere; we are instruments of God.”

Experiencing the program made her realize that there are no limits to her ministry, she said. “God grants us the strength to do what he needs us to do. Now I feel brave enough to go out to evangelize.”

This is important nowadays “because we all are distracted,” she said. “The world is very noisy and prevents us from seeing all the food that God offers us every day, every moment.” 

For her, to be a Mujer Valiente means “that we all are brave, but sometimes we are unsure about going out,” she said. “We put limits. … Being a Mujer Valiente is not putting up barriers against what God is asking us to do, to go out and to reach out. When God calls us he gives us the tools. Being a Mujer Valiente is to not put limits to God.”