Fr. Sternhagen to speak on 'Discipleship in America'

Friday, Apr. 01, 2022

SALT LAKE CITY — To help the people of the Diocese of Salt Lake City get to know new priests, Tim and Jackie Smithe, owners of Magdalene Religious Goods, try to provide opportunities for them to interact.

One such effort is an upcoming lecture by Father Dominic Sternhagen, the Cathedral of the Madeleine’s parochial vicar, which will be held on Saturday, April 9 at the store. The event is free and open to the public.

“We wanted to give an opportunity to get to know the new priests in a more casual setting,” Jackie Smithe said. “The diocese has been supporting them through their vocation formation, and it would be nice for people to hear what they did in seminary and their thesis and things they are passionate about.”

At the lecture, Fr. Sternhagen will share highlights from his master’s thesis “Discipleship in America: The Universal Call to Holiness as the Key to Church Renewal in the United States.”

“For my thesis, I wanted it to be on Church renewal, specifically on parish renewal, so I followed different thinkers, priests, people who have put that into practice in various ways that have worked,” he said. “The heart of any authentic Church renewal, specifically now at this moment that we face, is essentially discipleship, essentially putting into practice that evangelical call to go out and make disciples of all nations. That’s what the Church does; that’s what the Church is.”

“The center of our faith as Catholic Christians is the Eucharist, but why do we receive the Eucharist; what’s the point?” he added. “The point is transformation into Christ; in other words, to become a disciple, to become a follower of Christ and to put that into practice into the world.”

Copies of Fr. Sternhagen’s thesis may be pre-ordered. Proceeds from the sale will be donated to the Diocese of Salt Lake City Office for Vocations.

Eventually the store would like to host all the new priests in the diocese at similar events, Smithe said.

“Part of my initial thinking to this was to get people excited about their faith, to get them a little bit more out to the community, seeing that it’s not just going to Mass and hearing the priests; that they’re real people,” she said. “They’re out and about, they have interests.”

Magdalene Religious Goods also offers a free Divine Mercy devotion each Saturday at 4 p.m. 

“We want to be building community, not just selling stuff but actually be a ministry,” Smithe said.

WHAT: lecture by Fr. Dominic Sternhagen

WHEN: Saturday, April 9, noon to 1:30 p.m.

WHERE: Magdalene Religious Goods, 836 East 3300 South, SLC

Free and open to the public. 

To order a copy of Fr. Sternhagen’s thesis, for which there is a charge, call the store, 801-953-1820.