Spirituality director ready to welcome Bishop Niederauer back to Utah
DRAPER — Members of Utah’s Catholic Hispanic community gathered at the Skaggs Catholic Center March 29 to celebrate Maria Cruz Gray, who retired last October after more than 30 years as director of the diocesan Hispanic Ministry Office.
The event, organized by Rosario Cano, a lay ecclesial minister and parishioner of Notre Dame of Lourdes Parish in Price, was “an occasion to give thanks for the many gifts, teachings and blessings that Maria Cruz has shared with all the Hispanics in Utah,” Cano said.
As Gray entered the room at the beginning of the celebration, Cano told her, “You have done so much for all of us, you are our spiritual mother.”
Among those present were members of groups such as the Mujeres Valientes, the diocesan Charismatic Renovation in the Holy Spirit, lay ecclesiastic ministers from both Spanish-language classes, catechists, deacons and priests. They gave Gray a standing ovation as a live mariachi band sang “de Colores,” a traditional Spanish language folk song.
Cano also presented Gray with a book inscribed by those attending. Among the entries in the book were: “Thank you for being the sparkle that ignited our hearts,” “Your love has given us the strength to go out to the peripheries to evangelize and give testimony y of our faith,” and “Thanks for teaching us the true meaning of being a disciple and for being that light in our darkness.”
Those sentiments were echoed by Marylin Acosta, a member of the first EMAUS lay ecclesial minister class who also is a religious education teacher and is certified by the Mujer Valiente program.
Acosta thanked Gray for “all that you have done for all of us. No words are enough to express how grateful we are for all your teachings. All I have learned is thanks to her.”
Father Jorge Roldan, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish and spiritual advisor of the diocesan Charismatic Renovation group, also expressed gratitude for Gray’s ministry in the diocese.
“The diocesan Charismatic Renovation is very grateful to you for all you have done for us,” he said, thanking Gray and presenting her with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Father Jose Barrera Hernandez, pastor of San Felipe Parish in Wendover, said that Gray has a cross in her name and “in her heart. All of us that are here today and everyone in the diocese has known you as a dedicated and committed woman to the formation of the People of God. We are very grateful to you for all you have done through all these years. You have lived the pastoral charity; when a person is capable of giving that extra mile, of going beyond schedules to look for that lost sheep, it is because she has understood that Jesus’ heart is deep, intense. … God sent you to us; he knows all your joys, your tears, your travels all over the diocese that have taken the formation to all the ministries, forming people.”
Gray also had been an ear for all the priests “and for all the community,” Fr. Barrera Hernandez added. “She is someone who listened, who has sacrificed her time for us. She also helped me to understand what it means to be a priest here in Utah in this culture, so she has also been a spiritual mother to me,” he said, presenting her with a gift from the Salvadoran diocesan priests, “who are very grateful to you.”
Father Christopher Gray, pastor of Saint Mary of the Assumption Parish in Park City, who is Gray’s youngest son, thanked those present at the March 29 event.
“In the name of all my family, I am very grateful for [you] putting this time aside to celebrate my mother; from the bottom of my heart I say, ‘thank you,’” he said.
Also present at the event were Maria Cruz Gray’s two older children, her son Edward and his wife Shaunna; and her daughter Jane.
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