Holy Family Mission celebrates Holy Week with special visitors

Courtesy photo/Angélica De León

+ Enlarge

The Curiel Nuñez family from Aguascalientes, Mexico arrived at the Holy Family Mission in Fillmore to help them celebrate the Holy Week.

FILLMORE — Holy Family Mission in Fillmore celebrated a unique Holy Week this year. Two nuns from the religious congregation of Santa Ana in Aguascalientes, Mexico, came to Utah with a missionary family to support, educate and refresh Catholic spirits during the Holy Week celebration.

This unique visit happened with the help of Angélica De Leon, a parishioner of the Holy Family Mission, who worked with Father Hernando Diaz, the mission’s pastor, to bring the people from Mexico. Also instrumental in the visit was Ana Lilia Nuñez Garcia, De Leon’s sister, who lives in Aguascalientes.

"Last year my sister (Nuñez Garcia) came to our mission and saw all our needs; she realized that we didn’t have or celebrate many things, so she asked if she could came back with some support," De Leon said. "So I went to Fr. Diaz and asked him for his permission for them to come, which he, very generously, gave."

Nuñez Garcia suggested the idea of visiting Fillmore to the religious congregation of Santa Ana; Sisters Bertha Araceli Ibarra González and Bertha Alicia Martínez González agreed to come. They arrived in Utah with a missionary family, the Curiel Nuñezes, on Palm Sunday.

"Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday they gave several talks," De Leon said. The lectures were divided in three categories: the Curiel Nuñez parents were in charge of the marriage couples, the Curiel Nuñez children worked with those their own age, and Sr. Ibarra and Sr. Martínez gave presentations to the young people.

"To receive all this help has meant a lot; we have learned a lot and we have received very good advice, as well as many blessings," said De Leon.

Besides the talks, the sisters and the Curiel Nuñez family visited the sick, and also the people who don’t often attend Mass, inviting them to renew their faith and to continue their ministries.

They also invited the Catholic community to get together to celebrate the Holy Week days and Jesus’ resurrection as they renew their faith.

People were very happy with the visit, and they were willing to learn and to start working more for, and in, their Church and ministries, De Leon said.

"We haven’t ever celebrated a Holy Week like this," De Leon said, adding that she is very grateful to the religious congregation of Santa Ana for their help and support as well as to the Curiel Nuñez family.