Intercultural Marian Celebration honors Our Lady

Friday, Sep. 12, 2025

SALT LAKE CITY — This year’s Intercultural Marian Celebration will take place on Oct. 4 at St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church in Park City.

Every year the celebration takes place in different parishes around the Diocese of Salt Lake City but one thing that is always constant is the participation of hundreds of faithful Catholics of a variety of cultures, languages and backgrounds who joyfully celebrate Our Lady in her different representations around the world.

Among these participants is the family of Roberto and Gracie Cortes, St. Mary of the Assumption parishioners who more than a decade ago learned about the celebration through the diocese’s lay ecclesiastic minister formation program in Spanish, known as EMAUS.

“Back then, it was a handful of parishes, and it was unknown to St. Mary’s,” said Gracie Cortes, who is the parish’s receptionist. “Roberto and I would join other parishes in the procession and pray in English and Spanish.” 

Hoping to bring the celebration to Park City, Cortes said that they patiently waited for the opportunity to host the event. 

Cortes and her husband wanted to bring the celebration to their parish because it is a beautiful celebration of Marian apparitions, she said, “but there was a waiting list, and we waited 14 years. This is a great opportunity to welcome everyone.”

For her the Intercultural Marian Celebration is an opportunity “to share different cultures within our faith community of Park City, which is not as diverse,” she said. “Bringing together multiple cultures who participate in celebrating Our Blessed Mother in different ways is such a blessing and amazing experience.”

Joining together to publicly venerate Our Mother in her different representations around the world is important because “that provides a continuation of the growth of our faith and love; we pray as one in different languages to Our Blessed Mother,” she said. 

For this year’s celebration, the Cortes are preparing an image of St. Mary of the Assumption, their parish’s patroness.

Our Lady reflects the universality of Mary’s love, said Jakelinne Capella-Aponte, a promotora and victim advocate for Holy Cross Ministries. “Her different devotions allow her to be present and close in the lives of the people, showing the realities and needs of each one. This reaffirms our faith in her intercession before her Son, Jesus Christ, as she did at the wedding at Cana, in her role as the spiritual mother of the Church.”

Capella-Aponte has participated every year in the Intercultural Marian Celebration, she said, and is a member of the event’s organizing group, which is led by Maria Cruz Gray, retired director of the diocese’s Office of Hispanic Ministry and made up of participants from diverse communities. Each member of the group “enthusiastically represents their country through the different Marian devotions that reflect their history and traditions,” Capella-Aponte said.

For the event, the priest and the parish community hosting the event “actively participate in the preparations, with the goal of welcoming all the faithful who come from different cities in Utah and from various cultures around the world. All are united with one purpose: to honor Our Lady, the Virgin Mary,” Capella-Aponte said.

The celebration includes a procession in which many participants carry images of Our Lady as she is represented in their tradition. Afterward, Bishop Oscar A. Solis will preside at Mass.

“We conclude with a communal gathering that includes food and traditional dances from different countries,” Capella-Aponte said. “That is why participating in the Intercultural Marian Celebration is so beautiful: because it is an opportunity to honor Our Mother through prayer, sharing, and accompanying one another as her sons and daughters from all corners of the world.”

For Caio and Pricila Vaz, parishioners of Saint Joseph the Worker Parish in West Jordan, participating in the celebration is a reminder of their hometown in Brazil and also “a way to unite all the Catholic Brazilians,” Pricila Vaz said. “For us it is very important to participate.”

In the procession, the Vazes will carry an image of Our Lady of Aparecida (Nossa Senhora Aparecida), a Black Madonna who is the patroness of Brazil.

“For us, honoring Our Blessed Mother as a pilgrim virgin here in Utah is something very special,” Vaz said.

Before the celebration, members of the Brazilian community gather to decorate the carriage that will display the image with flowers. “We invite all to participate,” Vaz said, adding that they also print some shirts with the image of Our Lady of Aparecida for people to wear.

For her, it is important to celebrate Our Lady because “we are not in our home countries,” she said. “We live as immigrants, and we ask for Our Lady’s intercession for all of us. She will guide us to the road of hope where we can find the strength to be stronger every day and to be closer to God.”

WHAT: Intercultural Marian Celebration

WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 4, 3:30-8 p.m.

WHERE: Saint Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church, 1505 W. White Pine Canyon Road, Park City

All are invited.