Diverse communities gather to follow Mary's example and say 'yes' to Jesus Christ

Friday, Oct. 03, 2014

SANDY  — The sight of Tongans, Filipinos, Latinos, Hispanics, Africans, Vietnamese, Anglos, and Catholics from various other cultures gathered to celebrate together is not seen every day. On Sept. 27, however, the Diocese of Salt Lake City Intercultural Marian Celebration at Saint Thomas More Catholic Church in Sandy brought people from diverse cultures  from all over Utah, each with their cultural representation of the Holy Virgin Mary.

“We are here today because religion is very important to our family, especially for our culture, it is very important to honor our mother,” said Emilio Manuel Camu from the Filipino community, who came to the celebration with his family and friends to celebrate  Mary as ‘Our Lady of Peña Francia.’

“When our culture and religion mix it is really important to show it, and it’s a good indication of who we are. When we honor our Lady we recognize Mother Mary as the mother of Jesus and the mother of us all,” said Manuel Camu, who is part of the Tagalog-Bicolanos Filipino community.

Mary is honored by various names throughout the world; at the celebrations were representations such as Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Sorrows, the Virgin of Fatima, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Our Lady of Manaoag, Our Lady of Grace, Our Lady of Lourdes, Our Lady of Evangelization and the Virgin of Copacabana, among others.

Cristina Sánchez was visiting her daughter in Utah when she heard about the celebration and decided that they would participate in the procession with the image of Our Lady of Copacabana.

“She is the Virgin of Bolivia,” Sanchez explained. “It enriches our faith to come here to celebrate Mary being our mother.”

Sanchez’ daughter, Adela, couldn’t agree more with her mother.

“This is a way for us to gather and share our beliefs and, through her, communicate with everybody. … Even if she has different names and representations, she is the mother of us all,” said Adela, a parishioner of Saint Francis of Assisi in Orem.

The holy rosary was also a big part of the celebration.

“We came here to celebrate the holy rosary with all our different communities and cultures,” said David Garcia, parishioner of Saints Peter and Paul Parish in West Valley City, who  was excited to share with his family the different traditions and cultures  at the celebration.

“It’s important that we show our kids our diverse Catholic communities and that we all gather as one in our devotion,” said Garcia. “They [our kids] need to learn about devotion, and we need to show them that the happiness is in God.”

After the recitation of the rosary and the procession, participants gathered in the church for Mass, at which the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, presided.

 Bishop Wester explained the importance of the presence of the diverse cultures and traditions with an analogy.

“When you have a movie you have all these projectors projecting the film. ... It is a complete image,” Bishop Wester said. “But when one of these projectors is missing, we miss the whole picture; you don’t have a whole picture. … This celebration that we are celebrating today projects a whole image, and the image that we are projecting today is the image of our Blessed Mother;” Mary,  the first disciple of Christ, who followed  Jesus to the cross.

Bishop Wester continued: “Each culture, each tradition, is projecting that image of Mary on the screen, and  today we have a much more complete picture of our Blessed Mother. … Thank you for being here; thank you for the opportunity to gather to honor Mary. … Today we are saying ‘yes’ to Jesus Christ, following the example of Mary,” the bishop said.