Parish celebrates week for Missionary Sunday
WEST VALLEY CITY — Leading up to World Mission Sunday on Oct. 24, Sts. Peter and Paul Parish hosted a week of related activities with the theme “Witnesses of the Risen, Missionaries of Hope in Utah.”
The events were organized by Father Sébastien Sasa, the parish administrator, and some of the parish leaders. The week reinforced the message given in Bishop Oscar A. Solis’s 2017 pastoral letter. “This is the ‘springtime of the new evangelization,’” Fr. Sasa said, adding that the parish is also working to implement the diocesan Pastoral Plan, which was published in 2018. The Pastoral Plan sets out priorities and goals that are intended to help local Catholics “in sharing our faith as missionary disciples of Christ,” as Bishop Solis wrote in the document’s introductory letter.
Sts. Peter and Paul Parish has been present for 50 years in West Valley City, and “now is the time to evangelize,” Fr. Sasa said. The missionary week began with opening Masses on Oct. 17.
Then, on Monday, Bishop Oscar A. Solis celebrated a kickoff Mass at the parish. Concelebrating was Fr. Rafael Murillo, administrator of Saint Marguerite Parish in Tooele.
“We come, we pray for all our brothers and sisters that are suffering; we pray for our country, the United States of America; for our kids…,” Fr. Sasa said as he welcomed Bishop Solis to the parish. Bishop Solis said he was grateful to be there that day.
“I am happy that this parish community takes seriously our sacred calling to be the missionary disciples of Christ in our world today,” the bishop said, adding that the Catholic Church exists to evangelize. “Our world needs authentic witnesses of God’s presence in our world,” he said. Noise and confusion are everywhere in today’s world, and it seems that “society has lost its moral compass to find the right direction. … We need believers in Christ that are ready to proclaim that there is a God that loves, cares and saves,” Bishop Solis said.
The Good News must remain not just in the Church or in people’s hearts, “It must be proclaimed and shared among all the people … We are called to share Christ with others,” he said.
The bishop congratulated Fr. Sasa and the parish leaders “for taking this initiative to profess, to live and to share.” He also prayed that the Lord would “mold us to became missionary disciples of Christ … agents of transformation so we can build a world in God’s kingdom with justice, peace and love.” Every day during the week, talks were given by diocesan leaders, priests or a woman religious.
Maria Cruz Gray, director of the diocesan Office of Hispanic Ministry, presented a talk titled “Lay Faithful: Missionaries of Hope in Utah,” which gave the characteristics of a missionary disciple of Jesus. “We know that as our Lord’s disciples, we are being transformed by the Holy Spirit. He sends us; he recognizes in each one of us certain individual characteristics,” Gray said. While everyone is different and has different abilities, all Catholics are missionary disciples of God, she said. “We are very important for the Lord. We are the hope of the Utah Church.
The Church exists to evangelize; we are all evangelizers. Each one of us is the hope of the Church in Utah.” A missionary disciple lives his or her baptism, is called and then sent on a mission, and will respond freely to the call, she said. A disciple loves, is obedient, wants to learn, keeps his or her hope in eternity alive, carries a cross, and lives to serve God and others, she added. “These are just some characteristics of a missionary disciple.”
She also raised two questions for those attending: “Are you ready to be molded as a true missionary disciple?” and “Can you identify in you some of the characteristics of the missionary disciples?”
The next day Fr. Javier Virgen, pastor of St. Joseph the Worker Parish in West Jordan, spoke on “Latinos/ Hispanics: a Missionary Presence in the Life of the Diocese of Salt Lake City.” In the Diocese of Salt Lake City, the presence of Latinos is very evident, Fr. Virgen said. “We have flourished in many ways.” Every priest who now comes to Utah has to speak both English and Spanish, as does every seminarian, he said. “Catholics, by their baptism, are called to proclaim the Good News,” Fr. Virgin said. “We always need to serve together and side by side to our priests. … Our diocese is a missionary diocese; the mission has to be lived in our parishes, and all that is learned in our parishes is going to be lived in our families.”
On Wednesday, Fr. Marco Tulio Lopez, administrator of St. Bridget Parish and its associated missions in Beaver County, spoke on missionary pastoral care.
Each parish in the diocese needs to live in unity, “but the diocese also needs unity with the Universal Church,” Fr. Lopez said, adding that this unity reflects the Scripture passage “The father and I are one” (John 10:30). Among the challenges of missionary pastoral care that people have to analyze is “What can we do and put into action; or do not do anything and leave it as it is,” Fr. Lopez said.
Many people choose to do nothing, he said, because it is the most comfortable solution. “Nevertheless, a small group decides to confront the challenges. This is not easy … but we can do it,” he said. Thursday’s presentation, titled ‘The Duties, Obligations, and Capacities of the Christian Faithful According to the Canon Law,” was by Fr. Langes J. Silva, the diocesan judicial vicar.
The Code of Canon Law contains the laws of the Church, Fr. Silva said, adding that in the Church, as in society, people have certain duties and certain obligations. “They are enumerated; we have about 12 duties, 10 obligations and three capacities (offices or functions),” he said. Some of the duties and obligations include working for evangelization, contributing to the work of the Church according to one’s capacities, and working and sustaining apostolic work.
Among the rights due to Catholics are the right to receive the spiritual benefits of the Church and the right to Christian education.
On Friday was a presentation on the importance of the priesthood by Fr. Joseph Delka, the diocesan vocations director who also is pastor of St. Andrew Parish in Riverton. He asked those present to join him in prayer for vocations to the Church. “Ask the Lord, because he can open hearts. ... Ask him, ‘God, are you calling me?’” Fr. Delka said, and also asked those present to pray for the grace needed to respond to the call.
On Saturday, Holy Cross Sister Laura Tiburcio Santos spoke about being given to God to be a witness to Christ. At the beginning of her religious life, she read the life of St. Teresa of Avila, she said, and that motivated her to profess her vows. “In my heart I imagined myself going to foreign lands, walking miles and miles preaching the Gospel, learning new languages.”
Since then, 15 years have passed, the last six in Utah, she said, adding that so far she hasn’t been able to go around the globe. “In my hometown we have a saying, ‘You need to have a pig’s stomach (so you can eat a lot) and you need to have a dog’s legs (so you can walk a lot),” she said, but she might not be able to abide by these requirements because her stomach is easily upset and she has hurt her knees so she can’t walk a lot, she said. Nevertheless, she definitely feels the missionary spirit in her.
“Being a missionary is a task that we develop in the place that we live and with the people that surround us,” she said. “… It’s always being available to give witness of God’s love. … We are all called to be missionaries because we belong to a missionary church.”
The missionary week concluded with a Mass celebrated by Fr. Sasa and Fr. Jose Barrera Hernandez, administrator of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus Parish in Midvale.
Fr. Barrera Hernandez said he joined the parishioners and Fr. Sasa in their joy at the end of the missionary week. “The importance of you as parishioners’ families, groups, to show your love for your priest, your dedication to your parish, relies on expressing service and support to the mission of Christ,” he said
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