Parish program leads to new ministries

Friday, Mar. 24, 2017

OREM — New parish ministries have come from the small communities’ program produced by the Global Vision of the Integral System of the New Evangelization; making St. Francis of Assisi Parish a place where parishioners put their diverse talents to use.

One of those ministries is the parish’s pastoral social justice group, which has hosted events such as the postcard campaign earlier this year, which asked parishioners to sign postcards opposing legalizing assisted suicide and supporting the repeal of the death penalty. These postcards were presented earlier this year to state legislators, who were considering bills on both issues.

In addition, the pastoral social justice group  has organized a gathering with an immigration lawyer to offer information about the new laws and of the rights of the immigrants in the United States, and has prepared more than 250 lunches to donate to the Food & Care Coalition in Provo.

Now the parish ministry is preparing a parish directory compiling the different skills and talents of individuals and parishioner-owned companies to share with those who may need to get a certain job done.  

“We also want to help them [our parishioners] prepare for new jobs,” said Karina Alonso, who is one of the organizers of the ministry.

The job is far from easy because they have had to gather and sort a lot of information, but the final result is something that they are really looking forward to, she said.

Alonso, who is bilingual, has facilitated the work that the pastoral social justice group ministry is doing.

“We solidified our faith by reinforcing our Catholic teachings, and reaching out to the ones that have a need in our community,” said Alonso, who every day invites more and more people to join their efforts of making Saint Francis of Assisi Parish a community of faith for all.

“This ministry is a way of creating more of a conscience and show charity to our brothers and sisters in need,” said Carlos Reyes, a Saint Francis of Assisi parishioner.

Everyone is invited to participate in this ministry.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re older or younger,” said Alonso. “What is important is the intention of helping and doing something for others.”

That is the reason that ignites that fire in her, Alonso said.

“At the end of the day we all have the same mission to be good to one and other and help as much as we can,” said Alonso.