St. Marguerite Parish holds Lenten retreat

IC photo/Marie Mischel

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Amanda Karabatsos, St. Marguerite Parish's director of religious education and the school's director of advancement, speaks about the diocesan Pastoral Plan during the parish's "Disciples of Jesus" retreat in English on March 7; a retreat in Spanish with the same topics was held two weeks before.

TOOELE — Gathering together to learn and pray, members of St. Marguerite Parish’s English-speaking community attended a March 7 retreat to discuss implementing the diocesan Pastoral Plan and also to reflect on Lenten practices. A retreat in Spanish was held two weeks prior.

The day was a chance “to spend more time together to learn, to pray, to know a little more about the Church, about the sacraments,” said Fr. Rafael Murillo, pastor. “As we know better our faith, our Church, our community, we will love it.”

The diocesan Pastoral Plan, introduced by Bishop Oscar A. Solis in the fall of 2018, has five priorities: faith formation, vocations, stewardship, Eucharist and Catholic identity, and the dignity of the human person. Each priority has goals, objectives and strategies; every parish in the diocese has been asked to implement the Pastoral Plan in a way that best suits the needs of its community.

At St. Marguerite, one aspect of faith formation already underway is a brief catechesis about the Eucharist that takes place during each weekend Mass. At the retreat, Fr. Murillo said that, after Lent, he plans to start three Bible study groups: one each in English and Spanish for adults, and another for youth. He also is exploring the idea of having one for children.

To those gathered at the retreat, he said that with their help the parish would meet this goal.

During the first part of the retreat, Amanda Karabatsos, the parish’s director of religious education and the school’s director of advancement, presented the Pastoral Plan.

The plan “reflects the vision and the hopes of our bishop, but it’s arrived in the community and we have a responsibility to follow the plan and try to accomplish the goals that they’ve set forth for us,” Karabatsos said. “It is vital that we work together as a Church community to come together, talk about who we are as a Church and how we can work together to move forward into the future. As a Body of Christ we need to pray about our goals for our future.”

Following the presentation on the Pastoral Plan, Deacon Rick Huffman spoke about the season of Lent and handed out a sheet with a list of suggestions of ways to implement each of the three pillars of Lent: fasting, prayer and almsgiving. He recommended that those present chose one item from each column.

The final two presenters for the retreat were Lorena Needham, a parishioner who spoke on how unity in diversity can be achieved, and Holy Cross Sister Catherine Kamphaus, associate superintendent of Utah Catholic Schools, whose topic was “Disciples of Jesus.”