'Shoulder to Shoulder with Christ': New Hispanic Vocations Apostolate Celebrates Installation Mass
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Colorado’s first Hispanic Serra Club begins with more than 120 members and a mission to strengthen priestly and religious vocations in the Church through prayer and service.
By Patricia Leebrick
The power of the Holy Spirit was clearly evident at the installation Mass for a new Hispanic apostolate supporting religious vocations, celebrated Friday, Aug. 28. The newly established St. Junípero Serra Apostolate of North Central Colorado (CNC) is the first Hispanic Serra Club in Colorado and is part of Serra International, a global lay apostolate dedicated to promoting and fostering religious vocations.
“The ministry you are taking on is of essential importance in the life of the Church,” Bishop Jorge Rodríguez told the founding members in his homily, referring to the fundamental work of praying for priestly vocations.
“To receive the Eucharist, you need a priest. There is no other way in the world to have the real presence of the living Jesus except through the ministry of a priest,” he emphasized.
In addition to being Colorado’s first Hispanic Serra chapter and the fourth Hispanic club in the country, the new Serra CNC Apostolate is the largest club in the history of Serra International, with more than 120 members initiated during Friday’s chartering ceremony.
“Jesus wants us as a community, united in prayer. Usually, it takes more than a year to do all of this, but Jesus, for his name and for us, gave it to us in three months,” explained Lourdes Keefner, founding president of the Hispanic apostolate, referring to the creation of the club.
Joined by family members, friends and fellow parishioners, the officers and founding members of the new Hispanic ministry celebrated the establishment of the apostolate with palpable joy throughout the evening.
“The Serra Club works shoulder to shoulder with Christ for vocations,” Bishop Rodríguez said in his homily, thanking the founding members for the Serran mission to which they had committed themselves.
The installation Mass was held at Immaculate Conception Parish in Lafayette and was followed by an induction ceremony and reception dinner.
Concelebrated by Father Shaun Galvin, the parish's pastor, the special Mass united hearts on fire with love for the Church, for religious vocations and for the center of our Catholic faith: the Eucharist.
(Photos by Christina Antus/Denver Catholic)
Following the Example of St. Junípero Serra
Praying for religious vocations is something many Catholics around the world do, but Serra members especially take to heart the reality that Jesus is present in the Eucharist. With grateful hearts, Serrans carry out their mission of praying for religious vocations and supporting priests, following the example of St. Junípero Serra, the organization’s patron. Born in Spain in the 18th century, St. Junípero was a missionary priest who crossed the ocean to spread the Gospel in the Americas.
“St. Junípero landed in Veracruz and walked, with a badly infected and swollen foot, all the way to the basilica in Mexico,” Lourdes recounted, highlighting the saint’s passion for spreading Christ’s love throughout the land. “When he arrived at the basilica in Mexico, he stayed there all night and said to Our Lady of Guadalupe, his godmother, ‘For you, my Lady, I go to the missions.’”
With that same love for the Eucharist and the Catholic Church, members of Serra International dedicate themselves to praying for and supporting religious vocations.
“Our patron saint was a very humble priest who came to the Americas to pray and show others how to do the same. And that is our message: It is all about prayer. Serra’s primary purpose is to pray,” said Jesse Gallegos, vice president of cultural outreach for the Serra Council of the United States.
Gallegos was one of the special guests who traveled from out of state for the installation Mass. Margo Geddie, president of Serra International, also attended the ceremony and reflected on the impact of Serra Clubs worldwide.
“We have a presence in 30 countries, and we are working diligently to expand that footprint,” Geddie explained. She added that Serra International recently founded a club in Dubai, its first in an Arab country, and that next month she will travel to Beijing in hopes of establishing another there.
Like St. Junípero Serra, the apostolate that bears his name crosses continents to expand support for religious vocations and the love of God.
“What is so beautiful about Serra is that it not only strengthens the culture for creating more vocations, but it also fosters our own sense of holiness and the community we develop as Serrans,” Geddie said.
A Long-Awaited Community
The founding members’ desire for a Spanish-speaking community that shared Serra International’s mission led to the creation of the CNC Apostolate. María Montenegro, vice president of communications for the new community, expressed her hopes for the impact the new club will have on Hispanic Catholics in Colorado.
“By creating a Hispanic community, we can reach Spanish-speaking people who are in the United States and may not feel at home in an English-speaking community,” she said.
Virginia Traxler, vice president of cultural outreach for the new club, said she is excited to see so many people embracing Serra’s mission in the Archdiocese of Denver.
“My dream is that we can continue sustaining the group we have been able to create so that we develop strong roots and can create other apostolates in other churches,” she said.
In addition to praying for priests, the club hopes to contribute to the formation of holy families.
“Priests come from families. We are going to try to evangelize families so that they learn more about our faith. As they learn more about our faith, they will see more calls to vocations,” explained María Guadalupe Cruz, the club’s president-elect.
Through the Rosary and Eucharistic Adoration, members of the CNC Apostolate regularly praise the Lord.
“Jesus is alive in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, and that is why we pray and adore for priestly vocations,” Keefner said. “In the Most Blessed Sacrament of the altar is the living source of love, the living source of the truth of our Catholic faith.”
Vocations: Gifts from God
As tirelessly as the Serra Club works to promote vocations and pray for them, Bishop Rodríguez emphasized in his homily that, ultimately, priestly vocations are gifts that only God can give.
“We do not have a factory where young men come in and we make priests. Priests are chosen directly by God,” he said.
Although there are things in this world we can obtain through work or money, the things we cannot obtain but can only receive are the most important, the bishop said.
“The priest — who is something so essential, because without the priest we do not have the Eucharist, and without the Eucharist we do not have a Church — is the one thing the Church cannot produce, buy or bring about,” he emphasized.
Because the Eucharist is the heart of the Church and, through priests, God gives us the gift of Communion, the bishop stressed that the greatest thing we can do for the life of the Church is to pray for them.
“A priestly vocation is one of those realities for which we can do nothing but cry out longingly to heaven,” he said.
Filled with gratitude for the essential work of praying for priests, Bishop Rodríguez expressed his hope for the new Hispanic club.
“God willing, with your support, we will reach the point where every parish in the Archdiocese of Denver has a vocation ministry, where priestly vocations are promoted and where people pray for priestly vocations,” he said.
With hearts full of faith and love, the Hispanic members of the new St. Junípero Serra CNC Apostolate are embarking on a mission to foster religious vocations within the Archdiocese of Denver's Hispanic community.
For more information, visit www.serracnc.org.
