'You Are Not Alone on the Journey': How a Commerce City Parish Is Changing Young Lives
At Our Lady Mother of the Church Parish, young Catholics are discovering the power of a community that walks with them in faith — and gives them the freedom and encouragement to follow God's call.
God continues to call, and young people continue to respond. At Our Lady Mother of the Church Parish in Commerce City, prayer, the youth group and the commitment of the parish community offer young people accompaniment and a place to draw closer to God and strengthen their faith.
Among the fruits of that journey of faith, two young people from the parish have begun discerning their vocations and discovering how God is calling them to serve.
A Call Born in Community
Jesus Santana Soto grew up in a Catholic home, but over time his family stopped practicing the faith. In 2020, he returned to the Church after his older brother joined the youth group at Our Lady Mother of the Church and invited him to participate. Seeing her sons become more involved in the parish, their mother also began attending Sunday Mass.
It was in the youth group that Santana found new opportunities to grow in faith and learn to serve. His participation in the group and in a school of evangelization marked his journey and helped him discover his desire to serve God.
“At a school of evangelization I attended, I learned how to be a missionary and how to serve young people and the people of God. Serving the people is what inspired me to draw closer to the Church, to learn more about my faith and how I can help others grow in the faith,” Santana said.
Throughout this process, the support of the parish community has also been essential. For him, Our Lady Mother of the Church has become a second family that sustains him through prayer and affection.
“The community supports you so much. The inspiration of the community has also taught me that I have another family besides my mom and my brother. That helps you feel that you are not alone on the journey, that you have many people supporting you and praying for you,” he said emotionally. “When I say I have another family, it is because that community has truly been with me at every step of my journey.”
Msgr. Jorge de los Santos, pastor of Our Lady Mother of the Church, closely accompanies the young people and makes sure they find in the parish a place where they can grow in faith, serve others and discover how God is calling them.
“We are doing very beautiful work. We extend the invitation to discern one’s vocation. Not only to consecrated life, but to really think about what their vocation is: marriage, missionary life or consecrated life,” Msgr. Jorge de los Santos told the Denver Catholic.
For Msgr. De los Santos, what matters is that every young person has the opportunity to listen to God and recognize the path to which God is calling them.
Jesus Santana Soto smiles with a cut-out of Pope St. John Paul II at Steubenville of the Rockies.
(Photos provided)
More Than a Youth Group, a Family of Faith
Behind these stories is a community seeking to bring young people closer to Christ and walk with them in their spiritual growth.
Yessica Reyna Guerrero, the youth group's coordinator, has witnessed the growth the community has experienced in recent years and the impact that accompaniment has had on young people.
“We are working so that young people not only know their faith, but also have a personal encounter with Jesus Christ and discover that they have a place in the Church,” Reyna Guerrero said. “It all begins by learning to see each young person as a unique individual.”
Accompanying young people is also an opportunity to guide and support them in their spiritual growth. Reyna Guerrero emphasized the importance of being present during this stage of their lives and helping them strengthen their relationship with God.
“Accompaniment is fundamental during youth,” she said. “It is not about telling them which path they should choose, but about walking with them, listening to them, helping them pray, offering them tools for discernment and giving them words of affirmation in moments of achievement and when they take risks.
“Accompanying young people requires time, patience and consistency. Not everyone moves forward at the same pace,” she continued.
Likewise, Msgr. De los Santos strives to make sure the young people in his parish find a joyful and welcoming environment where they can grow in faith and put their gifts at the service of others. Through fellowship, activities and apostolic work, he seeks to help them recognize God’s presence in their lives.
“We support them in a joyful environment. I joke around with them a lot. That is how God calls us. It is in the work and in the apostolate that the call is felt most strongly,” Msgr. De los Santos said.
For Santana, this closeness has had special significance. Having grown up without a close relationship with his biological father, he found in Msgr. De los Santos a father figure who has accompanied him on his journey of faith.
“Monsignor is not just a priest or a minister of the Church. He has also acted like a father to me, like a dad. He has taught me so much, not only about the faith, but about life,” Santana said.
The Fruits of a Community That Accompanies
Santana is currently continuing his formation in the seminary, where prayer, daily Mass and fraternity with his fellow seminarians are part of his life. From his own experience, he hopes to encourage more young people to draw closer to God and find their place in the parish community.
“When you go to Mass, listen to the Gospel and the readings, when you go to youth groups, listen to the words people share with you, because they come from the Lord. If you hear an invitation from the Lord, it does not matter how old you are or what you have lived through: The Lord only wants your heart. Do not be afraid,” Santana shared. “I entered with fear, but I trusted in the Lord, and that was one of the most important and beautiful decisions of my life.”
Santana’s story is not the only one that reflects the fruits of the Our Lady Mother of the Church community. Abigail Mata, who was also part of the parish youth group, entered the Discalced Carmelite Allies of the Most Holy Trinity. She is currently in Aguascalientes, Mexico, where she has begun her religious formation.
For Reyna Guerrero, both stories are a source of joy and pride because they reflect how young people respond to God’s call.
“Through their yeses, they are teaching me,” she shared emotionally. “They are a reminder that God continues to call.”
Reyna Guerrero also emphasized that these fruits are the result of the effort and accompaniment of an entire community, not of any one person.
“I do not consider it the result of a single activity or one particular person, but rather of a process involving the grace of God, prayer and the accompaniment of their pastoral community, priests and families,” she said.
“It is an honor to be able to hear the Lord’s call. I believe Abigail feels the same way. Seeing the fruits of my parish makes me very proud to be part of Our Lady Mother of the Church and to be close to the Lord,” Santana concluded.
