March 24, 2010

Advocate for homeless, youth makes perpetual promises as consecrated laywoman

By Anna Maria Basquez

Peru-born Susana Nieto on March 16 became the third consecrated laywoman of her community to profess her perpetual promises in the United States, devoting her life to celibacy, obedience to God and sharing of goods as part of the Marian Community of Reconciliation.

It has been a journey of 12 years for her, nearly eight of which have been with the Denver community. For Nieto, the journey toward committing to consecrated life has been a day-by-day progression.
“Every day is a confirmation that this is a calling and every day I give thanks to God for that,” Nieto said. 

More than 200 attended the evening Mass and profession held at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Denver. It was followed by a small festive gathering.

“It is like a wedding reception,” said Lorena Capone, a close friend of the Marian Community of Reconciliation, who attended. “She has given her life to God.”

Capone said she knows Nieto has done extensive work with youth and campus ministries.

“On St. Patrick’s Day, she puts up a table in the middle of (Auraria) campus and hands out green cookies and St. Patrick cards that tell who he was,” she said. “Most of the campus kids say, ‘Oh, there was a real St. Patrick?’”

Nieto hasn’t been shy about extending reminders of faith issues to youth. Capone recalled Nieto had helped organize a pro-life photography exhibit throughout the Auraria campus. It had such impact that other Christian groups have contacted Nieto for help promoting other pro-life events on campus.

Some of the most rewarding parts of her journey have been in showing the needy and youths there’s more to life than their struggles, Nieto said.

“After Christmas every year, I go to Peru and help at a camp for the street children,” Nieto said. “I like to teach them a lot about the Lord, and to teach that there’s something else that is more than living on the streets and surviving.”
She said bringing faith to street people gives more advantage than just helping them with their material needs.

“I started out working in human services and when you have the faith, it’s different,” she said. “When you see the world without faith, it’s really hard to find meaning.” 

The Marian Community of Reconciliation, which shares the same spirituality as the Christian Life Movement founded in Lima, Peru, by layman Luis Fernando Figari, decides where each consecrated laywoman, called a fraterna, is needed. Nieto may stay in Denver, but said she looks forward to being “wherever the Lord will take me.”

She entered the Marian Community of Reconciliation in 1998 in Peru and the community made the decision to send her to Denver in 2002.

Denver Auxiliary Bishop James Conley was the main celebrant of the liturgy.

Nieto’s consecration, he said, “reminds us of our eternal destination.

“We are all called to eternity,” the bishop said. “The world can distract us. We need to keep heaven before us. All of us ask, ‘What is God’s plan for us?’”

Times like a consecration, he said, lead us “to horizons to dedicate ourselves ... but with freedom.

“Your consecration will free you to live in full apostolic availability to God,” Bishop Conley said to Nieto.

Claudia Samame, 32, who joined the Denver Marian Community of Reconciliation in 1997, said what strikes her most about Nieto is “her love to serve everyone, especially those in need, her desire to serve God and to love God, and her desire to bring God to every person she encounters.”

Capone said Nieto has a gift for one-on-one apostolate, “where she really makes friends with that person, cares for that person and shares her faith with that person.”

Denver’s Marian Community of Reconciliation is the largest of the three communities in the United States, with six members. Other locations are in Texas and Connecticut.

The Colorado community was founded in 1998 in the Archdiocese of Denver. For the first four years, it resided in Wheat Ridge. In 2003, they moved to Denver in the residence of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church on Auraria campus.
Concelebrants included Msgr. Bernard Schmitz, Msgr. Jorge De los Santos, Father Daniel Cardo, and Father James Thermos.