October 20, 2010

Archbishop Gomez Gala more than doubles in attendance

By Anna Maria Basquez

Fort Lupton resident Julio Herrera had the stage Oct. 14 as one of the award recipients at the sixth annual Archbishop José H. Gomez Gala. In accepting it, he gave credit to two men whose words he said made an imprint on his life. 

In Herrera’s own fight with cancer, it was Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput’s words he said helped him through initial struggles.

“He said that God always has control over our lives and if we understand that, we will lose all fear,” Herrera recalled in a video made and presented at the gala.

He also asked Archbishop Gomez about injustice. The former Denver auxiliary bishop, now coadjutor archbishop of Los Angeles, told him that at times each person has to live with injustice but they need to look to God’s love as the presiding justice, “and that’s what should govern our lives.”

Herrera, called by many in his parish at St. William Catholic Church, a “true soldier of God” received the Pastoral Leadership Award at the gala among other reward recipients.

More than 440 people attended the gala at the Sheraton Hotel in Denver, which this year more than doubled in attendance as many anticipate Archbishop Gomez becoming a cardinal after he assumes leadership of the Los Angeles Archdiocese next year.

“He is going to be the first Latino to ever be ordained a cardinal in the Catholic Church,” said Ruth Sanchez, who was on the silent auction committee for gala, which benefits Centro de San Juan Diego, the Denver Archdiocese’s center offering family and pastoral care to Hispanics.

Sanchez said Archbishop Gomez was “very instrumental” in the development of the center that now coaches priests and lay Church workers in the Spanish language and helps people in the community work toward faithful citizenship, and parish and community leadership.

It’s the first year for the gala event to move from Centro’s location at 28th Avenue and Lawrence Street to the Sheraton, having outgrown its space.

Arthur and Lydia Heredia of St. Therese Church in Aurora received the Social Justice Leadership Award, Jerry and Mary McMorris received the special Amistad (Friendship) Award and James M. Lyons, an attorney and civic leader, received the inaugural Archbishop Charles J. Chaput Leadership Award.

Organizers said Archbishop Gomez’s appointment to Los Angeles, a diocese of more than 5 million people of which 70 percent are Hispanic, and his possible appointment as cardinal, might make it difficult for him to be able to return each year to the Denver gala. The former archbishop of San Antonio keynoted the event.

“I have entrusted my ministry to Our Lady of Guadalupe,” Archbishop Gomez said. “As soon as I could, after the announcement (of my appointment to Los Angeles), I went to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico to ask for her protection and intercession. ... I feel her maternal love and care for me and for all the people in our country.

“No doubt there are many challenges for the Church in Los Angeles, as well as for the Church in our country and for the universal Church, but I’m convinced that the time has come for the ‘springtime of the Christianity’ that Pope John Paul II talked about,” he said.

Of the center in Denver, he said, “I had the blessing to participate in the beginnings of Centro, under the initiative and leadership of Archbishop Chaput. Centro San Juan Diego is a beacon of light providing programs and services to help Hispanic immigrants integrate into society. More important, it is helping form new generations of leaders who will work to build a future of faith, hope and love in northern Colorado.”

Centro went from being a discussion, Archbishop Gomez said, to “a beautiful reality.”

“His dream and implementation with Archbishop Chaput has been a tremendous asset,” said Ron Montoya, a long-time leader in the Hispanic community who helped in the center’s formation. “He is our hero. We miss him terribly, but we know the Catholic Church is the beneficiary because he brings so much to the community.”

Katherine Crain, 23, of Houston, who is anticipating becoming a consecrated laywoman with the Marian Community of Reconciliation, said she remembers

Archbishop Gomez’s impact when she was a student at Trinity University in San Antonio.

“He has a special love for the young people,” Crain said. “Even though he had a busy schedule, he always made it a point to celebrate Ash Wednesday at our university.”

Executive Director Luis Soto said Centro San Juan Diego is proving its impact on the community by sheer numbers, with more than 30,000 served by the center in 2009, more than 200 students learning English there last year and more than 6,000 households watching Hispanic Ministry’s “Fe Católica Viva” (“Catholic Faith Alive”) television program each week.

“This is only the beginning,” Soto told the crowd. “With your support, we can do even more.”

Gala attendee Darlene Espinoza, 54, who works for The Catholic Foundation, went to school at the building housing Centro when it was Sacred Heart School. She also made her first Communion and confirmation there.

“Growing up in the neighborhood, I saw it when it was a school. When it closed down, it just sat there for so long as an empty building,” Espinoza said. “Now, it’s got so much purpose and meaning. It’s quite inspiring.”