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COMMUNITY
June 25, 2019 | The Valley Catholic
Department for Evangelization Welcomes New Directors
By Liz Sullivan
Within the last month, the Diocese of
San Jose’s Department for Evangeliza-
tion has welcomed two new directors.
Marcus Cabrera takes over the Of-
fice of Life, Justice and Peace. Joel de
Loera is the new Director of Family Life
and Spirituality.
“I, along with Father Gerardo
Menchaca, my successor, are delight-
ed to have met both Joel and Marcus
through the interview process,” said
Father John Hurley, CSP, the outgoing
Vicar for Evangelization. “After a long
search, both bring a wide breath of ex-
perience and passion for their ministry.
And, it is obvious over these weeks of
transition in the department; they will
be great and joyful collaborators in the
diocese.”
Cabrera, married with three daugh-
ters, arrived in San Jose after serving in
the Dioceses of San Diego and Orange
as a teacher and youth minister.
“I look forward to serving the
Church in San Jose alongside our par-
ish and school communities,” said
From left, outgoing Vicar for Evangelization, Father John Hurley, CSP, Marcus Cabrera, Joel
de Loera and incoming Vicar for Evangelization, Father Gerardo Menchaca.
Cabrera. “Bringing the Gospel to each
one of our communities is a joy and
duty we all share, and I look forward
to serving every person I encounter as
the chief resource for matters of Life,
Justice, and Peace.”
For de Loera, the path to the Dio-
cese of San Jose has meant stops in
Oklahoma and Texas. Married with
five children, de Loera has a Pastoral
Ministry Certification from Newman
University in Wichita, Kansas and a
Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Theological
Studies, and a Master’s Degree in Pasto-
ral Theology, both from Saint Joseph’s
College in Standish, Maine.
“I am really excited to be here and
I look forward to serving the beautiful
families and faith community of this
Diocese,” said de Loera. “Guided by
the Holy Spirit, sustained by mutual
prayer, nourished by the Sacraments,
and clinging to faith, hope and charity,
may we always walk together in our
pilgrimage toward Heaven.”
Faith and service to faith are very
important to both Cabrera and de Loera.
“Within the ministries (in San Diego
and Orange), I witnessed the love and
concern of parents and guardians for
their families and communities,” said
Cabrera. “While celebrating the success
of many parents & children, I also inter-
vened on behalf of others, and grieved
over untimely deaths. In each case, I
counted on the grace of God to help me
reach into the lives of each person for
healing and hope.”
For de Loera, there was a time in his
life when his faith had fallen to the side.
“During my younger years, I fell
away from the Church and wanted
nothing to do with God,” he said. “Af-
ter much restlessness, several painful
experiences and a poignant spiritual
odyssey, I finally came back home. God
is good and He never abandons us.”
To learn more about the Office
of Family Life and Spirituality, visit
www.dsj.org/evangelization/family-life.
For the Office of Life, Justice and Peace,
visit www.dsj.org/evangelization/
social-ministries.
Holy Spirit Conducts Symphony of
Communion, Pope says at Audience
By Junno Arocho Esteves
Our Lady of Peace Church & Shrine
Msgr. John Sweeny Family Learning Center
2800 Mission College Blvd. Santa Clara, CA 95054
Our Lady's Way is the remarkable story of the priests and people
who turned a futureless church into a mecca of faith and conversion
with a simple hope for the future, zeal for souls, and unwavering
love for Christ and His Mother.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Like an or-
chestra conductor leading a symphony
of different sounds and harmonies, the
Holy Spirit creates a masterpiece of
unity and communion that extols God’s
love, Pope Francis said.
In creating this harmony, the Holy
Spirit “makes the church grow by help-
ing it go beyond human limits, sins and
scandal,” the pope said June 19 during
his weekly general audience.
“The Holy Spirit is the creator of
communion, he is the artist of recon-
ciliation who knows how to remove
the barriers between Jews and Greeks,
between slaves and free people, to
make them one body,” he said.
Continuing his series of talks on the
Acts of the Apostles, the pope reflected
on the gift of the Holy Spirit received,
which the apostles received on Pente-
cost and was manifested in gusts of
wind and tongues of fire descending
upon them.
The wind that blew through the
cenacle was “an eruption that does
not tolerate” closed doors but instead
bursts them wide open, he said.
Fire, which throughout biblical
tradition is a symbol of God’s pres-
ence, immediately descends upon the
apostles, thus “purifying and revital-
izing them,” he added.
“The church is therefore born of the
fire of love, a fire that burns at Pentecost
and manifests the power of the word
of the Risen One imbued with the Holy
Spirit,” the pope said. “The new and
definitive covenant is no longer based
on a law written on tablets of stone, but
on the action of the Spirit of God who
makes all things new and is engraved
in the hearts of the flesh.”
Pope Francis said that God contin-
ues to pour his Spirit upon Christians
today, drawing the faithful to him
through “divine attraction,” and he
“seduces us with his love” so that all
may receive a new life through him.
“Let us ask the Lord to make us
experience a new Pentecost, which will
open our hearts and tune our feelings
with those of Christ,” the pope said, “so
that we may announce without shame
his transforming word and bear wit-
ness to the power of love that calls to
life all who encounter him.”