Extension magazine - Fall 2023

36
IGNITE
Feature Story
Extension | Fall 2023 37
Catholic Extension program
leads Latino
young adults
to lives of
service
Growing up, Cindy
Rodríguez never
imagined becoming
a religious sister.
She was born to Mexican
immigrant parents
in Beaumont, Texas. The religious
part of her life was simply
to attend Mass and “be good,” she
said.
She went to college and studied
for a career in civil engineering
at Lamar University. But her life
plans changed after an unexpected
experience.
Two years ago, while in her
A LEAP
OF FAITH
early 20s, she attended Catholic
Extension’s Encuentro y Misión
(Encounter and Mission) program,
which was created with support
from the Henry Luce Foundation.
Through this program, Rodríguez
saw the power of the Catholic
Church’s work among the poor.
She saw the difference a life of
service could make, and she saw
up close what religious sisters do.
Something changed inside of her
after participating in the program.
The immersive theological
program shows young people
like Rodríguez the beauty of the
Engineering
graduate
embarks
on path to
religious life
Catholic faith and how it can be
put into practice for the benefit of
society. Students first take a theology
course at the Mexican American
Catholic College, then attend a
weeklong immersion experience
in one of Extension’s dioceses,
where they work alongside
Catholic leaders and fellow young
people in service of the poor.
The program intends to reach
Latino young adults. About half
of U.S. Catholics ages 14 to 29 are
Hispanic, according to data from
ENAVE, a group of national Hispanic/Latino
Catholic organizations
that led the 2018 V Encuentro
initiative. This generation of
young people promises to be a
source of leadership for the entire
Catholic Church.
While the main goal of Catholic
Extension’s program is to encourage
new leaders for the Catholic
Church, the outcome we did not
anticipate was that some participants
would immediately gravitate
toward priesthood or religious
life following the program. Since
the program’s launch in 2020, five
of the nearly 90 participants have
started a process of discerning
priesthood or religious life.
Likewise, other participants
remain active in different
Cindy Rodríguez and ministries in the Church.
her fellow postulants More than 30 dioceses from
are forming spiritually at coast to coast have had
the motherhouse of the young people participate in
Missionary Servants of the
the program to date. Participants
remain in touch and
Divine Spirit in Colombia.
gather together even after
the program concludes to create a
supportive network.
Cindy Rodríguez takes a
theology course at Mexican
American Catholic College
through Catholic Extension’s
Encuentro y Misión program.
Young adults from across
the country reunite to
reflect on the Encuentro
y Misión program.
Learning what it means to serve
Rodríguez had attended a
retreat in college that sparked a
“closer relationship with God,”
she said. Around that time the
coordinator of Hispanic ministry
in the Diocese of Beaumont
invited her to Catholic Extension’s
Encuentro y Misión program.
After some initial hesitancy, she
joined the program in the summer
of 2021, which began with a theology
course at the Mexican American
Catholic College in San Antonio,
Texas.
“It was concrete material I
could apply to my formation as a