In Utah parishes, Notre Dame students work in youth ministry

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Tom Nee and Ali Martinez are Echo apprentices and Maria Kunath is an Echo theology teacher for the Diocese of Salt Lake City. The Echo program allows master's degree theology students at Notre Dame University to minister while they are earning their degree.

SALT LAKE CITY — Two apprentices are working in the Echo program in the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Ali Martinez, who is serving in the Cathedral of the Madeleine, is from Coppell, Texas. The cathedral’s rector, Fr. Martin Diaz is serving as Martinez’s mentor and said she has already hit the ground running. Just four days after arriving in Salt Lake City, she put on a ministry fair for the cathedral parish and shortly after wrote and edited the monthly parish newsletter.

Martinez, who primarily helps with youth and young adult ministry, said she requested to be assigned to Salt Lake City.

“I come from a really large parish; I love that I’m getting to grow in such a different way here, especially in a community that is really tight-knit,” she said. “There’s a very strong sense of being Catholic.”

Martinez said she always wanted to study theology and to work in youth ministry. This apprenticeship is the “perfect combination of still being formed. I have the opportunity to do something I feel called to with so many people looking out for me,” she said, although she may not pursue a career in ministry as she hopes to go into counseling.

“I would love to be a counselor that would unite both faith and counseling; we’ll see what happens,” she said.

Fr. Diaz said there is a great value to the parish in having Martinez, who brings with her a theological knowledge and understanding of pastoral ministry to the practical situations that occur every day.

The other Echo apprentice in the diocese is Tom Nee, who is working at St. Catherine of Siena/Newman Center in Salt Lake City as a campus minister. He is from Winthrop, Mass. He graduated earlier this year from Providence College with a bachelor’s degree in theology.

Nee said his experience so far has been “really special.”

“I have been really moved by the dedication and faith I’ve seen in the college students and high school students,” he said.

Nee has found that Catholics in Salt Lake City and at the university seem to have a stronger community and a stronger sense of who they are, he said. He said he especially appreciates the presence of the Dominican friars at the Newman Center, having benefitted from their service at Providence College, where he received his bachelor’s degree.