Intercession ministry teaches how to pray

Friday, Nov. 14, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY — A new ministry began Oct. 20,  when Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish opened its doors to diverse communities in the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City to teach the fundamentals of intercessory prayer. 

The intercession ministry formation came alive when the parishioners gathered to evaluate their needs with the pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe, said Patricia Garay, Charismatic Renovation and prayer coordinator at the parish.

“We were discussing the necessities and we discovered that we needed to start a formation group for the intercession ministry, because there isn’t one,” said Garay.

The ministry, which is in Spanish, teaches people how to pray, using the Gospel as a basis and the lives of the saints as examples.

Father José Fidel Barrera Cruz, Our Lady of Guadalupe pastor, talked to Father José A. Barrera Hernández, parochial vicar at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, to see if other communities might want to participate in the ministry, said Garay.

As a result, the decision was made to “open to diverse communities, and five members of each would be able to participate,” said Garay, adding that at the beginning they expected to accommodate 40 people, but soon learned that they underestimated the interest.

Currently, groups from the parishes of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, Saint Andrew, Saints Peter and Paul in West Valley City, Saint Marguerite in Tooele, Saint Joseph in Ogden, Saint Thomas Aquinas in Hyde Park, Saint Francis Xavier in Kearns and Saint Jude Mission in Ephraim participate in this formation.

“We received a lot of applications from a lot of people in the diocese, so we had to ask each of the coordinators to select five persons from each community, so the group is now  55 people,” said Garay.

Three priests lead and instruct the group: Fr. Barrera Cruz, Fr. Barrera Hernández, and Father Marco Tulio López, pastor of Saint Andrew Parish.

“Father José is in charge of the intercession, Father Fidel will focus in the Gospel, and Father Marco Tulio on the saints,” said Garay.

The seven months of study of this ministry will conclude by May.

“Intercession is one of the most needed ministries in our prayer groups,” said Garay, adding that it’s very important that people pray first for the needs of others as well as for their own.

“[Intercession] is like a pillar of the prayer, and we are very lucky to have these three priests helping and guiding us in this ministry,” said Garay.