Clare Colella, a longtime Master Catechist in the Diocese who serves as the director of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) at Our Lady of the Assumption Parish, was one of the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Cross Award recipients. Colella also worked for many years in the telecommunications and mass media ministries of the Diocese, and is a member of the Diocesan Liturgical Commission.
“We receive so that we might share with others,” Colella said in her acceptance remarks. “The ministries that I’ve been involved in over time in faith formation and communication, and liturgy and initiation, have been graced opportunities to do so.”
Doreen Kennedy, a longtime parishioner of St. Francis Xavier Cabrini in Crestline, who has been active in several ministries while also providing administrative support for more than 20 Diocesan corporations and governing bodies, received the Papal Award. Kennedy thanked two former pastors of her parish, Father Amaro Samuel and Father Tom Burns, M.S.C., who encouraged her to try everything from religious education instruction to teaching English as a Second Language to ministering to retired priests.
“Their trust in me has turned me into the kind of person that, try as I might, I can’t resist the call to do more, to be more and to share the love of God with others,” she said in her acceptance remarks.
Gloria Gomez and Claudio Castorena, who have founded impactful ministries to serve the poor and migrant communities of the Eastern Coachella Valley, were both awarded the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Cross Award. The two founded Martha’s Village and Kitchen in Coachella in 1990, building it into one to the Low Desert’s biggest social service organizations. In 2010, they founded the Galilee Center in Mecca to specifically serve the migrant community there.
Both Gomez and Castorena offered humble thoughts on receiving the prestigious award.
“I don’t think I’ve done extraordinary things,” Castorena said. “I just continue to follow my commitment, my desire, my response to God – faithfully.”
Said Gomez, “I receive it in the name of so many people, so many men and women who have done the same thing we have. We are baptized. That’s why we do what we do.”
Gomez and Castorena received Bishop Gerald Barnes’ Espiscopal Amar Es Entregarse Award in 2004.