With the Church in the midst of a Year of Consecrated Life, however, the Dinner, under the theme “Spirit of Hope,” will go further in honoring and highlighting religious priests, sisters and brothers who have served the Diocese of San Bernardino.
A video to be shown at the start of the dinner will use passages from the Gospel of Matthew tailored to the charisms of religious communities that have served the diocese in Catholic education, healthcare and other areas of ministry.
“We want to demonstrate the community’s response to people in Consecrated Life,” said Theresa Montminy, director of Mission Advancement for the Diocese and the coordinator of the dinner. “This is an event that allows the people to appreciate our Religious, to see through a different lens all that is done by our brothers and sisters in consecrated life.”
Two communities of women religious, the Sisters of Mercy and the Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters, along with Auxiliary Bishop Rutilio del Riego, himself a member of the Diocesan Laborer Priests religious community, will be honored with the Amar Es Entregarse Award. This is the Spanish expression of Bishop Barnes’ Episcopal Motto, “love is the total giving of one’s self.” In addition, Montminy’s organizing community has invited representatives of all 71 religious communities currently ministering in the diocese to attend the Dinner.
In a special touch, two of the Victory Knoll Sisters who taught Bishop Barnes as a boy in Religious Education classes at San Basilio Center in Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles, will travel from Indiana to attend this year’s Dinner.
Two Sisters of Mercy who were welcomed to Southern California by Bishop Charles Buddy in 1956 also hope to be in attendance.
Diocesan seminarians will greet guests and escort members of the two women religious communities being honored as they make their way into the dinner. Proceeds from the dinner go toward paying the educational and living expenses of diocesan seminarians, which average about $43,000 per year, per seminarian.