David Portugal remembers the first time he met Esmeralda Avila and Delila Baca. The two young women were teens when they first started attending the religious education classes he was teaching.
Portugal, director of evangelization at St. John Vianney Parish in Goodyear, Ariz., has worked at the parish for more than 20 years. He’s seen young people cycle through the community over the years, many of them transformed by an encounter with Christ in the Eucharist. Often, that encounter then propels them into service in the Church.
That was certainly the case with Avila and Baca, who have worked alongside Portugal at St. John Vianney serving in youth ministry and religious education.
Back when Avila was a high school freshman and Baca was a high school senior, Portugal was teaching classes at the parish and also helping out with youth ministry. He often challenged teens about choices they were making.
He remembered a conversation with Baca.
“Why do you have a boyfriend?” he asked her. “You don’t need a boyfriend.” Her sassy reply caught his attention: “I don’t need a boyfriend. I want one.”
“That was one of our first conversations and she just stuck around after that,” Portugal chuckled.
Avila was a student in Baca’s confirmation class, but she didn’t return for the post-sacramental classes the following year. One day, Portugal found her wandering around the church campus in an area where people don’t usually congregate. Instead of scolding her, he asked a simple question: “Hey, where have you been?”
And just like that, Avila was back.
But it’s not just parish staff who help in the formation process. There’s a lot of peer-to-peer mentoring at the parish that influences young people, Portugal noted.
“Young adults leading high school, high school leads middle school, and middle school — they just want to wear the leader shirts or help pass out pencils.” Each group influences the younger ones and points them toward an intimate, dynamic relationship with Christ.
Both Baca and Avila served as college interns at the parish, further developing their leadership roles and ties. It’s been a deeply eucharistic-centered journey.
Baca, for example, recalled being a high school freshman and being heartbroken over a boy. The youth minister at the time was leading the teens in eucharistic adoration during a retreat.
“I remember him singing “Lord, I need You” and seeing the monstrance with the host. That just changed my life. At that point, I knew I wanted to be a leader. I loved being at the church. It was my home.” At 16, she became a certified catechist through the Kino Catechetical Institute, an adult faith formation program run by the Diocese of Phoenix.
“I knew right away when I graduated from high school that I wanted to work for the Church,” Baca said.
That led her to pursue a major in theology. She is the first in her family to attend college and so she went where the scholarship money was — a Protestant university.
In class, she found herself having to defend the Catholic faith and realized the school wasn’t a good fit for her. The following year, Baca transferred to Benedictine University’s campus in Mesa, Ariz. Today, she’s about a third of the way through a master’s degree in theology from Franciscan University.
Avila said she knows her role is to develop disciples.
“The passion the Lord placed in my heart was to go and make disciples of others. The way that someone spent time on me is the same that I want to give to other teens.”
Transformed by the Eucharist
Like Baca, Avila’s first encounter with Christ happened during eucharistic adoration while on retreat. She was 15 years old.
“That was the first time I ever sat in adoration and really felt the Lord,” Avila said. Still, she did wander from the path for a while until reverting to her faith at 19 during another retreat.
“I really felt called, that the Lord just wanted me to give Him my ‘yes.’ And without any gains, without any lukewarmness, just fully commit to Him. And so, I did. And I wouldn’t say it was perfect after, but I knew what my ‘yes’ meant.”
Avila said she can relate to the teens in the youth ministry program. She knows what it’s like to want to fit in and understands the pitfalls of hanging with the wrong crowd. She is familiar with the pressures they face and sees herself as the big sister many teens need.
“It’s the Christian values that I have that I can give to them. ‘The world will tell you this, but Jesus wants to let you know this.’”
Avila is a graduate of the Kino Catechetical Institute’s two-year formation program. She’s passionate about sharing the faith with others.
Baca and Avila are noteworthy examples of the pastoral vision articulated by the U.S. Bishops Conference in its National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry. In that plan, the bishops envision “a community of missionary disciples nourished and transformed by the Eucharist that is sent forth to joyfully proclaim the Good News of the Gospel and bear fruit in every situation.”
The term “missionary disciple,” popularized by the late Pope Francis, refers to a person who has encountered the saving love of God and is then sent forth to make that love known to others. That has definitely been Avila and Baca’s experience.
Portugal has had a bird’s eye view of their transformation which also caught the eye of Fr. David Halm, CSC, pastor of St. John Vianney. Two years ago, Fr. Halm asked the two young women to launch a podcast.
Baca, who studied theology and communications at Benedictine, was keen on the idea. She and Avila recently began their third season of the show dubbed Dramatic Catholics. So far, they have around 500 subscribers.
Podcast recordings take place in a conference room at the parish. The pair has a guest on to help them address issues of concern to Catholics, particularly young adult Catholics. They’re not afraid to tackle thorny issues and said they don’t give their opinion but instead unapologetically present what the Church teaches.
The title doesn’t refer to the pair being drama queens.
“What that term dramatic Catholic really means is having an encounter with Jesus so much so that it’s transformed your whole life,” Baca said. “In the world that we live in, we should be dramatic Catholics. We should be able to stand out in a world where there’s so much noise.
“We are called to transform it and we’re called to transform the people around us.”
In Baca and Avila’s faith journey, that proved true. They were transformed by their mentors who were mentored by Portugal. Now, the pair is influencing others through their respective ministries and the podcast. As the religious education season kicked off in the fall, Baca oversaw the 530 students and their teachers in the parish’s catechetical programs. Avila was responsible for 170 middle school and high school students.
On a recent podcast episode, they had Portugal on as a guest. Avila spoke about the impact Portugal and Baca have had on her life.
“I truly fell in love with Jesus. I have people in my life who are as passionate as I am. You guys have played a huge role and inspired me to grow in my relationship with Jesus.”
