During her senior year of high school, Susana Coronado spent every Monday night at her parish, St. Leonard in Pelican Rapids, as a catechist for seventh- and eighth-grade students. It was the first year the parish had offered bilingual faith formation classes outside of sacramental preparation.
“It’s great working with kids and showing them how important it is to get into your faith at a young age instead of waiting until you get confirmed,” she said.
Although Coronado was baptized Catholic and attended Mass often, she began to feel differently about her faith after attending Castaway — a retreat for Catholic teens —as part of her confirmation preparation.
“It was a great experience to see so many people around my age excited to be there and talk about God. It gave me perspective on a lot of things,” she said. “I was going through some tough times the year of my confirmation, and I started to see my life change for the better.”
After Castaway, she was ready for more.
“I asked to be signed up for Steubenville in the Twin Cities,” she said.
Steubenville is a Catholic conference for high schoolers. There she heard speakers talk about their faith and witnessed that “even ordinary people can have life-changing experiences.” Herself included.
“Saturday night at adoration, everyone was worshipping Jesus and singing. It felt like it was just me and God in the gym. I was so overcome by emotions, I just started sobbing,” she said. “Right then, I knew I was there for a reason.”
Coronado returned to St. Leonard’s and shared her experience with her parish family.
“I witnessed Susana’s change after Castaway and Steubenville,” said Alejandra Mancilla, who taught faith formation alongside Coronado. “I wanted to get her involved in teaching so she could learn more about her faith. The middle school students in our class look up to her and see how into her faith she is.”
Since Steubenville, Coronado has witnessed changes, too.
“My family wasn’t super involved in the church until I got confirmed last year,” she said. “We had gone to church regularly, but now we never miss a Sunday, my dad and I help as ushers, and my brother has come back to Mass, too.”
This fall, Coronado will attend Alexandria Technical and Community College to study early childhood education.
“She’s got a good foundation to take with her as she moves to college,” Mancilla said.
Coronado intends to build upon this foundation and to share her faith by inviting people to Mass.
“I encourage people to come to church to at least give it a shot. Sometimes they enjoy it and sometimes they decide it’s not for them right now,” she said. “Either way, the experiences this past year helped me see that talking about God isn’t something I should be embarrassed about; it’s something to be proud of.”