Six pastoral associates, who have completed studies and training and who will serve parishes and people of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, were commissioned on Trinity Sunday by Cardinal Roger Mahony.

The six newly commissioned pastoral associates are: Margarita Flores, Sagrado Corazon Church, Compton; Christine Kuhbander, St. Louis de Montfort, Santa Maria; Mary Lou McGee, Our Lady of Malibu, Malibu; Sally Meyers, St. Finbar, Burbank; Fe Musgrave, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rowland Heights; and Cambria Smith, Holy Family, South Pasadena.

All have completed a process "meant to integrate what the candidates have gained intellectually from master's degrees in Theology, Pastoral Theology or Pastoral Ministry with their spirituality and their lived experience of ministry," explained St. Joseph of Carondelet Sister Carol Quinlivan, director of the Office of Parish Life. "All of this takes place in the context of an ongoing discernment process."

Classes on preaching, spirituality, and conflict management and other topics pertinent to parish life are held.

Some may continue preparing to serve as parish life directors and may administer parishes in the absence of a priest pastor or in collaboration with a priest minister. Some pastoral associates will assume duties agreed upon with their pastors, while others will continue in current positions serving their parishes.

The formal process is complete with the commissioning, said Sister Quinlivan, but the ongoing process of formation continues. Each candidate is assigned a mentor to walk with her or him in the transition from the theoretical to the implementation of skills.

Candidates pursue becoming a pastoral associate or parish life director, not as job, but as a genuine call to greater service in the church. "I am edified by their dedication, their willingness to stretch and their resolve to be the best they can be in service of the church," said Sister Quinlivan. "It takes a humble person to receive ongoing evaluation and assessment."

Cardinal Mahony in his homily noted that the mystery of the Trinity allows him "to be so hopeful. The God who reveals himself to Moses on Mt. Sinai, who surrounds my life and your life, is a kind and a merciful God."

The point is further emphasized in the day's Gospel from John 3:16. "'God so loved the world that he sent his only beloved Son' --- what a great image of God," the cardinal observed. "God is concerned and loving for each of us. The Lord is kind and merciful, rich in forgiveness and slow to anger. And we are called to turn toward one another and show these same qualities toward one another."

Appropriately these six new pastoral associates have been called to live these qualities, and more - to call others to live the same. Father John Woolway, pastor of Sagrado Corazon Church, said that the day "means a lot of hope. And Margarita Flores brings a lot of gifts and talents such as management and financial skills, as well as a vision for the parish and the people, especially for calling forth more and more gifts of the people and inviting them to participate and making the parish a better community."

With 1,600 families in the primarily Hispanic parish, Flores "brings the gift of the culture and the language," said Father Woolway, noting that since September she has been working on plans to nurture the fiscal health of the parish. "She's also been providing training for our parish council and our finance council. She formed an RCIA team. She does some one-on-one counseling."

Currently serving as administrator pro tem, Father Woolway is hoping that Flores can become a parish life director, enabling him to become a priest minister. "I feel my best gifts are not in administration," he said. "Margarita could take over most of that, and I could focus on the sacramental ministry."

Flores says she is ready to do what is necessary. "I think this opportunity presented to the laity is marvelous," she said simply.