The first time Compton's Sacred Heart parishioners saw a woman at the pulpit delivering a reflection instead of the usual homily from their priest, some felt uncomfortable, and said so.

But Margarita Flores knew in her heart she was at the right place. She had the support, first of all, of the parish pastor, Msgr. John Woolway. She also was strengthened by the Gospel account of Jesus talking to the woman at the well, in which the woman shared the word about her encounter with the Messiah.

"That Scripture was a revelation of how Jesus started evangelizing women," Flores told The Tidings. "I understood then that I was not out of place."

After serving as a pastoral associate for about a year, Margarita recently was installed Sept. 19 as Sacred Heart's Parish Life Director (PLD), the first in the San Pedro Pastoral Region, by Auxiliary Bishop Alexander Salazar. In the same ceremony, before a crowded assembly in a church where 97 percent of the parishioners are working-class, Spanish-speaking immigrants, Msgr. Woolway was blessed as priest minister.

Celebrating her Mexican roots, an elated Flores dressed for the occasion in a "huipil" - a traditional embroidered white short sleeve dress worn by Mexican indigenous women - addressed the assembly that included her children, her mother, bishops and priests who attended the special evening liturgy.

"God calls us to expand his Kingdom, his tears and his sacrifice," she said. "Thank you for accepting me."

'Prepared for the task'
Several years ago, while finishing a Master's Degree in Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary, Flores was trying to discern her contribution to church ministry. "I kept thinking, 'What can I do? How can I use what I've learned in school?'"

The answer came the day she was waiting at the office of St. Joseph of Carondelet Sister Carol Quinlivan, then director of the archdiocesan Parish Life Office. A pamphlet on Parish Life Directors caught her attention. The more she read about a PLD's responsibilities, the more excited she became. She knew she was suited for the position.

And as Flores shared her ministerial experience and her personal story, Sister Quinlivan, pleasantly surprised, could not help but ask, "Where have you been?" For Flores certainly fit the profile of the leadership position, described in the 2006 document, "Serving Shoulder to Shoulder: Parish Life Directors in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles."

"Margarita has a call to it," Katherine Russell, current Parish Life Office director, told The Tidings. "She's had a variety of experiences; she is prepared for the task. And she has a background for the different responsibilities."

A PLD works closely with the priest minister providing overall day-to-day pastoral care and performing administrative duties in the parish. The priest minister provides spiritual leadership and nourishes the faith life of the community through the Mass and other sacramental celebrations.

In such a structure, a priest moderator may be assigned by the archbishop to serve as a mentor or advocate for the PLD. At Sacred Heart this position has been assigned to retired Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Sartoris.

Msgr. Woolway, ordained in 1980, welcomes the idea of working together with a woman in leading the faith community.

"I felt it would be enriching working with a woman," he told The Tidings. "I was willing to work either with a lay man or a lay woman, but I think man and woman can complement each other with specific gifts."

Flores, he said, fulfilled the expectations. "She could handle the church finances, she formed ministers and had a concern and a vision of the social condition of the city we live in," he said.

In Compton, Flores founded the Multicultural Alliance of Community Action (MACA), to promote conversations and reduce tensions between Latinos and Afro-Americans, the two largest demographic groups in Compton. Ideally, it could become an important communication channel between the all-black City Council and the growing Latino community in the city.

She has also worked to increase youth involvement in parish activities, developing programs to attract teenagers and encouraging a broader, more "teen-friendly" selection of liturgical music.

Difficult childhood
Although Flores has a passion for helping people, for many years she hid that passion behind an "aggressive" façade, a product of some negative life experiences.

At age 9 she was left behind by her parents, who immigrated to the U.S. from their native Michoacán, Mexico. As the oldest of 14 children, she was forced to mature faster than her peers, effectively becoming a parent to her siblings. Some members of her extended family supported her, but she felt she had to measure to her parents' expectations.

Flores was also sexually and physically abused, as domestic violence prevailed at home and she kept taking care of her siblings after they entered the U.S. The situation got worse --- and she "got tired."

"I wasn't living a normal life," she said, with tearful eyes. "I don't even have words to describe my feelings back then. I just wanted to free myself."

The streets seemed like a better option. Flores joined a gang and within two years was arrested, serving six months at Juvenile Hall. Once released, she went to live for three years at a foster home for girls, operated by Franciscan sisters. There she graduated from high school.

By that time, she said, she had changed, but the real breakthrough happened when she attended a Charismatic spiritual retreat, which led her to Charisma in Missions.

"It was a real process of restoration," she commented. "I was a newborn, I had started a new life cycle; it was a time of cleansing, of freedom."

She went back to live with her parents in East L.A., got married and continued attending church. In 1990 she started volunteering at St. Lucy Church, where for the next eight years she worked with youth ministry and religious education. Then she helped organize the Hispanic ministry at St. Anthony Church in San Gabriel, while she returned to school and graduated from Mount St. Mary's College's three-year Hispanic Pastoral Program.

At Resurrection Church in East L.A., she started the prayer group with parents of at-risk youth called "Barrios Unidos para Cristo" (United Neighborhoods for Christ).

Years later she was employed as a community organizer and program manager at Soledad Enrichment Action Inc., an educational institution for high-risk youth. She became a certified life coach and in 2003 founded the Instituto Latino for Life Coaching, an entrepreneurial business specializing in human development and leadership.

"It has been an interesting growth," she said. "It shows how God lets you know that you have a calling."

Raising up leaders
Her new PLD position, Flores said, "is about respect and keeping a permanent dialogue. Most lay people think they don't have a vocation, but they do. God can raise up leaders in any way. He wants to, for the good of His people."

The new leadership model - utilized thus far in a relative handful of parishes in the L.A. Archdiocese - implies certain risks, said Msgr. Woolway, but "there is also room to try and we are willing to take the risk."

Regarding the concerns of parishioners about a layperson performing duties traditionally associated with a priest - including the reflection in place of a homily - he cited the story of Amos (Amos 7:14-16). God chose him from "regular people" - Amos was a shepherd - and turned him into a prophet despite the rejection of many.

"I just tell people," said Msgr. Woolway, "to listen to what Margarita has to say. I tell them, 'She is one of you - a lay person, a woman, a Latina immigrant.'"