Denver Catholic

6 FEBRUARY 23-MARCH 8, 2019 | DENVER CATHOLIC Parish Spotlight Call 303.743.8804 OR 303.745.4418 HoranCares.com/Catholic Convenience & Excellence. When it matters most. Catholic owned. Pre-planning services. Seven metro area locations. Back: Leslie Olsen, Dan Monchunski, Monalisa Shafer, Mike Wherley, Ron Chamberlain, Ben Kubier, Michael Wellensiek, John Horan, Dan Davis, Michael Gold, Vanessa Rodriguez, Harry Queen, Lupe Alvarado. Seated: Debra Rupp, Janice (Perry) Queen, Kereen O'Connor, Valerie Horan, Chace Gri†n, John L. Horan, Andrea Horan, Karen Miller, Maggie Roberts, Larry Hagan. Additional Catholic sta member: Anthony Spano, Marisa Casillas, Sammantha Ramirez, and Valeria Licón. We share your faith Installs, Repairs, Replacements & Maintenance Boilers Air Conditioners and Furnace Water Heaters, Drains and all other Plumbing needs Plumbing, Heating & Cooling Call us at (303) 280-5765 | Squeaksservices.com $29 diagnostics for an call! Turn your Clunker into Cash! Go to svdpUSAcars.com Or call 1-800-322-8284 e Society of St. Vincent de Paul has a quick and easy way to turn your unwanted car, truck or boat into cash and help those in need. Make a pilgrimage to Colorado's fi rst shrine for victims of human tra cking Guardian Angels Parish carries mission with St. Josephine Bakhita's intercession BY VLADIMIR MAURICIO-PEREZ I t's a reality. On any given day during 2016, an estimate of 403,000 people were living in condi- tions of modern slavery in the United States, according to the 2018 Global Slavery Index. This evil that so many times seems foreign, also exists in Amer- ica, and it may be much more common than many believed — ranging from forced labor to forced sexual exploitation of adults and children. Nonetheless, where darkness is pres- ent, the light of prayer and charity can make a true di• erence. Catholics in northern Colorado can now make an impact by making a pil- grimage to Guardian Angels Parish in Mead — located nearly 55 miles north of Denver on I-25 — which Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila designated as a shrine for victims of human tra† cking in Jan- uary 2018. It all began with the devotion to St. Josephine Bakhita that Father Alan Hartway, CPPS, initiated even before he became pastor of the p arish. "Even when I started coming to the parish as a substitute priest in the early 2000s, I began to emphasize [the mean- ing of ] hospitality to [our parishioners], and how important that was, as the fore- front ministry of evangelization par- ishes," he recounted. "So, I introduced them to St. Josephine Bakhita because she is also the patron saint of hospitality ministry —that was her work." The Sudanese-born saint was kid- napped as a child and sold into slav- ery. After being sold several times, she arrived in Italy, and was gifted to a family that gave her nursemaid duties. The future saint would accompany the girl she cared for to catechism classes in Venice, where she met the Canossian Sisters and later decided to join the Church, adopting the name Josephine. After refusing to return to Africa with the family that claimed rights over her, the Canossian Sisters testifi ed on her behalf before a judge, who eventu- ally ruled she was free, since slavery was illegal in Italy. Bakhita joined the religious order, where she carried out her duties of cooking, sewing and welcoming guests, eventually becoming very loved by chil- dren and visitors. "When we built our new Church, I requested from Archbishop Aquila that we have [St. Josephine's] relic in our altar, and when we secured the relic from the Canossian Sisters, in that same letter he designated this [parish] as a shrine for victims of human tra† cking. So, he challenged the parish to have a hospitality [that goes] very deep," Father Hartway said. While the parish community is still developing its mission, Father Hart- way hopes to begin contributing to this cause by educating people on the reality PARISH SPOTLIGHT A relic of St. Josephine Bakhita lies within the altar at Guardian Angels Parish.

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