Office of Catechesis announces 2016 honorees

By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic

MIAMI | Every year during its Catechetical Conference, the archdiocesan Office of Catechesis honors outstanding catechetical leaders with two awards.

The Esperanza Ginoris Award goes to a person or team who best exemplifies the standards of catechetical ministry excellence and can serve as models for catechesis in the Archdiocese of Miami.

The Lifetime Catechetical Leadership Award recognizes models of outstanding ministry, faithful service, joyful commitment and visionary leadership in catechetical ministry.

The conference will take place Saturday, Oct. 22, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Msgr. Edward Pace High School, 15600 N.W. 32 Ave., Miami Gardens. For more information and online registration, go to miamicatechesis.org or email [email protected].

Here are brief bios of this year’s honorees:

Esperanza Ginoris Award

Miguel Ruiz, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Doral

Ruiz was born in Mendoza, Argentina, in 1972. He holds a bookkeeping certification, a bachelor’s in philosophy and a master’s in pastoral theology, as well as a master’s in marriage and family therapy. For the past 27 years, he has worked as a catechist in various parishes in Argentina, New York and Miami. He has been the director of religious education of Our Lady of Guadalupe since 2004. He and his wife have two sons.

Lifetime Catechetical Leadership Awards

Terry Walters, San Pablo, Marathon Key

Born in Evanston, Ill., Walters attended Catholic schools for 16 years, including Mundelein College in Chicago, where she obtained a bachelor’s in elementary education and speech therapy. She has worked in Catholic schools and religious education for more than 20 years. She and her husband have two children and six grandchildren. In 1991, she and her husband moved to Marathon, where they had been vacationing for many years and, during those vacations, attending San Pablo Church. Since then, she has served the parish as director of religious education, and also teacher of the confirmation preparation class. She also is an extraordinary minister of Communion, lector, choir member, cantor and leader in the parish women’s club. She was appointed deanery coordinator and member of the Office of Catechesis Advisory Committee in 2013.

“The periods in my life when I wasn’t involved on a daily basis with the Church were the most unfulfilling of all,” she said. “It has become clear to me that all the various positions I’ve held over these many years have all contributed something to the most important position of all: helping the San Pablo families bring their children to a knowledge of God, culminating in a commitment to live as joyful followers of Christ. I always want to share the joy I have found in trying to live out the Gospel teachings.”

Nubia Stanley, Immaculate Conception, Hialeah

Stanley grew up in a very Catholic home. In preparation for her first Communion, her parents sent her to a convent, where she received instruction for three months, every day for three hours. “I remember looking forward to these teachings and did not want them to end,” she said. She also recalls the feeling of being blessed after receiving her first Communion. “Because of these first experiences I always wanted every child to experience faith and love for Christ in a very personal way.”

Although she drifted a little from the faith as she grew older, once she returned she took classes, became active in prayer groups and took part in other faith experiences, through which she developed “a deep understanding of God’s love for me and my family.” That is what she wanted to share with others, “the amazing love Christ has for us,” when she started out as a catechist, “under the wing” of one of the Irish Sisters of Mercy who served at the parish. “Sister Patricia helped groom me to be the very best I could be,” Stanley said. My purpose in the catechesis has been to provide faith instruction with the opportunity for each student to experience Jesus in a way that will stay with them throughout their lifetime.”

Maria de la Fe, St. Benedict, Hialeah

Born in Havana, Cuba, de la Fe came to the U.S. in 1961 and was married in Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Miami. She and her husband have three sons and three grandchildren. She has been active at St. Benedict since 1975. While serving as a catechist there for 15 years, she took all the courses offered by the Office of Catechesis and was “one of the very few” who got certified in all four levels in 1995. She has been serving as director of religious education at St. Benedict for more than 21 years. “It is my pleasure to work with children and serving the Lord (at St. Benedict). It has been a blessing for me to be in this beautiful community.”

Maryann Hotchkiss, St. Maximilian Kolbe, Pembroke Pines

Hotchkiss was asked to become director of religious education when her predecessor retired mid-year. “My immediate reaction was, ‘Not me! You must have the wrong person.’” When she met with her pastor, she offered to help out until the children had received their sacraments and classes ended, “really expecting him to search for a permanent DRE. That was over 22 years ago!”

“Each new day in this ministry is never boring,” she said. “I’ve watched parents on the fringes of faith, who because of continued participation in religious education, draw closer to Jesus and become disciples serving in parish ministries. It’s been a privilege to witness children challenged by physical or learning disabilities receiving the Eucharist with joy on their faces, while tears streamed down their parents’ faces. I’ve observed the conversion of heart in our middle and high school confirmation candidates, who know with Christ they can make the world a better place.”

She also has had the privilege of seeing former students who are now in college serving as Catholic missionaries, and working with seminarians who are now pastors, and even the rector of the minor seminary.

“Jesus Christ is the reason I said yes,” said Hotchkiss, “and have continued to serve in this ministry. The hope of the future of our Church is found in the children and families we serve.”

Layla Mazpule, Sts. Peter and Paul, Miami

Mazpule's commitment to serve the universal Church started in her native Guanajay, in the Diocese of Pinar del Rio, Cuba, where she was a member of the Acción Católica Cubana (Cuban Catholic Action) until she came to the U.S. in 1962.

At Sts. Peter and Paul, she has served as youth leader, member of the Rosa Mística Sodality of Mary, member and leader of the charismatic group, and extraordinary minister of Communion. She was commissioned as an ecclesial lay minister for the archdiocese in 1979 and is an advocate with the Metropolitan Tribunal. She has directed the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) at the parish since 1984, and the religious education program since 1989. In 1998, she received the Primum Regnum Dei award, the highest recognition from the Archdiocese of Miami. She also worked as a librarian and religion teacher at Sts. Peter and Paul School from 1997 to 2010.

Mazpule believes that in order to be a Christian, “one must be an apostle first. We must serve our brothers and sisters in all we say and in all we do.”