[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By Veronica Markland
For Today’s Catholic
More than 1,100 parishioners attended the feast day celebration Mass in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Mark the Evangelist on Dec. 3. The event was coordinated by Carmen L. Lopez, president of the Federation of Guadalupanos. Many communities traveled by bus using their own drivers. Each bus held up to 40 passengers while some followed by car. Many originated from their parishes.
The Federation was first established in 1981 by Archbishop Patrick Flores. As one of their missions and request of Archbishop Flores, an annual archdiocesan-wide celebration in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe was held. In 2012, the annual celebration had 500 in attendance. Since then, Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS challenged the Federation to fill the largest sanctuary in the archdiocese at St. Mark the Evangelist Church.
The Federation plans to meet their goal by filling St. Mark the Evangelist to an overflow capacity of 1,500. “We know that there are many devoted individuals who have not yet been able to attend or who still may not be aware of this annual celebration,” Lopez added. A date has been set for Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018, at 2 p.m. at St. Mark the Evangelist. The Federation has extended the invitation to all for this Mass.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”10169″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row]