Greetings! I’m Oralia Gil and I feel incredibly blessed and honored to serve as the next Director of Religious Education at Divine Redeemer. I’m originally from Idaho and that is where my family resides. I obtained a degree in civil engineering and worked for one of the world’s leading engineering, procurement, and construction companies on projects for the government. Working with and learning from the best provided me with an invaluable professional skill set that has been very much transferable to my work in faith formation.
I enjoyed a successful engineering career for almost nine years and then Covid happened and changed everything. During that time, I was leading a daily prayer group with my family through Zoom. We met for more than 365 days, never missing a day, and often meeting for one to two hours. Through this prayer group, the Lord manifested His power and glory repeatedly and our love for Him was fortified. We saw the great need for coming together as a community and being united by the love of the Holy Spirit. Our lives were transformed forever.
Through the prayer group experience with my family, the Lord called me to minister to others in a similar way. My love for engineering was overcome by the truth, beauty, and power of leading souls to Christ. In September 2021, I accepted a position as the Faith Formation Coordinator at St. Dominic Catholic church in Colorado Springs. Serving at St. Dominic was a great experience! I was humbled and inspired to witness the generosity and willingness to serve of the families and their desire to draw close to Christ.
As the Faith Formation Coordinator at St. Dominic, with God’s grace and the support of several amazing volunteer teams, we were able to double the number of catechists and co-catechists from 13 the first year to 27 the second year; we were able to obtain more than 900 parish service hours from our religious education families (more than 90% of families completed their hours); we were able to establish and expand Youth Ministry from 40 Middle School students the first year to 70 students the second year, including the addition of a High School group and a youth PEER Leadership team, to form young disciples; and we were able to implement a strong family catechesis program which grew from 40 families in the English program the first year to 60 families the second year, with the addition of a Spanish family program. My mission in life is to catechize and evangelize; I feel so liberated and fulfilled when I share the faith with others or empower others to do it.
Outside of work, I love to learn about the faith (am currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Catechetics and Evangelization at Franciscan University), spend time with the Lord and loved ones, cook new recipes, play sports, be outdoors, and minister to others. I am hopeful, grateful, and excited for this new mission at Divine Redeemer and for the good work that the Lord will accomplish through us. I look forward to serving with the extraordinary team at Divine Redeemer and to getting to know the parishioners as we accompany each other to continue to know, love and serve God.
Thank you so much & God Bless,
Oralia Gil