Maria Elena Cortez

A One-Time Rebel Embraces Life
of Continuous Conversion

Born and raised a Catholic, Maria Elena Cortez left the church twice and came back twice. A self-described rebel, she didn’t want anyone to tell her how to live and what to believe; but she did have questions about her faith, and she wanted answers.

She was likely headed for her third departure from the Church when she decided to enroll in EPS DC. “I felt like God was calling me back to church,” Cortez said. “But I just felt I needed to know more in order to stay there.”

The questions are not all answered for Cortez, who graduated in May 2004. But now, Cortez is comfortable searching for answers by turning to scripture, the catechism, papal letters and encyclicals, and the wisdom revealed throughout 2,000 years of church teaching. She is content to continue a lifelong search to understand and grow in her Catholic faith.

“Conversion is an ongoing process. That’s what I’ve learned,” said Cortez, a parishioner and greeter at St. John the Baptist, Silver Spring, who says her education increased her sense of humility as well as her knowledge. “It doesn’t mean the search is over.”

Ronnie & Bob Estony

Growing in Faith

Connecticut Graduates Say Program
Gave Confidence to Share and Serve

Assumption parishioner Veronica (Ronnie) Estony and her husband Bob were solid Catholics. They each spent 12 years in Catholic grammar and high school and, had been schooled in the repetitive, melodic question-and-answer style of the Baltimore catechism.

The education took: the couple married and reared three children in the Church, and they were involved in parish life at their Westport, CT church. Still, they wanted to take their faith to a new level.

“I wanted to understand everything I believe. I needed to be able to converse with friends and foe alike,” said Ronnie Estony, who says she was questioned about her faith by friends, her children and grandchildren. She often plied her brother, a Capuchin priest in Boston, for theological answers, but wanted to have the knowledge herself.

For Bob Estony, it was the “nagging questions” that troubled him, and the uneasy feeling that his childhood education didn’t fully address the substance and challenges of his adult faith.

So EPS moved to their parish several years ago, the Estonys knew they were ready to take the plunge. This spring, four years after they began the program, the Estonys graduated from EPS.

Their studies included Old Testament and the synoptic Gospels, Catholic theology and moral and social teachings, Church history, and study of the Vatican II documents. In addition they learned about liturgical prayer and theological reflection, as well as practical training for students in how to use their education to serve in parish and community ministries. That helped push Bob Estony toward answering an Assumption bulletin call for tutors to work with Mercy Learning Center, a Bridgeport program for low-income inner city women struggling to attain math and reading literacy. He has been a math tutor there for almost three years.

Like most EPS graduates, the Estonys also serve in their parish. Both Estonys are Eucharistic ministers and members of the social concerns ministry. Ronnie Estony also serves in the food closet program.

Roberto Barrientos

A Light to the Nations

Roberto Barrientos had spent more than 25 years as an international banker, when a few years ago, he sensed the desire to do something more with his life. Barrientos, a native-born Argentinian, married and the father of four, wanted to find a way to use the expertise he’d gained in banking to help poor people throughout the world live a better life.

Then, in 2001, Barrientos first read about Education + Parish + Service program, when Kelly Gleeson, a screen-actress-turned-EPS-director, was featured in an article in Catholic New York. 

“I called to congratulate her,” Barrientos said. “Two weeks later I was taking the class.”

“I want to take whatever I have learned in 28 years of international banking, my expertise, and my Catholic background, to integrate everything to help people live better, to help the poor get out of their situation,” Barrientos said. “This EPS is a perfect complement to that.”

Barrientos was particularly impressed by courses on Vatican II documents, especially the “Role of the Church in the Modern World,” and the story of St. Paul’s conversion, covered in a course on “The Theology of Paul and John.”

Barrientos graduated from the program in 2003. Soon after he took the next step in integrating his faith with his interest in working with people in developing nations. He enrolled in a two-week program this fall about collaboration efforts between the Church and the U.N. on peace and development issues.

Like most EPS students, Barrientos was already involved in his parish as a Eucharistic minister at American Martyrs in Queens when he began the program. The father of two children with special needs, Barrientos prepared his youngest daughter for confirmation, and his oldest son for his first communion. Both children received the sacraments in May. Since then Barrientos has been asked to consider teaching in the parish religious education department.

Barrientos, for his part, is watching with interest where God is leading him. “There are so many opportunities…the parish, the community,” he said. “The needs are everywhere.”