DARDANELLE
Leticia Pina, 25, is raising two daughters, 4-year-old Esmeral and nine-month-old Dalioa on her own, but still finds time and energy to be a young leader in St. Augustine Church in Dardanelle.
Described as being “mature beyond her years,” Pina shares her faith with her daughters and at PRE classes. “I’m teaching seventh and eighth grade this year, but I have taught almost every PRE level from First Communion on up,” she said.
This year, she started a campaign to get sponsors for the church’s annual Kermesse (carnival), visiting local businesses and individuals and showing them how their sponsorships would bring more people and profits to the Kermesse and help the church sponsor teams and other programs for youth and adults that would bring the parish community together.
As a teen, she spent a week of discernment with the Benedictine sisters in Jonesboro. Seeing how the sisters functioned as a community participating in work, prayer and holy leisure helped her envision a model for parish life where working, praying and playing together makes a parish strong. Working to maximize the profit potential of the Kermesse will give her parish the funds to help the community.
More stories will appear in our 15 Young Adults Who Inspire Us 2023 Section as they are posted online. Subscribe to Arkansas Catholic’s digital and print publications to read more content like this.
