February 26, 2022 

       Guest Speaker: Margarita Castellon 

Margarita is a life-long Catholic, steeped in her faith, its rituals, and practices, and connected throughout her life to various church ministries and community service organizations.  A Cuban native, she came to the United States when she was 10 years old and settled with her family in Ft. Pierce and attend St. Anastasia.  In 1968, she played and sang at the first guitar mass the parish had back when it was still quite an innovation!.

Margarita started her college career on a voice scholarship. She went on to earn a Master in Anthropology from Florida State University and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. 

Her professional career has roots in the Florida Capitol and the U.S. Capitol, having served as a Cabinet Aide to the Florida State Treasurer and as special assistant to then Senator Lawton Chiles.  Prior to her retirement in 2020, she led a strategic team for AT&T which serves the telecommunications needs of government and education in South Florida.  In between, she was director of government relations for Ericsson-GE and the Republic Group of Virginia, representing the Government of Australia.  She was an adjunct professor at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary for 20 years.

Committed to service, Margarita is and has been a board member of multiple community organizations, including the Lighthouse of Broward; the FAU Broward President’s Community Council and FAU Lifelong Learning Institute, Ft. Lauderdale; the Community Foundation of Broward; the Broward Education Foundation; and the Greater Ft. Lauderdale Alliance, among several others.  She leads a parish ministry called AIM which provides weekend-long spiritual retreats for individuals with physical disabilities and is a council member of a different parish retreat ministry called Koinonia.   She has been a member of several church choirs, sometimes as director and conductor.

Margarita enjoys singing, dancing, traveling, reading, learning, making art quilts, mentoring young students and has great respect and love for God’s creation, the natural world, the political process, and community service.  

In these words of the Magnificat, Mary proclaimed to Elizabeth her gratitude for the wonderful action of God in her life.  The entire scene of the Visitation is the inspiration for this ministry, which adopts the name of Mary's hymn of praise and the spirit of this biblical encounter as its own. Following the example of Mary and Elizabeth, this woman-to-woman ministry attempts to generate a lively faith in God and His action in our lives along with a love for Mary and the Church.

Please join us at a breakfast for Catholic women of the Palm Beach Diocesewhere we will share together in that same spirit of gratitude and praise of God.   After a meal, there will be a time of prayer for the needs of all present and an opportunity to hear one woman's experience of the transforming love of Christ in her own life. 

Please plan to come and bring a friend to rejoice in the presence of the Lord.

"Glorify the Lord with me.  Let us together extol His name."  Ps 34:4