In Latin there is a sentence that says "Dulcis in fundo", to understand that dessert, or what is sweet, should be served at the end of the meal. And so we want to end the year of celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Faculty of Institutional Communication at the University of Santa Croce, Rome, with something very sweet such as the life and mission of Rosa Maria "missionary communicator".
Rosa Ordaz, born in León, Mexico, in 1963, is a former student of the School of Communication, where she obtained a degree in Social and Institutional Communication in 2006. She is currently a journalist and works as a volunteer in various humanitarian associations, in addition to supporting non-governmental institutions that assist orphans, indigent children, patients, immigrant foundationshospitals, associations that rescue women from violence.
At the same time, he develops life projects for youth and adolescent organizations with social integration problems and immigrant foundations in Europe, Mexico and the USA.
Its objective is, as she herself says, "to promote dignity, freedom, the capacity to love, to understand, to forgive, perfecting their total human development in these same people, embracing their whole dimension of being in the authentic love of God in their lives".
In this way, he fulfills himself as a person and as a communication professional, through - he tells us - "the beauty of a selfless life" and "the beauty of a selfless life". free and unconditional service to highlight the dignity of the person. One more example of her vocation as a "missionary communicator".
Its collaboration extends to hospitals and aid centers, particularly in the areas of pediatrics, traumatology, transplant patients, maternity and terminally ill patients.
Dear Rosa, it is an honor to share this interview. Reading your articles and watching your videos on the Mundo Católico channelListening to his conferences, I asked myself where does all this commitment to others, to the dignity of the person come from?
I consider myself a "missionary communicator". I have lived in different places: Miami, Chicago, Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Houston, Rome. Spain, Milan. Because of the pandemic and my mother's illness, I returned to my country. The confinement oriented me to make "home office", I work through zoom and now I offer reconciliatory orientation to young people, families, married couples, people with addictions, etc.
My mission and vocation is to reconcile people first with God. and then, with themselves: I inspire them to fall in love with Jesus Christ. The emotional and spiritual well-being of man is in feeling loved, accepted and forgiven, God heals wounds and puts our lives in order.
Thanks to the marvel of these new digital platforms that allow us to transcend through the virtual world, I currently conduct interviews, programs, conferences, seminars and congresses on YouTube, especially for "Mundo Católico".
How wonderful! And all this can also be traced back to your own particular history, a history that is not always easy.
I am the third of six children. My father died when I was very young and for this reason, since I was 9 years old, I started working and learned to team up with my mother and my family.
I was educated in the Catholic Church, but I moved away from the faith: all my life I was in search of the truth. I met several religious philosophies, Buddhism, Jehovah's Witnesses, New Age agnostics, evangelical Christians; I had been with the latter for a few years, I took it for granted that I had found God. However, destiny, or rather Providence, brought me to Rome, to the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, and in Rome I discovered that the hunger and thirst I had for the truth was in the Catholic Faith.
Rosa María Ordaz, born in León, Mexico, in 1963, is a former student of the School of Communication of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, where she obtained a degree in Social and Institutional Communication in 2006. She is currently a journalist and works as a volunteer in various humanitarian associations, in addition to supporting non-governmental institutions that assist orphaned children, the homeless, patients, immigrant foundations, hospitals, associations that rescue women from violence.
Her objective, through the media and digital platforms is, as she herself says, "to promote dignity, freedom, capacity to love, understand, forgive, perfecting their total human development in these same people, embracing their whole dimension of being in the authentic love of God in their lives.
In this way, she fulfills herself as a person and as a professional communicator, through - she tells us - "the beauty of a selfless life" and free service to enhance the dignity of the person. Rosa Maria, "missionary communicator".
Your search and hunger and thirst for the truth, had led you to give yourself to this particular mission of communication...
Yes, I do. In fact, before I graduated from the Santa Cruz, I gave conferences about forgiveness and these talks opened the doors to other countries. Now I have a column in one of the newspapers in my country, entitled "The Splendor of the Word" which has been transformed into a list of more than 80 conferences. These talks have led me to participate and offer in various places, retreats, congresses, radio programs, TV, etc. "Dignity, beauty and greatness: the true vocation of the person" is the title I gave to this list of talks that were also broadcasted on TV.
And you met several people who influenced you in your conversion process.
That's right: I had the opportunity to get to know very closely wonderful people who transformed my life as a journalist. They are people who left their mark on humanity and on my heart. For example: St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, St. John Paul II, Joaquín Navarro Valls (spokesman for the Holy See during the pontificate of Pope St. John Paul II).
In addition, I had the privilege of interviewing Father Lombardi (in charge of the press and communication area of the Holy See under the pontificates of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis), Monsignor Guido Marini (master of pontifical liturgical celebrations in the pontificates of Benedict XVI and Francis), Valentina Alazraki, my country's Vatican correspondent, and also film directors, cardinals, politicians, writers, scientists, ambassadors, actors.
Unbelievable! But in all this journey towards the truth of faith you always had a fundamental direction....
Yes, it is also my devotion. Currently, I am one of the ambassadors of the Volto Santo of Manoppello worldwide. This patrimony of intellectual and spiritual beauty, added to every congress of my Faculty at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, which I have attended, are the treasure of my work as a journalist.
You told me that you turned away from the Catholic faith. Where did this path lead you?
I moved away from the Catholic Church because I stopped attending massdid not practice the sacraments. In addition to this, I began to have power and fame in the work environment, I felt that I did not need God, my pride and self-sufficiency cooled my faith. However, after much spiritual dryness I returned to God, but unfortunately in wrong philosophies.
I began to hunger and thirst for God, for holiness. I became passionate about the subject of spiritual and educational excellence, as I was already studying a career in communication in my country. However, no university met these expectations, until I discovered the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
An unanticipated meeting with Professor Juan Andres Mercado, from the Faculty of Philosophy of that University, near the Vatican, was the answer to my prayers, the beginning of a dream that was confirmed months after this meeting. I fell in love with the Holy Cross curriculum, with the life of the Founder.
I considered myself an evangelical; in my mind, saints did not exist. However, my inner self cried out that I needed to be humble, to let myself be amazed, and I was conquered by the beauty of the soul of St. Josemaría, whom they were going to canonize. I got down on my knees in my heart and thanked God for bringing me back to my Catholic home.
Pope St. John Paul II is a fundamental point of your conversion: How was your "homecoming"?
I have continually undergone conversions and reconversions. I am tested in every adversity, it is where God forges me, it hurts, but in the light of the cross, pain is transformed into love, tragedy into meaning, beauty, loss into fruitfulness. I discover the splendor of darkness.
In the setbacks of life, Jesus makes me a sharer in his cross, In it, he shows me his glory; he reveals the virtues I need to be acrisolated; he shakes off victimhood; I end up as a protagonist. I have gone through several losses and the most heartbreaking tragedy of my life was the death of my brother: Jesus transformed it into a poem in the contemplation of his passion, death and resurrection.
On the other hand, I consider myself privileged. The generation of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, to which I belonged, lived through unique historical changes: the pontificate of St. John Paul II impacted the world in different spheres, especially in the political sphere, of course in addition to the religious sphere. Karol Wojtyla captivated me with his humility, his witness of life, his passion for souls, the way he assumed his illness and suffering, his configuration with Christ in pain healed my soul even more.
...and St. Josemaría is also fundamental.
From the first day I met him, he taught me to trust him as a child, I asked him to bring me to study at his University. I know he listened to me, he knew my longing to be a journalist of Jesus, by Jesus, and for Jesus.
Both saints inspired me to sanctify myself in my personal and professional life. I wrote to them a poem both St. John Paul II and St. Josemaría. Like Dominic Savio, I want to be a saint! However, since I am very far from this desire, I strive to be the splendorous bride that the lamb deserves. And St. Josemaría and St. John Paul II motivated me with their magnanimous example of life. And so I gently returned to my precious House, the Catholic Church!
"I consider myself a missionary communicator. My mission and vocation is to reconcile people first with God and then with themselves: I inspire them to fall in love with Jesus Christ. The emotional and spiritual well-being of man is in feeling loved, accepted and forgiven. God heals wounds and puts our lives in order".
What has been the role of this formation you received at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross?
I studied Institutional Communication. Jesus says: if you know how to seek, you will find. In my search for holiness, I set myself the task of investigating a university that could educate me professionally and spiritually in this virtue, where the combination of formative curricula would focus on God.
I was won over by the name "Santa Cruz". I was convinced that this University was the precious pearl that would quench my thirst for academic sanctity. For this dream I left my country, culture, family, work, "success" and the economic power I enjoyed.
But what I received instead was a more valuable experience: I learned to value and love consecrated life, priests, saints, Mary as the mother of God, I began to truly feel her as my Mother, along with her great protection.
I am the result of the affection, protection and tender care with which my alma materand particularly the School of Institutional Communication, trains its students. And I am referring to all the professors. I have a deep gratitude to them.
You are dedicated to the promotion and defense of human dignity. What is the fundamental mark of all your activities?
In my career as a communicator I have gone through different stages, God wanted to educate me in this way. I started as a volunteer in hospitals, then I supported foundations, then radio broadcasts and conferences. As a result of the pandemic and my mother's illness, I dedicated myself to taking care of her.
I combine my work as a nurse and journalist from home: I conduct interviews, programs and more for "Mundo Católico" on YouTube. I am passionate about my work, the virtual world has an unimaginable reach, it projects you to different countries, continents, to thousands of people. Thanks to these digital platforms I am more fruitful in evangelization. The mark or seal of my talks, programs and interviews is undoubtedly the seal of St. Josemaría: being contemplative in ordinary life.
I discovered meaning, intelligence, wisdom, beauty, the underlying glory in the small, the adverse, the loss, the pain. I want every interview, article, conference to be a theological work, I connect biblical quotes to highlight the truth and beauty of God in everything.
What about forgiveness? Why do you focus so much on it?
Forgiveness is one of the essential virtues in human life. Jesus taught us this grace: "This is my blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins". As long as we do not understand the dimension of the above prayer together with the sacrifice of Jesus, we cannot feel loved, accepted and forgiven, we live in indifference and ingratitude to the heart that loved us most. Without this experience there is no inner transformation in man.
You talk about gender ideology, euthanasia and other issues that affect the dignity of the person
The gender ideology and other currents are movements supported by political interests, originated by the elites of the new world order. The objective: birth control that pretends to solve the problems of humanity. And yet, the most successful solution for this is to heal the wounds of man, because from such wounds originates darkness, excessive ambitions, unhappiness. Humanity has been distorted by the lack of an authentic reconciliation with God.
The German theologian Jutta Burggraf gives us a most excellent lecture on the powerful liberation of man thanks to forgiveness: this virtue reconciles us with our Creator, with ourselves; we are placed in our reality and truth. We begin to see ourselves in all the glory for which we were created. In my long career as a counselor, I have touched it with my hands: to obey, to respect, to love God as humanity; this would be the true beginning of a new "world order".
Among the people you have interviewed are Martín Valverde, Monsignor Guido Marini, the producer of the movie Cristiada, Nick Vujicic: who impacted you the most?
Undoubtedly Nick Vujicic: he moved me the most, due to his very high level of spiritual and emotional intelligence. His words that he expressed in a conference to the students of La Salle University in Leon still resonate in my mind: "If God gave me the opportunity to be born again, I would choose to be born the same way. Because I love you," he said referring to all those present. "If I had committed suicide, I wouldn't have written my best sellersI have rescued thousands and thousands of lives from suicide with my testimony. Millions of people visit my web page, they write to thank me; my example motivates them to go on".
Vujicic, in his lecture, described his stages of fireproof faith. With this confidence he challenged God, to give him his arms and legs. Then followed the pain of silence and the absence of God, added to the darkness and attempted suicide for not accepting himself. Then the crises, catharsis: all this led him to discover the glory of God for which he was created.
This scenario was the trigger for the resurgence of a star. It is wonderful to meet characters who achieve a very high level of emotional maturity like this (inner peace and contentment, gratitude to the creator, feeling chosen in the vicissitudes of destiny).
Nick's success speaks to the caliber of creative intelligence that transcends heartbreaking physical scenarios into hopeful realities that transform all pain into love. Victimhood prevents us from understanding that the pain takes on the form of a chisel, with which God molds our soul towards its fullness and eternity.
In addition to your devotion to all the important causes you are dedicated to, what is your personal life like?
Until 2019 I lived between Chicago, Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Miami, Miami, Rome, Milan, Spain and Mexico City; supporting parishes, apostolates, Catholic media... Then I returned to my country due to the illness of my mother whom I now dedicate myself to take care of. God has given me the grace to combine my work from home and at the same time take care of her. I continue to help foundations, projects in the seventh art and more...
Do you have any dreams left to fulfill?
When you fall in love with God and consecrate your life to him, you will always have dreams to fulfill. God is a thirst for infinity. You crystallize one dream, but you are already projecting another. You long to do much for humanity. When you dream for God, His dreams are bigger for you. He gives you lofty ideals, most of which have been fulfilled in my life.
I want to publish books, one of my articles with different themes, another of my life in Rome, my surprising experiences at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, the way in which I got ahead with my studies without having economic resources; a book of poems to the Cross, to Jesus. For now it is only in video, another one of Rosa Maria's phrases...
There are still very great ideals to be realized, they are not mine, they are God's placed in my heart. I have learned that He is concretizing them in his blessed Kairos.
In closing, we would like to share some of the very uplifting work of Rosa Maria Ordaz that is present here. on the web. For example, Cecilia Valderrama, director of Mundo Católico, interview with Rosa María Ordaz.
In such a difficult time, where, as many say, war and peace are also made of communication (and we see it these days), it is great gratitude to be part of an Institution that contributes to train journalists who have such a delicate job, to spread truth, peace and hope in a world that seems to feed more and more on bad news, lies, despair and uncertainty.
Thank you very much, Rosa Maria, missionary communicator, for the hope you have given us.
Gerardo Ferrara
BA in History and Political Science, specializing in the Middle East.
Responsible for the student body
University of the Holy Cross in Rome
