Living Loretto: Meet St. Mary’s educator & Loretto Co-member Christina Garcia

“It is important that nothing in our lives cuts us off from other human beings. Rather, we try to live so that everything about us, our words and works and manner of living, promotes understanding and peace among ourselves and others.”* Christina Garcia CoL recites a paragraph from the Loretto Constitutions, a quote she uses in a six-week class for eighth graders appropriately called Living Loretto — a quote she lives out daily.

Christina, who holds a master’s in communication with an emphasis in social justice in education and a bachelor’s in modern languages with an emphasis in Spanish, felt called to work in education, but for years she heard, and heeded, warnings that she should not become a teacher because she’d always be poor. She gravitated toward educational nonprofits and found the work fulfilling. Working for a scholarship foundation — a job that took her into schools all across the Denver metro area — she enjoyed interacting with students; she even taught a bit. But the warning echoed: You’ll be poor ….

Why rock a boat that was sailing smoothly? Then one day, she found her schedule taking her to St. Mary’s Academy to deliver a presentation. And a few weeks after that, the Spanish teacher called to say she would soon be leaving her position. She wondered if Christina might be interested in applying. Christina’s one-time experience at St. Mary’s had been uplifting, compelling. What if teaching really was for her? What if … ? Yielding to a strong pull, she turned straight into the wind; she submitted an application.

Now in her 18th year at the school, Christina teaches Spanish and serves as co-director, with Regina Drey SL, of Loretto Projects and Community Engagement. She loves her work, the students, St. Mary’s, Loretto. What could be more satisfying? There is no doubt: Taking a risk filled her sails with the wind that carried her to her life’s calling. Sometimes a smoothly sailing vessel needs a nudge, perhaps from a Divine breeze, to get out into deeper, life-giving seas.

‘The Loretto Community aligns closely to my heart and the way I grew up seeing the world. There is something very special about this Community.’

Christina Garcia CoL

Christina’s family grounded her in the values — community, compassion, forgiveness and gratitude — that she also encountered upon joining the staff at St. Mary’s, “and became,” she says, “completely immersed in Loretto.” When she learned the history of Loretto,” she says, “I realized I was working at a place that was an extension of my life. I get to go to work, and I get to live out those values. Then I go home and live the same values. How blessed am I to work at a place that has these same values?”

“Living Loretto,” Christina says, “comes out in the way that I teach.” She approaches her day-to-day service in the classroom by asking, “How can I make your day a little better?” She says, “Connection is everything — building a relationship built on respect and trust and humor.” Anchored in Loretto, with its 214-year history of educating and nourishing students, brings inspiration and guides her on her life-course of connection and compassion.

Before encountering Loretto, while employed in her previous position, Christina had been asked to step in and teach a class for a few weeks at a juvenile detention facility west of Denver. She did not relish the assignment; in truth, it terrified her. She arrived on her first day burdened with fear; the facility was like a prison, including barbed wire and heavy doors clanging shut behind her. The fear felt overwhelming, but she had committed to do this job.

Unexpectedly, and in spite of the fear, she soon found that she and the teens truly and deeply connected. Christina now sees that class as one of the very best of her life. It was their stories that opened a channel through fear’s roiling waters. “We would laugh,” she says. “We were able to create trust.” She adds, “I learned as much from them as they learned from me. At the end of the day, we’re in this together; let’s learn from each other.” This experience brought home an important truth: Fear is a root cause of injustice. “We judge what we don’t know,” she says, adding, “There is a connection somewhere with everybody. We’re not so different. We have a shared humanity. Fear separates us.” With personal experience underscoring this truth, she daily carries the lessons learned alongside the teens at the detention facility into St. Mary’s Academy.

Helping newly-arriving teachers at the school learn about Loretto is one of many aspects of her work that she values. Along with Regina, Christina dispenses lessons in “all things Loretto.” If you are a teacher at the school, she says, “you want to be immersed, to know what Loretto is all about.” Each year, teachers have an opportunity to travel to Loretto Motherhouse in Nerinx, Ky., for a Loretto Experience led by Regina, for which they overwhelmingly express gratitude. They, too, learn what it means to anchor in Loretto and its tradition of lived values.

Christina’s deep affinity with Loretto led her to pursue membership in the Community. In March 2023, her Co-member process was finalized, and she was formally accepted into the Community. Christina says that living Loretto includes “a commitment to uphold our mission, to build community and be surrounded by people who make a difference … just showing up and doing the work.”

Of her teaching life, she now says, “Those people were wrong who said I’d be poor — I didn’t realize how incredibly wrong they were. There’s more to riches than money. I am actually so rich.” Instead of fighting the wind that would bring her home, Christina tacked. Occasional choppy winds and challenging currents notwithstanding, one whose life is steered by the soul’s deep purpose remains on course.

*Quote on page 6 from I Am the Way, Loretto Constitutions, paragraph 22

Read all of the articles in the winter 2026 issue of Loretto Magazine here.