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Diocesan youth ministry a safe space for Lentz to shine

Sacred Heart senior embraces her Catholic faith, leadership, motivating her schoolmates

Published: June 1, 2022   

By Aprille Hanson Spivey
Associate Editor

Aprille Hanson Spivey
Maggie Lentz, 18, smiles in the sanctuary of Sacred Heart Church in Morrilton May 11. The graduating senior said she loves “everything” about her Catholic faith.

Ask Maggie Lentz what she’s involved in at Sacred Heart School, Church and diocesan youth ministry, and get ready to settle in — the list is long. She served on the diocesan Youth Advisory Council, CYM, has been a longtime manager for the basketball team, a student council member, altar server and eucharistic minister. 

“I also do the Search Team for the Diocese of Little Rock,” she added. “And then I'm the president of our school's Beta Club. And then I'm a chief fire marshal. And then I'm also on Quiz Bowl and Key Club. I love getting involved with things. It’s been probably my favorite part about — did I say softball? I’m on the softball team also. I tend to stay in the dugout, but I like it there. I like just leading it on and being motivational.” 

Every part of her life is guided by her Catholic faith. 

“I love how I get the opportunity for reconciliation. It kind of makes me like, I can start over. And then I just love the Eucharist. I love everything about it, and I love how big of a community we are as Catholics,” Lentz said. 

“I love how I get the opportunity for reconciliation. It kind of makes me like, I can start over. And then I just love the Eucharist. I love everything about it, and I love how big of a community we are as Catholics.”

The 18-year-old is the daughter of Vince and Lesley Lentz, and sister of brother Zach and half-brother Ryan, who was placed for adoption and her family reconnected with this fall. 

“I'll miss the family atmosphere, and I think I'll miss my class the most. Because we've been together since kindergarten and it's always just been like since ninth grade, it's just been the 13 of us,” Lentz said of Sacred Heart. “We're just brothers and sisters.”

Her most spiritually fulfilling activity has been YAC, forming lifelong friendships with Catholics throughout the state. 

“It’s been the place where I have felt probably the safest. I felt true to myself there. And I love all the people involved,” she said. 

Liz Tingquist, diocesan director of youth and campus ministry, said of Lentz, “She exhibits joy all the time. I think that that joy is deep-seated and comes from her faith in God. And that joy is something that rubs off on other people and influences them to the good.”

Earning a 3.67 GPA, Lentz said she works hard to keep herself organized or else her anxiety will go “through the roof.” She has managed it throughout the years through breathing techniques, listening to music and showers, saying others who struggle need to find what puts them in their “calm place.” 

Lentz will attend Arkansas State University in Jonesboro this fall majoring in chemistry, with the goal to be a pharmacist. 

“I've always wanted to help people, and I prayed very hard on what I should major in, and that's the one that's really just stuck with me since like ninth grade,” Lentz said. 

But no matter where she ends up, Sacred Heart will always be home. 

“I think what I love most about Sacred Heart is having like the priests here and having just that connection. They make me feel so close to God when I talk to them,” she said, as well as the caring teachers. “I don't think I would be where I am in my faith life if it wasn't for Sacred Heart.”

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