‘I hope we can keep growing, learning together’ Greetings from Saltillo! It is almost time for the anual appeal, so I want to make a report to the people of Mississippi, to those who support all the efforts of so many here in Northeast Mexico.
Right now we are busy with all the preparations and celebrations of Christmas. People without heat in their homes, are dealing with sore throats, colds, and respiratory illness. The rains of summer were false hopes, since the corn was planted late, the dry weather came after the rains and the crops by and large failed.
Most of this past year, even till now I am busy adjusting to the new environment and the new situations of this parish and its various ministries. Some adjustments in the ongoing activities have been made.
We are growing. The city is growing and the barrios of the parish are growing. The city churches are full every Sunday. We began expanding San Juan Diego about three months ago, and the project is well on the way. The church will be about double the size of before, and six new classrooms will be added for religious education. Plans are in the works for expansion of three other of our churches in the city.
There is continual maintenance in the village chapels. We added a bathroom in one of the chapels and repair walls and roofs regularly. The rains this year made that necessary. We adjusted the rooms built some years back in one rancho to accommodate Sister Vicky, a retired religious who joined us to live and work in one of the larger ranchos.
The religious education program is going forward with a new set of materials. Thanks to a parish in LaPlace, La., we have lots of school materials to share in the various ranchos. The books we are using are materials from the Archdiocese of Guadalajara, newly written and well planned. They are very complete in their content, and give lots of help to the catechists. The kids like them because they are more colorful, and the parents like them since they have a weekly family project for each lesson.
We are trying to organize all the medical help coming to us. Dr. Michael Dunn of Hammond, La., is heading up all the medical donations, doctor visits, procedures and orientations for visits from various interested parties in Mississippi and Louisiana.
This keeps us all on the same page as we try to serve in the parish clinic and the villages. We hope to get the same sort of focus soon in the dental clinic and the needs we have there for material, instruments, and most of all, volunteers.
Father Benny Piovan, a retired priest from New Orleans, originally Italy, is a welcome companion. He is working to try to nourish the agriculture and methods of the villages. He loves to show the people other ways to grow crops and preserve food, and make cheese better. The Gospel takes many forms in his ideas, from chickens and turkeys to new forms of crops. He brings a new wrinkle to the efforts here.
I am trying to focus the visits of the groups in a way that all who come can understand better mission and encounter with people of another culture. This is a very big project. It requires new thinking and vision of our efforts.
Thanks to various mission societies and organizations in the United States, I have been able to at least start on this new focus. Also, we are trying to continually ask the people what is their need that we might address, so that we can truly offer what they need rather than what we think they need.
Our focus is less to give things, and more to try to create ways for the people who come to know and encounter the people who live here. Also, the reality of our mission is more and more connected to the flow of immigrants to the U. S., and to the poor there.
I want the people who visit here to know that they have much to do in their towns and neighborhoods with people just like those they meet here.
Sometimes the encounter here can help to encourage action for justice and change at home. Our world gets smaller, and we Catholics must see the global reality of the Gospel as well as the global reality of humanity, our brothers and sisters. Our lifestyle as Americans affects people around the globe, and our faith must be part of the lifestyle as Catholic Christians.
All that is going on, and could go on here, is dependant on the goodness of the people who are part of the church in the dioceses of Biloxi and Jackson, and beyond. We hope with all the increase of needs at home, that you all will continue to support the efforts begun here through the call of Pope John XXIII, and answered by Bishop Joseph Brunini, and Father Patrick Quinn and many others since. I hope we can keep growing and learning together.
Fr. Rich Smith.
