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Mission
Update: San Felipe De Jesus Parish in Reynosa, Mexico
Fr. Gerry Shanley, ss.cc.
In 2007, I begin my seventh year at San Felipe de Jesus Parish in
Reynosa,
Mexico. I am kept busy here - perhaps at times too busy. We have
just started building the third new church for the parish, Our Lady
of the Assumption. The existing church is small; we are building the
new one around it. When it is completed, we will
knock down the old one inside. We decided to keep the church where
it was because I had built six classrooms next to it. With four
churches in the parish, the weekends can be quite busy. This year
with Sunday also being Christmas Eve, I presided at seven Masses
that day, but that is an exception!
Increase
in the number of people seeking help from our parish
One of our biggest expenditures during 2006
came with the overflow of undocumented Mexicans who were caught in
the U.S. and sent back to Mexico. Over 3,000 came to our doors this
past year. We don’t have much to give to these people, but with such
heavy volume, it adds up. It is estimated that there are around 12
million undocumented Mexicans in the U.S . Legislation has been
passed to build a wall along the Mexican border, but I doubt that it
will ever be funded, as one politician said that it was a waste.
What the solution will be is difficult to determine. It seems that
borders
should be managed, but many feel that hardworking immigrants who
enter illegally are only seeking escape from extreme poverty.
A large bakery on the American side of the border has been giving us
about 1,000 loaves of bread every week, and so twice a week I go
there to pick it up. Another large grocery store gives us cakes,
pies, and pastries which are eagerly sought after by the people we
serve. Recently, after a parish on the U.S. side gave us over 500
hamburger patties -left over after their parish fiesta –we prepared
hamburgers in the office. For awhile, we were like a McDonalds (No
French fries!) as we gave them out with a soda.
The
problem of illicit drugs
Along the border, drugs are more and more a
problem every year. Many of the border cities, Reynosa included, are
experiencing a drug war among the rival drug lords to see who will
control the illicit trade. Killings are very frequent, and many of
them quite brazenly committed in broad daylight. If you are not
involved in the drug
trade, it is quite safe. San Felipe de Jesus, right on the border,
is in the midst of the problem. With the tightening of security
along the border some of the drugs cannot get across, and so they
are pushing the sale on the local level. Sad to say, many of the
local youth are caught up in this and will steal anything to get
money for drugs. We have had a lot of things stolen recently. If it
is not tied down, it may disappear! We
have to be vigilant, but I refuse to live in a prison, and I like to
keep things as open as possible.
We
continue to help families in need
We
continue to help about four hundred families every week with food
and clothing. Providing such essentials is time consuming and puts a
big strain on our
 resources, but I try to divide what we get between
direct aid to the poor and parish projects. One great blessing has
been St. Anne's Parish in Tecumseh, Ontario, Canada. They have been
so generous over the years. Indeed, every year a group of men come
here for a week to work on different projects. The three young
Mexican sisters here in the parish are also a tremendous help in
everything. Every week we try to help two orphanages in the area with commercial baked goods and candy that we get. Their resources
are limited, and our visits are welcomed. What is even sadder is the
“Tutelar”, a kind of prison for children eight to fifteen years or
so. It has about forty youngsters who are there for all kinds of
reasons. It’s run by the government; but they lack many resources,
and once a week the person in charge comes to us for help. Sometimes
I wonder how we continue, but the Lord seems to provide with the
many good people helping us. The work is demanding, but I truly feel
that I have been blessed the years I have been here.
Reynosa,
Mexico is located on the US/Mexican border minutes away from
Pharr, Texas. |
