South Texas

Called to Serve the Poor

For many years, Father Gerry Shanley, ss.cc., felt called to serve the very poor. In January 2001, he went to Reynosa, Mexico, located on the US/ Mexican border minutes away from Pharr, Texas.

 Who Gets Helped

Mexican families, mostly single mothers, come to Reynosa seeking employment and a better life. They find work in transnational assembly factories where the hours are long and the wages are pitifully low. The families live in a shanty town of shack-like dwellings constructed in an irrigation canal that is always in danger when flash floods soak the parched land.

Since his arrival in Reynosa, Fr. Gerry has served as pastor of San Felipe de Jesus Church and its mission churches.  He is supported by other SS.CC.’s who minister in the Brownsville Diocese. He crosses the border into the U.S. each week to buy rice, beans, and pick up donated food. Every Thursday, he distributes these supplies to the families he serves in his parish and missions, as well as to other people who come for assistance.

Accomplishments So Far

With the help from groups who volunteer time and service, a small meeting hall, classrooms for Christian Doctrine and a convent for a group of religious sisters from Mexico, who help with the teaching ministry, have been constructed. Recently, the new buildings were used as a refuge when the area was threatened by Hurricane Emily. Thankfully, the storm hit land fifty miles south of the Bordo area, the name given to the shanty town where the people to whom Fr. Gerry ministers live.