This article originally appeared in the February 2004 Boost-A-Month Club Newsletter

Mission Trip Deepens Sense of Church

St. Pius X visitors to two of Glenmary's Georgia missions participated in a Presentation ceremony, like this one, in which a three-year-old child is presented to both Jesus and Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Several months ago members of the Sister Parish Committee of St. Pius X Church visited Glenmary’s Georgia missions: Holy Trinity in Swainsboro and Holy Family in Metter. The Loudonville, N.Y., parish adopted these two missions over a year ago and the communities have maintained an active relationship ever since. What follows is the mission trip report from committee members published in the St. Pius X parish newsletter.

What we experienced in Georgia is a true testament to our beliefs in a shared faith.

Each of the churches we visited has an English as well as a Spanish Mass over the course of the weekend. The Spanish Masses are at night to accommodate the migrants who work in the fields or factories 12-14 hours a day.

Before the Sunday evening Spanish Masses, we visited the different religious education classes taking place. In addition to the traditional religious education classes for children, the parishes also provide preparation classes for baptism for both adults and children and preparation for adult First Communion. (We learned that many of the migrants come from remote villages in Mexico and never get an opportunity to receive their First Communion.)

We also visited some of the camps in which the migrant workers live. We watched in awe as Glenmary Father Vic Subb distributed blankets, donated clothing and basic personal items to several newly arrived families. The children ran to him as soon as he arrived. He speaks to all in Spanish even though it is a second language to many migrants who come from tiny villages in Mexico where an Indian dialect is spoken.

Father Vic’s care, love and compassion for all of his parishioners is very evident.

But he doesn’t do this work alone: Sister Paul Marie Westlake coordinates religious education for the Anglo parishioners; Sister Pat Himmer ministers primarily to the Hispanics, many times acting as a translator to help resolve the many problems and hardships of their daily lives; Father Bill Smith, a retired Glenmary priest, helps with sacramental ministry; Glenmary Brother Virgil Siefker provides outreach to the people of both counties through building projects and home repairs.

While at the Saturday evening Mass, we participated in a lovely Hispanic tradition: a Presentation. This is a religious ceremony in which a three-year-old child is “presented” to both Jesus and the Blessed Mother (in this case, Our Lady of Guadalupe). The children and their attendants wear fancy dresses or suits for the ceremony.

After this joyous celebration, a parishioner pulled into the church parking lot to tell Father Vic that his trailer had burned to the ground while he and his family were at Mass with us. All the man could think and talk about was his gratitude to God for sparing them any injury.

Father Vic is many things to many people. They call and come to him first with their joys and sorrows. As he drove some parishioners home and then headed toward the trailer park to check on the burned-out family, he told us how the people pull together to help each other despite all that they themselves need. That was evident when we learned that all the members of the faith community contributed to help out in the tragedy. We were in awe of Father Vic’s ministry—he helps the migrants to truly live their daily lives with Jesus.

The Anglo parishioners, too, were so friendly. Word spread about who we were and with whom we were visiting. We visited in true Southern-style: over a pot luck meal! They are a close-knit group. They have to be! There aren’t very many Catholics in rural Georgia and sometimes, we learned, the Catholic beliefs of the missions’ children are challenged in the public schools which they attend. Events—such as a summer Bible school—are held in conjunction with the Lutheran and Presbyterian churches in town since they also have small congregations.

We also met with members of their parish council and visited with parishioners in their homes. We drove past chicken processing factories; peanut, cotton and onion fields; a sawmill and trailer manufacturer. We learned a lot about the local economy, but we learned even more about the Catholic Church right here in our own country.

We have renewed our pledge to pray for each other. And we are planning for the future. We hope to set up some sharing programs with them: perhaps pen pals for the children (English and Spanish), or organizing letter writers for their few shut-ins. We are also organizing a youth exchange for this summer.

As “Padre Miguel” (St. Pius pastor Father Michael Farano) says in his homilies, “We, the people, are the Church, not the building in which we worship.” It is this commonality that we have with our sisters and brothers in Christ in Georgia and elsewhere.

Jackie DeSanti
Sister Parish Committee Chair