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Mission
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Saint David Uribe Velasco |
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Centro de Atención Múltiple, Buenavista de Cuéllar, Guerrero México Tucked away on the outskirts of town away from view lies a small school called Centro de Atención Múltiple, or Center for Mutiple Assitance. This tiny school is a haven of love and affection for more than a dozen students who range in age from about 8 to 35 years of age. All the students suffer from a multitude of physical and mental maladies ranging from mental retardation to Downs Syndrome. Our Mission in partnership with Tlatoani Language School has sought out willing sponsors to assist the school by providing needed supplies for the teachers and students. We would like to
thank the Spanish students and their teachers Sharon Jackson and Amy
Isaac from Woodlands Academy in Lake Forest, IL for the wonderful
financial donation raised from their candy and bake sale. With the
donation, CAM was able to buy a much needed stove so the staff could
cook and prepare food for the children.
In Cat's words... Gabriel (Director and Teacher at Tlatoani Language School)
volunteers a few times a week at a small school here for mentally and
pysically handicapped children. (Is that today's politically-correct
term? I hope so)
Outreach to Los Amates, Guerrero México Los Amates, is a small impoverished village located in the State of Guerrero, México. Forty-four percent of the 279 individuals that make up the population of the village are illiterate. With only 75 people employed for part of the year, life is a daily struggle. There is no purified water and interior plumbing virtually is non existent. Our calling as Franciscans inspires us to reach out to
people such as these and offer them a glimmer of hope and an abundance
of love.
We planned and completed a mission trip
in 2004 with New Life
Metropolitan Community Church of Charlotte, NC to Los Amates. The
group traveled there to make repairs and paint the church building, Nuestra Señora de
Guadalupe. How
difficult it is for the rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. As
today’s Gospel for Sunday, September 26, from Luke affirms, unless the
rich man shows concern and compassion for the less fortunate, his just
reward will be separation from God. Was the rich man’s sin the fact
that he was rich? Absolutely not. His wealth was a gift from God the
Father. His grave sin was that of indifference, indifference to the
suffering that was right there at his doorstep. His riches blinded him
to the needs of others that suffered pain, illness, poverty and
rejection. For
nine days this month I was blessed with the privilege to receive and
host a 7 member Mission Team to Mexico from this church family. Together
with the Reverend Timothy R. Koch, PhD, and the members of his
“Proyecto Nuevos Amigos” team, we collaborated in a renovation
project on the church building of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in the
impoverished village of Los Amates. In
the spirit of love and Christian brother and sisterhood, the New Life
MCC mission team helped renovate not only a church building but also
people’s lives. The small cement church that had fallen into disrepair
was and is the focal point of life for the people of this small
community. Through the efforts of our team, the building was
reconditioned, reinforced, rewired, made safe and repainted.
The Saturday before we began our actual on-site work, we
delivered a complete meal to the entire village that many were able to
partake of. The highlight of the trip was the celebratory Mass that was
held in the church when we completed the work. I was especially proud of
the team when at the end of Mass the delighted congregation recognized
and thanked them with a heartfelt applause. Many will never know the
effort, determination and sacrifice it took the members of the team to
pick up the cross to follow Christ. It
took many people to carry out “Proyecto Nuevos Amigos”, so before
sharing my thoughts and reflections about the mission trip, I want to
recognize and thank those responsible for making the project a success.
My initial thank you goes to God. As the Psalms tell us, if God is not
in the planning, the building will not be successfully constructed.
Secondly I want to thank Rev. Koch who kept the group spiritually
focused throughout the entire process. We began and ended each day of
the mission in prayer, reflection and communal affirmation. Thank you
also to all the members of New Life MCC for supporting the many hours of
work and fundraising that it took to plan out and finance the trip. To
all those donors, both known and anonymous from the general community
and from Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, thank you. Your financial
donations helped the team touch the hearts and lives of people in a
small village several thousand miles away. As a group of women in the
village expressed to me, “May God repay your kindness because we can
not”. Fr. Rodolfo
Gutierrez Fitz, the priest in charge of the parish in Los Amates will be
sending a letter of thanks to the team. With
God as part of the planning and building process, any project’s
success is a certainty, but the devil can be counted on to do his part
to interrupt, disillusion and destroy those
good works. Satan did just that by causing one of the mission
team members to be hospitalized in critical condition a few days before
the team was to depart for Mexico. The power of prayer prevailed and
with God’s grace, our team member did recuperate. Even though he was
not able to participate in the mission trip, I know his spirit was with
us and was ours with him. I
also want to extend a sincere and heartfelt thank you to Jose Gabriel
Arizmendi Uribe who coordinated and carried out all the preparatory work
and logistics in Mexico, including securing all the necessary
authorizations from local authorities. Gabriel went above and beyond the
call to ensure every aspect and detail was attended to and that all the
mission team’s needs were met. Thank
you also to Doña Liduvina Uribe Figueroa de Arizmendi and her daughter
Maria Dolores Arizmendi for the wonderful food that they prepared for
all of us each day. The freshly prepared “aguas frescas” that were
waiting for us when we returned each day from the village was a welcomed
treat. The
mission trip to Los Amates gave each of us the opportunity for personal
and spiritual growth. By helping to coordinate this trip, I was blessed
with the chance to get to know the team members in a very personal way
and at a level that most do not get the chance to experience. I had the
opportunity to identify my strengths and weaknesses in interpersonal
group dynamics and I am thankful that my eyes and heart were opened to
that reality. The Spirit will always guide the soul of the individual
who seeks God’s will in his or her life. Revelations and
self-discoveries are not always pleasant, but for those who persevere in
love, the results bring you closer to the heart of God. During
my time with the mission team I discovered new identities in each
individual and gained a deeper respect for each. The focus of our trip
was to repair a church building but the collateral benefits were unexpected repairs
and modifications to my own spiritual life and journey. I was able to
see my brothers in Christ with a different set of eyes. I pray that this
new vision and perspective continue. The
night before the team headed back to the United States we all gathered
for a time of reflection. It was a joy for me to hear each team member
express his reaction to the time spent in Mexico and it’s impact on
his life. It reinforced for
me the need to appreciate and commit myself to only those things that
will lead and encourage me to follow Jesus on the path to the Father in
Heaven. I
pray that with God’s grace, this mission trip will be the first of
many and that the Spirit of our Lord will continue to guide and inspire
others in MCC to reach out and serve those in need through mission work
to other parts of Guerrero and Mexico as well. Again
I say “Thank you from the bottom of my heart”, “Gracias de todo
corazón” for keeping your church theme alive, “Worship that
Inspires, Mission that matters”. ¡Qué
Dios les bendiga! Fr. Tom Shortell, FDP
Pax Et
Bonum! |
's
gentle word of encouragement and love to begin to arrive in greater
numbers, especially the children. Classes are held outside since there
is no adequate facility at the church. Through a contribution from
friends in the United States, we were able to purchase books for the
children. Words can not describe the children's reaction when they
realized they were "their" books.........to keep, really!
In the spirit of Franciscanism it is noteworthy to mention that the
Roman Catholic catechism books were purchased by our Christian friends
who are not part of the Roman Church. 
