Catholic Charity Work in Mexico

San Patricio (St. Patrick) Catholic Church

The San Patricio church is located in a newly-constructed area called “Avenida Fuego” in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. This rapidly growing community is home to approximately 30,000 people within the lower-middle and middle-class. Because the population is expected to grow by 30% within the next few years, Fr. Patrick intends on finalizing the construction of San Patricio so it can serve as the spiritual heart for the community through masses, retreats, and catechism programs.

Six years ago, the structure of San Patricio Catholic Church was made up of three components: some columns, a few beams, and a roof. Although the church was originally a skeleton structure, its potential was gradually revealed throughout the years because of your generous donations and support.

Now, San Patricio has a stable foundation, a sacristy, a storage area, finished restrooms, and a second building with 5 classrooms intended for retreats and a CCD program for the community children.

Unfortunately, the church has low attendance because it still lacks some essential, final elements. Currently, their scarcity of tolerable seating forces the community to travel far distances to attend mass elsewhere or to not attend mass at all.

Fr. Patrick believes that the famous Field of Dreams quote holds true: “If you build it they will come.”

San Patricio Catholic Church hopes to flourish into a reliable, spiritual beacon for the community by finalizing its construction with proper flooring, wooden pews, and wall-coverings around the precious altar.

Scroll and Click to see the progress of San Patricio throughout the years:

San Patricio Parish Responds to COVID-19 with Solidarity Supper

Unfortunately, a health-crisis such as a pandemic affects us all, especially those who were already battling poverty. Unexpectedly, one’s current needs are amplified while new, additional needs arise unfulfilled. Across the US, we have seen an increasing struggle to provide families with basic necessities like food and toilet paper. A similar struggle exists in a subdivision called “Mundo Habitat” in the region of Playa del Carmen in Quintana Roo, Mexico. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic in mid-March, parishioners of Sagrado Corazon were turning to the church to relieve both their increased spiritual and physical hunger.

With the combined efforts of volunteers, community families, missionaries, and local restaurants, the parish created a community kitchen called “Cenas Solidarias” (Solidarity Supper).

The self-made community kitchen distributes food baskets, costing approximately $180 pesos ($7.82 US). The food comes from multiple generous resources including a local Spanish restaurant who donates prepared food daily, local taco and fish-fry restaurants, and individual families who contribute anything they can from bread to drinks to desserts. The kitchen provides double servings to about 140 people a day and is run by the community 7 days a week.

Solidarity Supper was fully curated because of generous hearts in the Sagrado Corazon community. It alleviates the weight of hunger and financial burdens during the unpredicted pandemic. However, the kitchen wanted to feed the mouths beyond the immediate community.

Families in the surrounding, rural communities (referred to as communities “of the woods”) lack the means to travel to Solidarity Supper. Instead, missionary Victor Manuel Becerra hand delivers the food directly to their homes.

The community intends on continuing the kitchen for the next 7 ½ months, but they currently lack enough resources to feed the snaking lines. To sustain the Solidarity Supper throughout the pandemic, they humbly ask for your support today.

Scroll and Click to see more pictures of the Community Kitchen:

September 2020

The Solidarity Supper Community Kitchen is going strong! People in Cancun are still in desperate need of hope and a meal. Fr. Patrick just sent us this video last week.

You can give now to this worthy project by clicking here.

“Whatever you did to the least of my brothers that you did unto me” -Matthew. 25:40

 

“There is no ulterior motive to feeding the hungry and giving a cup of cold water to the thirsty than to be faithful to the Lord’s teaching.” -Fr. Patrick Butler, LC

The Community Kitchen hopes to alleviate the weight of hunger and financial burdens during the unpredicted pandemic. 

Your generosity will help sustain the kitchen so it can continue to feed the hungry.

Read Bishop Navarro’s plea to Catholic World Mission to gain support for evangelization in one of the most dangerous cities in Mexico here.

“We have heroic priests and nuns fighting for our people, but it is not enough. We need more help, more foot soldiers for Christ. I have a plan, but I need your help at Catholic World Mission. Please.”
– Bishop Navarro

Bishop Navarro has met with the people of Michoacán who do not want their city to remain under the rule of the gangs and drug cartels. His plan is to promote the Gospel of Peace bringing peace and hope to men, women and children all across Mexico.

“The children here are especially at risk. In record numbers, they fall away from our Catholic faith while lured into life on the streets – joining gangs, peddling drugs and committing other harmful and unlawful acts.” – Bishop Navarro

For the Gospel of Peace to prevail Bishop Navarro urgently needs funds for the formation of missionaries to spread the Gospel. The missionaries will be trained through the ETC program to be evangelizers, with the goal of keeping people in the area while creating a safe atmosphere. These missionaries will be sharing the news of Christ through their works, sheltering the homeless, feeding the hungry, and educating and protecting the most vulnerable and the forgotten.

Already Bishop Navarro has had great interest in the Gospel of Peace. More than 100 people showed up at a Eucharistic Adoration event to pray for their city, and to learn more about being evangelizers to the people of Michoacán.

Evangelizers at Home

In the San Francisco de Asis Catholic Church over 100 lay people came to learn how to be evangelizers in their homes, communities, and even their churches.

“People came from all over. The people are so thirsty for God’s word and for an alternative to the suffering and hopelessness of the streets. They were not afraid. We are changing hearts and minds.”
– Father Sergio, leader of the Gospel of Peace Movement at San Francisco de Asis Parish

The torch in Michoacán has been lit, but it is not enough. The Gospel of Peace must reach other parishes. Other parishes, priests and bishops have seen how contagious the Gospel of Peace movement is and they want to bring it to their parishes, diocese, and communities. There are 300 volunteers ready to be trained to be evangelizers in their communities. They are without tools though, and need guidance and strength when faced with oppression.

“Our 100 original participants have already gone out to their respective parishes, to change the hearts and minds of over 1,200 others. I am convinced now this is a fight we can win.” – Father Sergio

Finish church for local workers and tourists!

Corpus Christi construction is well underway. It is already 45% of the way done, and the roof is half finished as well. Fr. James and his parishioners need your help to finish their new parish home.

Take a look at the pictures below to see the progress made so far, and at the virtual renditions of what the church will look like when it is completed!

As the local people have come to know Jesus and fall more deeply in love with him, they have been inspired to help build Corpus Christi parish, both figuratively and literally. Corpus Christi parish will serve as the spiritual hub for thousands of resort employees and tourists from around the world in Playa del Carmen. It is already the place where people from all walks of life and countries of origin will get to encounter the living Jesus in a real, life-changing way.

The witness of Playa del Carmen’s residents makes a huge impact on visiting tourists. Their example of simple faith, hospitality, and generosity has impacted many visitors to deepen their own Catholic faith, and makes them realize that they, too, need a friendship with Christ. Your help is needed to finally make the plans for Corpus Christi a reality.

Click through the images below to see photos of construction progress, and virtual models of how Corpus Christi will look when it’s finished!

Fall 2018

Great progress is being made on Corpus Christi parish. Thanks to your support, this church is getting closer to being finished every day!

Click through the photos below to see the progress.

Give now to build a spiritual home for thousands of people

The people of Playa del Carmen have done a lot to fund the building of their church including countless fundraising events: bazaars, dinners, breakfasts, and special collections. With your gift today, you will not only evangelize internationally, but you will also help empower the people of Playa del Carmen, who are already working hard to build their church!

The residents of Playa del Carmen have raised nearly a third of the funds needed to build the church! They need your help to raise the remaining $632,000. They have shown us that with consistent effort, and a lot of faith, that when we all work together we can do great things. Here are some tangible ways you can help finish Corpus Christi parish:

• $10 provides one 50 kg bag of cement
• $50 buys 25 bricks, which are about $.50 a piece
• $162 pays for one cubic meter of concrete
• $200 pays one week’s wages for one construction worker

Restoration

Our Lady of Guadalupe Church suffered greatly when Hurricane Wilma came through. The stained glass windows were completely destroyed, and the floor and ceiling were damaged. Fr. Bernard Quinn, LC, knows the parish is important to the locals. It gives them hope and offers a place to gather strength. He worked hard to make sure that his parishioners will have a functioning church again.

Thanks to your generosity, the parish has gone through quite a few renovations recently. Donations helped repair the windows, ceiling and floors. The parish is home to 20,000 people.

Education

A small school is located next to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.

There, Fr. Quinn is always making improvements. The school next to the church serves elementary children during the day and high school students at night. Fr. Quinn actively participates in the children’s education. He wants them to be able to escape the extreme poverty they live in and not fall prey to drinking and drugs. Fr. Quinn teaches classes and advocates for providing the children with the resources they need to succeed in the classroom. His latest request helped build science and technology classrooms.

Evangelization

The people of Our Lady of Guadalupe live in deep poverty. This leads them to become addicted to drugs and alcohol when they feel hopeless. Unfortunately, it can begin at a very young age for some residents. Fr. Quinn is fighting to combat this trend.

The current goal is to build a new chapel on the other side of the highway for the other side of town to attend Mass. Many of the locals are Catholic but rely on walking to get anywhere, and very few people in the town have cars. The new chapel will allow those people on the other side of town to attend Mass without walking all day to get to Our Lady of Guadalupe. This is exactly the kind of thing that brings people hope and meaning to their lives.