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| NEW CHAPEL UNDER CONSTRUCTION |
SALTILLO MISSION ADDS CHAPEL, DORMITORY, AND CONVENT, CONTINUING WORK OF FR. QUINN
BY: Msgr. Michael Flannery
Taken from Mississippi Catholic, August 7, 2015
SALTILLO, MEXICO--The good work begun by Father Patrick Quinn in Saltillo, still continues to bear fruit. The most recent project is the building of a new church within the City of Saltillo, which will be named Divine Mercy. This will bring the total number of churches within the city under the responsibility of San Miguel Mission to eight. The mission is also responsible for 25 mountain villages, some of which are six hours away from Saltillo.
The new project is about two miles form San Miguel the Archangel which is presently the center of the mission. Within the confines of that same campus there are plans to build a home for unwed mothers and a dormitory-style building to provide housing for college students coming from the mountain villages who cannot afford to pay the housing costs during their college years. Finally, there will be a convent on the campus where the Divine Mercy Sisters, a newly founded religious order, will supervise the operation of the campus and its ministries.
On Dec. 1, 2014, Bishop Joseph Kopacz joined Bishop Raul Vera Lopez, Bishop of Saltillo, in blessing the cornerstone of the Divine Mercy Church. The ceremony was attended by about 300 people.
and Msgr. Flannery in Mexico
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| Saltillo Bishop Raul Vera Lopez |
The Saltillo Mission was initially begun in response to an appeal made by Blessed Pope Paul VI to the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1967, to consider adopting a mission in Latin America. At the time the ratio between priests and people in Latin America was one priest for every 10,000 baptized Catholics and the ratio in the United States was one priest for every 1,000 Catholics. Then Bishop Joseph Brunini, of happy memory, responded positively to the challenge.
Father Murray Clayton, a priest from Shreveport, La., who was involved with an orphanage in Saltillo, suggested that the diocese consider going there. Saltillo is 200 miles south of the border at Laredo, Mexico. Father Patrick Quinn volunteered to be the first pastor of the mission. Father Quinn spent three months learning Spanish at Laredo before he moved to Saltillo and became pastor of one of the poorest parishes in the diocese, Perpetual Help (Perpetual Socorro), in 1969.
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| "THE MAN" |
Father Quinn remained the pastor of Perpetual Help Church until the time of his death on Jan. 7, 1997. During that 40-year administration, the parish had grown and several parishes were split off from it. The city of Saltillo grew from 200,000 to 709,000. The first group of Catholic youth to visit the mission was from Pascagoula Our Lady of Victory Church Parish in 1969. It became a very popular retreat for the youth of Mississippi and Father Quinn built a dormitory to house up to 100 youth at a given time. It is estimated that over the 40 years more than 40,000 people from Mississippi went to the mission and for many of those youth it was a life changing experience.
The situation in Mexico changed to the point where the safety of the youth could not be guaranteed and the state did not recommend sending young people there. Shortly after Father Quinn's death, a decision was made to move the center of the mission from Perpetual Help to San Miguel, and Msgr. Michael Thornton was appointed pastor. Presently, Fathers David Martinez and Elevio Casarubias staff the mission and the good work begun by Father Quinn continues.
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| Padre Elevio and Padre David |
Because of the shortage of priests in Mississippi, we find it impossible to send priests to the mission. However, the shortage of priests in Latin America has changed to the point where we are looking to Mexico for seminarians and we are blessed to have a number of priests from Mexico working in our midst.
"We cast our bread on the water and it is returned to us."
(Msgr. Flannery is pastor of Madison St. Francis Parish)
Msgr. Flannery served with Father Quinn in Saltillo from 1971-1974.
(photos added)
