Week of
January 17, 2001
Inside the Register
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Life at the mission filled with surprises
Editor's note: Erlinda Moscoso is an administrative assistant in the Office for Hispanic Ministry. This is the first of a two-part article about her recent visit to the Hermosillo Mission sponsored by the three Colorado dioceses.
By Erlinda Moscoso
I
recently traveled to "Mision Sin Fronteras," a collaborative
mission outreach in Hermosillo, Mexico, sponsored by the three Colorado
dioceses. I arrived at the airport with trepidation because my suitcase
was full of candy for the missionaries and the children of Hermosillo,
and I was not sure if I was in violation of one of the customs laws. Instead
of being questioned about the candy, I was told, "Bienvenida."
Sue Gomez, from Denver, and Beverly Jahn, from Colorado Springs, two of the missionaries arrived to pick me up. Sue maneuvered a red Chevrolet pickup through the noisy and busy streets. I could hear horns honking, brakes screeching, revving of motors and vendors yelling out their wares. Turning into a side street the noise disappeared but we now had to contend with water in the street, ruts, rocks, and driving on the left side of the road. A dog sauntered across the street, wearing a t-shirt, and I was told that t-shirts for dogs is the latest fad in Hermosillo.
The welcome by Father Tom McCormick, director of the mission, and by missionaries Sue Gomez, Beverly Jahn and Mary Lederhos included a tour of the house and yard. The four bedroom mission house is white cement with a flat roof and reddish-brown bars on the windows. A washer sits outside under a covered patio and a clothesline works as their dryer. A tall wall was being built around two sides of the property and the missionaries have future plans for the rest of the yard.
Early the next morning, Father Tom said, "This is the most important part of our day." Shoes were removed, carpet remnants placed on the floor for kneeling and then one missionary raised the curtain where a perpetual electric candle flickered. The Blessed Sacrament was exposed and a votive candle lit. I expected the usual spoken, give and take of prayer, but instead, there was silence for 45 minutes. I said a few prayers and then spent the rest of my time looking at the four missionaries to see what their next move would be and also, in trying to locate the source of a ticking clock. Later, when I commented that I had never prayed silently in a group before, I was told, "Silent prayer is powerful and if you are silent, sometimes the Holy Spirit will speak to you."
Father Tom and I headed to Tel Mex, a communication company that had invited him to celebrate Mass, bless a new Statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe and to bless the trucks and equipment belonging to the company. Fifty employees were present at Mass and I couldn't help but think that in the United States, nothing like this would ever happen at any of our communication companies.
We joined Mary Lederhos and Beverly Jahn to go to the Women's Prison. Mary drove and I sat in the front with her while Father Tom and Bev bounced in the back of the pickup. I felt guilty that a priest was in the back but when I suggested he trade places, I was informed that, "It's okay, everyone takes a turn at riding in the back!"
Arriving at the prison, I found it to be a very cheerful place painted in white with pink trim. The young women looked as if they belonged in high school, though some had committed serious crimes. Father Tom celebrated Mass and everyone joined in the singing of religious songs. The singing may have been off-key, but everyone appeared to sing from the heart.
Before lunch, I went for a walk to see the neighborhood and counted five outdoor shrines to Our Lady of Guadalupe. A car drove by and left me in a cloud of swirling dust. I had to detour to get around puddles of water from broken pipes and had been told that if there was an odor, it could be a sewer line but if there was no odor then it most likely was a water main that had broken.
I stopped and watched daredevil boys on bikes fly into the air and land with a big "thud" on the hilly area. Three woman worked in a small tortilla factory making large tortillas about the size of an extra large pizza. The tortillas are flung around on an arm and stretched thin before cooking on a rounded hot plate. The large tortillas are only popular in the State of Sonora.
Neighborhood grocery stores were open for business with a few items for sale. Chips, pop, gansitos (like Twinkies), candy, gum, bread, laundry items and a few canned goods were displayed on shelves. I saw a semi-truck with a large picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus painted across the top. People I met on my walk greeted me with "Buenas Tardes." Around 1:30 p.m, everyone gathered for lunch. A neighboring priest and pastor of Santa Zita, Father Lance Blevins, joined us for lunch. Lots of laughing and joking made the meal pleasant and interesting. It was explained to me that the mid-day meal is the main meal of the day. The main meal is eaten as a group if their duties do not keep them away. Missionaries must have a sense of community. Sue Gomez and I drove across town to meet five other women and their children who gather daily around 4 p.m. to pray the Rosary. Each day a different home is picked for the occasion. The patio was dirt with a few plants attempting to grow in the bleak yard. The home we visited had outside walls of corrugated metal while the inside was covered with cardboard. The dirt floor had hardened and was kept well swept. A picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a pink plastic flower, and two votive candles were placed on a wooden kitchen table. We stood in a semicircle, the women clutching their rosaries, and each one took a turn at each mystery. Some of the children joined in the praying and singing, but the youngest played on the floor. At first, I kept wondering how people could live in such poverty, but by the time the rosary was over, I felt warm, comfortable and with a better understanding of what should be important in peoples' lives. As we exited the room and gathered outside for a few minutes of socializing with coffee and cookies, the feeling of well-being was punctuated with a spectacular sky of an orange-pink-red, with streaks of purple, sunset.