Foreign Mission Outreach
Ministry
An Introduction
In 1988 a young woman from Tijuana visited the Prayer Group at Our
Lady of Refuge Parish. Her name was Antonia Martinez Meza.
She had come to Long Beach at the request of the Missionaries of
Charity in Tijuana, Mexico. At the conclusion of
the Prayer Group meeting, Antonia talked about the poor of Tijuana. She spoke of the Missionaries of Charity
and their orphanage in Colonia Florída and her own work as a lay
missionary in the squatter community of Colonia Lomas Taurinas.
That evening marked the birth of Foreign Mission Outreach. A
number of persons decided to go to Tijuana and visit the places
described by Antonia. The first trips were marked by surprise and
wonderment as parishioners left the familiar sites of the United States
and the tourist area of Tijuana. They drove their cars to
unfamiliar neighborhoods where the poor live - down rough dirt
roads where makeshift shacks perch precariously on steep
hillsides. They joined their Mexican friends for Masses in
shacks or outdoors under trees. Most had never seen poverty such as
this.
And so it has been for the past seventeen years.
Parishioners continue taking food, clothes, furniture and badly
needed donations to help the needy of Tijuana. Our parish has
donated vestments, sacred vessels, candelabras
and tabernacle for two churches. Men from the Young Adult group
put a roof on Antonia's house and helped in countless other ways.
It has become an annual custom at Our Lady of Refuge to help the
children of Tijuana each year at Christmas through the Giving Tree
Project
As Colonia Lomas Taurinas got paved roads, a sewer, water and phone system and a new
church, Antonia guided her friends from Our Lady of Refuge to new
ventures. For example, parishioners now assist the people in
a
second Colonia (Colonia Cumbres) with food, gifts and help in building
of still another church. For several years Our Lady of Refuge parishioners
hosted young adult catechists from Tijuana who came to the
Religious Education Conference in Anaheim. During the summer
months a number of Mexican seminarians have come to Long
Beach, doing gardening, painting, cleaning, etc. at homes of
parishioners - all to help them earn money to cover expenses for their
studies.
The bonds of friendship between Our Lady of Refuge and the people of
Tijuana has grown over the years and hopefully will continue to grow in
the years to come.
We invite you to see photos and read the story of Tijuana.
Click on the following link -
THE STORY OF TIJUANA
If you want to know more about this ministry or if you
want to participate in its
work, contact:
Paul Czerwinski
Email: Foreign
Mission Outreach
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MINISTRY GROUPS
El Jalisco
Sequence - Laura’s Midi
Heaven—
http://laurasmidiheaven.com/Spiritual.shtml
