HOME     ABOUT THE OBLATES    VOCATIONS     SEMINARY FORMATION    LEADERSHIP     MISSION IN USA     WORLD-WIDE MISSION     JUSTICE & PEACE    OBLATE ASSOCIATES     SHRINES/RETREATS     MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION     OBLATE HISTORY      ALUMNI       OMI WEBS/E-MAIL       PERSONNEL         DECEASED OBLATES      ARCHIVED NEWS   OMI WORLD WEB   

OBLATES BID FAREWELL TO MEXICALI PARISH

"In Thanksgiving for countless blessings during 33 years of collaboration between the People of God and the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, the communities of Sagrada Familia Parish in Mexicali cordially invite you and your family and friends to a Mass and Fiesta of Thanksgiving on Monday, May 31, 2004."\

These words are from an invitation to a party ... a party to celebrate a new era for the faithful at Sagrada Familia Parish in city of Mexicali, just south of the California border with Mexico.

Since 1971, the Oblates have sent priests and brothers to work with the families and individuals of this parish where summertime temperatures can reach 120 degrees and where flying dust is an everyday occurrence.

The Oblates will return the parish and its outlying chapels to the care of the priests of the Diocese of Mexicali.  Currently, Fathers Pat Thompson and Bill Antone, OMI, minister there. 

In a 1998 interview, Fr. Pat, the current pastor, recalls his first arrival in Mexicali in 1971:

On July 8^th 1971, we arrived to a place that had nothing except one building and we brought furniture with us that was left over from the school. We had contacts through the bishop and he had arranged a man from immigration to ride with us across the border.  We were just waved through. After the man left us, we stopped at another stop sign and a policeman stopped us and asked us for our permit for all this furniture. We told him that we had been waved through and we didn’t need a permit. He was not to be deterred and we sensed that what we wanted was money. So we slipped him $20.00 and all was fine. 

There was only one paved street back then and it was so hot that we would only unload the furniture using rags because it was too hot. This was July and it must have been 117 degrees. So, we started the mission in a place where we only had cold water, a septic tank and no air conditioning that worked. We used to take a trip each week to Brawley for a hot shower. 

When we arrived that first week, we met the parish catechist who offered to show us around so we met all the leaders of the parish and we invited them to our first parish council meeting that Monday at 7.00 o’clock. They all said "Yes Father. Sure Father. We’ll be there." We met 15-20 people and they all promised to be there so we looked forward to a great start to our work. They were all so enthusiastic.

While the Oblates are leaving Mexicali, they are not abandoning the faithful of Baja California.  They intend to expand their presence in the La Morita section of Tijuana, just south of San Diego, CA.

The Mexicali parish has sent one of its native sons to study for ministry as a Missionary Oblate of Mary Immaculate.  Bro. Fernando Velazquez, OMI, is currently in his second year of theology in Chicago.  He hopes to return to Mexicali in a few years for ordination to the priesthood.