By Monsignor Michael Flannery
Bishop Louis Kihneman, (Bishop of Biloxi), Bishop Kopacz, Terry Dickson, (editor of Gulf Pine Catholic), Juliana Skelton, (photographer), and I, have returned from our yearly visit to our mission, San Miguel, Saltillo. We flew into Monterrey on Tuesday, Sept. 24 and returned on Sept. 29. Father David Martinez, pastor of San Miguel was there to meet us with the parish van. We rode 75 miles to Saltillo. As always, Father David had a full schedule lined up for the bishops.

After getting settled in at our new surroundings we had Mass at San Miguel and a meal with the parish council. On Wednesday morning, bright and early, we were on the road, heading for the rancho of San Francisco, which is about 60 miles from Saltillo. Confirmations were scheduled for 9:30 a.m. We were met about a mile from the village, with a float, complete with streamers, tied to a tractor. We rode the tractor into the village. About 100 villagers were there to greet us, singing Alabare a mi Senor. (I will praise my Lord). From there the bishops journeyed on to another village, Nuevo Gomez where we had First Holy Communions. Again, the same performance with a procession greeting the bishops. On return to Saltillo, there was time to visit the burial site of Father Quinn, who was the founding pastor of our mission in Mexico.
Each day of our visit was taken up with visiting the mountain villages for Mass and Confirmations. After evening Mass at San Miguel, each evening, the bishops were introduced to different parish groups, ranging from Eucharistic ministers, choirs and catechists. Saturday morning was reserved to visit the churches served by San Miguel within the city. At each site there were parishioners there to meet the bishops.
On Saturday afternoon, we met with Bishop Hilario, Bishop of Saltillo. He expressed his gratitude to all the people of Mississippi who have supported the mission in the past and continue to do so. He expressed his intentions of creating a new parish in Derramadero where a good deal of the factories from the United States have built such as GM, BMW and Ford. Already, 8,000 people have settled in the area and the projected growth over the next 10 years is that there will be over 100,000 people there. That is a sizeable city.
At 6:30 p.m. on Saturday evening, a procession began of the catechism children, from the churches in the outlying area, came dressed as angels. Each of the churches within the city under the direction of San Miguel were represented such as: St. Michael the Archangel, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Christ the King, St. William, St, Francis of Assisi, Divine Mercy, The Mexican Martyrs and Juan Diego. After the closing Mass there was a “Noche Mexicana” (a Mexican night) complete with Mexican dancing, the Mariachi band, and ending up at 11:30 p.m. with a firework display. It was a full five days for the bishops.

The only negative note in our visit to San Miguel, was the fact we became aware of a break in at the parish medical and dental clinic which was donated by Dr. Charles Caskey some years ago. The break in took place two months ago. Any moveable equipment within the facility was stolen. It seemed like an organized group did it. They broke away the iron protection bars in the front window and entered the building. From there, they broke the front door lock. The means of escape seemed to be through the back door where transportation was awaiting them. I spoke to one of the nurses who donates her time to assist the patients served by the medical and dental clinic. She cried all the way through, giving her description and explaining to me how the clinic serves so many poor people who cannot afford a doctor’s visit and have no insurance. Services at the clinic are for suspended for the moment.
Bishop Kopacz and Bishop Kihneman have assured Father David that restoring the medical and dental services to the poor will be their top priority. However, some safeguards must be in place such as: a secure alarm system and a modern security system. We will also check with the insurance company as to what reimbursement we might expect for the damage done. The good news is that the mission work begun more than 50 years ago continues south of the border.
This past year at San Miguel there were 60 Baptisms, 116 Confirmations, 171 First Holy Communions and 24 marriages. The pastor’s name is Father David Martinez Rubio and the associate pastor is Father Michael Angel Sifuentes.