Bliss and Lights: Mexico: Call to Family, Community and Participation

The 4th Sunday of Lent featured Mexico and the amazing works of Catholic Relief Services RICE BOWL in that country.
The Christ our Hope Catholic Church Sunday Soup Supper after the 7 pm mass celebrated with a MEXICAN FIESTA. Our very own parishioner and intern Celina Ruiz-Dzilenski gave a beautiful testimony of her Catholic Faith and what Lent means to her.
Celina is originally from Chiapas, Mexico. Chiapas is the "very last state of Mexico by the Guatemalan border". She is finishing her Masters in Leadership at Seattle University this June. She shared with me that she's doing her project with a focus on senior women. During the CRS RICE BOWL awareness presentation, Celina shared the joy and blessing she felt when Pope Francis visited her home state in Mexico last year. She said she was so thankful for the gift of Faith that her parents had cultivated in her. She added "It made me the person that I am today". She encouraged the parish community in attendance to ensure that they pass the same Faith to their children. Celina finished her testimony with a beautiful CRS Prayer in Spanish.

Celina Ruiz-Dzilenski giving a beautiful tesimoony of Faith

It was a reminder to all of us of the CRS Teaching .......

Call to Family, Community and Participation

"Catholic social teaching inspires and guides how we are to live and work in the world. In this principle, Call to Family, Community and Participation, we remember that human beings are social by nature-we need each other. We, like the early disciples, are called to come together and grow as a community-whether that community is in our classroom, workplace or family"

Encounter: Maria

CRS's presence in Mexico had been in existence since 1943.

Although Mexico has one of the largest economies in Latin America, half of its population lives in poverty. Ongoing economic and social concerns in addition to drug trafficking, violence and organized crime are increasing the number of people forcefully displaced from their homes and businesses. 84% of over 120 Million Mexicans are Catholics.

All CRS Mexico programs promote financial education through -----SILC

(Savings and Internal Lending Communities).

In 2016, Pope Francis visited the border and focused on migrants

Ciudad Juarez (across El Paso, TX) is “a highly significant location in terms of the human and social problems faced by Mexico and the continent as a whole,”

In addition to visiting a prison, meeting with workers and celebrating Mass, the Pope went to the border, where he approached the metal fence and greeted migrants

Migrants and refugees fleeing though Mexico are very vulnerable to kidnapping and extortion and assault and even death. There‘s a need for stronger protection of those immigrant and refugee children. … Because of the corruption pervasive throughout Mexico, many of the police and border officials and others who should be protecting them are often preying on these migrants and refugees.”

CRS working with Migrants

COH YOUNG PROFESSIONALS GROUP

LED BY CLAIRE BANKSON-MCPHERSON AND CRYSTAL LIN AMOBI

sponsored the Lenten Soup Supper a la FIESTA

The parishioners and some Josephinum residents were served the traditional Tortilla and Posole soups with traditional toppings, Arroz Rojo (a crsricebowl.org Lenten recipe courtesy of the CRS Ambassadors), flour tortilla and bread donated by Essentials baking company.

The Catholic Social Teaching of FAMILY, COMMUNITY AND COOPERATION

was more than present at

Christ Our Hope Catholic Church

It was shared...