By Artie Pingolt, president, Missionary Oblate Partnership, photos by Mike Viola
The Missionary Oblate Partnership sponsored a “field trip” to the new Oblate mission of Mary Immaculate Parish in Tijuana on May 3 and 4.
Participants included three US Oblates—Fathers Lou Studer, David Uribe, and Antonio Ponce—as well as an assortment of Partners, Oblate Associates, Oblate employees, and a “twinning” partner rep from the Basilica in Minneapolis. The group was also joined by two sisters from the Hilton Fund for Sisters, located in Los Angeles.
The group met in San Diego on late Friday afternoon, May 3, and were joined by Tijuana mission superior, Fr. Jesse Esqueda, OMI, who gave the group an overview of the mission and the schedule for the following day.
Early on Saturday, May 4, the group boarded a bus for 15 passengers, driven by the intrepid Fr. Antonio Ponce. Following years of experience—the OMI Mission in Tijuana was founded in the 1980s—the Oblates make arrangements at the Tijuana border crossing that keep the trip from San Diego to the mission at around 1.5 hours. Not bad for the busiest border crossing in the world!
Fr. Jesse (R) leads the group on a walking tour of the area
Arriving at 9 a.m., not a minute is wasted for a day that includes the following:
Meeting with a group of mission seniors for greetings and morning stretches
Breakfast and presentations by several different service groups at the mission
Helping to create “food bags” to be delivered to shut-ins
Driving tour of the mission grounds, stopping at “outstation” chapels
Delivering food bags to private homes
A Special carne asada lunch with a volunteer group from Los Angeles
Meeting with and enjoying the dance performances of youth group
Classroom time with children who have special needs
Scholarship presentations to select students
Prayer service and eucharistic adoration with the youth group
Helping to create “food bags” to be delivered to shut-ins and private homes
Visitors and parishioners load the bags with food and other household essentials
Local Oblate youth prepare the finished bags for delivery
Visitors and the Oblate Youth Group deliver bags to shut ins
The group departed for San Diego on schedule, at 5 p.m. Thanks to a neat trick of Fr. Jesse sending a bus ahead of us to essentially wait in line while we were still at the mission, we were in line only a brief time, to have our passports reviewed while the Mexican customs official peered into the van at each of us after announcing our names.
We landed back at our hotel in San Diego before 7 p.m., exhausted but very grateful and enriched. A few of the group members met for a light supper and debrief, while others were just too tired.
Group dance performance by the Oblate Youth
Classroom time with children who have special needs at the Oblate’s school
Awarding scholarships to outstanding students
Prayer Service and eucharistic adoration with the youth group
Mission Superior/Pastor, Fr. Jesse Esqueda, OMI, First Communicants before Mass
Adoration after a prayer service
Three girls are excited for their first Communion
Conclusions:
• The Oblate mission in Tijuana must be visited to truly be appreciated and understood.
• The people of the mission are, in a word, beautiful. Go see for yourself!
• As Partner Kevin Henseler suggested, “Fr. Jesse must be gifted with the ability to bilocate—it seems like he manages to be in two places at the same time!”
The post Oblate Partnership Visits Baja Mission in Tijuana appeared first on Missionary Association Of Mary Immaculate USA.
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