If patience is a virtue, then the Missionary Oblate mission of Mary Immaculate Parish in Tijuana, Mexico is one of the most virtuous places on earth.
Rico is a patient young man. He spends eight hours a day, six days a week working in a sweltering factory. At the end of the week, he has enough money to buy a tank of gas. But Rico is full of joy. He recently received a college scholarship from the Oblates that will allow him to escape a lifetime of poverty.
Patricia has great patience with her son, Mario, who was born with severe autism. Mario never attended school until he was 12 years old. That’s when Patricia discovered the school for special needs children run by the Oblates. Mario has been a regular at the school for 14 years. The school is his second home. “It’s like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for the forgotten kids,” said Patricia.
For 20 years, Pablo has patiently dealt with a leaky roof. He was constantly making repairs, but the water would always find a way inside, making his home constantly damp. When the Oblates found out about his
plight, they had a solid roof constructed on his small home. Now he has a dry place to live for the first time in decades.
Rico, Patricia, Mario and Pablo are just a few of the thousands of people who are benefitting from the ministries of the Missionary Oblates in Tijuana, ministries that are only possible because of generous benefactors.
“No matter what your role is in the Oblate family—priest, brother, employee, benefactor—in the end it always goes back to the basic of what it is to be an Oblate, which is to serve people, especially the most abandoned,” said Fr. Jesse Esqueda, OMI, Superior of the Oblate mission in Tijuana.
One of the people who is serving the most abandoned is Dr. Joselin Velazquez Roblero. As the coordinator of the Oblates’ health program, she has an abundance of patience and patients.
Doctor Joselin grew up in the Oblate parish and received a scholarship to study medicine. After graduating from medical school, she returned to the parish to give back to the people who had given her
so much.
Doctor Joselin now oversees a team of health care professionals who provide general medical care, dental care, audiometry, pap smears, nutritional advice, and referrals to specialists. Nobody is ever charged for any of the services. Since the health ministry began in 2018, more than 4,500 people have been served.
In addition to caring for the body, the Oblate health program also provides mental health services. Many of the people living in the community are migrants who fled violence and extreme poverty in their home country. The stress and anxiety in their lives causes depression and there is a high rate of suicide in the area.
Since 2020, the psychology program has helped nearly 3,000 adults and youth to feel freed from their emotional burdens and provided them with the skills to live a life to the fullest.
The Oblates and their co-missionaries have accomplished much in their Tijuana mission. But they want to do even more.
They want to purchase equipment for their medical clinic, send additional young people to college, repair more homes, and distribute extra food to the hungry. Ultimately, they want to build a community center to reach twice as many people as they currently serve.
To achieve these lofty goals will not be easy. It will require a lot of patience and perseverance, something the people of the mission have in abundance.
“We are always looking at ways to help the people in our community, with the dignity they deserve,” said Dr. Joselin. “We can’t do this without your help. It is you who keep these programs alive and growing. May God bless you for your generosity.”
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