Border Mass unites Mexicans, Americans on both sides of fence

Proud to be Catholic! Check out this story from Catholic San Francisco...

Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces, N.M., and Bishop Armando X. Ochoa of El Paso, Texas, foreground, share the sign of peace with Bishop Renato Ascencio Leon of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, through the fence separating Anapra, Mexico, and Sunland Park, N.M

Border Mass unites Mexicans, Americans on both sides of fence

November 9th, 2011
By Joseph J. Kolb 

ANAPRA, Mexico (CNS) – The Mexican bishop often exchanged glances with his American counterpart as they celebrated the All Souls’ Day Mass. But instead of embracing at the kiss of peace, they touched palms – though the chain-link fence.

Hundreds of Mexicans and Americans joined their bishops for the Mass, enduring dusty wind that created a brown haze. On the Mexican side of the border, on a lot surrounded by trash, wandering dogs, and food vendors, a handful of the 200 attendees paid little attention to the Mass but clung to the fence and stared longingly at the congregation on the U.S. side.

Bishop Armando X. Ochoa of El Paso, Texas, Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Bishop Renato Ascencio Leon of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, concelebrated the annual border Mass on either side of the fence. The theme for this year’s Mass was Remembering Our Dead; Celebrating Life; Working for Justice.

Betty Hernandez, 30, a mother of three and a youth minister at Corpus Christi Church in Anapra, said the Mass helps unify El Paso and Ciudad Juarez in a common cause of remembering those who have died in the drug violence as well as those who died in the nearby deserts, hoping to immigrate to the United States. Making this Mass even more poignant for Hernandez was the death of her neighbor, who was gunned down at a nearby burrito stand the previous week.

“Where there is an abundance of pain and death is God’s glory for us to hope,” she said.

As a youth minister in Anapra, which has seen more than its share of the violence, Hernandez tries to keep the teens involved in church activities, from the band and singers for Masses to ushers wearing their red smocks as a deterrent to the temptation of the easy money and violence associated with drug cartels. Many of these teens sat on the outskirts of the celebration amid the trash and wood-pallet fences that surrounded some of the nearby homes.

Behind Bishop Ascencio on the altar were seminarians from Seminario Conciliar in Ciudad Juarez. Father Hector Villa, rector, said their presence underscores much of what they are learning for their future ministries.

“This Mass is a sign of solidarity, especially for immigrants who try to cross the border and encounter so many troubles to reach their goal,” Father Villa said. “We’re asking the authorities in the U.S. to be more just with the people who want a dignified life through work, and this is also a subtle sign for Mexico that they are responsible for providing work for these people.”

Father Villa said he would like his 94 seminarians to be more exposed to real-life issues – such as violence and immigration – sooner rather than later.

“The church can definitely help more by being more organized and active in this moment where immigrants are seen as enemies,” he said. “These people give so much to the U.S. in terms of work, culture, and money.”

During the Mass, Bishop Ascencio accepted symbols of the migrants’ journey to the United States: flags from Latin American countries of origin, a portrait of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a gallon jug of water, a backpack and tennis shoes.

When the Mass was initiated in 1999 it was at the height of the infamous murders of Daughters of Juarez, female factory workers who disappeared and were later found to be sexually assaulted and murdered. Some were buried in shallow graves not far from where the Mass was celebrated. The number of these victims has been projected as high as 400. Since 2006, Ciudad Juarez has seen about 8,500 murders as a result of a brutal drug war.

Marco Raposo estimated that on the U.S. side, 300 people attended the Mass, celebrated in Sunland Park, N.M., in the Las Cruces diocese. Raposo is director of the El Paso diocesan Peace and Justice Ministry, which helped arrange the liturgy.

In his homily, Bishop Ramirez said the Massgoers had come together “once again to ask forgiveness” for crimes, sins, violence and injustice that the border fence represents. He cited examples of violence and death on the part of both Mexico and the United States.

He said the physical barrier of the fence shouldn’t stop those on both sides of the border from loving each other “as the brothers and sisters they are in the eyes of God.”

– Contributing to this story was Andy Sparke.

From November 11, 2011 issue of Catholic San Francisco.