“475 years ago, Our Lady of Guadalupe asked the Bishop of Mexico City, through the Indian who is now called Saint Juan Diego, for a church to be built for the glory of Her Son. Today, December 12, the anniversary of that miraculous apparition, work begins on the construction of a church in Santa Fe dedicated to Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer. And we too, filled with hope, place in this new beginning our Lady’s hands.” These words were part of the homily preached by Msgr Rafael Fiol, Opus Dei’s Vicar in Mexico, in the Mass that preceded a solemn but simple ground-breaking ceremony. Participants included the chaplain of the current project, Fr Bernardo Cortina, architect Javier Sordo Madaleno, a dozen people belonging to the fund-raising committee, and more than 600 other faithful, mostly young married couples with small children, who are the usual Sunday Mass-goers at Santa Fe.
The church dedicated to Saint Josemaría will be an essential part of the
Santa Fe Community Center. Santa Fe is a newly created township close to Mexico City.
As soon as the land for the church was acquired, a provisional chapel was built, large enough for 400 people, and on average 1,700 faithful currently attend Mass there every week. Pre-fabricated rooms were put up for the sacristy, chaplain’s office, and a multi-use room for religious instruction purposes, including catechism classes for children, classes on the teaching of the Church for their moms, training courses for domestic workers, talks on current affairs for teens, retreats for men, conferences for married couples, and Confirmation classes.
The parishioners can also go to the
Community Center (also a provisional one) that offers medical, personal and spiritual care to the township-dwellers, most of whom live close to the poverty line. The Center is staffed by 80 volunteers of all ages, who teach literacy, vocational skills and computing, and also organize artistic and sports activities to contribute to people’s all-round development.
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