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Happening ... in the Local Church
 Volunteers
Matt Steiner and Father Bob Klemme (Photos provided) |
 Preparing
for a new roof |
 Missionaries
and residents gather for a house blessing. |
By Caroline B. Mooney
The
Catholic Moment
OXFORD — Help wanted. No experience is necessary — just an open heart and an open mind. St. Patrick Church is looking for a few good people to go on a Mexico mission trip from Saturday, Feb. 6, to Saturday, Feb. 13.
It will be the parish’s 13th trip to Nuevo Progreso since 2001. The once-annual event now occurs twice each year to build homes for the poorest of the poor, said John Brost, the St. Patrick parishioner who has organized and gone on every trip.
“It is an all-inclusive vacation,” he said. “For about $850 to $900, you show up at St. Patrick’s and we get everyone to the airport. We rent vans in Texas, buy all the building materials, and provide meals and accommodations all week. It’s pretty cheap.”
Eleven to 25 people have gone on each trip, with 79 people having participated over the years, many of them repeat volunteers. They come from around the diocese, including Anderson, Goodland, Fowler, Logansport, Fishers, Carmel and Tipton, and around the state, from North Manchester to Nineveh.
The missionaries build homes in “colonias” — small villages close to Nuevo Progreso. The first homes built measured 12 feet x 16 feet, but the size has gone up to 12 feet x 24 feet. Each house is a single room, with open studs and a tin roof, usually two doors and two or three windows.
“We can build a home in 2 to 2½ days per crew,” Brost said. “The last trip, we built four houses in one week with six to seven people on each crew. Families had been living in shacks made out of cardboard pallets or rusty metal.”
The February trip will be the second for Father Robert Klemme, pastor of St. Patrick Church and St. Charles Church, Otterbein.
“I found the first trip to be a very good experience,” he said. “You can show forth your Christian spirit in helping the poor. It’s like Matthew 25: ‘I was homeless and you gave me shelter’; we go and build them shelter.
“Good relationships develop between us and the people we are helping,” Father Klemme said, “and a real sense of community develops with all the volunteers. We work together and pray together — it’s a really good experience overall building that community.”
Before missionaries arrive, people receiving new homes pour concrete slabs for the foundation. Often, men in the families have to go to work, but the women help the crews. There is always someone fluent in Spanish to help with communication, but Brost says the language difference isn’t a barrier — hand signals get a lot done.
Work has been done on 70 different lots; either new homes were built or kitchens added. One family with 14 children has received three homes and a room addition.
“We all wear wooden crosses that Father (Don) Eder (previous pastor of St. Patrick Church and St. Charles Church) made for us,” Brost said. Each missionary’s name is put on his cross, and it helps everyone get to know one another.
“We usually give the crosses to the families we have been working with,” Brost said. “We also take extra crosses, and if people ask about them, we hand them one with a laminated card explaining what we are doing and asking for donations.”
The crosses have reaped about $2,000 in donations.
Brost said the trips have “expanded my definition of the Universal Church. It has really shown me a love of God and love of neighbors, and expanded my horizon of who my brothers and sisters are. It’s amazing to see how simply these people live. They are so grounded. God is first, family is second and the world around them is last. But they are happy. It’s so humbling to go down there, and I am honored to help them.
“The beauty of all of this is that people from all backgrounds and education levels come together — their commonality is God and purpose of service,” he said. “The week molds everyone together. I used to worry about how these strangers would get along, but that is the least of my worries now. I look for anyone from seniors in high school on up to help — the basic requirement is that you are breathing. We are all teachers and we are all students. Everyone works within their means.”
Elmore Hammes, a member of St. Ambrose Church in Anderson, went on the first of his seven trips in 2006 after reading about the missions in The Catholic Moment.
“I was apprehensive because I had no background whatsoever in construction and wondered what I could contribute,” Hammes said. “I was unsure what it would be like, but the people were super nice. Every trip I have tried more things and grown in confidence.
“It has been a tremendous, life-changing experience,” he said. “The first week I was there, we built four new homes for people. In those five days, I made more of a difference in people’s lives than I had in 18 years as a computer programmer. I will keep going back until I get a different pull from God.
“It really changes you,” Hammes said. “The people there sit in your heart when you are done. At the end of each trip, we share our experiences with each other, and everyone I’ve worked with has said they get more out of it than they give.”
After his first trip, Hammes made a photo book of his experience.
“I wanted everyone who had been there to have a copy, and a lot of people who had been on previous trips asked for copies,” he said. “I decided to do a more comprehensive book of all the trips that shows the changes that have been made in the area.”
The Mexico Mission Trips of St. Patrick Church is a 100-page book filled with photos that is “partially a fund-raiser for the group and a tool to share the experience with people,” Hammes said. Thirty-five books have been sold at a cost of $15 each. A two-page foreword describes Hammes’ experiences and gives a history of the mission trips. A list of all missionaries is included.
Sheila and Robert McCreary, members of the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Lafayette, have made seven mission trips. Previously members of Sacred Heart Church, Fowler, they became involved through their friendship with Father Eder.
“On my first trip, I went with the idea of giving,” Sheila McCreary said, “but I receive so much more that I am able to give. It’s great to do something for people that wouldn’t otherwise be done and they are so appreciative. I especially love the children. They have nothing, but they are so content in life. Everyone there has a strong sense of family.”
“I enjoy working alongside the homeowners,” Robert McCreary said. “I have taught several of them how to use a circular saw — before long they are cutting 2x4’s just like everyone else. Wearing the wooden crosses and giving them to those who we have developed special relationships with is always special.”
Anyone interested in going on the February trip can call Brost at 765-366-5329, or email jbrost@localline.com. He can also take book orders. Donations may be made to the Mexico Mission Fund, in care of St. Patrick Church, 502 S. Michigan St., Oxford, IN 47971.