Mission Report: Mexico: April 2011

Missionary trip to Mexico—Reported by Mario Rojas, October 2010

From left to right: Assistant Dean of the Seminary, Victoria Saracho of Comite Provida, Fr. Juan Carlos Chavez, Fr. Jose Antonio Orozco, Dean of the Seminary and Mario Rojas of HLI.

Catholicism is still the main religion in the Republic of Mexico (76.5%, according to the 2000 census), but secularism is very strong, especially in key areas like Mexico City. Remnants of the 1920s persecution of the Church (when even the public celebration of the Mass was banned) are still visible in cities like Morelia, in the state of Michoacan, where many churches, seminaries and schools that were taken over by the State at that time are still kept as museums. In the ranks of government, the Mexico City Legislature at the head of the Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD) has been very proactive in favor of ultra-feminist policies since coming to power in 2007.

Anti-life and Anti-Family Policies

On March 16, 2007 a law was passed authorizing the first civil partnerships among same-sex couples, which gave gay “couples” the same inheritance rights as heterosexuals. And on August 16, 2010 the Mexican Supreme Court decided to allow adoptions by same-sex couples.

On April 24, 2007 the newly elected Mexico City Legislature, led by the majority Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD), presented and approved the legalization of abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. However, to make it less dramatic, the law did not call it “abortion.” Instead, it called it “Legal Interruption of Pregnancy” (or, “Interrupcion Legal del Embarazo” in Spanish). To make matters more confusing, the Legislative Assembly did use the term abortion when referring to the 13th week of pregnancy, at which time the action is to be punishable by law.

Since the legalization of abortion in Mexico City, pro-abortion NGOs (non-government agencies) have enjoyed the full support of the authorities of Mexico City Government in the promotion of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services. These NGOs include: Catholics for Free Choice, International Planned Parenthood Federation, the Mexico City office of Marie Stopes, Ipas, and many more. As a result, at the present time the city offers legal abortion in 14 so-called “health centers,” and so far over 45,000 abortions have been performed and over 20 maternal deaths have been recorded from legal abortion.

Pro-Life Constitutional Amendments

In response to Mexico City’s decision to permit legal abortion to any woman in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and despite the fact that abortion was already illegal everywhere but Mexico City, 17 states have passed constitutional amendments declaring that life begins at conception.

HLI Mission Trip
mexico

It was exactly three years after abortion was legalized in Mexico City that I visited the country, along with Fr. Juan Carlos Chavez, HLI’s Director of the Latin American Network of Priests and Seminarians for Life (REDESSVIDA). Our trip was coordinated with the help of Comite Provida, HLI’s local affiliate in Mexico.

The main objective of our visit to Mexico was to visit key Catholic seminaries and speak to seminarians and priests about the Gospel of Life as part of a Pastoral service within a parish (and better yet within a diocese) and to encourage them to be part of the Network to spread the Gospel of Life among priests and seminarians. At every seminary we visited, we discussed the culture of death at length, and we especially treated the question of how “safe sex” leads to the wide use of contraception, which leads to unwanted pregnancy and abortion.

Lectures in Mexico City and Guadalajara

With the blessing of Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, Primate of Mexico and Archbishop of Mexico City, and Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iñiguez, Archbishop of Guadalajara, we made visits to and lectures at the Diocesan seminaries of Tlalnepantla, Conciliar and Guadalajara. We also spoke at La Joya Seminary of the Legionnaires of Christ, where we presented to 607 seminarians, 18 priests, 2 lay teachers and one bishop the question of how to help women experiencing unwanted pregnancies, and also those who are suffering with post-abortion syndrome, as part of a Pastoral for Life at a parish or diocese level. The message was well received and resulted in the majority of seminarians registering to be part of the Network.

Lecture at Seminary Misioneros Servidores de la Palabra en Morelia.

Visit and Lecture to Contemplative Nuns in Mexico City

As members of the REDESSVIDA project, we strongly believe in the power of prayer for the triumph of the Gospel of Life. Therefore, we could not pass up the opportunity to visit an order of contemplative nuns as part of our mission trip. There, we explained to the nuns how the culture of death is already influencing our daily lives, and we encouraged them to pray for all involved in this fight for life!

Lectures at the Archdiocese of Morelia in the State of Michoacan

In the state of Michoacan, as in other regions of Mexico, there is a feeling of despair because of the presence of so-called drug cartels that are spreading violence and murder. Under these conditions, it is ever more urgent to preach the Gospel of Life .

With the blessing of Monsignor Alberto Suarez Inda, Archbishop of Morelia, several lectures were given to Morelia Diocesan Seminary, Missionaires Servers of the Word Seminary, leaders of the Family Pastoral of the Archdiocese of Morelia, medical doctors, nurses and nurse students of a Catholic Hospital, pro-life leaders and prep schools. In this effort we reached: 160 seminarians, 10 nuns, 5 priests, 50 leaders of the Family Pastoral, 30 pro-life leaders, 20 medical doctors, 70 students of a nurse school and 210 preparatory school students.

The results were quite amazing, and can perhaps be summed up by the testimony of Fr. Benjamin Osornio Morales, the Coordinator of the Family Pastoral of the Archdiocese of Morelia, who after a lecture to his groups had the following comments:

“I feel very motivated with this lecture, … I truly believe that I have been evangelized, as it contributed to open my eyes and heart to face this fight in favor of the culture of life that every human being should be part of, and especially those of us Catholics. Thank you so much for your presence among us. … May God continue to bless this work so that you continue to promote the Gospel of Life”

Devotation to Our Lady of Guadalupe

Lecture at Seminary Misioneros Servidores de la Palabra en Morelia.

During the visit to Mexico one thing was very common among Mexicans: the strong devotion that they have for our Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Guadalupe. Every Sunday from sunset to sundown there are pilgrimages to the Sanctuary in Mexico City led by delegations of people that travel from different parts of the country, and they all converge at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe, where Mass services are held every hour, all day long.

On Sunday, October 24 (Day of Missions), Fr. Juan Carlos Chavez, Director of REDESSVIDA was hoping to participate in the celebration of Mass at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, and when he asked about the possibility of participating in the Mass services, he was granted the privilege of being the main celebrant. It was a day that Fr. Juan Carlos will never forget, because he was able to celebrate Mass for at least 10,000 persons and his homily included a strong call for the right to life from the moment of conception to natural death.

Conclusion

The visit to Mexico was gratifying because the lectures helped create more awareness about the right to life from the moment of conception to natural death and the willingness to establish strategies and alliances among Catholic groups, the Church hierarchy, and other pro-lifers in this great nation of Mexico. One clear result is the commitment to organize a first pro-life event in Mexico for priests and seminarians sometime in September of 2011.

None of these efforts would have been possible without the gracious donations from our benefactors. Mexico is a key country for the abortion industry right now, and every effort must be pursued to stop its advances; otherwise, the rest of Latin America will become an easier target.