Oblates’ Baja Mission Expands to Ensenada
Ensenada, Mexico
By Fr. Steven Montez, OMI
On Wednesday, August 7th 2024, the Mission of Baja California began a new chapter in its history as two Oblates were welcomed for the first time in the Diocese of Ensenada, Mexico.
Responding to the needs and invitation of the Bishop of Ensenada, Bishop Rafael Valdez-Torres, the United States Province assigned Fr. Eleazar Manuel-Lopez, OMI and Fr. Steven Montez, OMI to Capellanía Sagrado Corazon de Jesús in Cañon Buena Vista.
The pair of missionaries arrived on August 7th to a celebration of welcome from the small community of Catholics in the area and the three chapels associated with Sagrado Corazón. Also in attendance were Fr. Antonio Ponce, OMI, Vicar Provincial of the US Province; members of Border District Oblate Community, which includes our presence in the Diocese of San Diego; members of the Baja Mission; men in Oblate formation from the Prenovitate; members of the diocesan clergy from neighboring parishes; and friends from the mission churches in Tijuana.
Bishop Rafael Valdez-Torres was also in attendance to install Fr. Eleazar as Administrator of the Capellanía. In his opening remarks Bishop Rafael made mention of the need for evangelization within the local church and thanked the Missionary Oblates, known for their charism of evangelization, for their energetic response in sending young missionaries to this impoverished part of the diocese.
Cañon Buena Vista, also known informally as El Zorrillo or The Skunk, is not a defined municipality. The community began as families and individuals seeking farmwork or work in the local vineyards settled on different parts of the land and claimed it as their own. From there it grew to a population of roughly five-thousand people. Cañon Buena Vista lacks basic infrastructure that many parts of the world take for granted including running water and a sewage system. Instead, houses are supplied by gravity-fed tanks of water on the rooftops and septic waste is either collected in rudimentary septic tanks or allowed to flow into ditches.
As a Capellanía or chaplaincy, Sagrado Corazón is a quasi-parish that the bishop hopes to someday become the home parish of the local area. However, there is much infrastructural development that needs to be done beforehand. At present, the Capellanía is only the church building. Catechists form children in the Christian faith and in sacramental preparation under the shade of the few trees growing from the iron-rich dirt on which the property sits. Gatherings for prayer or ministerial organization often take place in the homes of various parishioners where there is a little more comfort. As for the brief experience of the missionaries themselves, Fr. Steven is sleeping in a small room attached to the sacristy of the church identical to the living conditions of the local population. Fr. Eleazar sleeps in a rented room roughly one-hundred yards away that has no access to water at all.
Fr. Eleazar and Fr. Steven both note the challenges presented to them by the outgoing chaplain, Fr. José María Mendoza, include spiritual needs as well as the physical ones. Cañon Buena Vista is not known as an area with a strong Catholic presence: on the contrary, while there is one Catholic church in the area there are sixty belonging to non-Catholic Christians or hermanos separados as they are often referred to locally. How will the regular presence of two missionary priests help the faith to flourish in this corner of the local church?
Fr. Steven recalls the homily based on John 10 on the Good Shepherd shared by Bishop Rafael which reflected our Oblate approach to mission. “We enrich one another – the missionary and the people – as we work together. We begin to smell like one another, so to speak. The bishop stressed the need for us to smell like the sheep as it is ultimately Christ’s flock we care for. Likewise, it is his hope that the people begin to smell like us – the shepherds – since our presence is ultimately to be humble figures of Christ and holiness leading through our example and way of life.”
When asked about his thoughts on undertaking this new responsibility, Fr. Eleazar said, “To have been sent to see and feel the simplicity, the dreams, and the needs of the faithful and to look for solutions animates me and confirms that we are expanding the Oblate Charism into the right place. I feel content, thankful, committed, and at peace. May God bless me in shepherding His people!”
And may God bless the missionaries and the people of the Baja California Mission.