November 2022

Spirituality of the Campesino

To offer spiritual care for the campesino, one must begin with an appreciation of the spirituality of the campesino. Most campesinos come from a Catholic heritage. They live in various stages of attachment or detachment from their heritage of faith. One of the most notable realities one encounters with people who work the fields is a spirituality based on faith, family, work, sacrament, hope, resilience, prayer and joy. These are the values embodied in the fabric of life of those tied to the land, the campesino.

Faith:  The faith of the campesino comes from the heart, “el corazón”. It is rooted in the relationship of the farm worker to working the land in cooperation with nature and the changing conditions that come in nature. There is gratitude for all the things that give hope and life that the land provides. Justice is found in fairness, opportunity, compassion and forgiveness. The farm worker accepts mystery and is not troubled if some things cannot be explained. The faith of the campesino is nurtured by devotional practices found in families and in rural communities.

Family:  Attachment to family is noted by non-Hispanic Americans as one of the greatest virtues of the Latino community. While the attachment to family is great, it is under stress in the farm worker community. Many families suffer long periods of separation because of work, immigration injustices and the conditions of poverty. Substandard housing and overcrowding is common. One’s confidence and human dignity is nurtured by the stability of relationships and today many of our farm worker families are at great risk. 

Work:  One migrant worker proudly told me that he had worked 22 consecutive days. He works in the U.S. for about 8 months each year and returns to his wife and family each winter for 4 months. He does not come here for vacation. A successful year is measured by the days that he is able to find work in the fields of California, Oregon and Washington. Work allows one a sense of accomplishment and dignity. One campesino, Juan, received food, clothing and blankets to help his family through the winter when there was not enough work in his area to provide for his family. He received the food with tears in his eyes. He said he was grateful to those who provided the help, but he would rather be working. For many receiving such help is accompanied by a sense of humiliation.

Sacrament:  Some may be surprised that sacrament be considered part of the spirituality of the campesino as so many when attending Mass do not receive the Eucharist. There is a great desire for signs of the presence of God in the farm worker’s life. Unfortunately, there are many obstacles to receiving the sacraments of Confirmation, First Eucharist and Marriage for migrant workers. In place of the reception of the sacraments of the Church, people look for blessings in many ways. The desire to have contact with God is at the root of these blessings. Those who find themselves in harsh and uncomfortable situations of life ask for reassurance that they are okay with God. With the belief that one cannot receive the sacrament, people ask for blessing of homes, cars, religious articles and children so that they have signs of God’s love.

Hope:   No matter the situation the migrant farm worker accepts what the day gives with confident hope that they will have what is necessary in their lives. The hope that they show in dealing with very trying circumstances of life transfers to the spiritual. Often hopeful statements are followed by the words, “Si Dios quiere.” (If God wills it) This hope can be seen in respect given even to those who may treat the person unfairly or with disrespect.

Resilience:  Mobility is the response of the campesino to the insecurity of the life. It is the outward sign of the hope of the campesino. Today there are less people moving around in caravans following harvests from state to state. Much of the work is within 50 miles of one’s home. Yet the nature of temporary agricultural work keeps people open to moving if an opportunity arises for a more stable employment.

Mobility and insecurity are part of the life of the farm worker. With the experience of facing many uncomfortable situations, people develop a resilience that aids in response to many difficulties. Insecurity is so much a part of the life of the campesino that it hardly affects one’s emotional capacity to love in the more important relationships in one’s life. The response of Jesus on the cross was, “My God! My God! Why have you abandoned me?” Often a migrant farm worker may identify with this sentiment, but as with Jesus, the migrant asks for the grace to accept God’s will. “Si, Dios quiere.”

Prayer:  The practice of prayer comes from devotional practices learned in the family and the community of one’s youth. Practices of prayer include the devotional practices of the rosary, Stations of the Cross and attendance at Mass when convenient. Important moments of life are celebrated with prayer. Feasts of Mary, Posadas and traditions of one’s hometown are accompanied by services celebrated to recall heritage and faith. The death of a loved one is remembered with a novena, saying the rosary each day for nine days. Devotional practices often are accompanied by food and fiesta.

Joy:  One of the surprises that I found in working with campesinos was the capacity to find something to celebrate even in the most difficult of times. While in Mexico I visited a man, who had been deported. He told me of his experience with others in the Homeland Security van to be taken to the border. He said that on the highway they began telling jokes and singing.

Campesino Ministry:  We need to develop more compassion and understanding for those working our fields. We especially need to recognize their faith and spirituality. Flexibility and spontaneity are needed in church leaders to welcome those who live in the moment in temporary and unstable jobs. Ministry with the campesino requires creativity in proclaiming the Word and providing sacrament to the poor. There should be no obstacles for the poor to receive God’s grace.

Donations for Redemptorist Migrant Ministry

Campesino ministry fills in where the ordinary ministry of the church does not reach. A good example is in the story of Juanita. It was the second last day of a Confirmation program in when Juanita came to ask, “Padre, what do I need to do to receive the Body and Blood of Christ?” It was not the normal way a person may ask for First Communion. I told her that our program was for people like her, but it was the second last day of class and we could not take on new people. She began to cry. I asked her to sit down and tell me her story.

She explained that her family had only arrived the night before and she found out about our program from her cousins who were in the class. She told of having lived in 10 different towns in the past eight years, having three times entered First Eucharist classes but never completing the programs. Each time she had to begin again. I began to ask her questions of faith. It was clear that she was well informed on Catholicism. I asked, “How is it that you know so much about the Church?” She said, “Father, we go to Mass on Sundays. We are Catholic. We are just migrants.” There was no doubt that she would continue to grow in her practice of the Catholic faith. I welcomed her to the class. Four days later she received her Confirmation and first Eucharist.

Campesino ministry is a richly rewarding ministry in the simplicity of faith and the depth of faith found amongst the poor and the marginalized in society. It is not easy to structure programs with the diverse needs found in the agricultural community, but every effort is blessed with the rewards one finds in seeing the joy on Juanita’s face when she completed the sacraments of initiation.

Today is Giving Tuesday

Please consider helping our Redemptorist Migrant Ministry. Many of our Redemptorist poverty ministries directly serve those in desperate need. Please help us sustain our ministries.

Donations for Redemptorist Migrant Ministry

Donations for Redemptorist Migrant Ministry

Ministry First

One of the temptations of working for and with campesinos is to see the ministry primarily and perhaps only as a work of social justice. Obviously, we need to feed the hungry, comfort those who mourn, give aid to the oppressed and enter the struggle for justice. Jesus fed the five thousand, but then taught them that he is the bread of life.

Pope Francis calls attention to the lack of spiritual care given to the poor: “I want to say, with regret, that the worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care. The great majority of the poor have a special openness to the faith; they need God and we must not fail to offer them his friendship, his blessing, his word, the celebration of the sacraments and a journey of growth and maturity in the faith. Our preferential option for the poor must mainly translate into a privileged and preferential religious care.” (EG 200)

Early in my work with campesinos, I asked a woman, what I could do for the campesino. She said, “We need you to be our priest, not our social worker or lawyer. Teach us and bring us the love of Christ.” I am often asked about issues of immigration, housing for the workers, issues of justice and economic needs. Yet I remind myself often of her words, “be our priest”. Collecting clothing and food for the poor is part of the charitable outreach of our church. Working for just immigration reform and working to protect workers’ rights are an important part of campesino ministry, but none of the issues of justice can be more important than what this woman asked of me, “Teach us and bring us the love of Christ.”

The campesino asks the Church for a blessing, the reassurance that the person is right with God. The experience of migration erodes the sense of dignity and self-respect of the person. The migrant is humiliated in many ways as they lose their own identity having to live with false identification, lying and losing themselves to the system of immigration. The work is difficult and often inconsistent. There is little security and stability in their lives. And too often when they do go to church, they experience chastisement.

Sacramental programs for themselves and their children are full of rules that they find difficult to fulfill because of their work and the uncertainty of their lives. At the celebration of a birthday for an infant, a worker told me, “Church rules here form barriers that prevent migrants from receiving the grace of the sacraments.” He was speaking about many obstacles that migrants face in bringing children for First Eucharist and Confirmation.

Our Church today certainly works for “Justice for Immigrants”, but we need to do so much more to “teach and bring the poor the love of Christ.” Let us offer the poor the friendship, blessing, the word and the sacrament to the campesino.

Donations to Redemptorist Migrant Ministry can be made at the following site:

Donations for Redemptorist Migrant Ministry

(When COVID challenged and changed so much of our lives, we began to celebrate those who worked through the pandemic, to protect our lives. Among them were the farmers and farm workers who continued to put food on our tables. As part of giving thanks in our lives, I want to call attention in a special way to our Catholic outreach to farmworkers.)

Campesino Ministry

The word “campesino” calls attention to a ministry that focuses on the Hispanic farm worker. “Campesino” simply means a person of the fields, one who works the earth. It includes all those involved in agriculture. While for many the term “campesino ministry” focuses on the migratory worker, but the ministry must be inclusive, recognizing the concern of the church to evangelize all people involved in agriculture, including those with permanent jobs in dairies, feedlots, packing houses and in industries tied to agriculture. It also must include developing relationships with owners, employers and contractors in the agricultural industry.  

My connection with farm worker ministry began in 1998 saying Masses for migrant workers during the cherry harvest in The Dalles, Oregon. The cherry harvest brings several thousand workers to the area for a short but intense harvest time. The people live in housing provided by the orchardists. For two summers I simply said Mass each evening in different camps. I asked people what I could do for them if I continued coming each summer. Many asked that their children be taught basic catechism and be prepared for First Eucharist. The next summer with the permission of Bishop Robert Vasa and the pastor of St. Peter’s, I brought a team of seminarians and lay catechists to prepare children for First Eucharist. The third year we expanded to provide a program for Confirmation for migrant workers.

After years of working in rural communities I had the privilege in 2007 to take a sabbatical to study of the lives of migrant farm workers. The study included time to tour rural Mexico to study the communities that are sending many of those who work in rural America. I also spent three months traveling with workers in California and Oregon. I picked cherries, pears, grapes and oranges. I lived in camps and in rectories following seasonal workers during fruit and vegetable harvests. It was an experience that makes me appreciate the work of the farm worker.

On my sabbatical my question for the people was always, “Tell me your story.” It was an education in the values of people who are tied to the earth. I listened to stories of faith. Stereotypes fade away when you hear the stories of people searching for a safe and dignified life.

Out of Desperation comes hope

A priest in rural Mexico made a profound statement about the migration of people. Padre Lupe said, “People do not migrate because of poverty. Here the poor have food to eat. They migrate because of desperation. The cause of desperation may be different in each person. For some it is a case of opportunity, education, employment or some sense of well-being.” It is hope for a better life for themselves and their children that enables a person to cross deserts and mountains.               

No matter how the migrant comes here, whether legally or undocumented, they come with hope that they may make it in a foreign land. They do not know all the trials that they will face, but they believe that a better life is in store for them. Some come with the intention that a better life is in store for them. Some come with the intention of staying and other with the intention of returning to their native land. The hope of the migrant will be tested often as they try to establish themselves in the United States.

Donations to Redemptorist Migrant Ministry can be made at the following site:

https://secure3.convio.net/omph/site/Donation2;jsessionid=00000000.app30063a?df_id=2880&mfc_pref=T&2880.donation=form1&NONCE_TOKEN=8259040B0C6AA95169FA3AF338A48C01

Padre Migrante Ministry

In September 2020, Redemptorists initiated the Padre Migrante website. There have been over 500 Blogs presented on this site since its introduction. The origin of this site began as a result of my involvement in rural Hispanic Ministry, especially with farmworkers over the past twenty-five years.

We are working on a few special projects that will begin soon. I will soon be able to be more specific about our projects. Our programming will include training dioceses, clergy, catechists and volunteers making particular outreach to migrant and immigrant farmworkers. I am very excited about returning to working with farmworkers and rural leaders.

Since the initiation of this site, I decided to refrain from asking for donations until there were specific projects to fund. The Tuesday after Thanksgiving has been called “Giving Tuesday”, a time to donate to non-profits that work with the poor. I wish to invite readers to consider helping our Padre Migrante Ministry.

Donations to Redemptorist Migrant Ministry can be made at the following site:

https://secure3.convio.net/omph/site/Donation2;jsessionid=00000000.app30063a?df_id=2880&mfc_pref=T&2880.donation=form1&NONCE_TOKEN=8259040B0C6AA95169FA3AF338A48C01

(Continuing with the article from Rural Life Magazine 2022. A timely thought for Thanksgiving)

Respect for Workers

The fundamental path to right relationship with those who work the fields is respect. There is a lack of respect in American society for the work, the worker, and the immigrant. Lack of respect hurts the worker, the employer, the environment, and all of society. In the end, all are victims of this lack of respect. The noble work of planting, cultivating and harvesting food is undervalued.

The worker and the farmer are caught in pressures that strain their relationships. The great cloud over right relationship with the immigrant farm worker is the injustice of a broken system of immigration. There are no easy answers. Family unification and the protection of children require courage and compassion in American society.

Our Catholic response to promoting right relationship with farm workers begins with a profound commitment to respect. We say casually, “Respect Life.” We need to personalize that respect. The workers in the field or vineyard, “respect them.” The children lacking many of the necessities of life and human dignity, “respect them.” The farmers struggling in today’s economy trying to make things right for their workers, “respect them.” And when you sit down to a meal, say a prayer thanking all who provide food for the world.

(Much of the vegetables that we mix in our salads on Thanksgiving Day come from the Colorado River Valley in Arizona and California. I went to see the harvest of cabbage, lettuce, and other salad vegetables. As I watched the workers, I recall writing an article for National Catholic Rural Life Magazine in 2012 about our relationship with immigrant farm workers. Today and tomorrow, I invite you to give thanks to those who work in the fields, putting food on our tables.)

Right Relationships with Immigrant Farm Workers

A migrant farm worker at the end of a day said, “Padre, today my crew picked forty tons of cherries. Tomorrow these cherries will be on tables in New York, London, and San Francisco. We have done something good for the world and tomorrow we will pick another forty tons.” This man’s pride in putting food on the world’s tables speaks to the purpose of agriculture.

A farmer speaking of his workers seeks to draw attention to the respect owed to those who work in his orchard by always speaking of them as “my skilled agricultural workers.” He says this to respond to the rhetoric of the anti-immigrant groups insulting the immigrant worker as “unskilled labor.” There is an art to picking fruit properly, not bruising the fruit or damaging the tree or vine. He says, “I need skilled workers, not everyone can do this work.”

In 2012, Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided a migrant farm worker community at 3:00 a.m. Six women and twenty children saw their husbands and fathers taken away in chains. The men were deported within a week. No provision was taken by authorities to protect or care for these children. Local churches, schools and community services stepped in, but they were ill equipped to address their needs sufficiently the needs of the children.

The situation of the immigrant farm worker is a complex reality of concerns involving economics, environment, labor negotiations, safety, immigration, politics, and mobility. In a letter to immigrants on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe the Hispanic/Latino Bishops of the U.S. stated, “The economic crisis has had an impact on the entire U.S. community. Regretfully, in reaction to this environment of uncertainty, some people show disdain for immigrants and even blame them for the crisis. We will not find a solution to our problems by sowing hatred. We will find the solution by sowing a sense of solidarity among all workers and co-workers — immigrants and citizens—who live together in the United States” (USCCB, Dec. 12, 2011).

Saints of the Cristiada

There were executions of some priests and many more lay members of the Catholic faith during the Cristiada. Most of the executions took place from 1927 to 1929. I would like to call attention to three of them.

Blessed Miguel Pro

José Ramón Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez, born January 13, 1891 – executed November 23, 1927, was a Mexican Jesuit priest. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1911. The Jesuit formation program moved to Los Gatos, California in 1914 and he went to study in Spain in 1915. He taught in Nicaragua from 1919 to 1921. He returned to Europe for theological studies. He was ordained in 1925 and returned to Mexico in 1926.

As the persecution of the Church increased, he celebrated Masses in secret. He was known for being a master of disguises as he avoided attention from the government for a time. He was arrested by soldiers on November 22, 1927. The next day he declined having a blindfold and faced his executioners. He raised his arms in imitation of Christ crucified saying, “May God have mercy on you! May God bless you! With all my heart I forgive my enemies!” As the firing squad prepared to shoot, he raised his arms and shouted, “Viva Cristo Rey”.

Saint Toribio Romo

Toribio Romo González, born April 16, 1900 to peasant farmers, Juana González and Patricio Romo. He entered the seminary at age 13. He was ordained December 23, 1922. He was granted a dispensation to be ordained at age 22. He offered catechesis to the poor and after a revolt in protest of the anti-clerical edicts of President Calles in 1926, he became itinerant in his ministry, doing his ministry in secret against the persecution by the Calles government. In the early hours of February 25, 1928, troops broke into his bedroom. A soldier shouted, “Here is the priest, kill him!” As he was shot, he fell into the arms of his sister, and she cried out, “Courage Padre Toribio. Merciful Christ receive him! Viva Cristo Rey!”

Blessed Anacleto González Flores

Anacleto González Flores, born July 13, 1888 – executed April 1, 1927, was a Catholic lawyer. He was an activist leader of the Catholic Association of Mexican Youth. He was the founder and president of the Popular Union (UP), a union of Catholics resisting the persecution of the Church. He advocated passive resistance, urging people to resist the anti-Catholic articles of the Mexican Constitution of 1917. He was tortured before being executed by firing squad on April 1, 1927.

Celebrating the Feast of Christ, the King

Those honored by the Church as saints were only a small portion of those executed during the persecutions of President Calles. As we celebrate this feast, let us recognize that the challenges of nationalism and secularism that motivated Pope Pius XI to institute this feast, still challenge us today.

“Qué viva Cristo Rey”

Today is the Feast of Christ the King. When Pope Pius XI instituted the Feast of Christ the King with the encyclical, Quas Primas, in 1925, he identified nationalism and secularism as challenges to world peace and stability. In our time in the United States, nationalism and secularism appear to be opposing philosophies, but in Mexico, from 1850 to 1927, they came together in a government that placed the state against freedom of religious expression.

In the 1850’s, the Mexican government under Benito Juarez instituted reforms that declared that all of the churches in Mexico were property of the federal government. It forbade religious expression including the wearing of clerical garb in public. The confiscation of church lands and suppression of religious expression were inconsistently enforced for many years, but the tension between state and church came to a head in the government of Plutarco Calles. He began a much more severe persecution of the Church. Priest from outside of Mexico were deported from the country and many of the priests remaining were execute. The period of the Mexican martyrs is between 1927 and 1929. An estimated 10,000 people were martyred for the faith   

Pope John Paul II canonized 25 martyrs of the Cristiada in 2000. Others were beatified and canonized by Popes Benedict XVI and Francis. The movie, “For Greater Glory,” (2012) raised awareness of the persecution of the Church in Mexico. The movie portrays the period of the most violence, but the war followed many years of struggle in the relationship of the state and the Church. Many of the martyrs in their dying moments cried out, “Que viva Cristo Rey.”

In many churches this Sunday, at Masses in Spanish, the cry will be heard, “Que viva Cristo Rey.”