MEXICO 1961 - BASILIAN FATHERS IN MEXICO St. Joseph Center, the home of the Basilian Fathers Latin American Apostolate in Sugar Land, Texas, is the base from which they responded to the call of Pope John XXIII to minister to the people of Mexico in 1961. In the fall of 1961, Fathers Max Murphy, C.S.B. and Frank Launtrie, C.S.B. traveled to Mexico at the invitation of the Archbishop of Mexico City. They formally took charge of the parish of San Juan Crisóstomo and missions in the surrounding barrios. The Catholic population within the boundaries of the parish was 10,000 people. The work began among the rural people who had migrated to the city and found only poverty, illiteracy, and a lack of religious training, instead of the better life they had expected. In 1962, construction of a catechetical center began. The building was to be used for religious education. One of the great achievements of the Basilians in Mexico was the development and introduction of the Catequesis Familiar (Catechesis of the Family). It was constructed and promoted primarily by Fathers Max Murphy, C.S.B., Ricardo Ramirez, C.S.B. (presently Bishop Emeritus of Las Cruces, New Mexico), and Frank Launtrie C.S.B., to form Christian witness and promote the foundations of a Christian community. The program has now spread throughout the country.
Bishop Ricardo Ramirez, C.S.B.
Bishop Ricardo Ramirez, C.S.B., a native of Bay City, Texas, is the first Basilian vocation from the Texas missions. He was born the very year that Fr. Dillon began his work there. As a Basilian seminarian he taught at CC. Later as a Basilian priest, he helped direct the Mexican American Cultural Center in San Antonio, Texas. On October 18, 1982, he was named the first Bishop of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
In recent years, the Basilian Fathers have left Mexico City and moved further south to Tehuacán. In the Mexican state of Puebla, the Basilians have a Novitiate at San Lorenzo, Tehuacan, and administer the Parish of San Lorenzo and its chapels. [The Novitiate is the first step in joining a religious community. It is a year of preparation for taking first vows. It is followed by the 24
BASILIAN MISSIONS • SPRING 2015
San Lorenzo Church
Scholasticate where seminarians are educated for the priesthood.] San Lorenzo Church dates back to the 17th century and contains religious artifacts of great historic and cultural value. A new church is being constructed under the supervision of the Basilian Fathers to replace the existing building. Since it is the Basilian plan to develop native clergy where they work, the missions in Mexico have produced vocations, too. On June 6, 1987, René Javier Espejel González and Marco Antonio Hernandez Molina were ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Ricardo Ramirez, C.S.B. in San Lorenzo parish. On June 2, 1990, Marciano Dominguez and José Isidro Castillo were ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Ramirez, C.S.B. in San Juan Crisostómo parish.