Tijuana Mission - Fundraising Campaign Coming Soon!

Our Lady of Lourdes is proud to be the sister parish to the Oblates Tijuana Mission. The Oblates do incredible work to bring faith, hope, and support to our brothers and sisters in need. We've been blessed to visit our brothers and sisters in Tijuana and see their work in action.  We've also been able to host Fr. Jesse and youth leaders here at Lourdes.

Soon, we willl be launching a $25,000 fundraisign campaign to raise money for their ministries - Education and Scholarships, Food Baskets, Pastoral Care, Medical and Mental Health, Engineering Program, and Refugee and Migrant Support.  Watch for communications in the coming weeks. A big thank you to those who supported the Mission in the past through your prayers, service, youth hosting, and donations!

To learn more about the Mission's work, see this video on their work during the pandemic.  Additional videos on the Mission's work can be found here. 

Fr. Jesse and the Oblates serve a parish community of 200,000.  The Mission provides pastoral care, food, shelter, healthcare, youth ministries, scholarships, elderly ministries, and support for children with disabilities.  Recently, Fr. Jesse and the youth ministry have been ministering to women, children, and young adults in the migrant caravan. 

See below for photographs of the work being done by Fr. Jesse and the Oblates.  If you would like to donate to one of Mission's needs, please click on the donate button above. 

If you'd like to learn more about their work with the migrant caravan, click here:  https://gopro.com/v/Roov98zJ6pMyo

The situation with COVID here is serious and every day we have more and more people coming for help.  Although the situation is complicated here, thanks be to God,
we have been doing very well and been able to support about 50 families.

We're giving the highest priority to the elderly,  who can not work easily, primarily those who are older than 60 years old. We have been handing out about 50 food baskets each day. For others who don't meet that criteria there is a waiting list, and we attend to about 15 of those per day. As of now we have enough food baskets set aside to last until  June 2. 

We are continuing to support around 50 migrants from Central Latin America.
We're also continuing to support the orphanages that were visited during the last Mission trip.  We also have a group of youth that have been visiting families and asking if they need any assistance.

Before COVID we had families that we knew well and were supporting with their needs, but because of the pandemic there are needs everywhere. Although the situation is very grave for the people here, thanks be to God, everything is under  a little control here. We are doing as much as we can and I'd ask that you all pray for us, that God grants us patience, and care for our community in this complex situation.
Thank you so much!

-David

Our parish completed a mission trip to Tijuana last Fall.   Jason Adkins, Executive Director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, and his son Xavier participated in the trip.  Click the link below to read Jason's reflections on the Mission and our call as Catholics to live a life of encounter and missionary discipleship. 

Mission Trip Exhibits Joy of the Gospel - Jason Adkins
(Article in Catholic Spirit - November 20, 2019)

Meet Luis, Alejandra, and Dylan.  They are 3 of the youth leaders at the Mission running weekly youth group gatherings. They also help organize and run youth and parent SEARCH retreats, lead roofing projects, oversee fundraising and scholarshipos, and assemble and distribute rice and beans "dispensas" to those in need.  Other youth leaders are running program around mental health and counseling, contruction, migrant support, and visiting those who are ill and homebound.