MISSION MEXICO began as a grassroots Jubilee Year 2000 project of St. Mary’s Parish, Cochrane, Alberta.

Its goal was to raise $100,000 to build a new dormitory for a girl’s orphanage operated by the Sisters of Immaculate Mary in Tlapa, Guerrero, in cooperation with Alejo Castro, then Bishop of the southern-Mexico Diocese of Tlapa. The fundraising principle that was adopted was a loonie a week per participating parishioner, a principle that continues to this day.

As awareness of the intense poverty and marginalization of mountain villagers in the Tlapa region grew -– the region with the lowest level of education in the entire country, according to Bishop Alejo –- other southern Alberta parishes and Catholic school students joined in the campaign. They not only met the original financial target for the dormitory, but over the years since, have gone on to underwrite a wide range of educational and micro-economic self-help projects among the mountain communities. These include: agricultural and small-business initiatives, adult literacy programs, and the construction of a high school and student accommodations.

The construction of the high school in the rural village of Potoichan, a four-hour drive from Tlapa over dusty mountain roads, has been a long-term commitment in cooperation with the Marist Brothers, teachers and administrators of the school. The school serves indigenous people from the entire Diocese of Tlapa. In 2006, 75 students were in attendance, 48 of them boarding students, with more expected as facilities continue to be developed.

Recently, Mission Mexico has expanded its vision to include the building of modest homes for struggling families in the Tijuana area of northern Mexico. This has provided opportunity for teen-aged and adult volunteers from southern Alberta to experience one to two weeks of on-site mission work as construction team members under qualified supervision.

Central to all these projects is a commitment to human rights and dignity, a commitment recognized by Calgary Bishop Fred Henry in his proclamation of December 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, as Mission Mexico Day throughout his diocese.