FATHER GARCIA: SACRED HEART PRIEST WHO OPPOSED TOP-DOWN PDNG PLAN HAS BEEN REASSIGNED
I HAVE BEEN pastor of Sacred Heart Church for 13 years. What a wonderful experience to work in this most special border community!
As Jesuit priests, our vocation and lifestyle calls on us to uproot and start anew in a different community. This is not easy.
Yet there is wisdom in this.
After many years, one can begin to feel more "owner" than "steward," more "boss" than "servant."
Spiritually, it's good to hand on power and leadership to someone else, in my case, to Fr. Edwin Gros, S.J., an experienced priest with a kind heart.
It's spiritually healthy to go down the ladder, especially when our society and materialistic values urge us to climb to the top. I would have most surely been transferred last summer except that Hurricane Katrina upset all of the plans of the New Orleans Province Jesuits to which I belong. I'm thankful to God for this extra year.
El Paso is a unique and privileged place. The people are friendly and there's a natural simplicity to the culture. The border is such a dynamic place to be and work as a priest: The meeting place of two great nations and cultures.
This can be experienced as a great richness, challenge and opportunity, or as a threat and cause for fear and discrimination. I wholeheartedly subscribe to the first stance.
What would El Paso be without Ciudad Juárez at its side? What would Juárez be without El Paso? We should learn from history the consequences of building "walls."
For Christians, the border can be a very real locus for the flourishing and implementation of Christian and biblical values. We can welcome the stranger and the immigrant. We can attempt to love our neighbor as ourselves.
We can reflect as to why we need and want so much -- more and more -- when so many millions of people in our world have very, very little.
We can better understand the counter-cultural Gospel message.
We can share our talents with others and learn from others with humility.
We can look to Scripture and to Jesus for ways of proceeding, especially towards the poor. Can Christians see the face of the marginalized Jesus of Nazareth in our marginalized?
Lastly, as a 13-year resident of the Segundo Barrio, I am aware of its strengths and uniqueness as well as its needs. Definitely, the core of Downtown needs revitalization. It's depressing to walk by empty and boarded-up buildings. The Segundo Barrio also needs revitalization, but it should not be treated as "Downtown." Revitalization should not be achieved at the cost of displacing the poor and destroying a history and a culture.
It is my hope that the Segundo Barrio revitalization will not be narrowly and overwhelmingly driven by economics.
I was an architect before I became a priest. I've dreamed of the transformation of Oregon Street, south of Paisano, closing it to vehicles and making it a real outdoor mercado with brightly colored canvas roofs. A plaza in front of Sacred Heart Church as a gathering place would highlight our historic, landmark church where an innumerable number of people have found consolation and help.
Many of the buildings could be painted in bright colors after remodeling them, rather than demolishing them. Streetscape could highlight the history and culture of the barrio and bring aesthetic unity.
Of course, the people should stay. A strategy and an incentive to obtain a verifiable commitment by apartment owners to upkeep their buildings and thus provide a decent, affordable home for low-income persons who rent is a must.
But please, keep out the typical "chain" stores found everywhere. Certainly, keep out "big box" and similar stores which would wipe away the small businesses.
El Paso is the second-longest place I've lived since my birth in Cuba in 1953. I treasure my years here, the friendships made and the people I've served who have in turn taught me so much about what's really important in life.
Viva El Paso! God bless you!
Fr.Rafael Garcia,S.J., is pastor of Sacred Heart Church. |
