TexLaMex, March 2006, Page 4
Father Len Collins and some of the men from his house spent a
wonderful day in Nuevo Laredo. Elvart and
Juan had 8:30 AM appointments for
visas. They left Monterrey at 5 AM and got to the Consulate at 7:30 AM. They
were in the process until 11:20 AM. They found out Nuevo Laredo has one
interviewer. Any way they were both approved for ONE YEAR and told to return
at 4 PM to get their passports with the visa printed there in. At 4 PM they
had Elvart's but told Juan Ramon and 5 others that Washington had not approved
the printing of their visas. They said they were nearly 100% sure they could
be printed today. They said come back tomorrow at 4 PM and maybe we'll have
them. They also said he could return Monday, Thursday or Friday next week. So,
they have his passport and he has class and exams all next week, while Len
will be in MA. It looks like Juan will have to take the bus up to get his
passport back.
While they were waiting they toured Nuevo Laredo, i.e., they
parked and walked around and ate. Len counted all of 6 gringos in the city,
including himself. Then they headed back to the Consulate and ran into a huge
traffic jam on Guerrero, the main shopping street. If we had left a little
earlier they could have been in the middle of a shoot out. Four Federal
policemen were shot and killed in their car driving down Guerrero. That's
about as close as they want to come to that. It was too close, maybe 15
minutes!!!
Father John Korcsmar,
Sr. Rose Moreno, and
Sr. Mignonne (lead organizer for Austin Interfaith) went up to Waco.
John had set up a luncheon at a restaurant for the Waco pastors and parish
social ministers. He did a presentation on the Justice for Immigrants
Campaign and invited their participation in getting letters and signature in
support of legislation and immigration reform along the principles that the
Catholic bishops of the United States have suggested. For more information
on the Justice for Immigrants Campaign, visit
www.justiceforimmigrants.org.
Early on a dreary, rainy Saturday morning (the day
after St. Patrick's Day), Father John Korcsmar
got up to celebrate Mass for the pro-life group. They had an early Mass
and then went to pray in front of Planned Parenthood. When they returned ,
they had benediction, but just when they were starting the electric power in all
of Montopolis went off. Sr. Rose had
to cancel CCD, the Generations of Faith session, and the retreat for the
quinceañera girls.
