TexLaMex, July 2006, Page 2
Father John Korcsmar flew out to Coachella, California. Holy Cross leads a parish there, Our Lady of Soledad, and directs the Valley Missionary Program. Fr. Bruce Cecil is the pastor, and Fr. John Connors is the associate in the parish. Fr. Pepe Martelli is the director of the Valley Missionary Program and is assisted by Fr. Pete Pacini.
Paulino Antonio, Carlos Jacobo, and Juan Ramon Alcudia are also at the parish for some time during the summer. John went there to invite people to Holy Cross and to share something of the Holy Cross heritage and charism.
The people in Coachella gave John a very warm welcome. In fact, it was 122°. It wasn't warm--it was plenty hot.
The Valley Missionary Program is a center for evangelization. It is a self-supporting lay association within the Diocese of San Bernardino, with links in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the Archdiocese of Guadalajara, Jalisco, the diocese of San Juan de los Lagos, Jalisco, and others. It is governed by an elected executive committee and is supported financially by its members, who pledge 2.5% of their income to the program.
The heart of the program is an Encounter which is a three-day retreat, given by a team of 50 people. The team prepares itself by 8 weekly formation meetings prior to each encounter. Each year there are approximately five pairs of Spanish encounters and two pairs of English encounters. They are in pairs because the men and women have separate encounters on consecutive week-ends.
Those who have gone through the encounters are invited to participate and belong to a small faith community. There are 129 Spanish and 14 English small base communities. Some have been meeting for 25 years.
There are also youth ministry, prison ministry, adult faith formation programs as part of the VMP.
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| Father Pete Pacini saying Mass for the Youth Encounter. He was very gracious about letting John take pictures during the Mass. | Fr. Jose Pawlicki was the one with the vision for the Valley Missionary Program. His presence is still felt very much in the program and on the grounds. |
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| There is an outdoor amphitheater which can be used for Mass or other events. | These are some of the youth at the Mass that week-end. |
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| In front of the statues of Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe, there is a statue of St. Joseph the Worker, Paternity. St. Joseph is the model for workers and for fathers. | The shrine with the statues of Our Lady of Guadalupe and San Juan Diego are outside. |
José Martelli took John out to Rancho Santa Cruz. This is a small piece of land with a few buildings, including a house. José and Pete live there. It is surrounded by fields with palm trees,
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