From left to right, Srs. Gabriela, Juanita and Gaby are pictured with their general superior (behind) Sr. Diane Perales Sept. 24 after arriving at Minneapolis-St. Paul from Mexico City. (Catholic Herald photo by Jenny Snarski)
During a brief introductory tour of the parishes they will be serving and places where they will be living, three Mexican sisters, members of the Eucharistic Missionaries of Saint Therese, met with parish leaders, priests, chancery staff and Bishop James P. Powers.
The sisters will spend five years living in the rectory at St. Boniface, Chetek, and ministering to the region’s Hispanic families.
The sisters attended the weekly Spanish Mass celebrated by Fr. Ed Anderson in Rice Lake and were welcomed by a crowd of approximately 100 worshippers who stayed after Mass to share a meal of Mexican food.
The sisters will spend the next several weeks participating in the Sisters’ Intercultural Studies Program at the Mexican American Catholic College in San Antonio, Texas, as an orientation course. Along with the other religious participating in the Latin American Sisters Exchange Program, they will receive instruction in: English as a new language; intercultural competence for ministry in the U.S.; strengthening leadership skills; and accompaniment and coaching.
They will return to begin their ministry around the holidays.
