Extension magazine - Spring 2023

20 INSPIRE
Cover Story
Extension | Spring 2023 21
A full Mass at Holy Spirit and St. Patrick Church
in Loíza, Puerto Rico.
Today, Catholic Extension continues
to support this community,
which is located in the Diocese of
Fajardo-Humacao.
The parish celebrates St. Patrick’s
Day with intensity and joy. However,
there is no Irish dancing on
March 17. To honor its patron, the
community dances “La Bomba,” a
traditional drumming and dance
celebration with origins in Africa.
“The people of Loíza feel affirmed
and lifted,” said Father Rocendo
Herrera, S.T., who served as
pastor for nine years. “I see their
pride of being Black, of their cultural
tradition, the expression of
their music—the beat of the drums,
the rhythm. It’s a strong cultural
and faith affirmation.”
In the 1980s, the parish’s pastor
asked Samuel Lind, a local artist,
to depict St. Patrick as Black. The
painting is proudly displayed in the
parish.
“All faith communities show me
a different face of Christ,” Father
Herrera said. “I learned, during my
years in Loíza, to be open to learning
and appreciate a new culture,
to new things God presents to you
along your life.” The spirit of St. Patrick,
which brings faith and culture
together in a dynamic dialogue,
lives on in Loíza.
St. Patrick among Montana miners
ONE OF THE AREAS with the
highest percentages of Irish
descents in the United States is
Silver Bow County in western
Montana. The county is more than
25 percent Irish. The region is part
of the Diocese of Helena, where
Catholic Extension has been
supporting parishes for more than
a century.
St. Patrick’s Catholic Church
in Butte, the county’s main city,
was built in 1881. For decades,
many Irish immigrants came to
Butte to work in the silver and
copper mines following Ireland’s
St. Patrick
on the plains
of Texas
JUST OFF THE OLD Route 66
highway that cuts through the
Texas panhandle sits a little town
called Shamrock in the Diocese
of Amarillo. The name of the
town is not a fluke. Kathleen
Cross, a lifelong parishioner at
St. Patrick’s church, said that
her grandfather was born on a
boat coming over from Ireland in
1876. He and other Irish settlers
bought land in Shamrock and
built dugouts (rustic lodges made
of earth), where their families
would live until they could build
permanent homes.
Cross said her grandfather contacted
the diocese right away to
bring a priest to the settlement.
Great Potato Famine. As these sons
and daughters of Ireland left their
homeland, they, like St. Patrick,
brought their faith with them.
The town welcomed the Irish
A priest would arrive by train,
celebrate Mass in someone’s
home, and leave the next day. In
1929 Catholic Extension helped
build the church. Cross has heard
the story all through her life; the
dedication was on St. Patrick’s
Day, and 17 children were confirmed.
Catholic Extension also
helped build a new church for
the parish in 1966 as the community
continued to grow.
Today, the parish shares a
pastor with Our Mother of Mercy,
located 25 miles south, in Wellington.
It was also built in 1929—
yet another church that Catholic
Extension helped build and has
supported over the years.
These Catholic communities
today have a mix families from
European, Hispanic and Filipino
descent. Each brings its rich
traditions and celebrations to
the parish. “We’re a very diverse
workers at a time when “Irish
Need Not Apply” signs were widespread
across many major cities.
However, the working and living
conditions in the Butte mining
camps were unfair and deadly.
Determined to no longer live
LEFT Irish miners at work in Butte,
Montana, around 1900.
Catholic Extension helped build the original St.
Patrick’s Church in Shamrock, Texas, in 1929.
In 1966 Catholic Extension helped build a new
church for St. Patrick’s parish in Shamrock,
Texas, in the Diocese of Amarillo.
The faith
community at
St. Patrick’s
Church in Butte,
Montana,
celebrates its
patron’s feast day
on a float during
the annual parade.
under suppression as they had in
Ireland at the hands of the British,
the workers fought for decades to
secure their economic interests by
forming labor unions.
How many Irish workers walked
into the dangerous mines over
those years with St. Patrick’s
famous breastplate prayer on their
lips?
community,” Cross said. The
blend of cultures offers many
occasions to celebrate.
St. Patrick’s Day is, of course,
a joyous event in Shamrock.
Students in religious education
classes build a float to take down
Main Street every year. The priest
dons a St. Patrick’s Day hat and
greets festival attendees.
Likewise, the feast of
Our Lady of Guadalupe
is a much-celebrated
event, as more Hispanic
families have
been welcomed into
the parish, which now
offers bilingual Mass.
Filipino families celebrate
Simbang Gabi, an
Advent tradition. “It’s
a wonderful celebration.
We have a Christmas party
and exchange gifts and games,”
parishioner Monica Kidd said.
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left.
St. Patrick’s in Butte and the
other Catholic churches in Montana
were centers of community
strength for these generations of
people struggling to survive and
make a living in a new land.
Today, the spirit of St. Patrick
remains strong in Butte. Each year,
more than 30,000 people gather
to celebrate their beloved saint
and Irish heritage on March 17.
“It’s a small, friendly community,”
Cross said. “I’ve been tied
there my whole life.”
The spirit of St. Patrick, which
sought to affirm the Gospel’s
relevance for all cultures and
peoples, is very much present in
these rural Texas faith communities,
whose diverse parishioners
recognize that they share so much
in common in faith.
The parish in Shamrock is a
living symbol of the Celtic knots
that decorate churches in Ireland,
the United States and the cover of
this magazine. The endless and
unbroken knots, with no clear beginning
or end, signify our unity
amid God’s eternity. The spirit
within each human soul, regardless
of background or ethnicity, is
one with God the Father, Son and
the Holy Spirit.
“We’re all connected,” Kidd
said.