The mission of Del Camino Jesuit Border Ministries is to offer privileged and preferential religious care to the poor, with a focus on pastoral accompaniment and sacramental ministry with the migrant population on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Beginning in July 2021, the Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province missioned a small team of Jesuits to serve in the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border. We met with Bishop Daniel Flores who articulated our mission to “read the reality and respond to it.” Since then, we have strived to do precisely that.
What we have encountered is a particularly acute need for pastoral accompaniment and sacramental ministry with the migrant population on both sides of the border. We articulate our mission in this way:
- Our ministry is itinerant and missionary in nature and strives to walk with the excluded, as articulated in the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus.
- Our ministry is flexible and constantly discerns the most appropriate ways to meet the needs of the migrant population, maintaining the readiness to move and walk with the migrant church.
- Our ministry also includes humanitarian aid, collaborating with local actors and other religious working with migrants, raising awareness on the border reality, and advocating for immigration reform.