We are always happy to receive news from Fr. Scott McDermott about his ministry:

Greetings in the Lord!

I have been reflecting on how our parish families grow and transform. Here at Sta. Teresa we are in our adolescences now turning 13 this year. Our children are entering into the high school stage. The youth I married 24 years ago as a deacon in the neighboring parish, are becoming grandparents and those who I baptized, parents. Like a scene out of Steel Magnolias (from the late 80s) life flowers and fades as is seeds new experiences in God´s unending love. Thus it is this continuing birth or Nativity experience that brings us back to our origin as it prepares us for that Great Easter!

Here at the parish my life has become so intertwined with those whom we try to serve that I am not always called “father”, some call me “Grandpa”. I found a kid in a youth group who was not in school, 14 years old. His mother was abandoned by his father when he was born (they were even married by the church) and his mother got to the point she could hardly feed him much less send him to school. I enrolled him and got him the two thousand pesos for his shoes, uniform and school supplies. He calls me papa and in “face” calls himself “Negro McDermott” or in English “The Black McDermott”.. When I took him home I found his smaller half-brother was not in elementary school (his father among the victims of organized crime) . I talked to the principal and sent his mother to enroll him. I have started a scholarship program trying to get as many into high school and keep them there as possible. Here the high schools are affiliated with the University of Nuevo Leon. The cost is surprising given our reality, 600 dollars a semester. We get the discounts we can from the university itself, but it is still a challenge. The other problem it to make sure they go. I take a group of 5 to school every morning at 6:15 a.m. and attend parent teacher conferences for those who have no father or parent figure. We started a drug testing program too in order to correct such problems as we go along. All I can think is the poor people who innocently think they will eliminate organized crime by legalizing drugs for recreational use. Those who are enslaved by drugs are just as dead as those who are shot by the drug lords. All said and done, we have made tremendous progress that more and more are now in school. Twenty years ago the dropout rate of elementary school was horrendous.

We continue with our youth retreats. It is my hope that with our building project we will soon be able to have them here in the parish. We took two months off from retreats and our first one had 85 in attendance. There are about another 20 programed for this year. With over 1500 baptisms last year we will have children and youth for some years to come.

In our building project we have finished the basement of the first part and hope to finish the next floor in about 6 weeks. We begin using the spaces as soon as they are useable… sometimes a little before. The basement I use for Sunday Bible classes… I know that sounds a little protestant to you, but it seemed to be the best day for many. So I have two sessions and about 100 in each attending. We have 700 adults enrolled in our bible school which is affiliated with the Archdiocesan School. Sundays are a little crazier, but then here they are rarely normal.

The Archdiocese created three new parishes near us last year. Given that I still have 25000 out of 40,000 catholic parishioners that do not come to mass; we have a lot of work to do before we peak. They are building another 500 homes where there used to be soccer ball fields. My parish physically is a little more than a mile square.

Our security situation in the parish district has been quiet. Not so in other parts of the city, nor the country for that matter. The border region has had intense gun battles in urban areas in the last few days. We have started to see armed groups too near the church. I talked to our military police last night and they are trying to set up more check points but asked for more citizen participation. The private sector has helped finance a large professional police force which has made a tremendous difference for us, since we were one of the hot spots of the metro area for organized crime; we have more police than other sectors.

I thank Fr. Kevin Boucher and Social Justice and all of the Parish of Nativity for your prayers and financial support for this ongoing mission that in many ways began on the altar steps of our old Gym Church.

Just a quick note to the KCs who I often remember in my prayers and do not ever forget that they helped pay for my seminary!

Fr. Scott McDermott

(Fr. Scott and Fr. Jack Davis a few years ago.)