Claretian Ministries

Your gifts of prayer and financial support allow the Claretians to serve those most in need in more than 60 countries. Claretian Ministries profoundly affect the lives of those they touch.

Hope is a Strategy

In 1999, the Claretians established a mission in Ciudad Juárez, a rough Mexican border city of 1.5 million people across the river from El Paso, Texas.

"Simply finding gathering spaces for the parishioners is a challenge," explains Claretian Father Gabriel Ruiz.

It is not unusual to see a Claretian leading prayer in a small public square. "We bring the altar with us," explains Manuel Villalobos Mendoza, C.M.F.

"The Claretians respond to the reality of a people according to Gospel values," says Father Ruiz, "which means that we must respond to their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs." During Mass at Esperanza, foodstuffs for the hungry are offered with the gifts of bread and wine. The poor share with the poor.

The parish established an Office of Human Rights in response to the violence against women that plagues Ciudad Juárez. More than 300 women have been murdered in the past decade.

A lay minister explains, "We respond to the current crisis-a funeral, a family without food, a suicide attempt, or another missing woman. Our job is to walk with these people in the complexity of their lives and to provide hope-to provide esperanza."

Claretian Ministries include

St. Jude Devotion
National Shrine of St. Jude
St. Jude League

Community Outreach
Casa Kirk
Claret Center
Claretian Associates
Claretian Volunteers
South Chicago Art Center
Summer Ministry
Villa Guadalupe

Foreign Missions
Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza -
Juarez, Mexico

Young Adult Ministry
Casa Claret
Catholic Campus Ministry Center -
Springfield, Mo.
Summer Ministry

Publishing
Claretian Publications
U.S. Catholic, At Home with our Faith, Context,
El Momento Católico, In Good Faith/
De Buena Fe, Nuestra Parroquia, ¡OYE!,
Salt of the Earth

Parishes
Holy Cross/IHM - Chicago
Our Lady of Guadalupe - Chicago
St. Paul’s - Chicago
Corpus Christi - Stone Mountain, Ga.
Our Lady of Fatima - Perth Amboy, N.J.
Sacred Heart - Springfield, Mo.