Ste. Anne’s Holds Spanish Mass, Fiesta Each Tuesday
By Jessica Delaney

Lydia Rendon (left) and Lupita Flores, both of Mexico City, prepare green mola in Ste. Anne’s basement. The two women are among the many Mexican workers who come up for summer employment at Grand Hotel.

“We always rely on the generosity of the stranger,” Father Rey Garcia of Ste. Anne’s Catholic Church reminds his congregation every week. What he doesn’t say is that sometimes the stranger relies on the generosity of the church.

Ste. Anne’s has been focused on welcoming all people into its community. The church invites tourists and Islanders to gather for mass, hosts social events for summer workers, and a Jamaican prayer service, one of the largest Protestant prayer services on the Island. In addition, church leaders have put special emphasis on welcoming Mexican workers and building a community there.

Spanish programs have been going on at the church for years. Father Jim Williams initiated many of the programs, although he didn’t speak Spanish. Fr. Rey’s first connection to the Island community was through the Mexican community, as he would come up to say the Spanish mass.

At the beginning of the summer season, the church asks all of the Mexicans to write down the names of their families that remain in Mexico. The sheet is then hung up in the church, and the congregation is asked to pray for the workers’ families.

Every Tuesday night at 10 p.m., a Spanish language mass is held in the church, followed immediately by a small fiesta in the basement. The Mexican women come in and cook rice, green mola, and other recipes from their home country.

While enjoying the food, the Mexicans make full use of all of the church community room’s equipment. There is a television for watching movies, an air hockey table, and a pool table. Some just sit around and talk, others practice their English with church staff, and some join Brother Jim Boynton in playing music and singing.

In addition to the mass and the fiesta, Ste. Anne’s also runs an English as a Second Language program. The program is taught almost entirely by volunteers. The program began small, meeting in the church basement, but it was difficult to coordinate the schedules of the volunteers and of the Mexican workers.

Val Porter began working at the church in 2001 and became interested in the program. She had minored in Spanish at the University of Michigan, and, during her junior year, participated in a field study with Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers in California.

She began seeking ways to help the program grow, and called Grand Hotel, which employs many of the Mexican workers here, to find out if classes could be held there. Now, every Tuesday and Thursday at 4 p.m. Mexican workers and teachers meet in the hotel’s employee cafeteria to work on English skills.

Volunteers are always needed to help with the program. Currently, they include cottagers, summer workers, hotel owners, and even children. Volunteers, said Mrs. Porter, do not even need to know Spanish.

“The important thing is actually the communication going on, and the conversing,” she said. “The teacher is basically an encourager to get the person to speak English, to pronounce words, to memorize words, and to increase their vocabulary.”

In addition to the classes offered at Grand Hotel, Mrs. Porter also makes an effort to match up interested Mexicans with teachers on a one-on-one basis. This allows volunteers and workers to coordinate their schedules, and also allows for an ideal teacher-student ratio. Volunteers receive the teaching materials and then are on their own to teach. According to Mrs. Porter, many friendships have come about through this pairing.

All of the staff at Ste. Anne’s are dedicated to the Spanish programs offered.

“We want to make this a home away from home,” said Brother Jim. “I see the Mexicans as being very integral to the summer community in the church.”

For Ste. Anne’s, it all comes back to one of the cardinal Christian values: Welcoming and including all people. It comes back full circle to Fr. Rey’s closing words at every mass.

Mrs. Porter summed up the purpose for the many programs offered for summer workers at the church.

“This church is committed to making everyone feel welcome and included in the community,” she said. “It’s the Christian way of welcoming the stranger.”