Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission - member of the United American Catholic Church

Our Needs and Creating a Sustainable Future

At this time the Mission is in urgent need of support from the community in order to be able to continue our work in the community and to look toward future growth. In order to keep our doors open, we need to raise funds for our rent and utilities, as well as other basic costs, for the next several months. While church members contribute as they are able, this is an impoverished community struggling through difficult economic times, and we recognize that we must reach out for assistance. In addition to asking for contributions from the wider community, we are also seeking sponsorship from businesses in the community as well as beginning a process of writing grants in order to create a more secure and sustainable future.

Our History

On March 13, 2007, Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission was founded by a faith-based community, mainly residents of the Little Village neighborhood in Chicago, IL in response to the need for the community to become actively engaged in being a prophetic voice of social justice and bringing reconciliation to those who are in need and marginalized by a social structure that excludes them. The founder, Father Jose Landaverde, was originally ordained under the Anglican Province of America. In November 2013, Father Jose Landaverde was incardinated and the Mission became a member of the United American Catholic Church, led by The Most Rev. Anthony Hash, Presiding Bishop. The Mission now includes a Pastoral Team of three other individuals in addition to Father Jose Landaverde: Mr. Manuel Temponi, Rev. Luis Alvarenga, and Ms. Kim Ziyavo, who is preparing for ordination with the United American Catholic Church (UACC).

Formed in 2002, the UACC is an Independent Catholic Church comprised of men and women from all walks of life who have chosen to follow Christ in the many-faceted Catholic tradition. We have been called to be a Church of hearers and doers of the Word.

Throughout the Mission's ministry, we have developed a strong pastoral and working relationship with the Roman Catholic clergy in the surrounding neighborhood of our community. Our community has also maintained an extensive ecumenical relationship with diverse faith communities in Chicago.

Our Social Context

Starting in the late 1950s and early 1960s the Pilsen/Little Village neighborhood began to receive Mexican families, especially after the expansion of the campus of the University of Illinois displaced the Mexican community from its original location by Roosevelt Road and Halsted Avenue. According to the City of Chicago Office of Public Relations, “Little Village, a neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, is the largest Mexican community in the Midwestern United States. Previously a Czech immigrant neighborhood, the community experienced ethnic residential succession between 1970 and 2000. In 1970, Hispanics constituted only 33 percent of the neighborhood population, which numbered approximately 63,000 residents. During the next 30 years, not only did the Hispanic population increase in absolute terms, but also the Mexican population rose, making them the dominant group.” Today, the Pilsen/Little Village neighborhood, along with parts of the Cicero township, represents the heart of the Mexican community in Chicago, a “Mexican corridor” where approximately 100,000 individuals of Mexican descent reside. It is, in effect, a port-of-entry neighborhood for Mexican and other Hispanic immigrants. According to the 2000 Census, 83 percent of Little Village’s 91,000 residents were Hispanic. A steady influx of immigrants from Mexico, coupled with the exodus of the white population, transformed the entire community into a bustling hub for commerce during the 1990s. In recent years, however, the economic situation confronting Little Village residents has deteriorated. The 2000 Census also records that the area had exceeded every major indicator for poverty by large margins.

Our Work Today

Pastoral / Sacramental

Our mission statement at Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission is "Creating hope for those without hope." For us, this means promoting the Gospel vision of the Kingdom of God, which is the manifestation of peace, justice, and love possible in our world today. We affirm direct actions of civil disobedience and social witness in the service of Jesus Christ.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission continues to grow rapidly thanks to the response of the faith community to the spiritual and social needs of the community. We currently have nearly 200 children and teens enrolled in Christian Education for preparation for First Communion and Confirmation every Saturday. There are two masses every Sunday with at least 200 members of Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission. We offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation every Thursday, receive frequent requests for Baptisms and Holy Matrimony, and respond to community members in need of Anointing of the Sick. Additionally, we offer pastoral care and counseling for community members struggling with a wide variety of issues.

Community Services

The Mission’s main objective is to organize individuals, using a culturally-based and asset-based approach to solidarity and to use the methods of Paulo Freire, which are to bring reconciliation through dialogue and learn from one another in order to bring about social change. The Mission is dedicated to creating hope for those without hope by fighting for social, political and economic change and nurturing the leadership potential, art and power of our community.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission has grown into a community center that provides a variety of services for more than 100 immigrant families on a weekly basis. Some of the services offered by volunteers at the mission as well as in partnership with community organizations include:

• A CEDA office where community members may apply for assistance with home energy bills
  
• A Food Pantry to provide groceries and other household necessities
  
• A Clothing Closet program
  
• Free medical consultation with a clinician
  
• Free rapid HIV and rapid Hepatitis C testing
  
• Support and advocacy for community members in jail or navigating immigration proceedings
  
• Free meeting space for grassroots community organizing and popular education
  
• Legal Rights Training for immigrants
  
• Free English Classes
  
• Leadership Development
  
• A drop-in space for homeless members of the community
  
• Support and advocacy for a growing number of undocumented patients in need of organ transplants (the Mission is the only organization in the state of Illinois to challenge the hospitals that turn away transplant patients due to immigration status or lack of insurance and our campaigns have impacted state and federal legislation)
  
• We are also currently working on plans to host a workers' center for day laborers
  

The services provided by the Mission impact the surrounding community in several ways. First, these services help to reduce the stress and effects of poverty for very low-income families and individuals who are at risk of becoming homeless. The support and advocacy provided at the mission helps to ensure that no one has to face the extreme hardships, especially immigration proceedings, alone. Providing a space for medical services for people who would otherwise have little or no access to healthcare helps to reduce costly Emergency Room usage by providing care for many illnesses before they develop into medical emergencies. Similarly, providing easy access to testing services for HIV and Hepatitis C is a benefit to local and national public health goals - many members of the community do not know their status and do not actively seek out testing services and for that reason, providing access in a setting where people come for other kinds of assistance is of great significance. Finally, the engagement of the broader community in using the Mission as a community center for organizing, education and development, and English classes serves to strengthen community members in developing a sense of hope, self-confidence, leadership skills, a renewed connection to their dignity as human beings living within an oppressive system, and opportunity to speak out on injustices with their own voice, and their potential to effect social change.

While any person receiving services from our Community Center is welcome to join Our Lady of Guadalupe as a member of the Church, membership or participation in the Church is never required in order to receive any kind of services.

Growing into the Future

As we look towards the future, the Mission would like to expand services in the following areas in order to more fully meet the needs of the community:

• We are exploring the feasibility and requirements of creating a low-cost, safe and nurturing child care center
  
• We would like to expand our training and skills in providing counseling, support and advocacy, and connection to resources for victims of domestic violence and rape in the community
  
• We want to explore ways that we might be able to address the needs of undocumented homeless individuals and families who are ineligible for most traditional housing programs offered in the city because they are federally funded. This may include the creation of emergency shelter as well as transitional housing that would offer stability and support services to help individuals who are homeless and undocumented to address any health, substance abuse or mental health issues that may increase their vulnerability to homelessness and to work towards finding their own sustainable housing and income.
  
• We also aspire to form our Parish and Community Center into a welcoming and affirming resource for our LGBT brothers and sisters in the community - both a faith community for those seeking a spiritual home and a safe and life-affirming space for those in need of pastoral care and counseling or any of the community services which we offer. We are currently working to prepare a process of education and scripture study for members of the Mission in order to build a strong environment of welcome at the Mission.