Hoboken Priest, Eductor Participate in Catholic Mission Trip to Pray with Migrant Farmworkers

HOBOKEN, NJ - Two priests and a school principal from the Archdiocese of Newark prayed with migrant farmworkers and learned about how the Catholic Church is helping them during a mission immersion trip to the Diocese of Yakima, Washington, earlier this summer.

Father Martin Schratz, pastor of St. Ann Church in Hoboken; Father Danny Pabon, administrator of St. Leo’s Church in Elmwood Park; and Principal Lisa Perez of the Hoboken Catholic Academy celebrated Mass with some of the roughly 65,000 migrants who travel from Mexico and Guatemala on seasonal worker visas each year to harvest Yakima’s abundant cherry crop.

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While in Washington, the trio also visited an orchard and processing plant to interact with the farmworkers and observe how diocesan priests and seminarians assist with cherry harvesting and faith formation.

Additionally, they volunteered for a Catholic literacy program, providing books, activities, and teaching to the migrants’ children while their parents were hard at work.

“Many think a building is the Church, but the Church is anywhere it needs to be,” Father Schratz said.

The mission immersion trip was facilitated by the Catholic Extension Society, a nonprofit that broadens Church leaders’ horizons by offering educational missionary experiences, among other services.

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The Archdiocese of Newark already helps numerous migrants through ministries like Catholic Charities and The Mercy House, but the clergy and educator said they appreciated the chance to see firsthand how a diocese in a completely different part of the country benefits those in need. And now that the experience is over, they said they have returned to New Jersey with new insights into how the Church can make a difference.

“As a practicing Catholic, when I hear the phrase ‘missionary work,’ this is what I think of now,” Perez said.

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