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Anita de Luna, mcdp,
 
The Rise of the Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence
from barrio anonymity to autonomy and national recognition
 
       The repercussions of the 1910 Mexican Revolution were felt in many realms as well as in the Church. There were many religious orders of men and women who were already serving the southwest of the United States and others were to rise to the occasion.
       In 1912 Bishop Nicholas Aloysius Gallagher, Bishop of Houston, Texas, invited the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) and the Sisters of Divine Providence (CDP) to come help with the immigrant faithful. The OMIs and the CDPs agreed to come and the priests took charge of several parishes while the Sisters staffed the parish schools.
       Although the MCDPs, founded by Sister Mary Benitia, have contributed much to the faith formation of Hispanics in the southwest and particularly native-born Texan, Tejanos, little has been published on this first and only religious order of Mexican American women founded in the U.S.. This essay explores the founding of the Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence as a filial adjunct of the Congregation of Divine Providence spanning from 1915 with the conception of the idea of founding an order on to 1930 to 1966, the orders move toward self-government and independence concluding with 1967 to 2000 with the significance of the MCDPs in the history of the Catholic Church of Texas.
 
Pre Founding Period 1915-1929 in Houston, Texas
 
       The Mexican population increased steadily in Texas and specifically in Houston and created a need for Spanish-speaking Sisters to tend to the pressing needs of the growing Mexican population. Providing bilingual Sisters was a challenge for the CDPs since they were English-speaking with few speaking French or German. Sister Mary Benitia Vermeersch was the exception. She was Belgian, had lived in Mexico, and spoke Spanish; thus, in the summer of 1915 Sister Benitia was assigned to Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Houston. It was there that she dedicated herself to the Mexicans and Mexican Americans and eventually brought about the rise of the Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence(MCDP).
        One of the consequences of the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo between Mexico and the United States was the creation of a new mestizo people, who were on Mexican territory prior to the treaty and, after the treaty, became Mexican Americans. The mestizos, who were Catholic, became the responsibility of the U.S. Catholic Church. It was almost a century before evangelizadoras (evangelizers) were officially recognized by the Roman Church. Events in the history of the U.S. and Mexico increased the Tejano population and thereby actualized a need for greater attention to Tejano and Mexicano immigrants needs.
       The Revolution in Mexico began in 1910 when Francisco I. Madero secured the presidency; after a decade of fighting, and during Alvaro Obregns 1920-1924 term, the fighting ceased temporarily. The Mexican Revolution, over time, drove nearly a million Mexicans out of the country and across the northern border. The influx of Mexican immigrants affected the economy, the culture, and the Church in the United States.
       Gilberto Hinojosa, Church historian, records the number of immigrants from 1900 to 1939, demonstrating the balloon effect during and immediately after the revolutionary activity in Mexico:
 
Mexican Immigrants by Decades
1900-09 31,200 1940-49 56,200
1910-19 185,000 1950-59 273,800
1910-29 498,000 1960-69 441,800
1930-39 32,700    


The Founding Period: 1930-1966
Transitioning from Houston to San Antonio


       The Depression Years
 
       A second catastrophe, the Depression of the 1930s in the U.S., caused poverty and struggles among ethnic Mexicans and required a pastoral response from Church leaders. Although the numbers of immigrants dwindled during the difficult years, the Depression caused hardship for U.S. residents. Within two years the numbers of the unemployed nearly tripled. This was the worst economic slump in U.S. history; banks went under, stores closed, jobs were lost, factories closed, and U.S. products lost their market. The increase of population, due to the immigration from Mexico, caused additional concerns during the Depression years, especially for areas like Houston and San Antonio where the numbers of Mexican immigrants were already large.
 
       The Depression affected the Church and its ministry. In San Antonio, leaders such as Fr. Carmen Tranchese, S.J., the pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, tried to relieve the peoples struggle:
Working among the very poor during the hard days of the Depression, all his energy and ability were called into play to help his suffering parishioners. He was one of the leaders getting a large housing project for his district; he had established a community center and a clinic for the poor and the needy and fostered many organizations for the betterment of young and old.
       In Houston, Bishop Byrne wrote words of spiritual encouragement to the faithful in his diocese:
the cry of distress, and the period of unemployment is still with us, but we must not cease to pray, nor to humble ourselves, and to return more and more to a simpler way of life. This cross is as nothing, in its infliction and endurance, compared to the scourge God often laid on his chosen people in days gone by.
 
       Bishop Gerken of Amarillo recorded that in his diocese there were cuts and reductions on necessary construction as well as on compensation funds available for the services of the religious sisters and priests serving the diocese. Foundations had a long history of aiding struggling dioceses to build; yet, during these years, the record shows an extreme cut in budgets from the Extension Church Society and the American Board of Missions.
       Religious orders were concerned for the poor growing poorer during the Depression years. Sister Mary Benitia busied herself attending to the peoples needs. Sister Mary Paul Valdez writes: At the time of the Depression, Sister Benitias activities for the needy were well known in Houston. As the number of people in need grew, so did the demands on Sister Benitias time and energy.
       The consequences of poverty and migration played significantly in the organization of the Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence. La Madre Benita arrived in Houston at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish, becoming provider and consoler for the Mexican population as she begged from merchants and organizations for needed food, supplies, clothing, and anything else she could obtain. The Mexicans who immigrated into the United States found at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish a haven amidst the transition into the new culture. Beyond sensitivity to the material and spiritual needs Valdez adds, In that parish, the pastor, Father Esteban De Anta, OMI and Sister Benitia, were a strong and influential figures in the whole setting. They did not try to strip the Mexicans of their cultural and religious practices nor made them accept American customs.
       While Sister Benitia was at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish she realized that the needs of the Mexican and Mexican American children and their displaced families were far greater than the parochial school could meet. She organized a group of young Mexican American women, the Society of St. Theresa, on October 15, 1928. Her Teresian society ministered to the needs of Mexicans in the parish that were not associated with the parish school. The organization had extern members who lived in their homes and intern members who committed to live together in a home provided by Sister Benitia. As the spiritual guide for the young society, Sister Benitia composed a Rulebook for their spiritual and ministerial development. Sister Benitias Rulebook for the Teresian society contained the primary elements for what would be the MCDP Constitution. Further, through the organization, Sister Benitia profiled the type of member that would be needed for the ministry to Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the future order.
       Sister Benitia left her work and Teresian organization in Houston in 1938 but within two years she replicated her ministerial approach in San Antonio. In the Alamo city she found unmet needs of equal or greater proportion as had been in Houston. Similar to the 1920s Post Revolution immigrant influx into Houston, WWII drew Mexican Americans, because of the defense installations and industries, into San Antonio. At the same time the bracero program, an agreement between the United States and Mexico, brought Mexicans across the border for agricultural jobs, causing a greater influx of displaced Mexican Americans to leave the border areas for the cities looking for better work opportunities. The greater the numbers, the more serious the need for catechists to help with the needs of the migrants.
       The needs of the Hispanics in the San Antonio Archdiocese did not go unnoticed by Robert Emmet Lucey who was installed as Archbishop of San Antonio on March 27, 1941. Archbishop Lucey had served as Bishop of Amarillo for seven years before his move to San Antonio, and before his appointment to Amarillo had served as the first United States Director of Religious Education for the diocese of Los Angeles under Bishop Cantwell. The Archbishop was aware of the social issues facing Hispanics and so was a sympathetic friend to Hispanics and a great advocate for catechetics.
 
       Archbishop Lucey was convinced that catechetical programs were the means for effective religious education. Thus it was that:
Within four days after his installation as Archbishop of San Antonio, Lucey wrote to Sister Benitia Vermeersch of the Congregation of Divine Providence to express his interest and support for the catechetical work which she and her associates were doing among the poor Hispanics in San Antonio.
 
       This time Sister Benitia began to gather women who would form not only an organization but a religious order. The Archbishop and the CDP superiors began to draft a Constitution that would be that of the Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence. The Archbishop was tenacious about meeting his goals and worked tirelessly at it. Among his other projects was the establishment of a strong Confraternity of Christian Doctrine in the Archdiocese. Recognizing the presence of Hispanics, he required pastors and pastoral agents to be knowledgeable in catechetics and bilingual for their ministry. He himself frequently administered the Spanish proficiency exams for seminarians and priests. Thus, it is not surprising that Archbishop Lucy placed all his ecclesiastical weight behind the project to seek approval for the order that would focus its energies in catechesis and serve the faithful through its bilingual members.
 
       There were several communications pertinent to the approval for the MCDPs among the CDP Superiors, the canonist, and the Archbishop. In a letter addressed to Archbishop Lucey and dated March 28, 1945, Mother Angelique Ayers, then CDP Superior General, recommended that the Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence remain separate from the parent congregation:
The suggestion that the society be organized under the friendly cooperation of the Congregation of the Sisters of Divine Providence seems to imply that the movement is being fostered by a mature person or persons other than our Sisters, with whom we could cooperate. The idea had its inception in the realization by our own Sisters of the necessity of more help in the teaching of catechism to poor Mexicans, and the possibility and feasibility of using their own people for the work. Our Sisters who have been working with the catechists have no desire to separate themselves from our congregation, and they and we are convinced that it would not further this work or our own established works to endeavor to incorporate a large number of Latin-Americans in our own Congregation. The separate organization would enable us to select from our own sisters those who are able to adapt themselves to the cultural pattern of Latin-Americans and who would therefore be acceptable to them.
 
       Mother Angeliques recommendation that the new order be erected as a separate organization profoundly influenced The MCDP and CDP relationship. The combined elements of distinct ministries, diverse audience, and the CDP prerogative to select those Sisters who would collaborate closely with the MCDPs made for two distinct and unequal partners which I will discuss later in this essay.
       After considering much information and several years of re-drafting the Constitution Archbishop Lucey submitted a request for the approval of the Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence to His Excellency Amleto G. Cicognani, Apostolic Delegate in Washington, D.C. on December 3, 1945. In addition to Luceys letter were included Mother Angeliques petition, a summary of the lives of Mother Philothea and Sister Benitia, along with a brief history and purpose of the society of the Missionary Catechists and a manual of spiritual exercises used by the Sisters. Only two months after the request was made the approval from Rome was given on February 7, 1946 and the letter arrived in San Antonio on March 29, 1946.
 
       On that Friday, March 29, .Sister Benitia was alone at Providence House when the news arrived. She immediately went to the little chapel to thank GodThen Sister went out to meet each Catechist returning home from the Immaculate Heart of Mary centers. Then she walked to the front of Providence House on Dwyer Avenue to meet the Catechists returning from San Fernando Cathedral centers.and to each one she said: Go to the chapel and thank God. Your Rule has been approved. Her eyes were full of tears.
 
       Once all had returned and were gathered in the chapel, Sister Benitia, with great emotion, shared that word had been received and how Gods favor had brought about the approval of the Order. Two weeks later a special mass of thanksgiving was celebrated on April 15, 1946 and Archbishop Lucey received the vows of the five professed sisters during the liturgy. At three oclock that afternoon, Sister Benitia took the five professed catechists to Lewison Studio for a group picture and in that way preserved the memory of the great event.
       Throughout the years following the approval the Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence increased in numbers, expanded their living space, and multiplied their ministries. Inwardly, they became more skilled in the performance of their ministry and also grew in their spirituality.
       By 1951, 1five years after the approval, the MCDPs had outgrown the house on Dywer Street and expanded into a two-story building, St. Andrews convent at 2318 Castroville Road. Several army barracks converted into dormitories, a chapel and later an all-purpose building for meetings and recreation were built on the nine acres of land.
       Partly because parochial schools were closing and the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine was an alternative for Catholic faith formation, the Church showed greater interest and appreciation for catechesis. In 1964, Vatican II Documents reiterated the importance of catechesis that had been noted in the canons of 1917. The document on the Bishops Pastoral Office read: Pastors should bring the faithful to a full knowledge of the mystery of salvation through catechetical instruction, and should establish the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. (30:2). Meanwhile the numbers of Catechists were growing and the requests for them became greater than what could be met by the order.
       By the end of 1960 there were forty-six professed MCDPs working in twenty-one missions. In addition to Catechists in the missions, there were other members managing the domestic work at St. Andrews Convent, the central house, and some at Providence House on Dyer Street. During the sixties, new missions were opened at an average of one per year.
 
Spiritual Legacies and Ministries
 
       While the external expansion was happening the MCDPs were being nourished interiorly by the Foundresss spirit. Sister Benitias spirituality was embedded in her founders spirit, Father Jean Martin Moye, and his spirituality was characterized by four fundamental virtues: abandonment to Divine Providence, poverty, simplicity and charity. In addition to the spirit she imbibed from John Martin Moye, there were events in her life that influenced her faith formation. Her early experiences as a Belgian immigrant and as an adolescent missionary to Mexico fostered in her a spirit of self-sacrifice and self-offering. The Teresian organization in Houston and the founding of the MCDPs in San Antonio instilled in her an appreciation for particular virtues: humility, love, loyalty for the society and a spirit of obedience. Sister Benitia was a loyal daughter of Father Moye from her first profession of vows in 1904 until her death in 1975. Such was her loyalty that she did not leave her congregation and thus never lived with the MCDPs she had founded. Striking similarities are evident between the spiritualities expressed in Father Moyes fundamental virtues and Sister Benitias virtues of the catechist, as well as in the overarching theme of Providence in their spiritual writings.
       Sister Benitias spirituality was marked by frequent devotions like those to the saints. In her Admonitions she mentions several saints of which Santa Teresa de Avila appears to be a favorite. Her devotion to Santa Teresa was also shown in the name she chose for the society she formed in Houston, as well as her choice of October 15th, the feast of St. Theresa, as the date for special dedications. A second devotion common to Sister Benitia were litanies, which she included in the daily prayer book she compiled for the catechists, and her prayer for travelers that she and the sisters recited everytime they traveled. Following Sister Benitias devotional spirituality, MCDPs faith expressions include rituals, litanies, music, devotional prayers, poetry, dichos and storytelling. The charism of the community is supported culturally by the ethnic homogeneity of the order and by choice of religious charism, making for an apostolic spirituality that is strong, natural to them, and profound. Recently, the Sisters have broadened an understanding of their spirituality with their own reflections and growing insights.
       MCDPs have claimed their Mexican American spirituality with all its elements. For example, relationality is basic to the Mexican American culture, the MCDP spirituality, mediated through the Sisters culture, is relational. This element is observed in their MCDP apostolic work. Because MCDPs are few and parishes do not hire more than one director of religious education, the sisters are often missioned alone or sometimes by twos. The support the Sisters receive from the laity in ministry and in friendship frequently bond them with the people they serve and become as powerful a link as one has with family. The relationship dimension in the lives of the sisters is facilitated by the approach to their ministry in home visitation enabling greater association with families. The work of catechesis and evangelization entails working with volunteers and collaborating with laity which also encourage affinity with others in order to succeed in programs that are contingent in shared motivation and friendship and not on paid services. The many stories of how the charism of providence becomes incarnated in the lives of the sisters is another testimony of how spirituality is understood as Gods favor manifested to them through others kindness and presence.
       Sister Benitia greeted the Sisters with Estas Contenta? (Are you happy?). Her personal question was her way of connecting with the Sisters and of reminding them joy and happiness was the way one related and served. For Sister Benitia the other always was the poor. She wrote: I have loved the poor in life and will love them in death. I hope to be able to help until the end of time. As part of the spiritual patrimony of the foundress and the experience of extended families, MCDPs enjoy a relationship with the poor and to one another that predominates in their expressed spirituality.
       The MCDP spirituality rooted in the Mexican American reality and its focus on Our Lady of Guadalupe is aligned closely to that of the people with and for whom they minister, and so the catechesis takes the form of what is relevant and understandable to the people. One catechist writes: Knowing the culture and popular piety of El Pueblo, we utilized this means for evangelizing.
       The 1960s were a time of claiming identity and group-determination for Mexican Americans. It was the era of liberation theology, consciousness raising by Csar Chvez, the Chicano movement, and advocacy for greater efforts in Hispanic ministry within the Church. MCDPs were part of the peace marches and, amidst the acompaamiento with the disenfranchised, they, too entered a process of self-determination and endeavored to enhance full collaboration with the laity in catechesis. Working side by side with the laity since their beginnings, MCDPs entered a model of sharing leadership with the laity through collaboration. Perhaps it was their own apostolic approach to leading that led them respond to the invitation to become independent and therefore more equal partners with the parent Congregation.
 
Refounding the Order: 1967-1991
 
       Since the founding, the CDPs and the MCDPs saw themselves as different from each other, in addition to other elements the fact that the orders were parent and daughter produced varied perceptions. They (MCDPs) were like children, dependent utterly on the parent congregation to take care of everything. They were often referred to by the CDP Sisters as little catechists, a term they detested, for it further classed them as children. On the other hand, the MCDPs, while being deeply grateful to their founders, saw the CDPs as incapable of understanding them, remote to their reality, and felt like stepchildren. The separate identity, distinct ministry, and living apart from one another limited the convivencia, the interaction, and influenced the mutuality. The infrequent opportunities to interact with one another resulted in less than accurate assessments of the other from both sides. However, the requirement for dialogue and study of the autonomy process would eventually change the perceptions.
       Prior to 1967 the order had a double line of authority in their Constitution. Whereas the MCDPs had a charism, ministry, target audience, spirituality, and ethnic culture that were different from the Sisters of Divine Providence, they shared a common Superior General. On the CDP Superior General rested the responsibilities of MCDP assignments to mission, dismissals and acceptance of members, and other important decisions within the order.
       Mother Amata Regan, who served from 1955 to 1967, recognized the need and readiness of the MCDPs to become a self-governing and independent as an order. The MCDPs had no voice anywhere unless it was in their out-of-town missions, where they usually managed everything once they were there. At the CDP general Chapter of 1967, the decision was made to allow the MCDPs to experiment with their own leaders.
       Sister Amata and her council appointed the first MCDP administration team in 1967. She issued a letter listing the appointed leaders for the experimental government. The MCDPs were challenged to transfer the administrative skills they had learned in the missions among the laity and to use their leadership capacities among their own. The experiment had formidable tasks that were desperately difficult. To earn the confidence and trust as leaders among peers, to adopt their own leadership style, to continue to be effective in ministry, and to identify the issues that needed attention in the community were only a few of the tasks before the appointed leaders.
       The1967 one-year experiment proved feasible for the order and the following year the MCDPs elected an administration of seven: a superior, four councillors, a secretary and a treasurer. Of the seven elected in 1968 for the central government of the order, five had served in the experimental government, which was a considerable affirmation of the experiment and of the wisdom of Mother Amata.
 
       After leaving her term of office, Mother Amata wrote to the Sisters on March 24, 1968 encouraging them to recognize the signs of the times and affirming their gift to the Church:
picture yourself in a troubled world that is greatly in need of you. We experience ourselves as a divided world today, a world threatened by conflict: man against man, race against race, party against party. Because you, too form part of this troubled world, you, dear sisters, have a special mission.you have so much to give of that which so many are wanting to receive.
 
       The MCDPs matured under the direction of their own leadership and became more proficient in their skill and practice of leading from within. The exercise of leadership made them more aware of their own needs and invited greater knowledge, study, dialogue and collaboration among themselves and with the CDPs.
       All was not ideal though, the largest loss of members in the community happened in the wake of Vatican II. Although for the MCDPs this exodus happened during the experimental year with self-government, this was the time that all communities were losing members. During the 1967 term, 27 professed MCDPs left the order. That year there were 84 professed Catechists plus novices and pre-novices with an average age of 30. By 1972 there were 65 professed members plus novices.
       The young age of the sisters facilitated vitality and enthusiasm for the ministry. Diverse areas of service had multiplied as parish catechesis pushed its edge into diocesan offices, mobile teams, and collaborative projects over seas. Through home visitation the Sisters became aware of other needs; thus, some member moved into other helping professions. They began to prepare for counseling, education, nursing, and social work.
       The MCDP catechetical approach of the early years continued with creative teaching methods. In the early days Sisters remembered going through the neighborhoods gathering the children to the sound of a drum. Music and ritual continued to be part of catechetical technique for the MCDPs and although no longer drawing children with drums, they visited the homes to remind the parents to send the children to CCD classes.
       One noted MCDP catechetical project was a collaborative program, the Masters Catechists, developed in 1973 by Victoria Pastrano, MCDP and Father Harry Schuckenbrock, OMI. The program was built on three faith formation phases: pre-evangelization, evangelization and catechesis leading to conversion. The Masters Catechists Program was offered in both English and Spanish several times in the year through the Archdiocese of San Antonio and the dioceses of Corpus Christi and Brownsville. It was extremely successful for over a decade reaching thousands of participants throughout the state.
       A second MCDP project that was seeded in 1986 was a facility that would meet the spiritual and social needs of Hispanics in the areas of evangelization, literacy, and counseling in the westside of the city. The Sisters who had degrees in counseling and social work initiated the discussion and the dream became a reality in 1995 when the Benitia Family Center was established in San Antonio. The first and current director of the Center became Sister Mara del Carmen Snchez and Sister Rosita Lopez became full time counselor. With the collaboration of many volunteers and other MCDP friends the Benitia Center has touched many lives through community outreach and advocacy programs.
       Discussion on the issue of MCDP affiliation/independence to the CDPs was one of the issues in the 1972 Assembly under Sister Celia Anns Cavazos administrative term. The canonist, Father Fred Sackett, OMI, in a consultation pertaining to the autonomy, referred to the MCDP community as ripe fruit which must fall from its tree. The fruits of the ministry were evident in the number of parishes and diocesan offices that MCDPs served and the growing numbers of degreed members in theology, social work and counseling.
       During Sister Rose Carmel Garays term, 1980-1984, the Sisters worked at re-drafting the Constitution of the Order and prepared to re-submit it to Rome. In the Fall of 1984, during Sister Anita de Lunas term, the document was affirmed by the community. Although the issue of affiliation or independence was in the minds of the Sisters, they were not ready to ask Rome the question. In June 1985, the MCDPs decided to initiate the necessary research and make a decision on the issue by November 1987.
       It was July 1985, just weeks after the sisters had decided to began the study on the issue of affiliation or independence that a letter from Rome arrived. The Roman leaders were inquiring if the Constitution submitted in the fall of 1984 was to be read in a context of autonomy or did the MCDPs wish to amalgamate with the CDPs? With Rome posing the question and their own questions before them, the Sisters decided to advance the date on the autonomy decision from 1987 to 1986 and communicated thus to Rome.
       The sixteen months between July 1985 when the question from Rome arrived until November 1986 when the group gathered to discern the decision were filled with inquiry activity. Leaders in internal ministry were busy with interviews, exploration, communal study, reflection, analysis, consultation, and the members in full-time external ministry also readied themselves for the decision. Throughout the process MCDP leaders consulted with their CDP counterparts.
       When the MCDPs, their consultants, and CDP representatives came together to make the decision in November 1986, the community could proudly claim the MCDP ministerial contribution and the expertise developed was already recognized by so many outsiders. The U.S. Catholic bishops called Hispanics to develop their own ministerial models in their 1983 pastoral letter, as did Hispanic leaders in the three national Encuentros of Hispanic Catholics (1972, 1977, 1985). Weighing the blessings and corresponding responsibilities, the Sisters contemplated the question of autonomy. MCDPs recognized themselves as the trained Hispanic leaders called for in the bishops pastoral and in the Encuentros.
       The community gathered at the Christian Holiday House in Dickinson, Texas and, confident in the Spirit, after four days of prayer proceeded to vote on the question before them. In the presence of Sister Charlene Wedelich, CDP, co-vicar for the Archdiocese of San Antonio, Father Gordon Meyers, SJ, process facilitator, and Sister Thaddea Kelly, PBVM, consultant for the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes in Rome, the vote was cast. The statement on which the Sisters voted was cast in light of the discernment process the Sisters had been following. There had been long periods of reflection, silence, and prayer. The statement read: Gods Spirit, alive and active in my prayer, and in what I hear in the prayer of others, is affirming our Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence community as autonomous. A vote of forty-four in favor and three abstentions decided the new identity for the community.
       Given the decision on autonomy, three MCDP Sisters chose to leave the order and join the CDPs. The three transfers were, Sister Mary Paul Valdez, one of the first five catechists and community archivist, Sister Helen Louise Rivas, who had served in the experimental administration and was Director of Hispanic Office in diocese of Dallas, and Sister Marian Angela Aguilar, only MCDP with a doctorate, who taught at Our Lady of the Lake University. The decision of the three to transfer was respected, their departure was harmonious, but the loss of the three vital and significant members was felt.
       The communal decision to become autonomous had been made in peace and equanimity. The relationship with the CDPs had been made clearer in the process of dialogue, reflection, support received, and the constant presence of the CDP leaders throughout the process. The MCDP decision was communicated to the Vatican. Along with the communication, some required documents and letters of commendation from each of the twelve local ordinaries, in whose dioceses the community was serving, were submitted in March 1987. The waiting for the response from Rome began.
       Some communication had alerted the MCDP leaders that the decision on autonomy would be made during late May or early June. Thus, during the May-June 1989 summer gathering for the order, Sister Carmen Therese Lazo and Sister Anita de Luna, assistant and superior respectively, placed a call to the Vatican from the Diocesan Retreat House in the diocese of Victoria on June 1, 1989. The Sisters reached Sister Sharon Holland, IHM, a member of the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes in Rome, who said the decision was final and could be shared with the Sisters.
 
       It is recorded that at 4:00 a.m. the morning of June 1 Sisters Carmen Therese and Anita went to ring the chapel bells to awaken the Sisters to share the good news. Anxious and wondering what the summons meant, the Sisters got out of their beds and rushed to the chapel. Sisters were running, knocking on doors to wake the others, and stumbling in the darkness of the early morning. Once all were gathered in the chapel, Sister Anita announced:
Sisters, we have just reached Rome and have received word on our request for autonomy. It is official we, the Missionary Catechists of divine Providence have been erected as a separate Institute of Pontifical Right.
 
       After a moment of prayer of thanksgiving, all rose to embrace one another amidst tears and sounds of joy. Sister Gabriel Ann Tamayo, archivist for the community, took pictures and asked all to sign a piece of paper as witnesses of the event. Following the moments of rejoicing, everyone moved toward the cafeteria to share some food. The Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence had a new identity as an independent congregation. A journey that had begun in 1946 had culminated.
 
       On September 2, 1989 an Extraordinary Chapter was called to formalize the acceptance of the revised MCDP Constitution. The new document was rewritten to record that the order had one line of authority, the Superior of the Society of the Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence. In attendance of the was Sister Thaddea Kelly, PBVM, the consultant from Rome, who in her address remarked, Today the Spirit is one of great joy and I can see it in your faces and that makes me happy Also present was the newly elected CDP superior, Sister Jane Ann Slater, who addressed the MCDPs saying:
I do not know about the Hispanic culture but in the Anglo culture it is very difficult for daughters to relate to their mothers as adults. I feel that is what this relationship, yours and ours, is about right now. You have grown and the time is now to began to relate to each other in a different way.
       The formal celebration and ritual of the autonomy that gave the CDP/MCDPs a new relationship was held in May 1990 and symbolic gifts were exchanged between the orders. The remarks of the Missionary Catechists concluded with:
With a common trust in divine Providence we go forth imbued with the same spirit and a confidence which you inspired in us. Sixty years ago you prepared us to respond to the church of the Southwest. Today El Pueblo also joins us in honoring you for your foresight and vision. We gratefully acknowledge and publicly proclaim you as our Founding Congregation.
       The Sisters of Divine Providence presented a scroll with one of Sister Benitias Admonitions which read:
Our Lady of Divine Providence, pray for us, your children. May every Missionary Catechist of Divine Providence be ever grateful to the Sisters of Divine Providence for the great favor they have done for them by affiliating them to the Order and keeping them in their care. May our good Mother of providence keep each Catechist in her own care. This is my wish and prayer.
 
       In 1990-1992, following the autonomy received, the MCDP Sisters communal affirmation manifested itself in the production of audiocassettes of their original compositions, publication of resources for their ministries, and a year of thanksgiving for Gods favor to them. The spirit of the group was visibly different, the members of the Mexican American order had assumed a new identity as the first religious order emerging from the barrio as an independent and autonomous religious order in the United States.
       The MCDPs, like the Mexican American community, had moved closer to self-determination. In 1991 Sister Anita became the first Latina elected to the presidency of the National Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). MCDPs expressed that this honor was one bestowed on the total community. The MCDP contribution, through me, affected the total congregation. We, MCDPs placed our gift before the Church. In Anitas reflections on the day of the election she recalled the communitys barrio roots, recognized the need to contribute to the broader Church, and called on the Virgin of Guadalupe, La Morenita, for guidance and support as she moved from her barrio dress to global attire.
       The MCDPs requested autonomy, believing that what they did for themselves they did for the Mexican American community. In order to empower others to become clearer in their identity and stronger in their leadership, they themselves would need to model such behavior. On September 24,1990, the local ordinaries of Texas, through the Texas Catholic Conference (TCC) recognized the service the Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence had rendered to the people in Texas in the field of evangelization and catechesis.
       In May 2004 Notre Dame University awarded to Sister Anita an honorary doctorate in recognition of the work of the order for the evangelization of the faithful of the southwest.
 
Conclusion
 
       The story of the Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence provides a window into a response of the Church to the effects of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. It documents Mexican American womens spirituality, Tejano faith formation, and a documentation of the only Mexican American order of religious women that has been founded in the U.S..
       Because of the almost 100% Mexican American ethnic identity of the order, the trajectory that the group has followed bears striking similarities to the coming of age of Chicanos/as in the U.S.. The MCDPs moved from their founding as dependent on the Congregation of Divine Providence, to choosing independence, and finally to assuming their full voice. The MCDP story parallels the Mexican American collective experience as guests or aliens in their own territory after 1848, to their quest for recognition and identity, and finally to the self-determination and affirmation of their dignity.
       It is an established fact that Hispanic women are the transmitters of the faith within the Mexican American culture and this story lifts up spiritual leaders for Tejanos/as. The rise of the Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence provides a valuable source for the study of Mexican American faith and culture, ministry and Church, official and popular religiosity, among other areas. These evangelizadoras del barrio allowed themselves to be led, responded to the invitation to assume their voice, accepted the challenge to be spiritual leaders among their own, and thereby have contributed and continue to transmit a rich Mexican American faith to the universal Church.
 

Write: Sister Sylvia Garcia, MCDP
2318 Castroville Rd.
San Antonio, TX 78237 		Phone: Sister Sylvia Garcia, MCDP
210.432.0113
 Email: mcdpvocation@sbcglobal.net