A $3,000 Vermont Catholic Community Foundation grant will support the primary mission of Catholic Migrant Ministry of Addison County to provide Masses and sacraments in Spanish for the local migrant community.

One Mass per month is currently scheduled with an occasional extra service for sacraments, particularly baptisms, to accommodate family schedules.

The grant funds support the Spanish-speaking priest’s travel cost, musicians, and a Mexican communal meal for all who come to the Mass. The ministry also has purchased a Spanish lectionary and Spanish Bibles for families.

A secondary mission of this ministry is to provide material needs — such as food, clothing, or furniture — but grant funds are not used for this purpose. “We rely on private donations and collaboration with agencies such as The Women’s Center in Middlebury, Have A Heart Food Shelf in Bristol, and Vermont FoodBank to help meet these needs,” explained Patty Lewis,  chair migrant ministry.

Spanish Masses had been celebrated intermittently in Addison County for 18 years but were discontinued when the Spanish-speaking priest became ill. In response to Diocesan Synod discussions, the parishes of St. Ambrose in Bristol and St. Peter in Vergennes realized that ministry to the migrant workers was an important need. The Vermont Migrant Outreach Team was organized by then-pastor Father Yvon Royer in 2019 with Spanish Mass for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe as the first formal event at St. Peter’s.

The current administrator of the parishes, Father Steven Marchand, became the ministry’s leader following Father Royer’s transfer to St. Francis Xavier Parish in Winooski.

For the past year, the Parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Middlebury has joined St. Ambrose and St. Peter parishes in providing Spanish Masses, most especially for big celebrations of the Day of the Dead in collaboration with Middlebury College and Our Lady of Guadalupe.

“The Mexican people celebrate the sacraments with such joy. … Indeed, I am uplifted and renewed with each service,” Lewis said. “Who wouldn’t want to go to Spanish Mass? We are all humbly grateful for the VCCF grant.”

—Originally published in the Winter 2023 issue of Vermont Catholic magazine.