Two Jesuit seminarians are offering the public a series of five free, hour-long workshops to raise awareness about the harsh realities faced by Central Americans traveling north through Guadalajara.
Jaret Ornelas, from California, and René Sequeira, from Nicaragua, have already given the seminars at a handful of Roman Catholic churches located near the Guadalajara rail tracks, which are near a shelter, FM-4, both of which are used by migrating Central Americans. St. Mark’s Anglican Church is a little farther from the shelter and has parishioners who speak both English and Spanish.
“I really enjoy giving the workshops,” said Sequeira. “They’re a double way of learning. We give students information, including videos and Powerpoints, and we learn from them too, through their questions and ideas. These will be dynamic workshops,” he emphasized, “not just sitting and listening to us talk.” There is no charge.
The first workshop begins this Sunday, July 21, 1:30 p.m. Subsequent sessions will take place at the same time on Sundays, July 28 and August 4 and 25. The date for the fifth session, planned to take place at the FM-4 shelter, where participants will meet migrant residents and have a meal, will be agreed upon later.
Ornelas and Sequeira have both been working on master’s degrees in philosophy and social science at ITESO, the Jesuit university in Guadalajara, for three years. Both began to volunteer at FM-4 immediately after their arrival in the city, even though they did not know about the shelter before. Both are fluent in Spanish and English.
“We usually have about ten participants at the workshops, and some people have become committed and grown in faith as a result,” Sequeira said, adding that the workshops will be given no matter how many people attend.
“We prefer that people attend all the sessions, but sometimes they don’t,” Ornelas noted.
“The first one gives an overview of migration and some family histories. The second looks at immigration in the Old and New Testaments. The third one looks at the Church’s teaching and response to migration. In the fourth, we give no new information, but process the earlier information, reflect and pray.”
St. Mark’s Anglican Church is located at Aztecas and Chichimecas in Colonia Monraz, Guadalajara.