WOODSIDE — Father Christopher O’Connor has traveled to the suburb of Chalco, on the outskirts of Mexico City, numerous times over the past year to serve Mass, hear confessions, and tend to the spiritual needs of students at a boarding school for impoverished girls run by a community of nuns.
Now, he seeks to have others share in the joy he has felt from helping those in need in Girls Town, the school sponsored by the Sisters of Mary.
Father O’Connor, pastor of Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians Church in Woodside (also known as St. Mary’s of Winfield), is organizing a pilgrimage to Mexico and is inviting others to join him on the journey.
“I’ve just had a really wonderful experience, and I would like to see the sisters get more support in the work they are doing,” Father O’Connor said, adding that he hopes the trip will also inspire donations to the Sisters of Mary.
The first stop on the March 20-24 pilgrimage will be the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Pilgrims will have the opportunity to attend Mass at the basilica, which was built to commemorate the Blessed Mother’s appearances before the peasant Juan Diego in 1532.
“It’ll be the first time they will get to see, in person, what I’ve been telling them,” he explained. “People are aware of my past experiences because I write about them in the church bulletin and on Facebook.
“I think they’re interested in helping to serve the girls down there.”
The main focus of the journey is the visit to Girls Town. Father O’Connor said he hopes the pilgrims’ face-to-face encounter with the girls will change their lives.
The Sisters of Mary opened Girls Town in 1991 to educate girls — currently 3,000 students between the ages of 11 and 16 — from impoverished families.
Students live with the sisters for a period of five years and study various subjects, including computer science.
“They learn how to take a computer apart and build it back together,” Father O’Connor said. “The idea is to not only give them the basics but give them employable skills.”
Father O’Connor had been familiar with the work of the Sisters of Mary for a long time and was intrigued by their mission. He finally got the opportunity to pay a visit in October 2023. He enjoyed many memorable moments, including serving Mass, leading candlelight vigils, hearing hundreds of confessions a day, and blessing the students’ dorm rooms.
Since his first trip, Father O’Connor has made several return visits. In fact, when he spoke to The Tablet on Nov. 6, Father O’Connor was preparing to fly to Mexico the following day to visit Girls Town for a week.
