One Big Church

There will eventually be 3,000 worshipers here

A fascinating experience in our travels through the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas was our visit to the Basilica of the Virgin of San Juan del Valle located in the town of San Juan. At mid century San Juan was one of the poorest towns in the Valley. It was inhabited chiefly by seasonal farm workers who went north to pick cotton and other crops during the summer and returned to their modest homes to await the next crop/climate cycle. Many migrant families still live in the area.


In October of 1970, a deranged pilot of a small plane crashed his plane into the local Catholic church destroying it. There were no fatalities other than the pilot even though the local parochial school was only yards away from the church and classes were in session. The episode was regarded by the local faithful as a miracle. With the guidance of church leaders they set about building a bigger and better church as befits the site of a miracle. The result was a large modernistic structure with capacity for 3,000 people.


The building itself is impressive and beautiful but the significance of the church to the parishioners is even more impressive. We were told by someone who works at the church that the church is filled to capacity seven times each Sunday in a variety of masses. Services are held in Spanish, English or bilingually. During the bilingual mass we attended there was no piano or organ music to be heard. Instead, a colorful mariachi band played religious songs some in English and some in Spanish. An African priest delivered the homily. It was the first time either of us had heard mariachi music sung in flawless English or an African priest tackle Spanish!

The Mariachi Mass begins

Nationwide, most Latinos are Catholic but we were awed by the significance of this unique church to the local people. We did not research statistics on church attendance but there is likely to be only a small number of churches in the U.S. that can draw over 20,000 faithful for regular Sunday worship. After all, this is not a tele-evangelist monument to modernity; it is fairly traditional in format. What is the source of that power to attract parishioners and what keeps it alive Sunday after Sunday year round? The question is even more significant when we consider that the Basilica is located only a few miles from the Texas-Mexico border. On any given day cartel related violence occurs nearby. The Basilica of the Virgin of San Juan appears to be an island of spiritual tranquility and joyous worship.

Prayer Requests for Service Men and Women

Picture gallery of service men and women on active duty

We posed our thoughts to Dr. Blandina Cardenas, past president of the local university, the University of Texas Pan American. Dr. Cardenas pointed to the strong spiritual roots among the poor of the region many of whom have immigrated recently. This group has not yet been pressured to change their religious practices in the direction of becoming more  "American" in tone or substance. The Virgin of San Juan, she noted came here with the immigrants from Central Mexico. It is part of the cultural roots of the people and is therefore very much a part of making the church relevant to their history. She also noted that the tradition of adding indigenous elements to the European Catholic church has been part of Mexican religious history since Spanish missionaries began to Christianize the indigenous peoples of Latin America.

Hundreds of votives left by families

Every time a family returns safely to the valley after working for several months in northern areas of the country, they  pray to the Virgin of San Juan del Valle--to their own intercessor--both to thank her for their safe return and to ask for another fruitful year next spring. 

Filling jugs with holy water at the entrance to the Basilica

Even after leaving the migrant stream because of better education and better jobs the tradition of worshipping at this Basilica remains alive. As the immigrant memory fades and gains are made towards the American dream of middleclassdom, worshipping at the Basilica moves  into the next generation of Valley Catholics. The roots of Iberian Catholicism are as firmly planted in the flood plain of the Rio Grande as they are one thousand miles away from their beginnings in New Mexico.