La comunidad  de la Iglesia de San Patricio esta compuesta de una gran variedad de Razas, Lenguajes, y Culturas.

La Comunidad Hispana a estado aqui por varios años. Es un grupo pequeño de familias que vienen a adorar al Nuestro Señor los Domingos a las 7:00 de la noche, con un coro de musicos muy activos y llenos de gran entusiasmo.

Los Siervos Trinitarios de la Santísima Trinidad atienden a nuestra comunidad parroquial.  

Durante la convivencia después de Misa, estas familias comparten sus experiencias y todas las situaciones difíciles que conlleva el estar lejos de su Patria y sus seres queridos, con un lenguaje diferente y la mayoria pasando trabajo y luchando contra el gran obstáculo de no tener papeles legales para trabajar, para manejar, para recibir asistencia médica… y sufriendo las consequencias de ser inmigrante indocumentado… poniendo a prueba su dignidad humana y sus derechos humanos.

Cuando partimos el Pan de la Eucaristía durante la Misa Hispana y cantamos las harmoniosas melodias… rezamos juntos para ya no ser mas unos extraños… y para estar juntos en el camino de la esperanza. 

Nuestro Señor Jesucristo y su Sagrada Familia fueron tambien refugiados, cuando se dirigieron hacia Egipto escapando de la furia de Herodes. Ellos tambien sintieron el miedo y la ansiedad de ser desterrados. 

Le damos gracias a Dios por la tibia y acogedora bienvenida al extraño que nos han brindado aqui en la Iglesia de San Patricio.

St. Patrick Church in Phenix City welcomes everyone to join us in our Catholic ministries and join our faith-filled community. We are pleased to offer Mass in Spanish on Sundays, with Confession offered before Mass. Father George González speaks Spanish and celebrates Mass in Spanish at 7 PM each Sunday.

St. Patrick’s Church is celebrating this year (2011) one hundred years of existence.  In a very harmonious way you find here a very pluralistic melting pot of races, languages and ethnicities.

The Spanish Community has been here for years.  It is a small group of families worshiping on Sundays at 7 p.m. with a very active choir and musicians full of contagious enthusiasm.

This year this group of families enjoy a good dinner after the Sunday Mass.  They themselves contribute with delicious ethnic food, and the rest is graciously provided by Father Tom (our Pastor) who takes the time to cook and serve the food himself to each one of the visitors attending the Mass.
 
Father Gonzalez (Retired U.S. Army Chaplain) has been presiding at the Mass this year.  With the help of Mrs. Nelly Morales we enjoy not only the celebration of the Mass in Spanish but also the preparation for the Sacraments of Baptism, First Penance, First Communion and Confirmation.

During the fellowship after Mass these families share all the hardships of being away from their own country and their own families, dealing with a different language, most of them struggling with the lack of official papers to work, to drive, to go to the hospital---and suffering the consequences of the undocumented migrants---testing their human dignity and their human rights.

When we break the Eucharistic bread at the Spanish Mass and sing the very happy melodies---we pray together to be strangers no longer---and to be together on the journey of Hope.  It seems like all the immigration laws are pushing these families into a deserted corner with which it is very hard to cope.

Jesus and his Holy Family were also refugees, as they fled to Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod.  They also felt the fear, the anxiety of being displaced.   As we celebrate the Centennial of this Parish, we give thanks to God for the warm and outstanding welcome to the stranger given to us here at St. Pat’s. 

-- Fr. G.Gonzalez