In 2000, the pastors in our deanery made a joint decision to designate one parish—Assumption parish in Richfield—to serve the needs of the growing number of Hispanic Catholics in the area. The rationale was that it was more effective to pool resources at one parish for Latinx ministry rather than duplicate the ministry in each parish.

Hispanic ministry has evolved and grown a great deal in the 20 years since the decision was made to focus the ministry at Assumption. Assumption parish is now 80% Hispanic and has grown from one Spanish Mass with 200 people to three Spanish Masses with over 1,500 people.  Assumption parish’s Hispanic ministry focuses on faith formation for Hispanic youth and a social service program called La Mision, which provides education, health, medical, and other social services to poor Hispanics, primarily women.  Through La Mision, Assumption identifies needs within the community that volunteers have the passion and commitment to address, including education, health care, legal services, immigration, and family counseling.  La Mision also cooperates with St. Mary’s Clinic and Bloomington Public Health. Today, over 3,000 Hispanics benefit from the services provided by La Mision.  

This is the fifth consecutive year that we at Pax Christi have been supporting Assumption with one percent of our regular contributions.  This is what Jesus meant when He said to love our neighbors.  This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Thank you for your generous hearts. Know that you are helping to transform lives.

Please click below to read a letter of thanks from Fr. Jim Liekhus, pastor of Assumption, to the people of Pax Christi, expressing just how essential this support is to their ministry.  

CLICK HERE to view the letter from Fr. Jim Liekhus as a PDF.

Carol Bishop, Parish Director