Father Estes assigned to Mexican mission, bids farewell to Corpus Christi friends

On Saturday, June 12, Our Lady of Corpus Christi said goodbye to Father Dan Estes, SOLT a spiritual mentor to many here in the south Texas area. Father Estes has been assigned to Queretaro, Mexico to serve in a mission there. A "despedida" BBQ was held to say goodbye to him. People from all around the Corpus Christi area came out to thank Father Estes and wish him well in his new assignment.

Father Estes has been a member of SOLT for 23-years and was ordained a priest for the Society 17-years-ago. His first assignment was in Belcourt, North Dakota at St. Ann’s Mission that serves the Native American population. After that, he served in Belize Central America. He came to OLCC in 2008 where he has served for the past eight years as the director of the facility.

“There are a lot of incredible people who are on fire to serve the Lord that I have encountered through the retreats that happen at OLCC. There have been so many people who have been inspiring by their desire to grow in holiness,” Father Estes said.

He also recalled his association with the priests of the Diocese of Corpus Christi.

“It has been a real blessing to get to know the pastors of the diocese by assisting them with days of prayer, missions and retreats. I was really privileged to get to know so many of the priests that I would not have known otherwise and it has been a real blessing for me and helped me to value more the hard work of the priests of the diocese,” he said.

His new environment will be quite different from what it was here in Corpus Christi. He will be serving in Colon, Querétaro, México at Santa María del Mexicano, about three hours north of Mexico City.  Situated in a high desert mountain area at an elevation of 6,000 feet, it has a fairly mild climate.

“The people are generally fairly poor but very generous with what they have and live a very simple life that can be quite hard at times due to low wages and difficult circumstances,” Father Estes said. “Santa Maria is a Casa Hogar, which is really a boarding school that serves about 200 children from the ages of four or five until around the age of 15. They are fed, clothed, sheltered and educated for about 10 months of the year."

Some of our children come from very poor families, others from single parent families. Some have been removed from their families because of abuse and very often they will stay permanently with the mission until they are ready to go out on their own. The mission also serves some children that have had issues with drugs. It also provides asilo, or assisted living, for elderly—many of whom would be on the street without Santa Maria.

“In total, we have five houses, one for little boys, one for little girls, one for bigger boys, one for bigger girls and the house for the elderly. We have a primary school and a middle school. We do assist some students, who want to stay longer, through online education for high school.  We even assist a very small number to go on to college,” Father Estes said.

He said that the people of South Texas could help him in his mission work in Mexico primarily through prayer. In the near future, SOLT will be accepting volunteers for a year or more to help SOLT serve the needs at Santa Maria.

“We are in real need of extra help to provide care for the children. We are often understaffed in that area,” Father Estes said.

Additionally, SOLT accepts donations online for Colon, Queretaro through the development office.
https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/SocietyofOurLadyoftheMostHoly/OnlineDonation.html  Simply indicate that you would like your donation to support this mission. Since the need is great in Colon, Father Estes said it would be ideal if donors could commit to a regular (monthly or annual) donation so they could better plan in order to serve the needs of the children.

Photos by Sister Mary Mediatrix of All Grace, SOLT