Sister Avelina celebrated her Golden Jubilee with her congregation, friends and family on Oct. 10 at 11 a.m. in the chapel at Mount Thabor Convent.
For 50 years Sister Avelina Sosa, a sister with the Missionary Sisters of Jesus, Mary and Joseph has been dedicated to spreading the word of God in parishes throughout Mexico and Texas.
Sister Avelina will celebrate her Golden Jubilee with her congregation, friends and family on Oct. 10 at 11 a.m. in the chapel at Mount Thabor Convent.
Sister Avelina was born and raised in Brownsville. She was the seventh of eight children born to Amalia and Juan Sosa. She has many fond memories of her childhood. Going to the Mexican movies with her mom and playing baseball with her seven siblings in a vacant lot near her home. The Sosa family made up two teams—four boys and four girls. They always had each other to play with.
Her father was a carpenter. He earned just enough to provide the family with food and bare essentials. “He would help the sisters and priests in their home parish. If a sister came home from the hospital he would carry her up the stairs of the convent. If a priest needed something repaired he would repair it,” she said.
Sister Avelina attended Incarnate Word Academy Catholic School for her first three years then went to Resaca Elementary and Resaca High School. In high school she learned about Spain and read both Spanish and English literature.
After finishing high school, Sister Avelina told her parents she wanted to enter the convent with the Missionary Sisters of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. “I felt a close connection to the congregation. They were founded in 1944, the same year I was born,” she said.
While her father was thrilled she wanted to be a nun, her mother did not think she was strong enough. At the time many people had misconceptions that nuns had to be big and sturdy. Where her father was tall, her mother by contrast was small—so too was Sister Avelina.
Shortly before she went to Mount Thabor in Corpus Christi, she began drinking a punch that was supposed to help her gain weight. It consisted of milk, eggs and vanilla. She did not gain much weight, but it did not deter her from joining the missionary sisters on June 29, 1963, where her formation began.
On Oct. 5, 1965 she took her first vows and from 1966-1989 she taught catechism to children and adults and made home visits to families at Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe parishes in Brownsville, Sacred Heart parish in Uvalde, Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Laredo and Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Austin where she had been assigned.
The Diocese of Corpus Christi’s newly named Director of the Office of Consecrated Life and Women’s Vocation Sister Gloria Rodriguez, MJMJ was assigned with Sister Avelina in Austin. Sister Gloria said that Sister Avelina was very good at teaching teenagers and young girls the Ballet Folklórico de México and she would tell them the history behind their heritage. “She raised their consciousness and taught them to be proud of their heritage,” Sister Gloria said.
Sister Avelina was also instrumental in encouraging a family to form their own Mariachi group. The group played at parish events and became very prominent in the area.
“Learning about their culture was something new to them. You could see they were impressed by it. She had mothers making gorgeous costumes…she’s a seamstress herself, so she knew what to do,” Sister Gloria said.
From 1989-1999, Sister Avelina served three terms as Delegation Superior for her order in Texas and Mexico. While she was Delegation Superior, the missionary sisters opened two new communities in Mexico: one in Reynosa, Tamaulipas and a novitiate and a juniorate formation house in Morelia, Michoacán. The sisters also opened a community in Pecos, Texas.
Since 2001, Sister Avelina was assigned to St. Patrick parish where she is pastoral assistant to their office of religious education. Among her many duties at the parish, she helps teach catechism to CCD and RCIA students; she prepares young girls for their first Quinceañera Mass; helps with the women’s ACTS retreat and plans activities for Christmas and Easter.
More than 50 years have passed since others told her she was not sturdy enough to become a nun. Though still small in stature, Sister Avelina continues to do pastoral work, teach catechism and evangelize families throughout the Diocese of Corpus Christi. She has instilled her love and knowledge of her faith and culture to countless people in all walks of life throughout Mexico and Texas.