Page 18 - Spring 2019 Extension Magazine

18 INSPIRE

Cover Story

SISTER SILVIA CHACÓN
FIRST RESPONDER

TO THE POOR

Sister in Texas works with longtime residents

and new immigrants in a parish without a resident priest

ister Silvia Chacón, ASC, is the anxieties of poverty, makes home
the parish life coordinator visits to keep people close to the
and the only staff member at faith, especially during illnesses, and
Santa Teresa Parish in Fort organizes parish festivals.
SHancock, Texas, in the Dio- She is an anchor in the commu-
cese of El Paso. This remote church nity. “We have a saying that there
does not currently have a resident is never an unoccupied heart and
priest, so she is responsible for the ours are filled with many things,”
day-to-day activities at this parish of she said. “My part is to be like a
160 families. The neighborhoods sur- midwife to help people here nav-
rounding the church are extremely igate the circumstances that
Sister Silvia Chacón serves a rural parish in poor and desolate, with 47 percent of impact the heart.”
El Paso. “We have great poverty, but lots of the population living below the pov- Catholic Extension helped build
cultural diversity and spirit,” she said. erty line. Many households do not the parish in 1937 and has funded Sr.
have potable water. Chacón’s salary for 10 years. Addi-
Sister Chacón manages many pro- tionally, during Lent, St. Cecilia Parish
grams at the parish. She offers reli- in suburban Chicago is raising funds
gious education to youth, healing to support her ministry.
ministries to help residents deal with