San Xavier Mission School will reopen to kindergarten through 2nd grade students in August 2024. The school temporarily suspended operations on August 12, 2022, citing decreased enrollment and lack of critical staff. With the goal of renovating, reorganizing, and reopening Fall 2024, efforts have been underway this past school year in cleaning out and renovating classrooms, lobby, and office spaces. The next step was to hire a principal for the school year 2023-24 to lead remaining renovations, plan academic programs, engage with the local community, and build a growing list of support - both locally and nationally. The hiring committee included local community member Janice Norris, Sheri Dahl Superintendent of Schools, Anglina Schmidt Asst. Superintendent, and San Xavier Mission Pastor, Friar Ponchie Vásquez, OFM.

Minh Solorzano has accepted the position of principal for San Xavier Mission School, effective June 28. 2023. 

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May God bless you abundantly!
Bishop Edward J. Weisenburger

Written Form:

"Brothers and sisters,
(This is Bishop Weisenburger) and I would like to speak to you today about the upcoming 2023 Synod of Bishops “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission.” This means that the topic is, paradoxically, synodality itself.

Now, the word “synod” derives from the Greek word synodos, which means “to journey together.”  Pope Francis has made clear in the Synod’s foundational document that he … “yearns for our Church to engage in this synodal process so that we might discern together how the Church is called to respond to the Holy Spirit today, and to carry the Gospel to the world. Moreover, to prepare for the synod, the Holy Father has asked that the Church everywhere hold important “listening and dialog sessions,” beginning very soon.  He is especially hopeful that the voices of those typically not heard will be given an opportunity to speak of their hopes and dreams for the Church’s future.  But there is actually a rich history and background to synods.  So please allow me to explain a little of the context of what is unfolding before us.

The Catholic Church has been holding bishops’ synods regularly since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.  At that critically important event, all the bishops of the world (over 2000!) gathered in Rome for multiple sessions, with each session lasting several months.  It was a massive and complicated undertaking, and the bishops realized that it was much too complicated and cumbersome to repeat often. What was needed was a more streamlined way of gathering together groups of bishops from around the world, to share ideas with one another as well as to provide feedback to the Holy Father. The idea of small delegations from each country resulted in periodic, but much smaller gatherings of bishops representing the universal church.  While this process has known some success, it also has been criticized as heavily pre-determined by the Vatican’s offices and leaving little room for that deep and meaningful sharing of ideas, hopes, and dreams that the Second Vatican Council envisioned.
This is the background to bishops’ synods in modern times.  It’s also the backdrop in which our beloved Pope Francis was called, first, to priesthood as a member of the Society of Jesus, but then, to serve as a bishop, an archbishop, a cardinal, and eventually, our Pope.  But he is also a man of his own personal experience.  And in those decades of ministry at home in his native Argentina, Pope Francis was well known for his wonderful ability to listen, and to listen deeply. 

In one of many references to this, the writer Austen Ivereigh, in his wonderful book about Pope Francis first published in 2019 titled “Wounded Shepherd,” writes:

“ Francis likes to point out that Jesus always took time to stop and listen to the people.  At the 2018 synod [Pope Francis] called it “the apostolate of the ear: listening before speaking.” 

And so, reaching into the Church’s ancient storeroom of treasures, our Holy Father has drawn our attention to this ancient process of synod, or journeying together—an event which is built upon the foundation of the deepest kind of communication.  All of this starts with: listening.
Now, admittedly, some may be uncomfortable or nervous about reviving this ancient approach.  Some might be concerned that there are those who will want to dismiss the essential doctrines, truths, or teachings of our Church, and want to create a new understanding of Christianity—severed from its roots. 

Permit me to say that I do not believe that such a fear is founded.  While the Holy Father calls us to listen to all, such listening is done under the powerful invocation of the Holy Spirit as well as the lasting influences of God’s living Word found in Sacred Scripture and the stable teachings found in the Church’s Tradition.  But there is yet another source of truth and wisdom found in Scripture and Church Tradition and history.  Here, we discover the meaning of the sensus fidelium—that “sense of the faithful”—celebrated by the Second Vatican Council in which the Holy Spirit wells up powerfully within the baptized faithful themselves.  The Holy Spirit can (and does!) speaks in and through the baptized faithful, bringing forward the voice of God in our time.

Others might be concerned that these listening sessions could end up being sources of angry debate or marked more by criticism and negativity than the spirit-filled hopes and dreams of a new future.  My response to this concern is that the Holy Father calls us to speak with parrhesia!  While we have to remember that this a new word for many of us, it’s actually found often in the New Testament.  What this Greek word [parrhesia] refers to is the ability to speak clearly and plainly, and with courage and conviction.  While the Holy Father admits that this can sometimes lead to disagreement, for those under the influence of the Holy Spirit, even disagreement is marked by great charity.  Moreover, to speak with parrhesia is intimately coupled with the ability to listen to those with whom we do not agree … and to listen with exceptional charity and openness. I am mindful that one of the great gifts of Pentecost was not only the gift of the Holy Spirit, but we also see that the gift of listening was granted to those who heard the Gospel proclaimed in their own language.  This same gift is offered to the Church in our own time!

And so, I encourage you to check your parish and Diocese of Tucson news site in the weeks and months to come.  Opportunities will be offered in our parish communities during the months of November and December, so that a host of voices can be heard.  I’m exceptionally grateful to Sr. Lois Paha, our Diocesan Director of Liturgy, and Bro. Silas Henderson, of the Jordan Ministry Team, who are guiding this process for our Diocese.  They are joined by a steering committee comprised of catechists, educators, parish and lay ecclesial ministers, and deacons in facilitating a process that will be accessible and enriching.

Beyond the dynamics of parish listening sessions, we will welcome responses to an online survey that is available for those who feel isolated or cut-off from the life of Church, and for those who, understandably, continue to be concerned by the realities of the coronavirus pandemic and other considerations.  As Pope Francis has observed,

“Without real participation by the people of God, talk about communion risks remaining a devout wish.”

With this in mind, we remain committed to the patrimony of the Church while we embrace the necessity of a Church that is both attentive to the demands of Tradition and can meaningfully respond to the needs of the world today.  This means listening to and hearing! the needs of those who feel alienated from the Church and those whose voices are too often dismissed or undervalued!

Together we will invoke the Holy Spirit in our midst, give voice to our hopes and dreams for the future, and listen deeply and lovingly to one another.  I also ask that you pray for our Holy Father, for those bishops around the world who will be called to the Synod, and for the baptized faithful everywhere whose wisdom and love for the Church will help fashion the Church of tomorrow."

Bishop Edward J Weisenburger

OPEN...

THE CHURCH, GIFT SHOP, RESTROOMS, MAUSOLEUM AND OFFICES ARE NOW OPEN. SEE HOURS BELOW.

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CHURCH OFFICE
Hours 9am - 4:30pm. Monday through Friday.
For emergencies call the Church office at 520 294-2624.

Procedures for Closures & Reopening

Closures & Reopenings will be a step-by-step phased processes.
Check back to this website often for updates and changes.
 

SXM Grounds are on Tribal Land
and follow Tribal Regulations

Visitors note

With the Summer heat upon us, please bring plenty of your own water, even an umbrella (parasol - sunshade) because shaded areas are very limited on the Mission grounds.
With the Winter cold please bring plenty of warm clothes and your own water. The landscape is open and susceptible to stronger winds.
 

CHURCH

Hours 9am - 4pm Daily
After 2 years of limited access due to COVID, we are happy to allow visitors entry to the Nave and Transept. (this is the main body of the Church, accessible during normal services- where the pews are!)
The Church does not have air conditioning nor heating.

PRAYER CANDLES

Can be purchased at the Mission when the church is open.
 

GIFT SHOP - Hours 8am - 5pm Daily
 

MAUSOLEUM - Open 9AM to 4PM

RESTROOMS - Open 9AM to 4PM

MUSEUM - Closed

TOURS -
(Mon.-Fri.) -- Held at 9:15AM and 10:15AM. (Summer Hours)
No tours on Saturdays and Sundays.

MASSES - Sunday Mass is now being held in the Chruch.

Saturday Mass at 5PM.

Sunday Masses at 10AM & 12PM (noon) - 
 

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Statement on Mission Usage

The Mission was created to serve the needs of the local community, the village of Wa:k (San Xavier District) on the Tohono O'odham reservation, as it still does today. We have people from all over the country, and the world, wanting to have their special event here at the Mission, and sometimes that can be accommodated, but the policy of the Mission is to only do Marriages, Baptisms, and so forth for the local community.  Everyone is welcome to attend Masses, special celebrations (like feast days), etc, but it is our belief that one's sacramental life should be shared within a person's local parish community. The church fills up rapidly and there may only be standing room only.

The Mission property / grounds
• The church is not available to rent.

• The Mission is not to be used for advertising of commercial businesses, used as a set for movies, or commercial photo-shoots.

• Drones are prohibited.

Contact the pastor if you have questions. Parish SXM


Everyday the Mission has Pilgrims, Tourists, and locals pray to Saint Francis Xavier, for intercessory prayer to God

There are countless people who say that their prayers have been answered through the intercession of Saint Francis Xavier.

This tradition goes back to 1805 when Fray Ignacio Joseph Ramirez y Arellano, OFM who is believed to have had a miraculous state in death which was witnessed by many people from all over the Tucson area.

Those who believe come with needs, requests and thanksgiving for answered prayers.



Virtual Tour
A virtual tour of San Xavier Mission Church interior can be found at this link.
Enjoy, blessings.

SATURDAYS:
3:30PM to 4:30PM at the Juan Diego  Chapel located 50ft to the right of the Church entrance.

• The church is not available to rent.

• The Mission is not to be used for advertising of commercial businesses, used as a set for movies, or commercial photo-shoots.

Contact the pastor if you have questions. Parish SXM