Confronting Our Benighted Population: Part One

Each year during the last days of September and the first days of October our town of Magdalena celebrates "Father Kino Days" in honor of the founding father of Magdalena de Kino - a Jesuit priest named Francisco Kino. He was entombed here in Magdalena and is now exhumed with a shrine built over his bones. A replica of him lies in an annex off of the Catholic auditorium where visitors gather to pray their vain repetitious prayers, pay their alms and then attempt to lift this idol to see if their prayers have been heard and their sin account is now light.This Jesuit priest traveled this whole northern Sonora and southern Arizona area on horseback and foot in his day and is now a "saint" for Catholics of our area. Adoration of him is very deeply a part of Hispanic and native Indian culture. Somewhere along the line a pilgrimage began for devout Catholics who now follow his path from Nogales, Arizona to Magdalena on foot. Our town doubles in population for the week and all of downtown is shut down to vehicle traffic.We had long heard about the fame of these "Kino Days" but this was our first year to experience it. The advice from most is to avoid it at all cost as there are more murders during this one week downtown than for the rest of the year in the whole city. Still it does present an opportune time to hand out gospel literature and so we made our way into town during the early afternoon when it was daylight and still quite early to avoid the many who would be drunk and drugged. We were able to pass out a lot of gospel tracts and witness to quite a few. All of the activities take place on or in the immediate area of the main Catholic "church" downtown and are promoted by it. In turn a portion of all proceeds must be given to the "church".We do ask that you remember us in prayer. We do take precautions but we do not hide. We believe that the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the answer to all of man's needs.

Camping for the week on the sidewalk

Camping for the week in the river valley

Camping on the grass for a week