tvc.dsj.org | October 8, 2019
IN THE CHURCH
15
For Bishop with Mexican Roots, El Paso’s Assault Hit Close To Home
By Rhina Guidos
Catholic News Service
EL PASO, Texas -- For Bishop Os-
car Cantú of San José, California, the
early August assault by a gunman who
opened fire on El Pasoans and others
doing weekend shopping at a Walmart
in the border city this summer struck
particularly deep.
Bishop Cantú served as the bishop
of the nearby Diocese of Las Cruces,
New Mexico, from 2013 until 2018, often
flying and in and out of the El Paso air-
port on church business and he came to
consider the city “part of home.”
But more than a geographic close-
ness in his past experience as a neigh-
boring bishop, he and his family are
part of Texas’ Mexican heritage, which
is what came under attack during the
shooting that resulted in 22 deaths.
The gunman allegedly told authorities
he was targeting Mexicans and news
reports say he harbored anti-immigrant
sentiments and had published writings
saying he was angry at the “Hispanic
invasion of Texas.”
El Paso, in particular, has a reputa-
tion of intertwining the culture, food
and languages of the two countries in its
midst. El Pasoans will begin a sentence
in English and end it in Spanish and vice
versa. They proudly throw the word
“binational” around, recognizing the
commercial, familial and community
bonds that are part of the city’s history
and identity -- one that incorporates two
countries.
Perhaps because of that nature, it be-
came a prime target for a gunman intent
on attacking exactly those kinds of ties
prevalent in many Texan families with
Mexican roots, such as Bishop Cantú’s.
Bishop Cantú ‘s parents, originally
from Mexico, raised their family of eight
children on the opposite side of the
state, in Houston, where the prelate was
born. From a young age, he knew being
Mexican in the U.S. came with moments
of difficulty, he said in a September 25
interview with Catholic News Service.
“I had experienced discrimination at
different levels throughout my life, as
a young person, a teenager, even as an
adult, for being Hispanic, and you learn
to cope with those things and brush it
off,” he said.
Although facing discrimination and
prejudice comes with the territory of be-
ing a person of color in the U.S., nothing
prepared him for the news he heard out
of El Paso this summer.
On Sept. 26, Bishop Cantú, along
with a delegation of U.S. bishops, wom-
en religious, lay ministers, and others
visited El Paso to learn about the current
state of affairs in immigration circles
there and made a stop at a makeshift
memorial that locals erected near the
Walmart where the shooting took place.
Like a river of sorrow but also of
resilience, hundreds of items flow along
the long fence: rosaries, artwork featur-
ing Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Divine
Providence, crucifixes, T-shirts of the
Dallas Cowboys, candles of all shapes
and sizes, drawings that incorporate
in one flag the colors and design of the
flags of the United States and that of
Mexico -- a common sight in El Paso.
The items surround the names of photos
of those the gunman targeted and who
died nearby, primarily Latinos, many
who were Catholic, but also Mexican
Bishop Oscar Cantú of San José, Calif., is
seen Sept. 26, 2019, as he visits a memorial
near the site of the Aug. 3, 2019, Walmart
mass shooting in El Paso, Texas. Bishop
Cantú, who was at the memorial during
a Sept. 23-27 pastoral encounter of U.S.
bishops with migrants at the border, said the
gun massacre of Latinos hit close to home
for him because of his Mexican roots. (CNS
photo/Tyler Orsburn)
nationals.
“The fact that I could have been one
of those targeted brings it very close to
home. People don’t see me as Hispanic
necessarily. They see me as a cleric, a
bishop, but I think it’s important that I
remind people that (being Latino) is part
of my identify as well,” Bishop Cantú
said. “My parents were immigrants. I
grew up speaking Spanish at home, so
I feel a strong solidarity with those who
were targeted in El Paso.”
At the memorial, El Paso Bishop
Mark J. Seitz and Fathers Fabian Mar-
quez and Mark Salas, also of the Diocese
of El Paso, told the group about the har-
rowing hours following the shooting,
the people they encountered and whom
they tried to comfort as they waited
more than 24 hours to find out whether
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their loves ones survived or died.
“They were broken, but God was
with them,” Father Marquez told the
group.
Bishop Seitz said the memorial, while
painful because of the act of violence
that had produced it, also became a
place for the city to show care and
compassion for those who died and for
their families and loved ones. It became
a place of love.
“This became our healing place,”
Father Marquez said.
Nearby, Father Marquez and Bishop
Seitz spotted Antonio Basco, husband
of Margie Reckard, one of those fatally
wounded during the shooting. He was
placing candles, flowers and other items
near a cross bearing her name at the
memorial. He made headlines around
the world when he invited the public to
his wife’s memorial because he had no
family who could attend. Flowers were
sent from around the world and some
traveled long distances to attend.
Father Marquez introduced him
to the group as Tony and along with
Bishop Seitz invited the visiting group
to pray an “Our Father” and a “Hail
Mary” with the widower, and to extend
their condolences if they wished. Many
hugged him or shook his hand, includ-
ing Bishop Cantú , Bishop Brendan J. Ca-
hill of Victoria, Texas, who was traveling
with the group, which included many
staff members of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops.
Bishop Seitz expressed sadness over
what words of anger have produced in
his community.
“We’re left to deal with the conse-
quences ... lives changed forever,” he
told CNS.