by Bob Sullivan
My friend Scott Watts has been traveling back and forth between Mexico City and Nebraska for many years now as a lay missionary for Hope of the Poor. It started as a mission to the poor in Mexico City’s poorest neighborhood, the city landfill. The mission trips also included visits to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The visits to the shrine turned into a deep devotion to and a lot of knowledge about Our Lady of Guadalupe. Now, that has turned into a call to go to Ireland on mission with a most remarkable travel companion: Our Lady herself. Scott’s idea, which inspired him to found Guadalupe Missions, is to bring the new back to the old. Not old people, but to an old bastion of the Catholic faith: Ireland. And it is sorely needed.
There were numerous seminaries in Ireland with 800 hundred or more men studying for the priesthood as recently as 1992. Then, scandal hit the Irish Church. There are now only 20 men studying for the priesthood in all of Ireland. This means that many of Ireland’s 26 dioceses have no vocations this year. Millions of Ireland’s Catholics have stopped receiving the sacraments.
Many of us have a sentimental concept of the Irish faith. We think of St. Patrick, the monks who preserved western civilization while the rest of Europe was being ransacked by invaders, or priests with Irish brogues who formed the faith of millions as missionaries to the United States and many other parts of the globe.
However, British oppression of Irish Catholics, poor catechesis, scandals within the Irish Church, and the temptations of the world, have taken its toll on the faith in Ireland. Faithful Catholics in Ireland today will tell you that Ireland, the land of missionaries to the world, is now missionary territory itself.
Like the Aztecs, the Irish people have increasingly turned to the empty calories of the secular culture in an effort to sate the hunger which exists in each of us. In their search, they are finding things which may look good and taste good, but which are nothing but junk food. To someone who has lost the taste for whole food, kicking the junk food habit can take some work. Our Lady of Guadalupe, like all good mothers, constantly points to the purest food, her Son in the Eucharist.
Who is going to offer whole food to the Irish people? The clergy have lost all credibility. Parents cannot give what they have not received. The schools can only be as effective as the faith modelled by the parents and lived within the family. The examples and information gleaned through social media and other digital resources contain more misinformation than truth. It seems the only hope is Our Lady through a lay led ministry such as Guadalupe Missions.
How could an apparition and devotion which is five centuries young evangelize a people from a totally different culture, who’s faith is nearly four times older, and who already have an approved Marian apparition in Our Lady of Knock? What does Aztec, Spanish, and distinctly non-European symbolism have to do with the Irish?
I thought Scott’s idea was pretty interesting, so I watched with interest as he set out on his first mission trip in February, 2024. Prior to the trip, Scott received guarded encouragement from other missionaries and evangelists. He was advised to keep his expectations low by people who have tried to evangelize Ireland, or who have been keeping an eye on evangelization efforts there.
Predictably, Scott was warmly welcomed by the Irish. Even more importantly, the Irish extended that same warm welcome to Our Lady of Guadalupe! Guadalupe Missions found some traction in Ireland and the traction surpassed all expectations. He was invited to meet more Catholics, including some bishops, and the people who went to his talks encouraged their friends and family to attend as well.
Scott did not let the Irish moss grow under his feet. He scheduled a second mission in May and is now planning another mission in September. I decided to go with him in May to see it all first hand. While there, we also spoke with a number of priests, religious, and lay Catholics who are in the thick of evangelization and catechesis there. The discussions provided deeper insights regarding the state of the Church in Ireland, as well as the hearts and minds of the Irish people. In a nutshell, Ireland is suffering from extreme spiritual poverty.
In his talks at parishes and church halls across Southwest Ireland, Scott was able to share the Gospel through Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego. During each talk, I watched the crowd as he read Mary’s words which were recorded by St. Juan Diego himself. As I watched, I could see the Holy Spirit working in many of the people. After the talks, Scott and I talked with attendees and many of them spoke about inspiration they experienced during the talk. Whether it was a pro-life issue, reconciliation and healing, reassurance, intercession, the request for a miracle, or the conversion to a deeper spiritual life, Our Lady reached the hearts and minds of different people in different ways.
The people of Ireland, including the priests of Ireland, need our prayers. So does Scott and Guadalupe Missions. Christianity is not doing well in Ireland. To learn more about Guadalupe Missions in Ireland, go to guadalupemissions.org/ireland.
Our Lady of Guadalupe brought about the greatest conversion of souls since the beginning of Christianity. Through Guadalupe Missions, she may just do it all over again right before our eyes.
