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SANTA CRUZ,
BOLIVIA
HOLY CROSS
MISSION PARISH
www.lasantacruz.org
Holy Cross Mission Parish
was founded in 1958 by Father Joe Walijewski, a priest
of the Diocese of La Crosse, whose missionary instincts
preceded by several years the request made by Pope John
XXIII, that the Catholic Church in the United States
send ten percent of its religious personnel, especially
diocesan priests to serve in Latin America.
The parish is presently
estimated to include a population of 70,000 souls. The
parish includes:
• Nine
chapels (in addition to the parish church)
• School grades 1-12 in two sessions
for 1,800 students
• A medical clinic
• A home for 200 abandoned elderly
staffed by Religious
(The home is independent of the parish)
The small church can only hold 300
people. Holy Cross Parish is in the process of raising
funds to build a new church to better accommodate
the
parishioners, supporting their spiritual needs as well
as their
educational and medical needs.
The old parish church will be converted
to a theater-hall for large concentrations to complement
the pastoral center.
The school children of the Diocese of La
Crosse use their Mite Boxes during Lent to help raise
money for the
Holy Cross Mission Parish.
Bolivia is one of the least developed
countries in South America. Almost two-thirds of its
people live in poverty and
Bolivia’s infant mortality is
44.6 percent per 1,000 births.
Please send any donations to:
Diocese of La Crosse
Mission Office
PO Box 4004
La Crosse, WI 54602-4004
La Crosse Priests having served
(and serving now) in Bolivia:
1956: Fr. Joseph Walijewski
1958: Fr. Aloysius Wozniak
1961: Fr. Emmet Faber
1963: Fr. Ed Penchi
1968: Fr. Robert Pedretti
1973: Fr. Tom Donaldson
1975: Fr. John Swing
1988: Fr. Robert Flock
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