Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Picture a little town called Saspamco, down in Wilson County. Most of the people who built that community came as Mexican immigrant laborers, brought there to work for the San Antonio Sewer Pipe Works Company.

Hard work, long days, and a long way from home. But those laborers, and the other residents who'd settled around them, wanted something more than a factory and a paycheck. They wanted a place to worship.

So two members of the community, Lorenzo and Victoria Gonzales, donated the land. And in 1923, the laborers themselves erected Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church. They didn't hire it out.

They built it with their own hands, using sand and gravel pulled from the Gonzales sand pit and water drawn from the Gonzales well. That detail right there tells you everything you need to know about this community. Nothing came from far away.

It came from their neighbors, their land, their labor. On November 13, 1924, the first mass was celebrated, officiated by Bishop Arthur Drossaerts. A church born of immigrant hands, now consecrated and open.

Then in 1955, the ladies of the community took it upon themselves to form the altar society of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. The marker calls them the backbone of the church, and that's not a word anyone should take lightly. The altar society sponsored annual fundraising dinners and festivals, and every single dollar from those proceeds was designated for the upkeep of the church and for religious education programs.

Every dollar. The festivals did something else too. They gave the predominantly Hispanic community a reason to gather, to be together, to celebrate who they were.

Inside those walls and at those tables, the church conducted baptisms, first communions, weddings, funerals, confirmations, Virgen de Guadalupe celebrations, Christmas pageants, and Passion of Christ productions. The full arc of a life, and the full calendar of a faith, lived out in one small church in one small Texas town. In 1969, Father Pedro Parra led a remodel of the church and oversaw the building of a new church hall.

That hall became the home for religious education classes and parish council meetings, keeping the community's formation going through the generations. Since its creation, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church has continued to contribute to the ethical and religious formation of the Hispanic population in the area. That's the marker's own words, and they earn their place.

A church built from a sand pit and a well, by people who needed a place to belong, and who made sure it lasted.

What the marker says

Most of Saspamco's early population was derived from Mexican immigrant laborers employed by the San Antonio Sewer Pipe Works Company. The laborers of the sewer pipe factory and other local residents wanted a place of worship. The land for a church was donated by Lorenzo and Victoria Gonzales, and in 1923, Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) Catholic Church was erected by the local laborers using sand and gravel from the Gonzales sand pit and water from their well. The first mass, officiated by the Bishop Arthur Drossaerts, was celebrated on November 13, 1924. In 1955, the ladies of the community formed the altar society of OLPH Catholic Church. As the backbone of the church, the society sponsored annual fundraising dinners and festivals. Proceeds were always designated for the upkeep of the church and religious education programs. The annual festivals were an opportunity for the predominantly Hispanic community to gather in fellowship. The church conducted baptisms, first communions, weddings, funerals, confirmations, Virgen de Guadalupe celebrations, Christmas pageants and the Passion of Christ productions. In 1969, Father Pedro Parra led the remodel of the church and a new church hall. The hall was used for religious education classes and parish council meetings. Since its creation, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church has continued to contribute to the ethical and religious formation of the Hispanic population in the area.