Fr. Marco Pizzato, a member of the Missionary Community of Villaregia, celebrated Mass during his visit to St. Patrick, Racine. Another missionary, Sergio Marangon, appears at left. (Submitted photo)
Three missionaries from an international Catholic service organization shared nine days activating a spirit of mission within the hearts of the faithful at a Racine parish earlier this fall.
A priest and two others from the Missionary Community of Villaregia, a group founded in Italy in 1981, injected a missionary zeal while visiting St. Patrick, Racine, and some Milwaukee area parishes.
“There were several very beautiful experiences that reached the deepest part of my heart,” said Julio Miramontes, who shared his home with missionaries Fr. Marco Pizzato, Patrizia Rigato and Sergio Marangon. They came to bring a missionary calling to life within both adults and young people of the parish.
“These humble and simple-hearted human beings gave me a great lesson in the love one must feel toward one’s neighbor and perseverance on the path that leads us to proclaim the word of God, without fear or limitations,” Miramontes said.
While the group was founded in Villaregia, it has a missionary presence in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast as well as Italy.
The Racine visit had its roots in an encounter months earlier, when Villaregia members met World Mission Ministry delegates in Puerto Rico at a missionary congress because one missionary asked for help with their luggage.
“Patrizia asked our team, ‘Could you please give us a hand?’” said Letzbia Laing-Martinez, International Mission Engagement Coordinator for the Office for World Mission and Society for the Propagation of the Faith in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
The Villaregia missionaries had always dreamed of going to the United States to do mission animation, so one thing led to another and three missionaries came to Racine from Aug. 28 to Sept. 5.
“This is the first time we’ve intentionally invited a missionary group to lead mission animation, spend time in the community, and truly get to know both the children and adults in the parish,” Laing-Martinez said.
Their interaction included Masses and prayer opportunities, educational gatherings, service with people with disabilities, home visits and meals — all building trust within the people of the parish, the kind of trust that builds an openness to mission.
“Many parishioners told us, ‘We had never experienced anything like this. We were used to seeing missionaries come just for the mission collection and then leave.’ That feedback — echoed by priests, pastoral leaders and those overseeing missionary ministry in the diocese — was deeply moving,” the three Villaregia missionaries said in a joint statement.
“Though small and forging new paths, we witnessed how presenting ourselves as a ‘we,’ embracing our diversity and giving attention to each person created unexpected bonds. The Spirit gave rise to deep relationships that went beyond the short time we had together.”
That short time wasn’t just formed in church activities but in interpersonal moments shared around dinner tables and parishioners’ living rooms.
“The moments we shared during meals that families hosted for the missionaries were beautiful. Those moments were a profound encounter with one another and the Lord in his universal face,” said Fr. Juan Manuel Camacho, the pastor of St. Patrick and seven other Racine parishes.
“We spoke about all our missionary experiences in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. All this sharing led to a great moment of grace for the families present during the meals.”
The young people of the parish truly got the message throughout their nine days of encounter, planting seeds that could turn into lifelong missionary vocations.
“The children of the choir learned that in the world there are many people who leave their lives, possessions and families to give themselves to God through service to humanity,” said Blanca Tapia, the coordinator of the children’s choir at St. Patrick.
“The children saw that the world needs them, and that they can do something to make the world better.”
“I was there with Patrizia and one little girl came and hugged Patrizia, like she knew her all her life,” said Gabriela Cabrera, Coordinator of the Institute of Lay Leadership Formation with the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
“Then she said, ‘I want to be a missionary.’ She was just a little girl. She got so moved by what she did that day.”
That small sampling of examples reflects the incredible impact the Villaregia visitors made on Racine, and spawned a desire for future Villaregia visits in southeastern Wisconsin and ways parishioners can help their mission worldwide.
“Most of the groups were asking them, are you coming back next year? They want to continue,” Laing-Martinez said.
“One woman decided to buy some shoes and send the shoes to places where they were needed the most. The woman walked in with a big bag of things that she had purchased because she wanted to send them. She said, ‘I just want an address, and I will take care of it.’ Fr. Marco gave her an address, and they had not even left Milwaukee when this donation was already on its way to Mexico. By the time Fr. Marco arrived there, the shoes and all the things she had bought were already there.”
The missionaries said their dream is to return to Racine in 2026.
“Different nationalities, languages, cultures, ages and talents came together to feel one in Christ,” they said. “That unity was the most powerful fruit of all, a foretaste of the great Christian hope: to make all humanity one family.”
