ATLANTA--Archbishop John F. Donoghue visited Mexico Sept. 16 to 19 where he met with archdiocesan seminarians studying there and discussed with the bishop of Tlaxcala ways of developing relations between the Atlanta and Tlaxcala dioceses.

Father Daniel Stack, pastor of the Church of St. Joseph, Dalton, who has worked with the director of vocations, Msgr. Donald Kenny, for the past five years to develop vocations in the Mexican community in Georgia and cooperative relationships with dioceses and seminaries in Mexico, accompanied the archbishop as his interpreter.

Upon arriving in Mexico City, the archbishop met with five of the seven seminarians studying to serve in the archdiocese and together they walked to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe for Mass. Father Enrique Cortes, rector for the minor seminary of St. Mary of Guadalupe for Needy Dioceses, and Father Victorino Osorno of the Diocese of Tlaxcala, one of the oldest dioceses in the Americas, also welcomed the archbishop.

The group then gathered at a rectory near the basilica and shared a meal together. Later in the trip Archbishop Donoghue also celebrated Mass at the seminary of the Diocese of Tlaxcala in Apizaco with local seminarians.

Six of the seminarians studying for the archdiocese are native Mexicans and one is Guatemalan. They are studying in one of three Mexican seminaries, St. Mary of Guadalupe in the state of Michoacan, the seminary of the Diocese of Tlaxcala and the seminary of Autlan in Autlan Jalisco.

Father Stack said that Mexican seminarians frequently have lived in this country and then return to their country of origin to complete high school and religious studies in their native culture and religious environment before ordination.

On Sept. 16 Bishop Jacinto Guerrero of Tlaxcala and the archbishop had breakfast together and discussed ways the dioceses of Atlanta and Tlaxcala might work more closely to benefit both of them. Ideas discussed include the sending of archdiocesan seminarians to the Mexican diocese for intensive Spanish study in the summer and matching them with local seminarians for individual instruction. The bishops also discussed sending seminarians fluent in Spanish to Mexico for all of their theological studies.

"We visited the Pontifical University of Mexico in Mexico City, which would be a possibility for some in language study and some graduate study in theology," said Father Stack.

The trip was historically and culturally enriching. On Sept. 17 the archbishop visited the Pontifical University of Mexico, met with its rector and received a tour of the campus.

That same day he traveled to the town of Huamantla, Tlaxcala, where he visited the novitiate of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart "Ad Gentes," a community with eight sisters serving in the archdiocese in Gainesville, Rome and Doraville. Mother Pilar Pacheco, superior of the community, and Sister Delfina Maravilla, who worked for five years in the Atlanta Archdiocese, hosted a luncheon for the archbishop with members of the order.

In Apizaco, Tlaxcala the archbishop celebrated Mass and attended a dinner in his honor in which he experienced Mexican culture and hospitality. A group performed Andean folk music with flute, guitar and drums and the rondalla, romantic ballads, with guitar and bass. Ten couples swirled and marched in a variety of regional folk dances and a small gift was presented to the archbishop and Father Stack.

The archbishop toured Tlaxcalan sites, celebrating Mass in the chapter room of the 16th century Basilica of Nuestra Señora de Ocotlan. He returned to Atlanta from Mexico City the following morning.

Currently one Mexican priest, Father Ricardo Espinosa, is in the Atlanta Archdiocese while on sabbatical and living and assisting at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Alpharetta and one Mexican seminarian is serving here.