Across the barrier at border, youths share lessons of La Posada

Published: 2003-12-22

NOGALES, Ariz. (CNS) -- Franzia Olono and Jose Andrade were in some ways the perfect pair to portray Mary and Joseph in a La Posada procession recalling the search for a place to stay in Bethlehem. They led one half of a Dec. 20 Border Posada, in which youth groups on each side of the wall separating Mexico and the United States simultaneously re-enacted Mary and Joseph's efforts to find shelter, leading them to the stable where Jesus was born. For the second year, the dioceses of Tucson, Ariz., and Hermosillo, Mexico, co-sponsored the Nogales posada. Unlike a traditional La Posada, an Advent tradition in Mexico and the southwestern United States, the Border Posada's prayers and songs and the participants' scripts told both the stories of Mary and Joseph and the migrants of 2003. Catholic and interfaith groups all along the Mexican border with California, Arizona and Texas stage similar events in mid-December as a way of raising awareness about the struggles of today's migrants.

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