Catholic Church, Jewish community to bring 40,000 Christmas dinners to Mexicans in need

CNA Newsroom, Dec 22, 2022 / 15:15 pm

The Archdiocese of Guadalajara, Mexico, has joined the Jewish community to provide 40,000 Christmas dinners for the poor this Dec. 25 in an initiative called “10,000 Christmases in one.”

The event, which is being held for the fourth consecutive year, will bring food from 40 parishes and a shelter to those most in need in the Guadalajara metropolitan area.

Father Javier Magdaleno Cueva, secretary chancellor of the Archdiocese of Guadalajara, said at a press conference that this initiative seeks to “bring hope to those whose lives have been difficult or who have suffered that year.”

He also noted that the number of people who benefit from this event increases every year.

The first year, the organizers of “10,000 Christmases in one” set a goal of serving 10,000 people, and they ended up providing dinners to 13,000.

By 2021, the projected number of beneficiaries was 20,000 people. However, they provided dinners to 30,000.

This year, the estimated number of people that will be served by this initiative is 40,000.

“The novelty is not that they just give food, but that it’s a sign of peace and unity in helping each other,” Magdaleno said.

Graciela Ciociano, a representative of the Jewish community in Guadalajara, said that if this year they reach the goal of feeding 40,000 needy people, the initiative “10,000 Christmases in one” will have fed a total of 100,000 people since it began.

This year’s Christmas dinner will consist of tamales and a variety of desserts, and so the organizers are asking citizens to bring supplies and donations to the offices of the Archdiocese of Guadalajara.

Two thousand of these dinners for people living in poverty will be distributed in the atrium of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Cathedral on Christmas Day at 6 p.m.

At the press conference, Cardinal José Francisco Robles Ortega, the archbishop of Guadalajara, said this initiative is one more expression of a Church that is merciful to others at all times.

Robles expressed his desire that “this be an experience of communion with the Jewish community” and recalled that we are all “recipients of God’s mercy.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.