Heroic Priest Evangelizes Among The Isolated Poor Of Mexico

Father Christopher Hartley is a missionary priest who in just two years in a remote corner of Mexico has seen significant achievements as he evangelizes among that country's most needy. 

Hartley is renowned for his work on behalf of Haitian workers mistreated on sugar plantations in the Dominican Republic, as well as dodging Muslim extremists in Ethiopia. His work in the Dominican Republic is recounted in the documentary "The Price of Sugar", narrated by actor Paul Newman. In the Dominican Republic, he was under daily threat of death. In one instance, a killer sent by plantation owners put a gun to his head, threatening to kill him if he did not relent in his defense of the poor. During his career, he was befriended by Mother Teresa and Cardinal John O'Connor. He founded the Mission of Mercy Foundation to help with evangelization  and deliver aid to the needy currently in a remote area of Mexico. 
 

Since 2023, he has been active among native American communities in Guerrero State in southern Mexico, a region notable for poverty and violence imposed by narcoterrorist cartels. Hartley serves some 90 small communities widely dispersed over rugged terrain, which requires travel via horseback or four-wheel drive. Apart from offering the Mass and sacraments, Hartley (65) has promoted and built health centers and clinics, child nutrition initiatives, occupational training centers, schools, and daycare centers.
 

Guerrero has seen decades of violence caused by rivalry between various drug cartels. The port of Acapulco is a hub of narcoterrorist activity.  The Archdiocese of Acapulco has three suffragan dioceses. Hartley operates in the poorest, which is based in Tlapa, located in the mountainous interior. Hartley is able to work in Guerrero but always under the watchful eye of the drug cartels.
 

Recently, Archbishop Jesús Sanz Montes of Oviedo, Spain, visited Hartley in Mexico, bringing two priests and a deacon. Hartley recalled in a letter, “That day will forever be etched in the annals of the history of this poor diocese of Tlapa.” Hartley wrote: “I swore to God and to the workers: ‘I will never stop until this changes.’” During the bishop’s visit, a good number of children made their first confession, first communion, and confirmation. At the event, a decree establishing the “Pastoral Center” in the village of San Pedro el Viejo was read. Also, the new priests were introduced to the community, and the new rectory was blessed. The two priests, Dionisio Serrano Pascual and Miguel Ruiz Celestino, are members of the Lumen Dei congregation, founded in Peru.

Bishop Sanz Montes and Hartley have known each other for many years. In 2013, Sanz Montes wrote a prologue in the book by Joana Socias, “In the Pulpit of Misery”, that with his life, Hartley "narrates, through the life given by the Lord's chosen ones, what continues to happen in so many places, despite our indifference and foolishness." The bishop wrote: 
 

“Suddenly, like a wake-up call, it allows us to situate ourselves within this global village with an awareness of closeness that prevents us from remaining indifferent. We cannot stand idly by while a catastrophe unfolds that has nothing to do with us, that doesn't affect us, but rather we feel the need to be grateful for what we have as a gift, and to do something for those who never had anything or who have suddenly lost everything. But also, and more importantly, not simply to assist the poor, but to ask for the grace to exist among them. We have learned this solidarity from God himself, who became one of us without ceasing to be who he was. And he makes us human, he pulls us out of our comfort zones and our selfish escapes, while allowing us to glimpse (…) that there are too many corners of this world where people suffer, who lack freedom, peace, bread, dignity, affection, faith, and hope.”

Hartley's father was a wealthy Englishman, while his mother is Spanish. The priest left behind a life of comfort and privilege and has served as a missionary for more than four decades. 
 

New tabernacles for adoration
 

“It was a wonderful and unforgettable day. The joy of the people upon meeting the new missionaries, knowing that they were no longer sheep without a shepherd. The Church has come to stay, to dwell among them as the Word did on the day of the Incarnation, now in its Eucharistic beauty,” said Hartley, who celebrated the building of three churches to serve 45 communities in the rugged terrain of Guerrero’s Sierra Madre mountain range. Apart from the arrival of two new priests, there is also a new community of Franciscan sisters occupying a former health center and serving at San Pedro el Viejo. “These new tabernacles are places where Jesus in the Eucharist is loved and adored, and from where He loves us, cares for us, guides us, and accompanies us,” Hartley wrote.
 

The second residence for priests, Hartley wrote, was built in the village of Joya Real, but still lacks a resident priest. He hopes that missionary priests may be moved to locate there and serve the isolated villages and hamlets in the surrounding mountains. 
 

Regarding Joya Real, the town high in the mountains north of Acapulco, Hartley said it is located strategically to serve dozens of communities of the Mixtecos, Nahuas, and other Native Americans. “It’s a large town with hundreds of children, offering preschool, elementary, middle, and high school education. There’s an enormous amount of work to be done with the children and young people. They are lost, disoriented, don’t know Jesus Christ, are terribly under the influence of alcohol, and most haven’t received the sacraments,” he explains. Hartley affirmed that there is an “urgent need” for priests, religious, lay missioners and evangelizers “who are willing to come and give their lives for the Kingdom, out of love for these people who don’t know they are loved to the point of madness.”
 

This year, Hartley wrote, priests, deacons, and lay missioners came to Guerrero from Spain, Colombia, and Mexico for short stays to evangelize. “They have been carefully chosen so that their presence among us displays a true testimony of Christian life.” He has observed in the past that many of the people he serves have not been adequately catechized, while some engage in witchcraft. 

Hartley faces other challenges. For example, there remains a significant outstanding debt for the construction of churches, residences, and health centers. Hartley wrote that he is grateful for the contributions received from the mission's friends. He noted that school supplies and materials for the churches, such as pews, are among the mission’s needs. 
 

Contributions for the mission can be made to MissionMercy.org. "The generosity of so many has been a miracle," he wrote. Mexican Catholics, he noted, have collaborated with the mission by sending donations in the form of school supplies and rosaries, for example. He wrote that with the donations received through Mission of Mercy, he can buy much of what the mission needs at wholesale prices.

To donate from the United States, contributors can access the above website, or the following: 

Name on the account: Christopher Hartley
 

Account number: Bank of America 483097440575
 

Routing number: Paper: 021000322 & ElectronicWires: 026009593

For ZELLE transfer use e-mail address: hartley.christopher@gmail.com