San Juanita Sanchez, the Mayor of San Juan, Texas; has been inspired by Missionary Oblates for her entire life. Born and raised in the Oblates San Juan mission, San Juanita, or Janie, as she is often referred to, says that the Oblates have had a tremendous impact on her life and the lives of her entire community.

The Oblates’ San Juan mission was first established in 1928 to reach out to the heavily Hispanic community.
To further promote the community’s strong devotion to Mary, Oblate Father Jose Maria Azpiazu, placed a replica of the statue of Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos in the parish church.

“Devotion to Our Lady has always been very strong in our community,” explains Janie, “As our community’s devotion to Our Lady grew, the Oblates helped us build a beautiful Shrine to Our Lady of San Juan in 1954.”

Janie goes on to explain that although the beautiful Shrine was a great source of pride and inspiration, the Oblates always stressed that buildings don’t make a church - people do. “The Oblates taught us that we ourselves are a part of the priesthood, our mission is to be the church wherever we are, in every moment,” she remembers. “In our economically distressed community, this lesson was essential; we learned to lean on each other for support.”

This understanding of community as church would prove to be even more important in 1970, when a plane crashed directly into the Shrine and the entire building was destroyed. “I watched the crash from my school across the street. Miraculously, although the Shrine was full, no one was hurt and one of the Oblates was able to rescue the statue of Our Lady of San Juan from the flames. Even though, the Shrine was completely destroyed, the community pulled together and found a way to rebuild the Shrine.”

Janie has always been a great activist for her community. “I figured, instead of complaining, I should work towards a solution,” she smiled. “I grew up as a migrant and worked in the fields, but my parents pushed me to be educated. My desire to help the community inspired me to attain a law degree which has helped a great deal.” For many years, Janie has been an Oblate Associate and an active member of the Oblate’s St. John the Baptist Church. Through the Oblate Association, she has helped reach out to their community in countless ways.

In 1998, Janie and several other Oblate associates worked with a colonia to acquire sewage services. “The colonia was right in the middle of town and was in dire need of sewage services, so we helped them come together to present this need to the city. My law degree was a great help in this pursuit.” The project was a success and in 2005 the sewage project was approved.

As an active advocate for the community, Janie was soon after elected Mayor. She attributes her success to her strong community, the handprints of the Oblates, and her desire to serve God and her church.

Janie explains, “I was humbled and grateful for the opportunity to give back to my community, as they have been giving to me for my whole life. Many of our community are below the poverty level, but we are all tremendously rich in faith and that is the most important wealth of all.”