About the Mission

Our motto

“Do whatever he tells you.” — John 2:1-12. These are Our Lady’s words at the wedding at Cana, and the Mission has taken them as its motto: what Mary asks is not that we look at her, but that we listen to her Son.

What a mission is

A mission is not a parish. It is a Catholic community with its own church building and its own life, but which depends canonically on a parish: ours depends on Our Lady of Sorrows in Jacksonville. The parish priest also serves the Mission.

In practice this matters for two things. First: some paperwork — baptismal records, marriage files — is handled at the parish office, not at the chapel. Second: the Mission office is open Tuesday and Friday, 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM; on Wednesday and Thursday Father Jorge sees people by appointment only, arranged by phone.

Our community

New Summerfield is a small East Texas town that lives from poultry farming and agriculture. A large share of the Catholic community here is Latino, many of them first generation, with long working days and difficult schedules.

The Mission celebrates mostly in Spanish, and that is why this site is in Spanish first: it is not a translation of an English page, it is the language in which people pray here. On Sundays there is also a Mass in English at 10:00 AM, for the children and grandchildren who grew up speaking it.

Whom we belong to

Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission was established on July 12, 1998. It is a mission of Our Lady of Sorrows parish and belongs to the Diocese of Tyler, which covers the thirty-three counties of East Texas.

How to get here

We are at 304 FM 235, Jacksonville, Texas 75766, on FM 235, half a mile east of Highway 110. The mailing address is Jacksonville — ZIP 75766 is — although the chapel sits next to New Summerfield. If you are coming for the first time and cannot find the entrance, call and we will guide you.