Australian Columban Fr Kevin Mullins is parish priest of Corpus Christi parish in Juarez, Mexico. Due to poverty and the drug trade, life remains fragile and dangerous.
In recent correspondence with The Far East, Columban Fr Kevin Mullins wrote of the frequency of gunfire shots at night and how eight family members had been stabbed to death the previous Saturday night on the other side of the city. The children were stabbed first in front of their parents, so as to make the parents suffer before being stabbed to death themselves.
Recently his Chevy Ute was stolen as he was hearing Confessions outside a University Gymnasium, in Juarez, Mexico. At the time, there were 3,000 married couples attending a Marriage Congress at the Gymnasium and 'nobody saw anything'.
Fr Kevin said that the chances of finding the truck were slim.
"It is probably in pieces down in México City by now.
Not having the truck is a monumental "pain" to put it mildly. The roads are poor here and I am always using the 4-wheel drive function.
We use the vehicle, and have done so for the last 10 years, for our street ministry of public Masses and Prayer meetings.
The truck is used at times to take sick babies and the elderly to hospital. It is not a luxury vehicle but rather a pragmatic vehicle for our terrain and pastoral needs.
Fortunately, I have the use of a small low slung car which is less than ideal in the sand, and grinds over the boulders with alarming frequency."
Since writing to The Far East Columban Fr Kevin Mullins has received a donation from a generous benefactor in Australia to buy a new ute.
He is now back on the road.
Columban Fr Kevin Mullins has worked for 13 years in Corpus Christi parish, on the outskirts of Juarez, Mexico. It has been considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world.
Read more from The Far East, Jan/Feb 2014