San Miguelito Mission Records

Fonds

Identifier: SMM

Staff Only

Scope and Content

Correspondence, financial and parish records, subject files, histories of the mission, printed material, and photographs. Principal correspondents include John Cardinal Cody of Chicago, Archbishop Marcos McGrath of Panama, and the priests of the mission and the Archdiocese of Chicago: Leo T. Mahon, Donald Headley, Frederick McTernan, John Enright, and John Greeley.

Dates

Creation: 1962-1986.

Creator

San Miguelito Mission (Organization)

Language of Materials

In Spanish and English.

Background

The mission was an experimental parish organized by the Archdiocese of Chicago in San Miguelito, Panama, 1962. By 1980 the mission had assumed control over fifty-three parishes and base communities (comunidades de base) surrounding San Miguelito. Controversy involving questions of theology and liturgy led to the termination of the project by the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1980. The mission has been considered an early example of the practice of liberation theology.