AS OFTEN as possible,Father Ponchie Vásquez,O.F.M. and the otherFranciscan friars try tocelebrate a weekdayMass at one of the 40village chapels locatedwithin the 4,450 squaremiles of the reservationof the Tohono O’odham.Because of largedistances and fewpriests, each village isonly able to celebrateSunday Mass once amonth.
“Laughter through tears” best describes the emotions Father
Ponchie Vásquez, O.F.M. feels as he travels the Sonoran
Desert ministering to indigenous people and migrants.