"Our roots go back to Mexican -American resident and migrant workers who labored in local agricultural, ranching, and business enterprises, and their families. They gathered regularly for Mass and became a faith community over four decades ago (the early 60's). With the gradual conversion of various crops to 4,400 acres of pecan tree groves, whose produce is the primary product of the area, many more workers and families were without a church. The "old" Sahuarita School was used for Mass and CCD classes, and years passed with their growing community needing a "real" church.
In 1983, the "main" area Catholic church,
Our Lady of the Valley in Green Valley (established 1970), and its pastor, Father Laroque, undertook a $250,000 fund raising drive and built the present all-purpose structure on pecan company property donated by Mr. Keith Walden, one of its owners.
San. Martín de Porres Mission church was dedicated on November 4, 1984, the feast day of San Martín de Porres. San Martín de Porres was declared a parish by Bishop Moreno on December 12, 2002 and incorporated as an Arizona corporation, a 501(c)(3) entity in 2005.
It was our current Director’s (Rita’s) mother, Francisca Quihuis, Clara Pickenbrach from St. John’s, and Mary Corasco started the CCD program 1963-1964 with about 15 kids. In the fall of 2007 we had 300 kids K-12, and 40 teachers!
The first pastor assigned to San Martín de Porres in 2002 was the priest-administrator starting July 1, 2000, Reverend Michael Shay, S.D.S. Father Shay is a member of the Society of the Divine Savior, commonly called the Salvatorians. The Provincial office is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Salvatorian Motherhouse is located in Rome, the site of its founding in1881 by a German priest, Father Francis Jordan."
The above copied directly from the
San Martin de Porres web site.