About San Pedro Mission · Vado, New Mexico
San Pedro Mission (also known as San Pedro del Cerro) is a small Roman Catholic mission church serving the rural community of Vado and the surrounding Mesquite/Del Cerro area in Doña Ana County, southern New Mexico. As a mission of San José Parish in La Mesa, it is cared for by the Diocese of Las Cruces within the Mesilla Valley Vicariate. The church sits at 137 Lomas Avenue, and Sunday Mass is celebrated in Spanish for the largely Hispanic farming community of the Mesilla Valley. It is one of many small missions in this stretch of the Rio Grande corridor that depend on circuit-style pastoral care from a shared priest.
- Patron
- San Pedro (Saint Peter)
- Rector
- Rev. Alonso Quiñonez
- Diocese
- Diocese of Las Cruces
Why belong here
San Pedro Mission offers a small, welcoming Sunday Mass in Spanish for the Vado / Del Cerro / Mesquite community in the heart of the Mesilla Valley. As part of a family of missions served by Rev. Alonso Quiñonez, it gives local families a nearby place to worship, receive the sacraments, and gather as a Catholic community without traveling into Las Cruces. The church is also a regular site for community outreach, including Mobile Food Pantry distributions that serve neighbors in need across Doña Ana County.
Mass times at San Pedro Mission
Weekly Mass schedule
Identity & Status
San Pedro Mission is a dependent mission church (not an independent parish) within the Diocese of Las Cruces. Per GCatholic and the diocesan vicariate listing, it is a mission of San José Parish in La Mesa. The diocese's website organizes parishes and missions into vicariates; San Pedro falls under the Mesilla Valley Vicariate. In some listings the church appears as 'San Pedro del Cerro,' reflecting the local name of the small community around the church.
- Mission of San José, La Mesa
- Diocese of Las Cruces
- Mesilla Valley Vicariate
- Also known as San Pedro del Cerro
Location & Community
The mission is located in Vado (sometimes called Del Cerro or Mesquite/Vado), a small rural community in Doña Ana County just south of Las Cruces in New Mexico's Mesilla Valley, near the Rio Grande. The address is 137 Lomas Avenue, Vado, NM 88048. The congregation is largely Hispanic and bilingual, drawn from the surrounding agricultural villages of the lower Mesilla Valley.
- 137 Lomas Ave., Vado, NM 88048
- Doña Ana County, Mesilla Valley
- Predominantly Hispanic, bilingual community
Clergy & Pastoral Care
San Pedro Mission does not have a resident priest assigned solely to it. It is one of several missions clustered under a single pastor in the Mesilla Valley. According to the Diocese of Las Cruces' vicariate roster, Rev. Alonso Quiñonez is the pastor who oversees San Pedro del Cerro (Vado) together with San José Parish in La Mesa, San Luis Rey in Chamberino, San Miguel Arcángel in San Miguel, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Mission in Mesquite.
- Rev. Alonso Quiñonez — pastor (Mesilla Valley mission cluster)
Parish Life & Outreach
Like other small missions in the Mesilla Valley, San Pedro's parish life centers on weekly Mass and on-the-ground community service. Public records from New Mexico agencies document San Pedro Mission as a recurring host site for Mobile Food Pantry distributions, which bring food assistance directly into the Vado community in partnership with regional social-service organizations.
- Mobile Food Pantry distributions on-site (periodic)
- Outreach to neighboring rural communities in Doña Ana County
Diocese of Las Cruces
San Pedro Mission belongs to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces, which was erected in 1982 from parts of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and covers the lower third of New Mexico, from the Arizona border to the Texas state line. The diocese groups parishes and missions into regional vicariates led by vicar priests; San Pedro is in the Mesilla Valley Vicariate.
- Diocese established 1982
- Mesilla Valley Vicariate
- Bishop of Las Cruces leads the diocese