The Bishop Writes

(From the Sept. 11, 1997 edition of the Inland Register)

My Catholic Relief Services (CRS) visit to Ecuador and Colombia began with a flight to Quito, Ecuador, from Spokane on Aug. 6. Ecuador lies on the equator, and Quito, its capital, is a three-and-a-half hour flight from Miami.

Ecuador is one of the smallest countries in South America, about the size of Nevada, divided into the coastal plain, the Amazon region to the west of the Andes, and the Andean Highlands.

The population is about 11 million. Twenty-five percent of the people are indigenous, with 25 percent of the country Mestizo. The rest of the population is equally divided between African and European descent. Income distribution is one of the worst in Latin America. In indigenous communities 40 percent of the population is illiterate, and 64 percent of the infants suffer malnutrition. Unemployment in the country runs at 35 percent.

CRS, the U.S. bishops’ overseas development and emergency relief agency, has primarily three programs in Ecuador: agriculture, enterprise development, and health. The last of those primarily targets women and children.

Paul Townsend, the country representative (who also oversees the programs in Colombia), met me at the airport in Quito and was with me the entire 12 days.

The first day of the visit consisted of a meeting with the staff of CRS in Quito. By coincidence, one of the staff members told me his brother owns a bakery shop in Twisp. Later in the day I met with several bishops of the Episcopal Conference. We talked about our mutual relationship and how we together can best serve the needs of the people.

The next few days consisted of visits to projects in the field. The first was to the Diocese of Latacunga, lunch with Bishop Lopez, and a brief drive from Latacunga to the Barrio of Culaguango where they celebrated the beginning of the 29th village bank (community bank). There were 38 members of this bank, all women, who received about $50 for their various projects.

The Latacunga Diocese intends to establish 40 of these banks by the end of the year in cooperation with CRS. The impact is astounding. Failure to repay the loans runs at only about 2 percent, and people’s lives are dramatically changed.

As the ladies came forth to receive their money and a little card for the record of their transactions, their faces beamed. They expressed gratitude to the diocese and CRS. Paul told me that in the instance of one village bank, a wife member told him of the great impact the loan had on her life. "My husband doesn’t beat me anymore."

How wonderfully people’s lives and families can be changed with a little capitalization and helpful oversight. The system is set up in such a way that the people themselves run the bank, and in almost every instance with the bank projects I visited, the members were quick to point out the interest earned.

After the celebration of the beginning of the village bank, members of the diocesan staff explained the ongoing health project in the Barrio.

We left Lacatunga in mid-afternoon for Ambato, about an hour away. Bishop Cisneros invited us to supper as we visited about CRS projects, the Church, and our mutual interest in contacting each other on the Internet. He also wanted a copy of the Inland Register to know what is going on in our diocese.

The next morning, Bishop Corral of Riobamba invited us to breakfast before we visited the Mesarrumi and San Juan agricultural projects. The altitude there on the slopes of Mt. Chimborazo was more than 20,000 feet. We were at about the 10,000-11,000 foot level.

The ground was very dry, and dust was everywhere. I hadn’t had a chance to change from my suit pants after breakfast with the Bishop. My concern in keeping them clean lasted about two minutes.

As we drove into the Mesarrumi area, the people had constructed arches over the highway made out of bows with flowers attached. They had sprinkled the parking area with water. It was chilly up that high, and all were wrapped in ponchos or other kinds of woolen dress. The leader of the community dutifully read the nine-point agenda of our meeting to the rather large crowd of people.

Again gratitude was expressed for the initiation of the irrigation project in the area (with cement pipe). One system is about 14 miles long. They presented gifts (beautifully woven handbags), and then the ladies expressed their wish for me to visit their communal bank, located next door to where we were meeting. Their office was small and certainly meager by our standards. Proudly they showed me the success of their work.

Then many of the people piled into trucks, pickups, a small bus, and in our 4x4 we picked up two mothers with their little ones as we climbed higher up the slopes of Mt. Chimborazo. The irrigation project was evident and is still in the construction phase. The dust on the road was at least an inch deep in most places as we headed to the community of San Juan.

We were met by a herd of alpaca, a new economic development project which the natives hope will grow much larger. I was supposed to go on procession the last 100 yards or so before we reached the community of San Juan, but the leaders of the project felt the dust would be too great. I didn’t disagree.

The leader of the community led another program of 13 items on the agenda. We blessed and inaugurated a newly-built concrete reservoir. Four or five communities in the area were represented. The language is both Quechua and Spanish. All of the people were indigenous of Incan origin and obviously proud of their heritage. Everyone was bundled up against the cold. They even had a little band which played at intervals. Two beautiful ponchos and four small beautifully woven handbags were given to me as gifts.

What a great celebration of smiling faces, grateful people who have for centuries lived in these highlands in what we would consider to be rather harsh conditions. They constantly offered a sweet, hot drink (something like a hot toddy). After the ladies shared the works of their health project, the community served a meal. Soup with chicken, barbecued lamb, and roasted guinea pig were the order of the day. The last item was a first for me.

There was a small arena next to our gathering place where the community enjoyed the dance of the bulls. Basically, as a bull was turned loose in the arena, the dance became a game of "chicken" as anyone could get in the arena and taunt the animal. They assured me the bull was never hurt. I am not sure about the people involved, however. The event seemed to be rather dangerous fun.

They insisted that I go in procession around the arena (the bulls were taken out) holding a banner celebrating the day. Also the staff and I were invited to participate in a cultural dance. I admired the fellows with the horns and saxophones playing in the cold mountain air. We had a difficult time in breaking away, but finally we were able to climb back up to our car. The altitude was telling as one lost breath quickly.

The next and final day in Ecuador was on Sunday. I celebrated Mass in Immaculata Parish in Quito with Msgr. Aguiguren before we headed the next morning to Bogota, the second phase of the visit.

Colombia is just north of Ecuador and home to 35 million inhabitants. Seventy percent live in the cities. Bogotá, for example, has 7 million people and 71,000 taxi drivers. The country is one of the most violent, of nations not in war, in the world. Last year the violence increased dramatically. One person disappears every two days, 10 people are murdered daily -- usually for reasons of politics or ideology -- and 97 percent of all crime goes unpunished. As many as 1 million people have been displaced over the past several years, many because of violence and threats.

The role of CRS in Colombia is to help with projects of justice and peace. After meeting with the bishops of the Social Pastoral Commission and several other groups in the city of Bogotá, Paul and I went with a representative of OXFAM, an English humanitarian organization, to a displaced persons project near the city of Ibague. Over 100 families in this project were forced from their lands several years ago. Some were murdered in the process of displacement, and some disappeared.

CRS has cooperated with OXFAM on this resettlement project. The government has given the displaced people a farm near Ibague for the time being. They are receiving help to build temporary homes, and some of the fields have been planted with rice and sugar cane. They have only been there for six months. We listened to their story. Their journey of suffering was heart-wrenching.

After returning to Bogotá and a visit to the offices of CELAM, an organization of cooperation among the bishops’ conferences of Latin America, Paul and I flew about an hour north of Bogotá to Berrancabermeja, which is located in the jungle lowlands along the Magdalena River. The weather was hot and humid. Bishop Jaime Prieto met us at the airport. After a visit with the bishop and his staff, we set out on a two-and-a-half hour drive to San Vincente.

The area around Berrancabermeja is oil country. It is also a place of great violence. On the way to San Vincente, the Bishop asked that we stop at San Rafael de Payoa to visit the community there. A sign hung over the highway in Spanish: "San Rafael de Payoa wishes peace." Just a week before a husband and father of four children of their community was murdered. Another individual disappeared and remember, the disappeared almost never show up again. These people, too, were displaced after living for 11 years in the area. They recounted the story surrounding the killing and the disappearance. Bishop Prieto spoke, calling for dialogue and peace.

With heavy hearts we left San Rafael and also quickly left oiled highway as we headed through the jungle to San Vincente. After two hours of very rough road and lots of dust, we arrived at San Vincente, a town of 21,000. The area is very beautiful. There was a military battalion on the outskirts of town for protection.

This day was the Feast of the Assumption, and the bishop celebrated Mass with the people that evening at a shrine above town. I was moved by the celebration of joy and the long procession afterwards as people sang and recited the rosary in procession to the main church.

The next morning before Mass, we visited several projects of the parish, with its population of about 35,000 people and two priests. I was impressed with the micro-enterprise projects along with the works of education and health clinics.

One of the nurses introduced us to little Francisco (about six or seven years old) who was working on a learning disability. She told us that violence sometimes causes these disabilities. Their initiatives and a short video for youth which addressed areas of violence and lack of maturity were impressive.

There were over 1,000 people at the Mass at 11 a.m. this Saturday as the people celebrated the 15th anniversary of ministry and new evangelization efforts in the parish. Bishop Prieto commissioned many ministers such as catechists and Eucharistic ministers. In this remote area there was no question that this was a vibrant parish.

My impression of Colombia was that this is a beautiful country. The people are kind and gracious. They are suffering much, but the bishops are strongly united in the search for justice and peace. Some told me that the Church is really the only one who can effect change in the hearts of people. That’s why we are there, helping as best we can through CRS.

As I fly home today, and after reflecting upon what some of the bishops told me, I sense we need to have a greater relationship with countries like Ecuador and Colombia. Once again, I return home, profoundly inspired by people of faith and by a Church reaching out to those in great need.

Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as ourselves has no boundaries, no exceptions. We dare not miss the opportunity of developing relationships in which collaboration and mutual respect can make the reign of God more real in the world and a better place in which to live for the human family.

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