The Bishop Writes

(From the March 16, 2000 edition of the Inland Register)

This year we celebrate the 40th anniversary of our relationship with the Diocese of Sololá in Guatemala. Along with Gerry and Clara Monks of St. Thomas More Parish in Spokane, who coordinate our relationship with the Diocese of Sololá, I went to Guatemala from Feb. 27-March 3. We took along several boxes of medicines and medical supplies collected by Maureen O’Keefe, as well as school supplies and tools.

My last visit to Guatemala was five years ago. Before Sololá’s Bishop Eduardo Fuentes died, we had agreed that we would visit each other’s dioceses on alternate years. The new bishop, Raul Martinez, has been ordained for only about eight months, so my visit was not only for the 40th anniversary celebrations but a chance to meet him as well. He is a native son, from the town of Chimaltenango. He greeted me warmly, and I stayed overnight with him almost the entire time at the seminary in Sololá. From there we drove to the various celebrations during the day.

Bishop Topel made the decision 40 years ago to send priests to Guatemala, in answer to the request of Bishop Melotto. The priests were assigned to the general area around Nahualá, which at that time had no resident clergy. The priests were joined in this missionary effort by Sisters.

While staying at the seminary, I was struck by the tremendous change in the number of vocations for the Diocese of Sololá. In the minor seminary, which is comparable to our high school level, there were approximately 60 students. In the major seminary, there were about 80 seminarians, most of them studying for the diocese itself. This summer, the bishop will ordain 10 priests. The development of a native clergy is a wonderful sign.

The diocese has 24 parishes, with each parish containing many groupings of homes. These groupings are called caserias. The Catholic population for the diocese is 600,000, so the parishes are large. In the Nahualá parish alone, the pastor told me there are 60,000 parishioners. Compare that figure with the 75,000 in the entire Diocese of Spokane! About 70 percent of the population in the Guatemala diocese is Catholic.

After visiting the seminaries on Monday afternoon and evening, Bishop Raúl and I drove the next morning to Santa Caterina Ixhtuacán, where Father Dave Baronti, a priest of our diocese, is pastor. The damage caused some years before by Hurricane Mitch was still quite evident.

We celebrated Eucharist in a packed church, and confirmed about 120 people. The new church building there is only partially completed. Father Baronti told me they have to halt for the time being because of the need for a governmental decision about how to fasten the front façade, which is of great historical value, to the main building.

After Mass, we had lunch, with trout as the main course. The trout hatchery, which is only about a kilometer from the church, now provides the only commercially produced trout in the country. Later in the afternoon we drove up the Pan American Highway to the area they’re calling “Alaska,” where there is an attempt to establish a new Santa Caterina. The people had been there only since January. There are about 100 new dwellings set up so far. The elevation is about 2,000 feet higher – hence the “Alaska” designation – and is quite barren and very dusty. We celebrated Eucharist there as well, in an open area with about 300 present.

As the lector was reading the first reading at Mass, a plane began circling overhead, blaring loud music as well as words. This lasted until almost the end of the homily. It is just one example of the many types of harassment that are perpetrated by some religious groups. Blaring loudspeakers in the villages themselves are not unusual.

On the way home the next evening, the bishop drove me just a few minutes off the Pan American Highway to visit the parish in Santa Lucia. He told me there were 13 little churches of various denominations built in recent years in this relatively small town. The aggressive and hostile approach of some of these groups is a big challenge for the Catholic Church in Guatemala as they look to the future.

On Wednesday we celebrated Mass in Novillero, where Sisters Immaculata and Marie live, and where they have one of their three clinics. There was a cultural presentation before Mass with profuse thanks expressed to the Spokane Diocese for our assistance over the years. Finally, the last celebration of the anniversary was in Nahualá, on Thursday, which began with a procession into town. I must say the experience was humbling. Bishop Raúl was the main celebrant at Mass. At the end of Mass I offered some comments on behalf of our diocese.

Afterward, there was a cultural presentation in the school yard which lasted a couple of hours. There are now 311 students in the school. One of the women from Radio Nahualá mentioned that before contact with the Diocese of Spokane, there was much more poverty and lack of education in the area. Lay people run the radio station in Nahualá, which did a live broadcast of the procession into town, the Mass, and the cultural event which followed. They, too, expressed profound gratitude for the assistance we had given them over the years.

In the afternoon we visited some of the parish projects. Present for the day’s festivities were also Sisters Janet Druffel and Maureen Cosgrove, both originally from the Diocese of Spokane, who live in the neighboring Diocese of Quiché. Father Baronti was able to join us for a short while, as did the priests from the Diocese of New Ulm, Minn., who also serve in the Diocese of Sololá.

We need to be very grateful to all of those who have served over the years in Guatemala on behalf of the Spokane Diocese — laity, Sisters, deacons, priests. The accomplishments over these past 40 years are truly amazing. Yet, much more needs to be done. As Sister Immaculata told me, consistent assistance will continue to be needed for some time into the future. Our collaboration with the Diocese of Sololá is an expression of Christian solidarity. As I told the people several times during the visit, I hope our efforts can be a sign and example of building bridges in a world where people can often be forgotten or relationships have broken down.

We in the diocese have indeed been blessed in our relationship with the people in the Diocese of Sololá. May God continue to bless us on our mutual journey of faith.

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