GUATEMALA

Beauty and Poverty

(Excerpt from CPPS MISSION REPORT 2001)  FACTS

They live in an area of Guatemala called Alto Verapaz - loosely translated, the Highlands of True Peace.  From the highway it is a two hour drive on dirt roads to visit this mission.  The view through the dust kicked up by the pickup truck is staggering; staggering in beauty and in the poverty that is revealed.  A bouganvillea, ablaze in violet, gives shade to a humble one-room, dirt floor dwelling made with sheets of tin and scraps of wood - home to a family and their few animals.  In the midst of this beauty and poverty, the Church stands as a sign of hope and of the faithful presence of Christ among los pobres - the poor ones. 

The parish of Santa Catalina is in the village of La Tinta.  The parish boundaries encompass a large geographic region of steep mountains and ravines with over thirty thousand residents.  The majority of the people are descendants of the Mayans.  They are very poor and many eke out a minimal sustenance through working on the large coffee plantations.  Revealing the injustice of an economic system where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, they are paid about four cents a pound to pick the coffee.  A hard day's work is worth three or four dollars.

The parish church is in the village, but the parish includes seventy chapels for base communities.  Because of the terrain, the communities are only accessible on foot, with the most distant being a rugged nine hour hike.  So how do you minister to such a parish?  If you ask Precious Blood missionaries, Fr. Dario Caal and Fr. Rolando Yool, they will tell you that it is only possible with good organization and a whole lot of lay leaders.

First, the pastoral work is divided into seventeen distinct ministries, such as: preparation for baptism, social issues, youth ministry, health concerns, etc.  Then, in each of the communities, a lay leader or catechist is given responsibility for that work, so that each community is led by a team of seventeen catechists.  Four times a year, all the catechists come to the parish center for a day of formation and pastoral planning.  Finally, the priests try to visit each of the chapels once or twice a year to minister to the sacramental needs of the community.

Among the poor in La Tinta, Guatemala, the faithfulness of benefactors is visible in the clinic and pharmacy, in the school and formation program for catechists.  None of this would be possible without the work of the missionaries and the support of those in whose name they work.  Fathers Dario & Rolando, too, are dependent on benefactors for their simple living.

 

FACTS