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Mission Opportunities: Global Solidarity
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Call to Global Solidarity. . .
"For those who have visited and seen and done, our mission work in Chahal has allowed us to see another face of Jesus in the villagers. Most of all, it has been a special channel of grace for our parish that has helped us to open our hearts wider to a call to serve that the Spirit sends to each of us."
Deacon Tom Filipiak
St. Bruno Parish in Dousman, Wisconsin
One of the ways the School Sisters are collaborating in the mission of Jesus is by promoting networks of international solidarity. . . children-to-children, parish-to-parish, parish-to-project, school-to-school, family-to-family. . . through our international mission sites.
St. Paul Parish in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin, initiated a sister-parish relationship in 1994 with Christ Our Peace Parish in "Zone 18," a poor section of Guatemala City. Since then, other parishes have followed.
Parishes connect:
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St. Bruno Parish in Dousman, Wisconsin, with San Agustin in Chahal, Guatemala;
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St. Patrick Parish in Hudson, Wisconsin with refugees who have returned to Yalpemech, Guatemala;
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Friendship Without Borders Team, based in St. Alphonsus Parish in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with Guadalupe Homes Orphanage in Santa Apolonia, Guatemala;
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St. Mary's Parish in West Bend, Wisconsin, with San Gaspar in Taulabe, Honduras.
Committees and groups connect:
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St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Hampshire, Illinois, has tithed their monthly collections to help children at the Guadalupe Homes Orphanage in Guatemala;
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St. Monica Parish in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin collaborates with St. Francis Province, India, to educate one of our sisters to become a physician and also partners with St. Francis School in Raisen;
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The Council of Catholic Women from St. Luke Parish in Carol Stream, Illinois partners with the Clinic La Libertad in Honduras;
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St. Peter Claver Parish in Sheboygan, Wisconsin (Human Concerns Committee/Outreach) partners with Guadalupe Homes Orphanage in Guatemala.
Children and youth connect:
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St. Joseph Interparish Junior High School in Kenosha, Wisconsin and sister-school, Colegio Santa Clara in Paita, Perú;
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School children and religious education classes from across the United States partner with children in India, Peru and Latin America through the Lenten video program.
Families connect:
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Familias Unidas, groups of families with children who are adopted from Guatemala, form relationships with one of the homes at the Guadalupe Homes Orphanage.
What does it mean to share in our mission?
"Christ our Peace Parish in Guatemala City has given me the chance to experience the faith life and physical, educational and spiritual needs, of our sisters and brothers in an extremely poor area. To be in solidarity with them, to walk with them, is to respond to God's gift of caring and God's demand for justice. I have been moved deeply as a result of this close relationship. The poverty and lack of basic life necessities beg for action. I thank God that he has allowed me to help in a small way, through St. Paul Parish Community, to make life a little better for them."
Leonard Grassmann
St. Paul Parish in Genesse Depot, Wisconsin
"I was apprehensive about my first trip to Hogares for it was filled with "children of war." Instead of chaos, we saw a playground full of children running, chasing dogs, playing marbles and basketball, tag, and soccer. With a few sisters and tías (aunts) providing shelter, nourishment, love, and modeling a faith -filled life, we really learned the meaning of community. We go there to learn and in doing so, relationships have formed as if we were the distant relatives who come to visit. The welcome we receive says it all. Muchas gracias."
Dr. Thomas H. Kowalski
"Friendship Without Borders" Mission Team
"In 1997, St. Patrick Church in Hudson, Wisconsin, made a decision to partner with Yalpemech, Guatemala as our sister-parish. We have grown very close to the people there and we send two groups to visit them each year. We have helped each family get a title to ten acres of land that was given to them after they returned from a decade in a refugee camp in Honduras, due to the 30 year civil war in Guatemala. We also helped them get electricity and one telephone for 2,000 people. Last year two optometrists offered their services to test the eyes of 800 people in the area. Our goal for this year is to send two dentists. While the people appreciate the financial help, they appreciate even more that people take the time to finance trips to see and live with them for a week or two."
S. Bernadette Kalscheur
St. Patrick Parish, Hudson, Wisconsin
"One special way parishes have reached out in solidarity is through a process known as twinning, in which a parish in the United States develops an ongoing relationship with a parish in another part of the world. We welcome "twinning" relationships and encourage the development of these relationships in ways that avoid dependency and paternalism. These bridges of faith offer as much to U.S. parishes as their partners. We are evangelized and changed as we help other communities of faith."
From Called to Global Solidarity: International Challenges for U.S. Parishes by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic Conference