January 22nd

Dear Friends,


I mentioned in last week’s bulletin that I’d be away in Guatemala this weekend. I have returned to visit the children (now many of them are grown up) with whom I have maintained contact over the past seven years since returning from my time working there. I was a chaplain at a home for over 300 orphans and at-risk children and adolescents. The organization is called Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, and they have homes in nine countries. How I wound up in Guatemala is a long story, but my desire to have an experience working in an intensely poor country is what led me to asks Cardinal George for permission to investigate possibilities.

I lived on the large campus where we grew much of our own food, raised pigs and slaughtered them for our consumption, and raised chickens for their eggs. Rice and beans and corn tortillas were the main food- adding a couple ounces of meat made for a real treat. There was no hot water, though I had a shower head with wires going into it, connected to a heating element inside that at least took the chill out. Things were extremely primitive, at least by our standards.
Guatemala was intensely dangerous- some people I worked with were shot; one was kidnapped; one was murdered with a machete. Walking on the street I witnessed an execution just a few feet away. The outside wall of the building where our older kids lived in town was often stained with blood. Extortion was common, as was theft. The level of poverty in town was like what you see on television ads seeking help to feed the starving. The political situation was a mess; basic public services were lacking. While there was electricity most of the time, water was piped to homes just a few hours each day (you would fill a tank on your roof for use later). You get the picture. Interestingly enough, cheap cell phones were everywhere and internet access was good.

Despite the challenges, it was a joy to live and work there; it changed me and it changed my life. It was a beautiful experience getting to know people in a culture so different from my own. Working so closely with children is a rare treat for a priest these days. The religiosity of the people was intense- we had a full church for every Mass (for example, 1000 people every week attended the 7am Mass at the church in town where I helped out on Sundays).
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It is always emotional for me when I return, though I have not been back since before COVID (November 2019). I have remained in regular communication with many from there. If you’d like to read about and see pictures from my time there, I kept a blog about it that you can check out if you like: www.chapelfortheorphans.blogspot.com There are about 30 different postings with pictures that you can click through/scroll through.


May your week reflect the encounter with Christ
we experienced at Mass today!