Priest moved by Nicaragua trip

Thanks to the generosity of a parishioner, Rev. John Rosson, pastor of St. Mary's Church in Cooperstown, recently visited Managua, Nicaragua, with a delegation from Food for the Poor.

The trip left him emotionally drained and spiritually renewed.

The pilgrims were in Nicaragua to mark the dedication of two new villages constructed by the not-for-profit organization, thanks to donations from Catholics, including parishioners of St. Mary's.

"It was a life-changing trip for me," Father Rosson told The Evangelist. "It was like being taken to another world. It made me see how comfortable my life is as a priest in the beautiful Village of Cooperstown. I don't think I will ever preach about the poor in the same way again."

New view

Father Rosson said that "until I took this trip, I knew poverty in a relative sense. I've seen the pictures and ads on television, and I've heard the stories of the poor in Third World countries like Nicaragua, just like everyone else. I always thought I had a pretty good idea of what poverty was. I saw what poverty really is for the first time in my life. Now, I can say that I have seen it with my own eyes."

He witnessed people living in cardboard houses, and sick and hungry families with no income or possessions.

"We saw groups of families living on the edge of hills in cardboard houses," he continued. "We were told that often, after heavy rains, the sides of these hills collapse. When families slide down the hills and are buried in the mud, no one even misses them. No one has birth certificates, so there is no way to keep track of them. They are invisible people."

Donated homes

At the dedication, Father Rosson and the group learned that 300 new homes had been built by donations. St. Mary's parishioners were responsible for five of them.

"Each night, back at our hotel, we had a sumptuous dinner," the priest said. "I could not look at the meal that was set before us in the luxury of that hotel after some of the things I saw.

"Robin Mahfood, president of Food for the Poor, explained to us that he wanted us to emotionally experience the great gap between our First World existence and that of the Third World poor. It worked. The heart of anyone would be touched when you see how a single glass of milk once a day can change the life of a child."

Candlelight

At the end of a long day of village visits and dedications, Father Rosson was sitting in a large circle with villagers. Everyone was holding candles.

"A little girl, about five or six, came up to me and asked me for my candle, as she didn't have one," he recounted. "I was suddenly touched with the image of light, how that day had been one of illumination for me.

"As the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, perhaps we can make an effort to remember our less fortunate brothers and sisters who suffer from the deepest level of poverty, people that we don't even know. They are the invisible people, the people of the Third World countries."

(Founded in 1982, Food for the Poor provides more than $1 billion in aid to the poor in Latin America and the Caribbean. Aid is directed through missionaries and local clergy who work with the poor. See ad on pages 14-15 and flyer that came with this week's issue.)

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