Diocesan twinning plan underway

Rev. Richard Broderick, who is leading this "Pueblo to People" process, recently returned from Guatemala, where his former parish, St. Mary's Church in Crescent, has a sister parish.

He hopes to build on his experience at St. Mary's and as former director of the diocesan Spanish Apostolate in showing the importance of twinning with a Latin American diocese through the "Pueblo to People" process.

Solidarity

"Pueblo to People" has its beginnings in Bishop Howard J. Hubbard's 1988 pastoral letter, "We are God's Priestly People," in which he challenged parishioners to form a sister relationship with a diocese from a Third World nation, specifically in Latin America.

"Given the growing presence of the Hispanic community in our country, and the fact that our future as a Church and nation is vitally intertwined with that of our brothers and sisters in the southern half of our hemisphere, I am suggesting that we pursue a relationship with a diocese in that part of the globe," Bishop Hubbard wrote. (He recently renewed his request in a June 8 column in The Evangelist. It can be read on the newspaper's website: www.evangelist.org.)

Beginnings

El Quiche, one of the poorest regions in Guatemala, suffered some of the heaviest repression during political strife in the 1980s, Father Broderick pointed out. He and St. Mary's parishioners visited the country, and Rev. Clemente Peneleu Navichoc, pastor of San Pedro Jocopilas, visited St. Mary's the next year.

"By his presence, we were filled with reverence for him, having been through so much of the oppression himself, and we became aware of these Church struggles in Central America," Father Broderick said. "His community felt that they had a voice with us and that somebody was accompanying them through their struggles."

Linked

"It's important that they have contact with us, knowing that we can write letters, pray and keep them alive in our political action," Father Broderick said. "You don't want to go in with a colonial mentality -- that you have the answers to all their needs and problems. The biggest thing is to listen, and we received suggestions as to what their needs would be."

An alphabetization program was begun to battle the high illiteracy rate, food and funding helped families, and catechists received training. There also were upgrades to the rectory and church, and parishioners hope to continue such work as a sign of their perseverance.

"They want to repair the facade of the church because, to them, that is the face of the community," Father Broderick said. "It's a very symbolic way of saying they're still there."

Phased in

* Phase One, which will last four months to a year, includes contacting possible sites in Central America, selecting two parishes for partnership, and traveling to those parishes for data gathering and dialoguing with diocesan officials.

* Phase two, over the subsequent 8 to 16 months, will involve facilitating the establishment of expectations, projects and sharing of community life; and planning for inter-diocesan travel between parishes.

* Phase three, which will extend for 16 to 36 months, includes expanding "Pueblo to People" to such countries as Haiti and Mexico; and integrating diocesan departments into the process.

Connections

"It allows us to regain an insight about some very basic values: family and community life, faith, ecology, the sacredness of life. There's a lot that comes to us from being there and living among them," he said.

(For more information about this project, call Father Broderick at 274-4698.)

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