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FAITH IN ACTION

Niskayuna mom serves in Bolivia

Husband and daughters on board

Sue Marble Cuthbert first had a desire to live out her baptismal call as a parishioner of Our Lady of Fatima Church in Schenectady.

A Maryknoll Lay Missioner in Cochabamba, Bolivia, for the past four-and-a-half years, she said the nurturing she received at her hometown church is with her in her ministry.

"All of my initial faith formation was at Our Lady of Fatima," Mrs. Cuthbert said. "I grew into an understanding of my baptismal call to service. I learned the meaning of community as a member of this parish. 

"I remember the time of my confirmation really feeling a deep desire to make a commitment to be an adult Catholic - to work within my Church to help bring about a more just and compassionate world. Our Lady of Fatima is where I first learned the importance of community when it comes to nurturing my faith and serving others."

Maryknoll Lay Missioners (MKLM) is a Catholic organization that works with poor communities in Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America, making improvements in civil and human rights, and educational, economic, environmental and healthcare development.

MKLM is separately operated and funded from Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers and Maryknoll Sisters, though the groups collaborate. Volunteers sign up for multi-year stints and can renew for additional periods.

Down south 
Mrs. Cuthbert, her husband, Evan, and daughters Mary and Rose minister to the people in Cochabamba, Bolivia's third largest city. They plan to stay until 2011. 

In a country that has an unemployment rate of up to 70 percent, economic poverty is a daily reality. It is common, Mrs. Cuthbert said, for people to be selling goods on the street trying to make ends meet, or seeing children working. Mrs. Cuthbert noted that her children, who are ages nine and seven, often have questions about the poverty that surrounds them. 

"Our children are confronted with real poverty often," she said. "They ask lots of good questions and recognize there is injustice in the world."

Mrs. Cuthbert ministers in a women's prison and in a parish nutrition program. Her husband ministers to people in religious formation and runs a summer camp program for impoverished children. He also works for the Maryknoll Center for Mission in Central America.

Daily rounds 
In some ways, the family's life is similar to that of their American peers: The Cuthbert children go to school while their parents work. Some of the differences are slight; for instance, the girls finish school at 12:45 p.m. each day. 

The family meets at home for lunch, their main meal. A babysitter then arrives while Mr. and Mrs. Cuthbert return to work. The evening is time for homework and family.

Mrs. Cuthbert spends part of her time at Cochabamba's San Sebastian Prison for women. Most of the women are incarcerated for drug trafficking. 

"These are economically poor women," she said. "They are good women who made bad choices."

The Bolivian prison is different from American prisons, she said. The women must provide their own food and wash their own clothes and bedding. Children up to age 10 can stay with their mothers in prison. 

Each cell has 10 bunk beds, Mrs. Cuthbert said. Mothers share their bunks with their children, so the cells can easily have more than 10 people in them. "It's a little chaotic," the lay missioner remarked.

The women can reduce their sentences through educational and vocational training. Mrs. Cuthbert teaches computer classes to the women - some of whom, she said, have continued their computer training after their release from prison.

Mrs. Cuthbert's other ministry is in her parish's nutrition program. Malnutrition and the illnesses that accompany it are a concern for the people in Cochabamba; making nutritious food choices aren't an option for many families because of their extreme poverty.

Transcendent solidarity
Despite the economic challenges the people of Cochabamba face, Mrs. Cuthbert has found they are rich in other ways. 

"The people we accompany are economically poor, struggling people," she stated. "They have a strong sense of community and work hard to provide for their children. They share themselves with us and we are so grateful to be able to build relationships with some very amazing people."

This is not the first time Mrs. Cuthbert has ministered in another country. She volunteered with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Peru after college. But the mission of Maryknoll Lay Ministers is different from that of other lay ministers, she said. 

"Mission can be defined in a lot of ways," she explained. "I bring Jesus in my heart and connect with the God in you. This has been a rich opportunity to exchange and build relationships."

(To learn more about Maryknoll Lay Missioners, call 1-800-867-2980 or visit www.mklm.org. To subscribe to the Cuthberts' newsletter or contact them, email Evanand [email protected].)

(07/16/09) [[In-content Ad]]

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