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GUATEMALA CITY — A priest and three seminarian candidates from the Eparchy of Parma joined a delegation from St. John Chrysostom Parish in Houston on a mission trip to Guatemala over Thanksgiving week.
The capital, Guatemala City, is divided into zones. Zone 18, on the outskirts of the city, is reputed for its high crime rate and extreme poverty. It is common here to see children raised by older siblings because economic hardship has driven parents to seek employment in other areas of the city or country. Another common reality is fatherless families. The violence that continues to plague Guatemala 24 years after the end of the civil war has taken many among the young male adult population.
These issues motivated Father Thomas Goeckler, an American Maryknoll priest, to start a program in this Guatemalan neighborhood that he had already implemented successfully in Honduras. The association, called Caminando Por La Paz or, in English, Walking for Peace, aims to provide children with a chance at a better future and seeks to bring an end to the cycle of gang violence. It encourages education and positive values through on-site tutoring, meals, and extracurricular activities, such as soccer and movie nights. Volunteers, some of whom benefited from Caminando Por La Paz as children, offer instruction and run the activities.
Father Goeckler died in 2010, and Maryknoll lay missionary Ron Covey now heads the association. Sister Sandra Atha, a parishioner of St. John Chrysostom Parish in Houston, has been actively involved with the association and she introduced this project to the parish.
This past summer, Bishop Milan Lach, SJ, of Parma gave his blessing for Father Marek Visnovsky, the director of vocations for Parma, and three young men discerning the priesthood for the eparchy ( read more here) to travel to Guatemala during Thanksgiving week, learn about the association and assist in its work.
The American delegation assisted the regular volunteers in providing extracurricular activities for the children, including classes in dance, arts and crafts, and English. The children learned how to pray the Our Father in English and the Trisagion prayer in Spanish. The missionaries also assisted in the kitchen, preparing the children’s meals and snacks. One of the highlights was a riveting game of soccer in a parking lot, in which both children and adults participated.
The high point of the trip was celebrating the Divine Liturgy in English and Spanish for the local community on two occasions. The rooftop of the association house became a chapel for Divine Liturgy. The first liturgy, Nov. 24, commemorated Father Goeckler on the ninth anniversary of his death. Locals filled the small area for the Divine Liturgy in his memory.
The American delegation returned to the United States, motivated to continue to assist the association. Plans are underway to organize local fundraisers to benefit Caminando Por La Paz.
Caption: Father Marek Visnovsky (far right) and three young men discerning the priesthood with the Eparchy of Parma went on a mission trip to Guatemala over Thanksgiving week. The young men include David Rinik (seated), Benjamin Ancocik (center in red vestments) and Guillermo Barillas (back row).
As published in Horizons, Dec. 29, 2019.
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