MISSIONARIES OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
Mission in Guatemala: La Labor
MISSIONARIES OF THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
Mission in Guatemala: La Labor
Top to bottom: Parishioners attend Mass at a standing-room-only chapel; a man works on a loom in the El Rosario community of the parish; an elderly member of the parish. (Photos by Fr. Larry Hemmelgarn, C.PP.S.)
The parish of Sangre de Cristo in La Labor, Guatemala,
seeks out the poor, the hungry, the lost - and never
has
any trouble finding them. “We try to reach out to
the needy
in every way possible,” said Fr. Bill Bueth,
C.PP.S., the
pastor of Sangre de Cristo, “through
evangelization and
Christian formation on every level,
through education, and
through preventative medicine
and health care from our five
clinics and pharmacies,
administered by C.PP.S. and ASC
religious sisters.”
The people of Sangre de Cristo set ambitious goals.
They want to build a catechetical center and multipurposefacility in the small-faith community of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in La Laguneta, where the growing population is straining the present facilities. They also hope to provide facilities for a music and computer center for the parish. They do what they can, but most of their income is needed to support their own large families. With help from their friends in North America, they can accomplish great things.
La Labor is a rural area of Guatemala, the third poorest country in Central America. Most of the people of the region of La Labor make their income as day laborers in agriculture. They hold a strong faith and a strong sense of family: when one of their own is in trouble, they do whatever they can to lend a helping hand.
You, Lord, are near
to all who call upon you,
to all who call upon you
in truth. Psalm 145: 18
Clockwise from upper right: Fr. Beuth with parishioners in one of Sangre de Cristo’s chapels; the chapel of La Laguneta; a little boy of the parish plays with his pup.
Parishes in Guatemala are usually enormous. Nearly everyone in the country was raised in the Catholic tradition, but there are few priests, brothers and sisters to minister to the people of God. Parish populations normally number in the thousands. In the region of La Labor, where Fr. Bill Beuth, C.PP.S., is the pastor of Sangre de Cristo Church, the parish includes 4,000 families, or a population of approximately 32,000 people, most of whom are Catholic.
No church in Guatemala can hold 32,000 people - and the people couldn’t all reach it if it could. Instead, Fr. Beuth and the associate pastor, Fr. Abel Cruz, C.PP.S., travel to chapels in the countryside, where small communities keep the faith alive.
A priority in the parish is training lay catechists to help lead the people. At Sangre de Cristo, 130 lay catechists help carry the Gospel message to 13 smaller faith communities, most of which maintain chapels where they worship.
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