Dr. Robert Jarvik once wrote that “leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them.”

Father Jim Hazelton is just such a visionary.

Father “Hazy” has been in Guatemala since 1964, serving the 70,000 Catholics in this remote region embodying the “missionary zeal” described by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council. Slight of stature and introverted by nature, Father Hazy is a spiritual giant who has been blessed with undaunted courage, energy and unsurpassed generosity.

During his tenure in Guatemala, he has survived the perils of revolution, hardship and disease, and has managed to remain deeply dedicated to his people and driven by his missionary spirit.

During the past 40 years Hazy has been the catalyst for our diocesan mission activity in Guatemala, a mission founded by Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen and continued by a cadre of dedicated women and men who have created a marvelous mission complex among the villagers of southwestern Guatemala.

Last month I revisited the Guatemala mission, accompanied by five priests and a layman from the Diocese of Helena. They were astounded by the scope of missionary activity which now includes some 51 mission stations, a school for 550 native children and youth, a busy medical facility, and a weavings program designed to empower Mayan women and families.

Behind these missionary activities stands the quiet Father Hazelton, who constantly envisions new ways to serve the people and raise their lot through spiritual care, education and health services so vigorously described by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council.

Those who joined me on this recent journey, Fathers John Robertson, Kevin Christofferson, Jeff Fleming, Marc Lenneman, and Tim Moriarty, and Mark Frei (the director of diocesan Pastoral Services, which includes the mission) marveled at the courage, conviction and creativity of this octogenarian, who continues to see new possibilities and projects to benefit his people wherever he goes.

We could scarcely imagine what it would have been like for the first missionaries from our diocese sent to serve in this remote region, devoid of basic services, including running water, electricity, passable roads or means of communication.

We look back with gratitude for men like Fathers John Ward, Gene Hruska and Ed Kohler, along with Jim Tackes, Gene Sajcich, Jim Mondloch, early missionaries all. We remember with thanks so many others who set the early mission foundation, men and women like Sister Ann McGloin, Paul Kunkel, Sheila McShane, Sheila Devitt, and others who served as early pioneers in lay ecclesial ministry.

It is undeniable that the Diocese of Helena has also benefited greatly from the missionary activities of Sheila McShane, Sister Ana Priester and Sister Mary Waddell, who continue to serve among the Guatemalan people. We must explore ways to build upon their missionary spirit if the mission and its many activities are to remain viable in the years ahead.

I envision two simultaneous activities that will help us discern the Lord’s will as we look to the future:

First, I will continue to send groups of pastors and lay leaders from our diocese to see the mission for themselves and rediscover anew its import to both our diocese and to Guatemala. This rediscovery is vitally necessary if we are to be the “leaven of liberty and progress” described so forcefully in the documents of the Second Vatican Council.

At the same time, we must continue to empower the local Guatemalan dioceses in their efforts to raise up indigenous leaders, including seminarians and priests, doctors, nurses and healthcare workers, along with educators and lay catechists among the Guatemalan people.

Last month I had an opportunity to enter into fruitful dialog with the local bishops in the regions where we presently serve, to explore ways to carry out the missionary activities which began at the close of the Second Vatican Council. I was highly encouraged by the support and enthusiasm the Guatemalan bishops articulated and the gratitude and support they so clearly expressed for Father Hazelton, the sisters and lay missionaries. Both bishops shared my hopes that God will give Father Hazelton continued good health and that he will be able to remain at the mission as long as he desires.

A Maryknoll missionary friend of mine once observed that when missionary activity is initiated “the missionary is needed but not wanted; over a period of time the missionaries become wanted but not needed.” I observe that we are somewhere well along that continuum, and we need to wisely assess the pastoral and temporal needs of the future in concert with Father Hazelton, the Guatemalan bishops, and those who serve in the clinic and mission school.

Santo Tomas la Union and its outposts are works in progress, and we will rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the wisdom of Father Hazelton and others who have served so faithfully and well so that this endeavor will continue to produce abundant spiritual fruit both here in our diocese and among our beloved brothers and sisters of Guatemala.


Published in The Montana Catholic, Vol. 24, No. 2, February 15, 2008.