By Renée St. Martin Wizeman

The Diocese of Helena’s mission in Guatemala is among the five main elements of the $12 million from Age to Age campaign. The diocese began its mission presence in 1964 in the coastal highlands of Guatemala; inclusion of this element is intended to provide stable long-term funding for the mission.

In a recent interview, Pastoral Services Director and Mission Manager Mark Frei explained that the two main ministries associated with the mission are the Clinica Maxeña and La Asuncion school.

The school, founded by Father Jim Hazelton, currently educates 550 students, with 19 teachers.

“Many of the students wouldn’t have access to education were it not for the school being there,” he said, noting that a number of young women board at the school, as do 25 young men; most of the students’ families can’t afford to pay tuition, so continued funding is necessary for them to complete their studies.

The other major ministry is at the clinic, which serves over 20,000 people each year with a resident doctor, medical and dental assistance from the U.S., pre-natal care, a laboratory, pharmacy and medicinal garden.

Frei said that the diocese now funds roughly 70 percent of the school’s $400,000 operations, with monies from the Diocesan Offertory Program, individual student sponsorships and donations, and the annual Hazy Day fundraiser at the Cathedral of St. Helena.

The clinic has an annual operating budget of about $750,000; of this, the diocese funds about $230,000; other monies come from the European Union, especially groups based in Sweden. Frei said these contacts were made many years ago by Sister Mary Waddell, BVM, and Sheila McShane, clinic director.

There are other projects and ministries at the mission, including the widows’ weaving project coordinated by Sister Ana Priester, BVM, direct assistance, a microfinance loan program, the Angel Fund (to pay for medical care needed beyond the clinic), and the parish ministry at Santo Tomas and the 41 mission churches across the mission territory.

“Funding the mission right now is a hand-to-mouth situation, where we rely heavily on the year-to-year donations of our generous people; if donations cease, for whatever reason – perhaps an economic downturn – our mission operations are jeopardized,” Frei said, noting that monies received from the campaign will go into the Guatemala Mission Endowment to allow for a sustainable, stable future for the mission.


Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 24, No. 10, October 17, 2008.