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By Susan Gallagher
For Eric Connolly, traveling to the Diocese of Helena mission
in Guatemala struck a personal note when he met a 14-year-old
girl who is receiving an education in part because he
gave $300 to help make it happen.
Connolly, a photographer and multimedia specialist for The
Montana Catholic, is one of three diocesan representatives
who visited the mission Feb. 22-March 1. He went to Mass
celebrated by the mission pastor, Father Jim Hazelton,
observed people living in poverty but embracing life with joy,
and visited the mission clinic and school. It was at the school
that Connolly met Catarina Hilaria Ixmata Guarchaj, the 14-year-old
recipient of a scholarship funded by his donation of
money last year. As her sponsor, he had received her picture
and posted it on the wall of his chancery office.
“In very broken Spanish, I introduced myself,”
Connolly said a week after he and his travel
companions returned from
Guatemala. Missionary
Jake Nistler provided
some help with translation,
and later as Connolly
prepared to leave the country,
Catarina said “bye” and
gave him a hug.
For Connolly, who is 24
and graduated from college last
year, meeting her was both a
poignant cultural experience and
evidence of the power in his
financial gift. Catarina is among
the dozens of students whose
enrollment at the mission’s La
Asuncion School is aided by $300
scholarships routed through the
chancery in Helena.
“Sometimes when you donate to things you wonder exactly
where this money is going,” Connolly said. He said he left
Guatemala confident that all of what he gave went to educate
a young person.
He traveled with Mark Frei, the Helena-based manager of
the mission, and with Father Kevin Christofferson, pastor at St.
John the Baptist Parish in Frenchtown. Frei goes to Guatemala
annually with a diocesan delegation. He said the most recent
trip included meeting with two Guatemala bishops, a meeting
that affirmed “our ministry was well-received by both and as
we look to the future, we’re all on the same page.”
Connolly said he was struck by the apparent love of life
among people enduring extreme hardship, their commitment
to their Catholic faith and their ability to wring something out
of almost nothing, one example being agricultural use of land
so steep that farming it requires men tether themselves with
ropes for safety.
Connolly said he also was moved by the devotion of the
longtime U.S. missionaries who advance the Diocese of
Helena’s work in Guatemala. In addition to Father Hazelton,
Sister Ana Priester, Sister Mary Waddell and registered nurse
Sheila McShane have many years at the mission. In addition to
catechesis, health care and education, their work includes a
microfinance program, food assistance and much more.
“It really is their life,” Connolly said. “They care about the
people, and it’s their home. They’re very focused on their
work, very intent about what they do.”
Connolly was at Mass a number of times with Father
Hazelton as the celebrant, both in the mission hub of Santo
Tomas la Union and in outlying areas—including one outlying
in a big way. Driving to Pacaman, the area with farming on
extremely steep slopes, took several hours over a rutted road of
rock and dirt. The Mass, said in the indigenous language of
Quiche, included 16 weddings and about 20 baptisms,
Connolly said.
At the mission’s clinic he saw people line up at 6:30 a.m. to
get appointments to see the doctor. By 7 a.m., all the slots were
taken. At the school, he was impressed by the number of teachers
themselves educated there as youngsters.
Connolly, who had not been to Latin America previously,
said other memorable aspects of his Guatemala visit include
the almost constant sounds from music, 3 a.m. bus departures
announced loudly, crowing roosters or other noisemakers; the
dazzling color of weavings crafted in the Mayan tradition; and
the incomparable taste of corn tortillas handmade and served
warm. But in the larger context, he thinks of people who labor
hard for perhaps $2.50 a day and don’t hestitate to share a
smile or a wave as they pass through town on their way home.
“My job as a photographer is to tell stories with photos, and
I hope that comes through in them,” Connolly said. “My time
in Guatemala was definitely an adventure.”
Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 27, No. 3, March 18, 2011.
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