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By Eric Connolly
The annual Hazy Day celebration that
strengthens support for the
diocesan mission in Guatemala brought festivities to the
Cathedral of St. Helena’s Brondel Center,
and was an opportunity to thank Father Jim
Hazelton for 47 years of mission work in
the Central American country.
Father Hazelton, central in development
of the mission that includes a school
and a medical clinic, retired this summer
from his work in Guatemala. Mark Frei,
the Helena-based manager of the mission,
told the crowd at Hazy Day on Sunday,
Sept. 11, that “it is just tremendous what he
has done there.” This also is the year that
Father Hazelton, 84, celebrated his 50th anniversary
as a priest.
The day named for Father Hazelton included
tango dancing, sale of Guatemalan
weavings made by hand, food with south-of-the-border flair,
a silent auction and an
ice cream social.
“Father Hazelton told me some of the
stories of when he was (in Guatemala) during
the civil unrest and the civil war, and
some of the atrocities of that time,” said
Frei, who is approaching his fifth year as
the mission manager and also is the diocesan
director of Pastoral and Renewal Services.
“I was so impressed with Father’s
faith and his courage to continue to bring
the Gospel to the people at that time.”
The war was from 1960 to 1996. Father
Hazelton arrived in 1964.
Frei presented him with a plaque in
recognition of his years at the mission, and
with a jacket that will be personalized with
his name and will have a Carroll College
Fighting Saints logo. Father Hazelton is a
Carroll graduate and faithfully followed
Carroll athletics even while in Guatemala
with limited communications.
Cathedral parishioner Marty Heller told
The Montana Catholic how he became involved
in Hazy Day.
“Actually Father Hazelton was my sixth
grade teacher,” Heller said. “I came to
Hazy Day once many years ago and told
Father that maybe we’d like to come down
to Guatemala sometime. He said, `Well,
you’d better hurry. I’m not going to be
there much longer.’ I think that was about
20 years ago.”
Heller, who did indeed visit the mission,
said Hazy Day “brings Guatemala to
Helena (and) it brings Guatemala to our
parish.”
Besides partaking of the Hazy Day
food, entertainment and shopping, participants
had the opportunity to sign up as
sponsors for students at the mission’s La
Asuncion school. The levels of sponsorship
include $300 scholarships to give a child
one academic year of schooling.
Later this fall, Frei expects to have the
final figures for all aspects of the Hazy Day
fundraising.
Volunteers who helped make Hazy Day
a success included Jack Volesky and
Michael Fuller, both 13.
“Today’s about the mission, so people
know how to help,” Volesky said. Added
Fuller, “Having a connection with more
people in other countries, we can form
tighter bonds in the future.”
Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 27, No. 9, September 16, 2011.
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