For only the second time in its history, bishops on Cross Catholic Outreach’s Board of Directors traveled overseas to observe the organization’s mission in action.
Bishop Earl Fernandes, who serves on the board, was part of the historic trip.
Cross Catholic Outreach, founded in 2001, is an international relief and development charity. Its mission is to mobilize the global Catholic Church to transform the poor and their communities materially and spiritually for the glory of Jesus Christ.
The Vatican-endorsed nonprofit is involved in approximately 300 projects in 35 countries. Its work is currently based in places including Africa, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Central and South America.
Bishop Fernandes, Bishop James Golka of the Diocese of Colorado Springs and Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, who serve on Cross Catholic Outreach’s Board of Directors, traveled last month to the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima, Guatemala.
The bishops observed the local Church and its leaders in action and celebrated several Masses.
“Our board members were able to minister to the people also and to join in the efforts of this local diocese to respond to the needs of the poor,” said Jim Cavnar, CEO and co-founder of Cross Catholic Outreach, who also participated in the Jan. 13-17 trip.
The Guatemalan diocese, located in the rural and mountainous area of the country, faces extreme poverty. The three bishops met with the local bishop and his team that ministers to the poor.
Bishop José Cayetano Parra Novo, O.P. (Order of Preachers) of Santa Rosa de Lima explained his vision for integral human development.
His diocese hosts retreats and rallies, or assemblies, that are attended by as many as 2,000 individuals. People come to sing and praise God and hear a Gospel teaching.
The Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima also has local missionary communities, known as home groups, that meet weekly. A group leader reads and discusses the upcoming Sunday gospel, and then members go out and meet their neighbors, inviting them to join a retreat or rally, and identify their needs.
Approximately 1,200 communities exist in the diocese under the guidance and leadership of the bishop.
Bishops Fernandes and Golka and Archbishop Rozanski also observed the local diocese’s social development programs, which include construction of houses, development of microenterprises and providing medical care.
Programs also offer scholarships for children. While tuition for elementary school students is free, scholarships fund the cost of books, uniforms and transportation to and from school.
Cross Catholic Outreach provides support to the diocese for its various programs.
“Our mission is not to send missionaries overseas to work with helping the poor but to empower the local Catholic Church: missionary groups, lay organizations, dioceses, individual parishes,” Cavnar said.
The organization previously held a fundraising campaign to raise money to build a Catholic high school. Students at the school are given an opportunity to study a trade or vocation. They can earn a diploma as well as a government certification, such as a mason, carpenter or electrician.
“The experience in Guatemala with these type of schools is that 90 percent to 95 percent of the students can work their way through college, so this is going to be incredibly transformative for these students who are now studying in that high school,” Cavnar said.
“Ten years from now, you’re going to have a lot of college graduates creating businesses and having decent jobs and able to support their families, and also to help the poor in their own their own villages and neighborhoods and dioceses. So, these bishops were able to observe this in action.”
Bishop Fernandes and other members of the board of directors also visited locals in their homes. They witnessed the poor condition of the houses, many of which have leaky roofs and dirt floors that turn to mud when it rains.
Families in the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima are “in line” to receive a new house, Cavnar said. New homes are made of concrete and consist of a concrete floor and metal roof as well as windows and doors with locks.
Makeshift homes the poor construct for themselves do not have doors that lock. Married couples cannot be out of the house at the same time; one must always be there to secure the home.
A house with windows and doors that lock frees them up, Cavnar explained, so, perhaps, a mother can start a small business, a microenterprise, as a way to help raise money for the family.
While the existing homes are weak, the families who fill them are strong in faith.
“It’s a real inspiration when you meet families like that, who trust the Lord, who pray daily together, who love their children and will do everything they can for them, and they’re living in a condition that we would think is just the impossible,” Cavnar said.
“It always amazes me how true the Epistle of James is when James writes that God has made the poor rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom of heaven.”
New homes are built by Caritas, the diocese’s equivalent of Catholic Charities USA, which responds to disasters, promotes integral human development and advocates on causes of poverty and conflict.
“We first began to support them so that they could do more and reach more of the poor,” Cavnar said.
Caritas is committed to building 150 new houses this year, up from 10 houses in 2014 when Cross Catholic Outreach first partnered with the local charity.
With its support, Caritas staff has also grown from six members in 2014 to 43 staff members today.
“It was wonderful for our bishops to be able to see what the local Church is doing to help the poor and how this organization that they’re on the board of and they’re leaders of is assisting this local Church to accomplish great things and to really address the poor and to really bring about spiritual transformation as well as material transformation,” Cavnar said.
In Bishop Cayetano’s homily during a Mass celebrated the first day of the board members’ visit, he expressed gratitude for the work accomplished.
“None – absolutely none – of this would have been possible without Cross (Catholic Outreach)’s contribution, help and solidarity,” the bishop said of the diocese’s social development programs and spiritual assemblies and groups.
Bishops Fernandes and Golka and Archbishop Rozanski also participated in hands-on work during their time in the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima. They distributed Boxes of Joy to more than 700 children.
Through Cross Catholic Outreach’s Box of Joy program, parishes and Catholic schools across the United States pack shoebox-size boxes – provided by Cross Catholic Outreach – with gifts for children. Each box includes a rosary and coloring book of the life of Jesus.
The bishops also distributed boxes of Vitafood, an enhanced rice mix with protein and a mixture of vitamins and minerals. Vitafood helps to supplement meager rations that locals often have for meals. The mix is intended to increase health and address the needs of a malnourished population.
Each Vitafood box contains 36 bags of Vitafood and each bag equates to six meals, creating 216 meals per box. Boxes are packed by parishes throughout the United States.
Cross Catholic Outreach’s Board of Directors will hold their next board meeting in March.
Its directors will meet to discuss their impressions of the trip to the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima and offer recommendations. Cavnar said the organization’s upcoming meeting is an opportunity for bishops on the board to share their perspective and wisdom.