Catholic Charities Solidarity Team Metuchen is implementing a program initiated by Catholic Relief Services called Global Solidarity Partnership (GSP).
Connecting a U.S. diocese with one in the developing world, in a mutually-enriching relationship,
Global Solidarity Partnership provides opportunities for project support, education,
exchange visits, faith sharing and advocacy on behalf of the world's
poor and marginalized.
CRS headquarters matched the Metuchen Diocese with the Diocese of Santa Rosa in coastal Guatemala. This diocese was formed in 1996 from the southern portion of the Archdiocese of Guatemala City. Although spared much of the civil war violence that plagued the country from 1960-96, the Diocese of Santa Rosa has the burden of extreme rural poverty, with many living precariously in semi-feudal conditions in remote villages. Vulnerability to oceanic storms is an aggravating condition.
Agreed upon in 2003, with the first public actions occurring in early 2004, leadership of CCST Metuchen's Global Solidarity Partnership consists of our CCST volunteers and designated Catholic
Charities representatives from the Diocese of Metuchen, along with our counterparts in Santa Rosa. Staff at CRS Guatemala's country program office in Guatemala City provide guidance and complement the relationship.
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The executive
team and senior staff of Catholic Charities have embraced the project, and have worked at developing
the particular operational details of the program.
But the Global Solidarity Partnership is also a call to engage the entire Diocese of Metuchen. Parishes, schools, youth groups, parish organizations, clergy and lay leaders can all use their ministries to further the Guatemalan partnership.
The role of individual parishes was given a boost in 2008 with the emergence of Queenship of Mary Parish, Plainsboro as a community desiring to make a long-term commitment of its own to Santa Rosa, and Bishop Bernabe Sagastume's call to form sister parish relationships between Metuchen and Santa Rosa.
It is hoped that the Queenship of Mary commitment to the La Morena community will serve as a model. Click here to learn more about Queenship of Mary's program.
As of early 2009, approximately 80 people have been part of more than a dozen delegation trips. Many more have offered their time, prayers, expertise and funds to help accomplish our goals. The success of the Global Solidarity Partnership will ultimately lie in the depth of commitment of the people of the Diocese of Metuchen and the Diocese of Santa Rosa, working actively and mutually to achieve goals.
As Santa Rosa Bishop Bernabe de Jesus Sagastume has stated, "We understand that we should not exclusively look for economic solidarity, but rather something more profound and integral: the sharing of faith, charity, cultural values, the struggles and hopes of the poorest. This allows to grow in an authentic brotherhood and solidarity."
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"The glory of God is that the poor may live." Archbishop Oscar Romero
The CCST Global Solidarity Partnership takes its inspiration from the virtue of solidarity,
described in the 1997 U.S. Bishop's statement Global Solidarity " ...action on behalf of the one
human family, calling us to help overcome the divisions in our world...We are members of a universal Church that transcends national boundaries and calls us to live in solidarity and justice with peoples of the world."
For more information on GSP, contact Ernie Revoir at Catholic Charities: ERevoir@ccdom.org
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