Catholic dioceses form partnership in relief effort

Published in the Home News Tribune 10/25/03

By MICHELLE SAHN
STAFF WRITER MIDDLESEX COUNTY:

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen plans to form a partnership with one in Guatemala to help the poor people of that country. But church officials also hope their plan will help Catholics here.

"This becomes a reciprocal blessing for both dioceses," said Monsignor William Benwell. "I think we can accomplish the living out of our faith -- reaching out to the poor. We have knowledge, experience, and financial resources to help the poor of Guatemala. . . . We also hope to gain -- maybe to be renewed in our faith, energized in our faith, getting to know more about a faith of people who are politically and economically oppressed. . . . (It) can only energize us, and inspire us . . . and help us be better people."

Benwell, who is the vicar general of the Diocese of Metuchen and the chairman of the local board of Catholic Charities, said a priest from East Brunswick, the Rev. Joseph Kerrigan, brought the idea to the attention of Bishop Paul Bootkoski, who approved the plan.

A team from Metuchen expects to travel to Guatemala in January to speak with representatives of the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima (Saint Rose of Lima). Team members want to determine where they can provide help -- whether it's with water-treatment programs, education or agricultural support.

They want to provide direct services -- food, clothing and shelter -- but also want to get involved in legislative advocacy, said Kerrigan, an associate pastor at St. Bartholomew's R.C. Church in East Brunswick and the diocesan director for Catholic Relief Services.

The program will be set up through Catholic Relief Services' Global Solidarity Partnership, which oversees similar programs in roughly 10 other dioceses nationwide, including the Diocese of Trenton, which has set up a partnership with its counterparts in Uganda, Kerrigan said.

And to help prepare for the Guatemalan project, the diocese's Catholic Relief Services team also plans to help out with four smaller projects in the coming months: a bakery under construction in Ghana, a social-service exchange program in Slovakia, a migration program in the Philippines and a food bank in Colombia.

The partnership with Guatemala, as well as the four other programs, will be funded with money the diocese receives through Operation Rice Bowl, a collection taken in local parishes during Lent.

A half-dozen volunteers have been working on the Guatemala plan for about six months, and the team from Central New Jersey, a densely populated region, will travel to the southern and most rural region of Guatemala.

"That's just going to be something we're excited about -- finding out what we do have in common, when on paper there's so many differences," Kerrigan said.

They also hope some Guatemalans will come to New Jersey to fill internships at Catholic Charities programs. And through Catholic Charities, which provides a host of services, including an immigration program, officials also hope to help Guatemalans who already live here.