Published in the Home News Tribune 2/13/04

PISCATAWAY: Bernice DeMarco was a guest recently in the home of a single mother who prepared her a chicken dinner under circumstances that were rather unusual.

DeMarco, a member of St. Bartholomew's R.C. Church in East Brunswick, was one of nine members of the Diocese of Metuchen who visited the Diocese of Santa Rosa in Guatemala, as part of a partnership begun between the two dioceses.

In the village of Chapas, DeMarco stayed in the adobe home of a woman named Amelia, a single mother raising an 8-year-old son and caring for a diabetic mother. The house was about a 15-minute walk from the nearest road, with water drawn daily from a nearby stream.

Amelia, who earned $200 a month teaching school, supplemented her income by making candles and selling eggs. She had two geese and 14 chickens, until the night DeMarco arrived, when one chicken was on the menu.

Amelia gave pieces of meat to her son, a visiting niece and her guest from East Brunswick. "She ate broth," said DeMarco. "What hit me over the head was her willingness to share."

Jean Beil of East Windsor, a member of the staff of Catholic Charities, said the most profound difference between the Guatemalan culture and hers was the sense of family.

"Family life in America is coming apart. People have family support there we don't have here, with family living in the same area, same house," said Beil, one of seven members from the trip who met yesterday at the diocesan pastoral center on Metlars Lane.

The partnership between the dioceses will work two ways, said the Rev. John Alvarado, pastor of Sacred Heart R.C. Church in South Plainfield. "Their faith made us look poor," said Alvarado. "The force of their common love sometimes left us speechless."

The partnership is the 10th Global Solidarity Partnership begun among dioceses in the United States and in the developing world.

When the Rev. Joe Kerrigan, head of social concern in the diocese, suggested a relationship with a diocese in Africa, Bishop Paul Bootkoski suggested Central or South America, since the Diocese of Metuchen has a significant and growing Hispanic membership.

The Republic of Guatemala is directly south of Mexico, with a population of about 12 million in an area about the size of Tennessee.

The nine-person group, which made the trip from Jan. 28 to Feb. 6, included three laypersons, three members of the staff of Catholic Charities, and three members of the clergy, including Bootkoski, who said the project follows the New Testament model of helping churches in need. After visiting a poor church in Jerusalem, said Bootkoski, "Paul went fund-raising for Jerusalem."

According to the U.S. State Department, 75 percent of Guatemalans live below the poverty line. The gap between the rich and poor is often stark. "You'll see wonderful mansions, and then shacks at the end of the driveway," said Alvarado.

In one section of the Diocese of Santa Rosa, the greatest source of income is money sent from relatives in the United States.

The health-care system is crude, said Ernie Revoir of Howell, director of health services for Catholic Charities. There is one hospital in the diocese, which has a population of 270,000.

Most villages rely on what is called a "health post," staffed by the American equivalent of a licensed practical nurse. At one post he visited, in the absence of a nurse, a "volunteer" saw 38 patients one morning. The pharmacy, said Revoir, consisted of "antibiotics, cough medicine and Tylenol."

About 2 percent of the population is HIV positive, but sufferers are shunned. " 'No one' has AIDS until they die of it," said Bootkoski.

Bootkoski noted that, in the absence of a large professional clergy, the church in Guatemala relies heavily on laypeople. "They are not a people who sit on their hands and say, 'Father's going to do it all.' "

According to Kerrigan, the Diocese of Metuchen will seek to narrow the focus of its mission, and create specific projects it could begin with a return trip in the spring.