Our Sister Parish, San Antonio Maria Claret
The structure on the left is the current church of San Antonio Maria Claret. That on the right is the new church, to be dedicated in a matter of months.
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The interior of the current San Antonio Maria Claret Church. In 2024, I celebrated a Friday evening Mass here (with a translator for my preaching) and concelebrated two Sunday Masses, at which Masses I proclaimed the Gospel in Spanish.
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"Las Brisas" (The Breezes) community which is a part of the parish. In 2022, we traveled there by boat. Many people here speak Quiche instead of Spanish.
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This is the altar in the new San Antonio Maria Claret. St. Jerome Parish will be giving the sister parish a crucifix to be placed on the altar for the priest to view during the consecration.
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Another view of the churches.
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Las Brisas
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Las Brisas
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Las Brisas
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Thursday, July 11, I and two St. Jerome parishioners traveled in a group of 28 people organized by Missions International of Highland. We spent the night at the Incarnate Word retreat house near Guatemala City.
Friday, July 12, the 28 of us scattered to our various sister parishes. The sisters of St. Jerome and St. James are San Antonio Maria Claret, Rio Dulce, and Cure d'Ars, Rio Negro. Both are in the Apostolic Vicariate (almost a diocese) of Izabal. We were briefly with Fr. Jorge, pastor of St. Claret, who was on his way to Paraguay for an event pertaining to youth ministry, with which he is involved at a national level. We made the seven-hour drive to Rio Dulce in the company of a seminarian, Carlos, who is very skilled with languages and served as our translator. We stayed three nights at a hotel owned by a St. Claret parishioner. In the absence of the pastor, I celebrated an evening Mass that Friday, and Carlos translated my homily.
We did not make it to Cure d'Ars, although we saw the pastor, Fr. Pedro, in Puerto Barrios, on the morning of Saturday, July 13. Puerto Barrios is the see city of Izabal – that is, it is the headquarters of the Apostolic Vicariate. I was surprised to learn that the entire country was in the midst of a national Eucharistic congress which marked the 500th anniversary of the first Mass in Guatemalan territory. (On July 8 and 9, I had participated in events connected with the U.S. Tenth National Eucharistic Congress, as a Eucharistic "pilgrimage" from San Francisco stopped in Collinsville and Quincy in my diocese on the way to the Congress in Indianapolis.) Arriving at Puerto Barrios, we joined a Eucharistic procession to the cathedral. Following the procession was a Mass and a meal for clergy and guests. We also stopped to learn of apostolates to young people at the Stella Maris church. Returning to Rio Dulce, we were caught in perhaps a three-hour traffic jam; at a crucial intersection, there had been a fatal motorcycle accident.
Sunday, July 14, I concelebrated two Masses with a visiting priest at St. Claret. The parish provided the three of us with a wonderful fish dinner. Our host took us on a boat ride. We spent some time with the children of the parish.
Monday, July 15, we returned to the retreat house. I found that I had a mild fever. It passed on the following day, but I opted not to go on Tuesday's trip to Lake Atitlan and the place where Blessed Stanley Rother of Oklahoma City was martyred in 1981. This lake with its two volcanoes is one of the most picturesque sites in the country.
Wednesday, July 17, we returned home.