By Mary Grieco
Catholic Herald correspondent

Parish reaches out to Catholics in Honduras

TOMAHAWK -- Until recently, most members of St. Mary Church had never heard of San Pedro Sula, a city of 175,000 in southern Honduras. Now, however, they are enthusiastically discussing what they can do for their newly adopted sister parish in that city, Sagrado Corazon de Jesus (Sacred Heart of Jesus).

Accepting the Jubilee Year challenge to reach out beyond the confines of the local church, Deacon Darrell Smerz presented the idea of a sister parish to the pastoral council. A longtime reader of the Maryknoll magazine, Smerz was touched by the needs of so many parishes throughout the world and asked the Maryknolls for direction in finding a sister parish.

He was soon put in contact with Fr. David La Buda, one of six Maryknoll missionaries working in the parish of Sagrado Corazon de Jesus, which is divided into five sections. His section is one of the poorest in the area and serves 45,000 Catholics, in addition to sponsoring programs for the community as a whole. There is a need for money, as well as food, clothing and medicine.

"We can't turn a deaf ear to the people in Third World countries," said Smerz. His pastor, Fr. Mike Tupa, and the pastoral council wholeheartedly agreed and quickly enlisted the cooperation of the entire parish.

It was decided that the parish would tithe 1 percent of weekly collections to Sagrado Corazon. "If we are encouraging the merits of individual tithing, why not do it as a parish?" Smerz commented. "True tithing is 10 percent of what God gives to you in gifts. We can start out small until the Holy Spirit takes over and advances us to true faith in the power of God."

"We are more credible when the parish as a whole is acting as good stewards," Tupa added. "If we ask people to tithe to support the mission of our parish, we should be setting an example as a corporate body. This is a very generous Jubilee project, and I hope a lot of parishes in our diocese will decide to do it."

Parishioners are continually coming forward wanting to know how they can help beyond the 1 percent being given by the parish, Tupa said. A donation box has been placed in the back of church, to which people have responded generously. A parish Jubilee picnic raised extra funds for the sister parish, and an effort is being made to collect and send food, clothing and other needed items. Another way they are hoping to help is by encouraging people from Sagrado Corazon parish to send arts and crafts items to sell in the St. Mary gift shop.

Besides struggling to meet the needs of the parish, La Buda is involved in some ambitious outreach projects. One is a nutrition clinic where more than 300 children come each week. Another is an effort to find work for young men who have been involved in gangs.

In a recent e-mail, La Buda said that he is trying to raise $10,000 to buy a second-hand medical laser. "This will be used to remove tattoos from the bodies of the gang members so they can get jobs in the factories," he explained. "Many of the youth got themselves marked up and are now prohibited by factory owners to get a job." To help them qualify for work, La Buda has initiated a program in which youth are trained to repair industrial sewing machines, a trade which is much in demand.

At this point, members of St. Mary can only imagine what conditions are like in San Pedro Sula, which is still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Mitch. Some day, however, that may change. "We hope to eventually have missionary visits, so we can really get to know them," Tupa said.

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2000