30/07/24, Author: Clodagh Gallagher

Thanks to financial support from ACN, three members of the Missionaries of Saint Mary of Guadalupe are able to commit to serving and evangelising indigenous communities in remote regions of Guatemala. Asked how they ended up there, Sister Aura Marina López says “The parish priest asked for help, and we decided to stay”.

Sister López is one of the three Missionary Sisters of Saint Mary of Guadalupe, who live and work in Guatemala, serving the local people there in the hope of sharing the Gospel with them, and bringing souls to Jesus. The sisters walk long distances on unpaved roads to meet the needs of the Mayan communitites they minister to. When asked about it, Sister López shares a prayer: “I don’t mind busting my sandals, Lord, in order to follow you and serve you.” It is this courage, strength, and zeal that the sisters bring to some of the remotest regions of Guatemala, completely sacrificing their personal comfort to do so.

One of many events held by the religious sisters of Santa María de Guadalupe to evangelise people in the mission area of Boca Costa.

In Pueblo Nuevo, a village with few inhabitants, located at the foot of the Tajumulco volcano, the sisters can be found hosting outdoor story-telling sessions of the Gospel, or pitching in with the people to care for the poor, sick, and elderly. The village is in the Boca Costa region, which is composed of 21 other local communities, all of whom the sisters aim to serve. Most of the population in the region belongs to the Mayan Mam ethnic group, but there are others who belong to different communities - such as the Kekchi, which is another indigenous community largely concentrated in the mountainous regions of southwest Guatemala.“For years, these communities have lived in neglect, struggling against extreme poverty and lack of access to basic services.

Most of the population makes its living off small-scale coffee plantations, but many migrate due to the lack of available land, or the impossibility of finding steady employment. Because of this emigration, the vulnerability of these communities has been steadily increasing over the last ten years. However, the sisters also note that the Mayan communities are also “strongly committed to keeping alive the testimony of the experience of the Risen Christ and show admirable faith and courage. The faithful have done all they can to keep alive this witness of faith .”

An aerial view of a region in the department of San Marcos, where the Maya Mam and Kekchi communities predominantly reside. Credit: Pablo Rosado

With some communities having high percentages of Christians, and others still being mission territory, the need is great and there are not enough priests to serve all 21 communities on a daily basis. Many of the villages take eight hours to reach from the bigger parish of Tajumulco. Resultingly, for a time, the priests could only visit these Mayan communities around once a year for the celebration of Holy Mass, and this lack of access to the Sacraments led to a decline in the practice of the faith. In 2012 this changed, after the then parish priest of Santa Isabel (Tajumulco) asked for the sister’s help and the sisters embarked on a month-long mission to the remote communities.

Following that experience, seeing how necessary it was to spiritually accompany the faithful in the area, the sisters decided to stay for good to support the parish priest. At the beginning, the sisters did not have a parish house to stay in. For the first seven years, they lived in private houses, depending on the generosity of two families who lent them their homes. For two years, they were without any means to buy the correct traditional material to make their religious habits. This, they managed through the support of ACN.

Typical habit of the Missionary Sisters of Santa Maria de Guadalupe.

In 2021, thanks to a collective effort, the religious were able to build their own house, and in 2023, the new Parish of Saint John the Evangelist, in Pueblo Nuevo, was erected. The sisters have no intention of slowing down their mission. On the contrary, their energy and zeal is only increasing: “With the help of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we want to begin with the challenge of reaching out to another ten communities in Toquián Grande, another centre in Tajumulco which also needs a lot of support. Our main goal in this mission territory is to provide general pastoral support for all people, from the youngest to the oldest.” They have also set in motion a project to evangelise through social media, to “make our mission more creative”, and are preparing their own course to train community members to become parish ambassadors in-person and online.

The three religious are now accompanied by a young indigenous girl who is in formation. “At the moment we have a young girl living with us who is from the Kekchi people,” the missionaries explain. “She accompanies us, and helps in the house, and her heart is set on a religious vocation. We support her, since she receives no support from her family. This is another way of living our charism of supporting women with greater needs, or with few opportunities,” they explain.

A young lady of Mayan Kekchí heritage, who is discerning a religious vocation with the Missionaries of Santa Maria of Guadalupe in Guatemala.

We ask all our benefactors to pray for these sisters and for the growth of the faith in Guatemala, especially in these remote regions. For their part, the sisters return your prayers, and are overflowing with gratitude to ACN, for its unconditional support. “The financial help we receive has been a true blessing, that allows us to keep up our work among the poor and needy,” they explain. “We are deeply grateful for your kindness and generosity, and we offer up our humble prayers for the intentions of your benefactors.”