Fr Natxo’s talk on Guatemala Slide 2 In this presentation, Fr Natxo Blasco, an important CAFOD partner, tells us about his life as a parish priest in Guatemala.   This beautiful picture of two volcanoes was taken by Fr Natxo last year on the way down to the Pacific Coast with some members of his team. At the moment they were having breakfast on the road, suddenly one of the volcanoes erupted, and so he took the picture. Picture credit: All pictures are from Fr Natxo Blasco. He is a Jesuit and lives in the Parish of La Natividad in Santa Maria Chiquimula, Guatemala. This presentation has been slightly adapted from Fr Natxo’s longer presentation which can be found here: http://www.cafod.org.uk/content/download/14001/107984/file/Nacho%20Presentation%20FINAL%20%20compressed.pptx

Where is Guatemala? US Guatemala Location Guatemala is located in Central America, between Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras. It is a very beautiful country with long coasts and many mountains, active volcanoes and lakes. “Many people say that Guatemala is the country of Eternal Spring.” Fr Natxo

Santa Maria “Santa María Chiquimula is located in the highlands, at an altitude of 2,200 metres, and is home to the indigenous Mayan K´iché people. Guatemala is one of the poorest countries in Latin America.” Fr Natxo

Life in Santa María Fr Natxo and his parish team provide health, education and agricultural support to 37 farming communities across this mountainous region. They also support them in the way they express their Christian faith, their celebrations, Mass and the sacraments.

Here is Fr Natxo visiting a community and helping to prepare food for a celebration.

Fr Natxo celebrating Mass in the mountains. Fr Natxo celebrating Mass with one of the 37 communities in the mountains. Fr Natxo celebrating Mass in the mountains.

The communities that Fr Natxo supports have little - but they share what they have.

Mayan culture and spirituality is central to people’s faith life. “We pay attention to Mayan culture and spirituality, in order to have a better understanding of their religious background, their cultural values and above all, their view of the world”. Fr Natxo Mayan culture and spirituality is central to people’s faith life.

The indigenous people value their connection with nature. “ The indigenous people value their connection with nature. It is deeply rooted in each of them.” Fr Natxo The indigenous people value their connection with nature.

Celebrating Mass including the Kiché traditions “We celebrate liturgy by incorporating the traditions and spirituality of the K´iché’”. Fr Natxo Celebrating Mass including the Kiché traditions

Mayan traditions are incorporated into Mass “We want to find a way to enable our indigenous parish communities to celebrate Mass in an indigenous Mayan way, not a Roman western way. Mayan traditions are incorporated into Mass wherever possible.” Fr Natxo Mayan traditions are incorporated into Mass

The colours in this altar all have “One of the meaningful symbols we use in any celebration is the Mayan altar or the Reconciliation altar, around which we always begin Mass. As you can see, it is organised with four cardinal points and each point and each colour has a special meaning.” Fr Natxo The colours in this altar all have special meanings.

This is the way people live “The houses have a central courtyard. Families live together in a small space.” Fr Natxo This is how people live - houses with a central courtyard.

The communities face many challenges, caused by their extreme poverty

Some of the challenges Child malnutrition Gender discrimination A big challenge is the level of child malnutrition among the indigenous communities in Fr Natxo´s parish. “Guatemala has a very macho culture. Girls and women often are unable to continue their education after primary school.” Fr Natxo

Some of the challenges Deforestation Mud slides “The felling of trees has negative impacts. Heavy storms contribute to frequent mud slides.” Fr Natxo

How is Fr Nacho’s parish helping? Pastoral care Education “We want to help them to celebrate Mass in an indigenous Mayan way, not a Roman Western way. We include Mayan traditions wherever possible.” Fr Nacho “As well as academic subjects, all the young people in the secondary school also take vocations workshops. This is a metal working workshop.” Fr Natxo

How is Fr Nacho’s parish helping? Health care Agricultural projects “Here we are weighing the children who attend our child nutrition clinics once a month.” Fr Natxo Working on the land is part of school.

Thank you Photo credits: Fr Natxo Blasco SJ