By Gretchen Murray
Traverse City Record-Eagle - May 27, 2006

Photo Credit: Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe

If the world seems a bit smaller these days, it could be due to people like those within the Catholic Diocese of Gaylord. Since 2002, the diocese has been involved in the Global Solidarity Partnership, a spiritual collaborative aimed at establishing a working relationship with a diocese in Central America. The initiative sprung from Pope John Paul II's 2000 "Ecclesia in America," a Millenium call for closer relationships between churches in the Americas.

With the help of Catholic Relief Services in 2002, the diocese was paired with the Diocese of Matagalpa, Nicaragua in a "Hermanamiento" — a sister relationship of faith that spans 2,200 miles.

This week Bishop Patrick Cooney and members of the Gaylord Diocese hosted a group of eight from Matagalpa. The delegation was comprised of Bishop Jorge Solorzano; Msgr. Francisco Reyes, chancellor for the diocese and head of communications; Fr. Ramiro Tijerino, director of social services projects in the diocese; Fr. Mangel Hernandez, director of liturgy; and Fr. Edgar Sacaza, head of the diocese's Catholic schools, as well as three lay people. The group spent the week touring Catholic parishes throughout northwestern lower Michigan, exchanging ideas on how best to help each other.

"CRS thought we'd be a good match with Matagalpa because of our heavy agriculture and tourism industry," said Jim McCormick, a member of Immaculate Conception Church in Traverse City and part of the original Gaylord delegation that went to Matagalpa in 2004. McCormick said that coffee growing and dairy farming are the primary industries in Matagalpa, which is also beginning to promote tourism.

"If you establish a relationship that will lead to an awareness of each other, that creates solidarity, and solidarity leads to spiritual transformation," said Rev. Walter Derylo of Rapid City, a former pastor at St. Michael's Church in Suttons Bay who currently works with Food For the Poor, Inc. Derylo and Nita Send of St. Michael's are co-chairing the steering committee for the program.

"It (the partnership) lets us discover what the realities of people living in other cultures are," Derylo said, adding that down-to-earth knowledge is important to see the bigger picture such as the way the United States conducts foreign trade.

"If we know the realities of the people we trade with, it might make us aware of what effect our trade policies have on these people. While the term Free Trade sounds good, it does not always translate into Fair Trade," he said.

The delegation's tour included a visit with Chris and Jody Treter, owners of Higher Grounds in Lake Leelanau. They have been selling Matagalpa's coffee in cooperation with CRS and the Gaylord Diocese for four years.

"We are finding that our backgrounds are creating an equal friendship," said McCormick. "We don't think of it as we're the givers and they're the takers. Maybe we have more material objects — maybe they have more spiritual offerings."

According to Cooney, Bishop Solorzano has made two specific requests of the Gaylord Diocese.

"One is to obtain for them funds for new equipment for Radio Hermanos, their radio station," Bishop Cooney said. He estimates that it will take between $60,000 and $70,000 to replace equipment that is completely worn out.

"Because their diocese covers a big area with few roads, broadcasting 24 hours a day throughout the diocese is the best way to get news and information to its parishioners."

Cooney experienced firsthand how essential the station is when he visited Matagalpa two years ago.

"It was about midnight when a man rushed into the radio station and wanted everyone to know his baby had been born; fortunately the radio station was there for him to get the word out," he said.

The second request is for monetary help in building seven chapels throughout the diocese. Currently there are 17 parish churches that serve 528 different Catholic communities, Cooney said. The chapels would be smaller buildings that the people are willing to build themselves, but they need help purchasing roofing materials.

Cooney said the Gaylord diocese is willing to work toward granting those requests and in exchange asked Bishop Solorzano to send one of his priests to the Gaylord diocese for one year to minister to the Hispanic community here. That's an easy request for a diocese with a strong sense of pilgrimage and mission — traits that were noticed by members of the Gaylord delegation.

"We worry a lot about our church as an institution right now," Derylo said. "If those worries preoccupy us too much, we lose our own sense of pilgrimage and mission. They're very strong in that sense, and we were enriched in seeing that. They have much to share with us."

"You have everything here — cars, houses," observed Taniuska Haslam, a former English teacher in Matagalpa who is serving as the group's interpreter. "You can move to different houses, you can get around. You have such a different environment, but I have found God here, and I hope they have found it in our hearts as well.

"We understand by coming here and knowing the people that the power of prayer is the most positive thing we can give," she said. "The people of Gaylord Diocese are in my heart and prayers, and that is a powerful thing. It offers comfort, serenity and tranquility — and with the world in turmoil, that's a wonderful thing."