Support for Religious Sisters Caring for Vulnerable People in Guatemala
The congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Virgin Mary and Saint Catherine of Siena was established in 1914 in Colombia. As a young teacher, Laura Montoya – who was canonized in 2013 – felt the call to care for the indigenous tribal peoples in the Colombian rainforest and teach their children. Together with five other women, including her own mother, she devoted herself to this demanding task. Initially, she was met with great opposition in society, and many obstacles were placed in her path. But very soon, more women joined her, fearlessly braving the harsh life in the rainforest, the dangerous canoe journeys, and the oppressive tropical climate.
Today, the congregation numbers around 550 religious, working in 20 different countries for the dignity of the disadvantaged and marginalized people living there. They have a particularly strong commitment to the indigenous and ethnic African peoples of Latin America, and also for the poor living in remote rural areas, supporting them in all their needs.
In the year 2020, the “Lauritas” – as the sisters are known, after their foundress – arrived in the Diocese of Quiché in Guatemala, a poor and rural region overwhelmingly populated by indigenous peoples. Here, they just about scrape a living for their families by subsistence agriculture or by weaving traditional garments. Many are supported by money transfers from family members who have already emigrated to the States or to Spain in search of a better life. It is also an area that was particularly hard-hit by the brutal civil war that raged in the country from 1960 to 1996 – one of the bloodiest armed conflicts in Latin America, and one that has still left its traces to this day.
The Bishop of Quiché at the time invited the Lauritas into his diocese because he was concerned for the young people there. Suicide rates were alarmingly high, and many young people could see no point in their lives. Today, there are three sisters and one young aspirant working in Nebaj. They are involved particularly in the youth apostolate and working to convey a spirit of hope to these young people, on the basis of the Good News of Jesus Christ. They also care for indigenous women, who often face domestic violence, while at the same time trying to transmit their faith and culture within their families. A major concern of the Lauritas is to help these disadvantaged people to recover a sense of their own human dignity.
The sisters do not receive a penny in return for their precious apostolate, yet they still have to find a way of supporting themselves and paying for food, medicine, electricity, water, vehicle fuel, and other essentials. They have turned to us for support, and we have promised them $2,514. Can you help us with a contribution, so that these brave sisters can have one thing less to worry about?
219-05-39