20-year relationship continues to bear fruit even amid the pandemic
GREENSBORO — In less than a week, members of St. Paul the Apostle Parish raised $11,000 for Niño Jesús, their sister parish in Manta, Ecuador. The parishioners had recently heard how their Ecuadorian counterparts were suffering as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and knew they had to help.
“Father Joseph Mack, our pastor, was the first one to say we need to take up some kind of collection, and we asked if we could do a drive-through,” said Gregg Hauser, a member of the sister parish committee at St. Paul the Apostle Church. “I’m not surprised Father was the first one to come out with the idea. He’s a very charitable man, and something needed to be done.”
With planning and manpower assistance from the parish’s Knights of Columbus Council 13236, they held a drive-through fundraiser Sunday, May 10. Most of the funds – $8,400 from 181 families – came in that day in just one hour.
The church continued to receive checks for Niño Jesús following the Mother’s Day collection, to reach the grand total of $11,000. One envelope labeled “sister parish” contained 10 $100 bills from an anonymous donor.
This effort came about a month after the parish collected an overwhelming 8,000 pounds of goods for the parish’s food pantry in just one hour on Palm Sunday.
“That’s one of the strengths of this parish,” Father Mack said. “When there’s a need, you tell them, and the need’s met.”
Residents of Manta are under a stay-at-home order and are permitted to leave for essential needs but must return by 2 p.m. With very few people working, the need is great. Niño Jesús distributes local food donations consisting of rice and fish via a ticket system to 600 families per week. If there is additional food left over on the two distribution days, they give it to those who aren’t in the program. These families form a line at 4:30 a.m. hoping there will be enough for them. Food is delivered to those in the program who lack transportation and live in remote areas.
The monetary donation from St. Paul the Apostle Parish will allow Niño Jesús to continue to provide this critical sustenance after local donations run out.
Five priests living in Manta, led by Father Roque Botton Bisognin, serve an estimated 60,000 people at 20 surrounding chapels and churches.
The sister parish relationship between St. Paul and Niño Jesús began in 2000. Its mission is to establish with one another “a long-term spiritual, cultural and personal relationship” that embraces the Eucharist as the center of their lives and expands opportunities for personal growth, commitment and involvement in communities.
Parishioners of St. Paul sponsored the education of 160 young people in 2019 with 26 currently attending college. They travel to Niño Jesús every other summer, and their Ecuadorian brothers and sisters in Christ visit Greensboro during the summers in between.
Hauser has visited the parish in Ecuador three times.
“It expands our faith,” he said. “Our brothers and sisters are in Ecuador. When we visit, we get much more from them than the other way around. It’s just who Catholics are. We feel responsible.”
— Annie Ferguson, correspondent
Pictured: Members of St. Paul the Apostle Church in Greensboro participate in a drive-through donation effort for their sister parish in Manta, Ecuador. The money they donated bought rice for hundreds of families in Manta. Families line up as early as 4:30 a.m. to receive bags of food from church workers. (Photos provided by St. Paul the Apostle Parish)