Posted by ACN News - Interview on 5/7/2012, 5:24 pm
Message modified by board administrator 12/7/2012, 11:06 am

ACN Interview: Thursday 4th July 2012 Honduras: leaving the country for the promised land Recent State Department estimates suggest there are between 800,000 and 1 million Hondurans living in the United States, nearly 15% of the Honduran domestic population. The large uncertainty is due to the substantial number of undocumented Honduran immigrants currently believed to be residing in the United States. Marie-Pauline Meyer in cooperation with Aid to the Church in Need interviews Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras for Where God Weeps. (Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa) Q) Although many Hondurans have relatives in Nicaragua, Spain, Mexico, El Salvador and Canada, the majority of Hondurans living abroad are in the United States. Are you in touch with them? A) Yes, this is a very painful part of our history. The young - and 42% of our population is below the age of 15 - have no opportunities here. They watch US programs on TV and feel that it is the promised land. In the process they are exploited, or injured, while on the journey there. There is a daily flight from the US for many of these young people who are caught and then deported for illegally entering the US. This is a tragedy. They are not criminals. They go there to help their families. Often times they are exploited by the gangs in Mexico. This is a new industry; young people are captured and the gangs demand ransom from their families in Honduras - poor people that have nothing and a lot of them die. This is a tragedy. I believe that there should be new laws for controlled immigration to allow people to find work. Q) You mean that the US should change these laws? A) The US bishops have been asking for this in Congress, but the politics is complicated and I believe that we need to continue in this direction and convince the US administration that it is possible to have a controlled immigration to help this people. Q) What then is the answer of the Catholic Church in Honduras? What can you do for these young people and their families? A) First, we try to discourage this form of migration because it is not a solution. The Catholic Church is not just the hierarchy. We have to enlighten the laity to invest in the country instead of keeping their money in the US or Europe. We encourage them to invest in the country to create jobs. Q) What kind of investments are you suggesting? A) With as little as $300.00 you can encourage a family to start a small shop in selling goods. This gives hope. After hurricanes, people lose their land because the floodwaters washed away the soil leaving only sand. These people finally end up losing the land to the banks as a payment for their bank loans. I secured donations and purchased those debts. It gave hope to these families. Q) Though you understand the situation of these young people and their desire to leave? A) Yes, I do and I have visited many, many prisons on the US border with Mexico. I met many Hondurans. I have prayed with them and I have brought messages back to their families in Honduras. Q) Is there is a positive note to Latinos going to the US? A) Of course. You know that the Catholic Church is growing in the US and this is due to the presence of Latinos who bring their faith. I know of two priests who are helping with the pastoral care of the Hispanics in some dioceses in the US. I have to tell you, for many of them the only moment when they have real joy is when they can come together for the Holy Mass in Spanish with a pastor that preaches in a language they understand and that cultivates their hope in order to have a stronger faith. Q) Do they also hope to go back to Honduras? A) Yes, many of them go back because they work hard and they save some money to eventually build a house in Honduras. I know of a small village that had awful houses and after 10 years all these houses are now in very good condition. All these are families of migrants in the US who have sent remittances and with that they now have a real home and can live with dignity. Q) In Honduras the presence of Christianity is strong - do you still have to evangelize? A) Of course. Pope Paul VI stated clearly in the apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi that the reason for the existence of the Church is to evangelize. We are especially committed after Pope John Paul II urged for a new evangelization in Latin America. This was repeated in the 21st century when Pope John Paul II gave us Duc in Altum (“Put out into the deep”); we are committed to a continental mission. Q) What kind of evangelization do you undertake in Honduras? A) Every kind of evangelization, especially in all forms of mass media. Despite our poverty, we have a TV channel, we started a Catholic university, we have started with the renovation our parishes and placed great emphasis on the development of a pastoral program for the youth. Q) Do you see the fruits? A) Yes. Honduras was one of the nations in Latin America with very few priests. Before the 1979 Puebla Conference there were only 192 priests in Honduras. Now we have more than 400. When I was appointed Auxiliary Bishop in 1978 we had 13 seminarians - now we have nearly 200. So, you see the fruits but we cannot sit on our laurels. It is necessary to continue in order to develop the kingdom of God. ------------------------ This interview was conducted by Mark Reidemann for "Where God Weeps," a weekly television and radio show produced by Catholic Radio and Television Network in conjunction with the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. On the Net: www.WhereGodWeeps.org and www.aidtochurch.org Editor’s Notes Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action. The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, Aid to the Church in Need’s Child’s Bible – God Speaks to his Children has been translated into 162 languages and 48 million copies have been distributed all over the world. While ACN gives full permission for the media to freely make use of the charity’s press releases, please acknowledge ACN as the source of stories when using the material. For more information or to make a donation to help the work of Aid to the Church in Need, please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 7246 Baulkham Hills NSW 2153. On Line donations can be made at www.aidtochurch.org