SAN ANTONIO • The ongoing partnership between the archdioceses of San Antonio and Tegucigalpa, Honduras was marked with a televised liturgy in the St. Joseph Chapel at the archdiocesan Pastoral Center on July 12.

    The Mass was celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Patrick J. Zurek and Father Juan Angel Lopez, a representative of Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez of Honduras as well as pastor of St. Dominic Salvio Church in Tegucigalpa.

    “It is a very significant thing we have been doing there. People know San Antonio right and left,” said Bishop Zurek of the eight-year relationship of communion and brotherhood between South Texas Catholics and the Central American archdiocese.

    As an example of that friendship, the bishop spoke of World Youth Day festivities in Cologne, Germany in 2005, when he was embraced by a group of youth draped in the Honduran flag.

    In his remarks at the homily, Father Lopez said he remembered a meeting with Cardinal Rodriguez and clergy of his archdiocese shortly after Hurricane Mitch devastated their country. “Cardinal Rodriguez told us that the dioceses of Texas were going to send help, and one of the priests said, ‘I hope it will be San Antonio.’” Father Lopez explained that his friend mentioned San Antonio specifically because the history of the church in South Texas is well known in Latin America, and that the city’s namesake, St. Anthony, is the patron saint of lost things. “And we had certainly lost everything,” noted Father Lopez.

    In thanking the people of the archdiocese of their support for Tegucigalpa spiritually and financially for the past eight years, Father Lopez said, “We don’t have anything more to offer you than the Eucharist.     It will be the best thing we can do for you. You will be in our hearts and prayers.” The pastor praised parishioners of the archdiocese for helping to build a housing project, Divina Providencia, for people who had lost their homes during the natural disaster.

    But the priest, who is also a seminary professor, said the best thing San Antonio Catholics have done for Honduras has been to share the faith in different ways, and not just send money. He cited specifically visits by Bishop Zurek and others to Tegucigalpa.
    “The most important thing in helping in the past has been sharing our common faith,” said Father Lopez. He explained, “In Latin America it’s a problem that we don’t have a world view. Honduras is the third poorest country in Latin America. People don’t just live in poverty, but misery. Most live making under $1 a day.”

    Father Lopez said he now teaches his seminarians about the history of San Antonio in the church and in the United States as a way to express his gratitude to those who have helped his nation.
    “I thank you from my heart. You have been brothers and sisters to us. We will keep you in our prayers,” he concluded. “I believe the prayers of the poorest people are listened to by God. We are deeply, deeply thankful for all the people here.”

    At the conclusion of Father Lopez’s comments, Bishop Zurek recalled an incident that happened at the end of the first ACTS retreat held in Honduras two years ago.
    A man with tears streaming down his face stood at the close of the weekend and said to the team, “So often people from your country come and take advantage of us, but you — you have come to share your faith with us.”
    Said Bishop Zurek, “Our common focal point is our faith, the Eucharist.”