Eight members of this organization even visited the archdiocese last month to speak in parishes and thank south Texas Catholics for their generosity.
    Some of the problems in their archdiocese include rebuilding the infrastructure as well as addressing ministry to the faithful. The covenant between the two archdioceses was meant to be a mutually beneficial alliance, working on advances in social justice, liturgy, external debt reduction, migration and education.

    One of the largest projects funded by San Antonio Catholics has been the construction of Centro San Antonio in a new city located outside of Tegucigalpa called Divina Providencia, a self-contained subdivision built following the destruction of Hurricane Mitch. Bishop Zurek has said that the most notable feature of the new community is that everything is flat, constructed in that fashion to try and avoid the terrible mudslides and flooding which plague much of rural Central America.

    Centro San Antonio, a multi-purpose building, serves as an after-school day care and nutrition center. The center also teaches baking, welding, electronics repair and computer programming. “They are giving people skills to change their lives,” said the bishop.

    Aid has also been used for the construction of small homes, all-purpose buildings and church repair. In addition, funds have been allocated for catechist training and materials, Bibles, catechisms, ritual books and lectionaries.

    During a visit to Honduras in late 2003, Bishop Zurek went with a Franciscan priest to visit his parish and then traveled to a nearby multipurpose center, where the whole community gathered and fireworks announced their arrival. At the Mass, an older woman, a matriarch, gave a homily in gratitude for the assistance from the San Antonio Archdiocese. She then gave the visitors a gift of a white towel with the emblem Hermandad Texas-Tegucigalpa.“It was a very emotional experience,” Bishop Zurek said.

    One recipient of funds that stands out for Bishop Zurek is Mario, who ministers to former gang members. Almost all of the youths he works with are marked by gang tattoos, which can be a literal death sentence in Honduras. The German government has given Mario three tattoo laser removal machines, and the San Antonio Archdiocese purchased antiseptics and other medical supplies needed for the laser removal procedures. “The kids are now going to be safe,” Mario told the bishop.

    In the fall of 2006, Bishop Zurek served as spiritual director of the first ACTS retreat held in Honduras. It took place outside Tegucigalpa at a center owned by the Catholic University of Honduras, which sponsored the event.

    Traditionally, an ACTS retreat is focused on a particular parish, but on this occasion, there were men from all different parishes throughout the country. Attendees included businessmen and the president of the university, but also the poorest of the poor — the whole spectrum of the Honduran church. The structure of the retreat was also adapted for the Honduran setting. Among the changes was holding it during the week, rather than on a weekend. The midweek timing was helpful for people who service their parishes on weekends as delegados de la palabra (delegates of the word) who are trained to preach because priests are scarce and churches are scattered over a vast area.

    Also, the retreat participants were surprised to find the San Antonio team fluent in Spanish, and were impressed by the men’s readiness to serve them, including carrying their bags to their rooms, serving their food at mealtimes and even helping kitchen workers clean the dishes. Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, archbishop of Tegucigalpa, has visited San Antonio on several occasions to express his personal “thank you” for the assistance from South Texas, and during Bishop Zurek’s travels to Central America, he and the cardinal have had in-depth discussions regarding the social teachings of the church and the impact of globalization on the modern world. “It is a treat being there for stimulus of the mind,” Bishop Zurek concluded.