CCW supports San Lucas Mission

by Geri Weber

The International Concerns Commission of the New Ulm Diocesan Council of Catholic Women chose as their special project this year a request for help in building a library at the diocesan mission of San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala.

Educational opportunities have grown there to such a degree that there is now an added need for students to deepen and expand their desire to learn through an adequate library.

Beginning with pre-school classes at their dining room table and offering reading and writing classes for adults in a small parish hall at night, the School Sisters of Notre Dame opened the doors of the parish elementary school, Colegio San Lucas, in 1968. Today these buildings hold classes for the parish elementary school in the morning, the secondary classes in the afternoon, and normal school education classes in the evening. Weekends see these same buildings used for adult classes on both the primary and secondary levels. At the present time, discussions are being held about the feasibility of weekend university courses being offered in San Lucas. The people of San Lucas Mission have worked with an elementary library in a very small schoolroom with both students and teachers making the most of it. They have been offered computers for students to use but there isn’t a room available for them.

The Mission of San Lucas has been approached by university graduates living in San Lucas about the need for a library that they could use. There are at the present time forty-two university graduates living and working in San Lucas. Their work includes the areas of medicine, education, accounting, agriculture, anthropology and political science. It is felt that an adequate library for all levels of education would be a major step in the growth of quality education in this area of Guatemala.

An adequate building is needed to house books, computers, photocopy equipment and in-library reading space. The major cost of land purchase is already covered, as land is available for a building in the elementary school area of the parish. A two-story building is needed with the first floor housing a library for elementary and secondary school students, and the second floor would house a library for continuing education and university level students and graduates.

All parish Councils of Catholic Women are encouraged to support this project. Let us make the library a reality!