Blog Entry

In Support of Peace in Honduras

The Subcommittee recently sponsored a solidarity visit to the Church in Honduras, led by Most Rev. Oscar Cisneros, Auxiliary Bishop of Brooklyn. In light of recent tensions in Honduras and the fear of violence as the country attempted to settle the existing political impasse, the Subcommittee was present to the Honduran Church and all Hondurans as a sign of the concern and support of the USCCB for a peaceful resolution to the current problems.

Auxiliary Bishop Octavio Cisneros of Brooklyn, N.Y., walks with Auxiliary Bishop Juan Pineda Fasquelle of Tegucigalpa at the start of Mass at St. Michael the Archangel Cathedral in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Oct. 18. Bishop Cisneros was in Honduras representing the U.S. bishops' work for the Church in Latin America. (CNS photo/Carlos Alberto Ramos).

The visit also offered a good opportunity to visit with potential pastoral programs. One such program involves the formation of laity and religious in a program of natural family planning and human sexuality at the renowned Center for Education in Family Life http://www.cevifa.org/. Operated under the auspices of the Archdiocese of Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, the program will train instructors in the Church’s teaching on family planning and human sexuality for ninety participants. These instructors will recruit a further 450 couples across the archdiocese and the neighboring dioceses of Olancho, Trujillo and Taro who will offer education and training on the topic to their local communities. The general objective is to reduce maternal and infant mortality in Honduras through training in the natural modern methods of family planning for men and women. The Subcommittee provided a grant of $35,000 for this very important pastoral work.

USCCB Director for the Church in Latin America, Fr. Andrew Small, OMI, and Most Rev. Octavio Cisneros attend a news conference in Tegucigalpa, Honduras during a recent solidarity visit to the country on behalf of the U.S. Bishops. In the foreground is a statue of the Virgin of Suyapa, the Patroness of Honduras. (CNS photo/Carlos Alberto Ramos).