COBAN, Guatemala – Local Catholics and Mennonites recently gathered in an unprecedented ecumenical meeting in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. Among the participants were Rob and Tara Cahill, former workers with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Coban.
Rob and Tara offer this introductory account of the context for their work:
The Verapaz has deep historical connections with the Dominican order.
It is the only place that I know of in the Spanish empire that was not
conquered by the Spanish imperial army. From the mountains of the Verapaz,
the Dominicans convinced Spain to call off the conquest and to allow four
Dominican priests to bring the gospel to the Maya people without force or
violence. This happened in 1537. It was from the crucible of this history that the
concept of “Human Rights” was formed.Nearly 40 years ago, Mennonite missionaries from Pennsylvania came to these
same mountains and founded a Mennonite church conference. Today the Q’eqchi’ Mennonite church conference includes several ecumenically-minded pastors that value both their Maya heritage and their catholic backgrounds.
The meeting (or encuentro) is believed to be the first such meeting of Catholics and Mennonites in this area. Rob and Tara describe the gathering:
Invited to the event were Dominican, Benedictine and Regular Priests, university professors and Mennonite Pastors. Jacobo Schiere from the Mennonite Church in Holland was our visiting speaker but each participant had equal time for their contribution.
Jacobo’s talk drew on 16th century history both in Europe and in Coban. He drew some very interesting parallels between Frey Bartolomé de Las Casas and the geography of the Verapaz and Menno Simons and the geography of West Friesland. Jacobo showed some slides from Holland.
Dr. Juan José Guerrero and Padre Jesus of the Dominican Monastery of Coban both shared about Fr. Bartolome de las Casas and how they understand his contribution to the modern world. Dr. Fredy Ochaeta connected the conversation to our world today by giving us a wonderful summary of current events and their historical roots.
I am very sure that this was the first such meeting of Mennonites and Catholics to be held in Coban, even though Mennonites have been doing mission work here for 30 years. At the end of the event, everyone agreed that this should be an annual event.
Following the success of this initial meeting, organizers planned an additional event with visiting college students:
Visiting geography students from the University of Mary Washington in Virginia met with human rights students of the Jesuit University San Rafael Landívar. Again the conversation was on the history of Coban, Las Casas and the development of International Human Rights. These two events have been among the highlights of our nine years in Guatemala.
