Solidarity Alive

One of those funny-odd churchy words is "solidarity."  Some may remember that this was the name of the labor union in Poland in the 1980s led by Lech Walesa which helped to bring down the Iron Curtain.  The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church identifies solidarity as one of the four essential principles at the heart of Catholic social thought (along with the dignity of the human person, the common good, and subsidiarity).   In the words of the Compendium, "Solidarity highlights in a particular way the intrinsic social nature of the human person, the equality of all in dignity and rights, and the common path of individuals and peoples towards an ever more committed unity....the bond of interdependence between individuals and peoples."

Defining solidarity in the abstract is one thing, experiencing it is another.  Yet a few weeks ago, at the 46th annual Dinner for the Chimbote Foundation at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel in Pittsburgh I experienced solidarity through place, people, and purpose.

For me Chimbote, Peru, is not some dot on a map, it is a city I have visited, twice.  In 1983 and 1991 I joined the annual diocesan pilgrimage led by Msgr. John Kozar to visit Msgr. Jules Roos and the Maternidad de Maria (maternity hospital) he co-founded.  To my eyes the small frame building on a concrete slab was primitive, with its 30 beds in dormitory style.  Yet it was evident how proud the nurses and other employees were of their hospital.  On my first visit to the maternity ward Msgr. Roos handed me a two-day old little girl, wrapped in swaddling clothes and, he warned with a smile, without a diaper.  The girl's mother asked me in Spanish what was my name.  I answered, "Francisco."  She beamed and told me that she was so happy I came to visit her and her new-born, that she would name her daughter, "Francesca." 

Memories of my second visit include the one-day strike of the bus drivers in town.  They threw large stones onto the major streets of Chimbote, effectively preventing any vehicles (like our bus) to travel.  So one afternoon several of us Pittsburghers walked the mile or so from our hotel to the maternity hospital compound.  When Msgr. Roos found out we "violated" the strike by walking, he yelled at us and told us we were at risk of physical harm from the strikers.  A much more positive note was the celebration later that evening of the 25th anniversary of the maternity hospital.  Then-Bishop Donald Wuerl flew down to lead us in the celebration of Mass and be the host for a festive banquet in the local hotel. 

These memories of visiting Chimbote contribute to my sense of solidarity with the next generation of health care workers now leading the maternity hospital and social works center.

Another tangible expression of solidarity came through people.  At the end of that 1983 pilgrimage, four of us Pittsburgh priests flew from Chimbote to Talara Alta, a tiny village on the Peru-Ecuador border.  In this poor community Father Jack Price was serving as parish priest.  Talara Alta existed in one of the driest desserts on the planet.  Yet because of a severe El Nino weather pattern, it had rained every day from St. Stephen's Day (Dec. 26) right up to our arrival in the first week of June.   Father Price and his parishioners lived without electricity or any capacity for food storage.  Yet when we celebrated the Corpus Christi Mass that Sunday morning, the little second grade children who were making their First Holy Communion were splendid in immaculately clean white dresses and suits. 

At the most recent Chimbote Dinner, Father Price was honored by his sister, Sister Mary Price, S.C., as her family marked the 25th anniversary of his tragic and unexpected death in a flood in O'Hara Township in 1986.  The missionary who had survived a devastating earthquake, and later extreme floods in the dessert, was killed by the raging waters of Little Pine Creek.   Having visited Father Price both in Peru and as pastor of St. Joseph Parish on Dorseyville Road made solidarity easy for me with his ministry and life.

I was also privileged to sit at the table of Henrietta Gardner, one of my parishioners from New Castle.  Henrietta has financially and spiritually supported the Chimbote mission ever since she got to know then-Father Roos when he was a young assistant pastor at St. Joseph the Worker Parish in New Castle.  When he went off to the missions, she began writing him.  On the evening of the dinner she was serenaded by all 700 guests singing "Happy Birthday" for her 90th birthday along with the surprise visit of her six children.

The 700 guests at the Chimbote Dinner were blessed by the visit of Bishop Angel Francisco Simon Piorno of Chimbote.  He thanked all in Pittsburgh for their support of the maternity hospital and the growing efforts of the social works center.   He said that though there are 6,000 miles between the two cities there is a real closeness between them. 

Finally I witnessed solidarity in the shared purpose of the Chimbote Foundation.  Missionaries come in all sizes, ages, and locations.  Some like Msgr. Roos leave their home to minister in a faraway land.  Many, like the generous benefactors of the gala dinner, gift the missions with their money and prayers.  But the purpose is the same:  to carry on the mission of Christ to the needy we meet and know.  That shared purpose builds friendship between distant cities and dioceses, and is evidence of the common bond of faith and love, of friendship and solidarity, within the Body of Christ.