By Michelle Martin
STAFF WRITER

When Cardinal George leads a delegation of Chicago Catholics and civic leaders to Mexico City in December, it will be more than a visit from one cardinal to the see of another.

It will be a living expression of the unity of the church in America, under the patronage of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and a pilgrimage from the church of Chicago—all of it—to the church of Mexico City.

Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City and Cardinal George sign a 1999 Declaration of Intent to further their archdioceses’ pastoral partnership as Father Esequiel Sanchez looks on. Cardinal George’s December pilgrimage is one step in the process. CNW/Inocencio Reyes

“This is not a Hispanic thing,” said Father Esequiel Sanchez, archdiocesan director of Hispanic Ministry. “This is a visit from the church of Chicago to the church of Mexico.

Sanchez hopes the trip will cement a partnership between the two archdioceses that began in May 1999, when Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera visited Chicago and the two cardinal archbishops signed a “declaration of intent” to “collaborate in the exercise of the church’s ministry in America by sharing creative resources in the areas of Catholic Charities, parochial ministry, social justice, education and lay ministry formation.”

The agreement followed the pope’s promulgation of “Ecclesia in America,” which was the result of the 1997 Synod for America. The document emphasizes the oneness of the church in the Western Hemisphere.

Some U.S. Catholics of European ancestry might have a hard time embracing that view, because they have always looked for connections east and west, not north and south, Sanchez said.

“We need to learn from someone else’s experience and history,” he said. Most people’s experience of Mexico is of needy people. We have never seen the Mexico that is professional, that is developing.”

The two dioceses have much to learn from one another, Sanchez said, and as the world gets smaller, it only makes sense for them to work together.

“There is no space between us. It’s cyberspace,” he said, noting that Chicago archdiocesan officials can communicate instantaneously with their counterparts in Mexico City with the click of a mouse. “I can get on a plane now and be in Mexico City in four hours.”

The globalization of business and cultural forces has created a challenge that the church must meet by working across national and cultural divides, Sanchez said.

“Where is the Gospel in the age of the Internet and global banking? What we’re trying to do is bring faith into it,” he said. “What also has to globalize is faith in Jesus Christ, Christian ethics and accountability. The world is changing, and we have to be part of it. The question for the church is what is it going to say? How is it going to be visible?”

The two archdioceses have much in common, as large, urban sees dealing with similar social issues. In addition, Chicago has long been a destination for many Mexican immigrants. The archdiocese has the largest Mexican population in the United States outside of Los Angeles—including many of Cardinal Rivera’s relatives, Sanchez said.

“He knows the situation here, and he wants to be able to minister to his people,” Sanchez said. “He can’t send priests, because he needs them there, but we can share resources.”

The Chicago Archdiocese ministers to roughly 2.5 million Catholics. Mexico City, the world’s most populous archdiocese, ministers to more than 20 million Catholics—and it does it with about a third of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s budget, Sanchez said.

“You see that, and you think to yourself, we’ve got something to learn,” he said. “One of the big differences is that the church there is a church of volunteers. The church here is a church of professionals. I know of no other country where the church has so many lay employees. But the hardest thing to ask of people is their time. People will always give you money. But I want to know how they ask people for their time.”

Much progress has already been made since the two cardinals signed the joint declaration, especially in the area of Catholic Charities. Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago and Caritas of Mexico City signed their own agreement to work together in 1999.

Father Michael Boland, administrator of Catholic Charities, said Caritas has become an invaluable partner in the area of international adoptions.

So far, three families have adopted children from Mexico City through the Charities-Caritas partnership, and two others have used their services while working primarily with other adoption agencies, said Norene Chesebro, director of maternity and adoption services for Catholic Charities. Another adoption should be completed soon, Chesebro said.

Caritas now is building a special home in Mexico City for children who are eligible for adoption, Boland said. The home will help the children understand that they soon will have families to care for them, and will provide a place for families who travel to Mexico City to meet with the children.

Working with Caritas has brought more than practical support to Catholic Charities’ adoption efforts, Boland said. It has also brought credibility to Catholic Charities in a culture where many people are reluctant to send children out of the country, even if that is their only chance of becoming part of a family.

“Mexico still treats its children as a national treasure,” Boland said. “Local governments there don’t want to see that treasure dissipated.”

Since the 1999 agreement, Boland has sponsored his counterpart, Father Manuel Zubillaga, for membership in Catholic Charities USA, bringing Caritas into partnership with other North American Catholic Charities agencies.

At the same time, he said, he and other administrators have learned about Caritas’ parish-based delivery of services, particularly medical care to the poor, and provided improved immigration services to people from Mexico.

“In the short term, I think it’s good that we started with charity,” Sanchez said. “The next step is formation. How can we learn from one another about the formation of priests, deacons and lay people?”

While sharing ideas on such practical matters will draw the two churches together, Sanchez said, he wants everyone in Chicago to keep the larger picture in view: the theological unity of the church of America, as the world stands at the brink of a new millennium and faces a time of social, economic and cultural upheaval.

“This will be the first time that two cardinals have celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the basilica (of Our Lady of Guadalupe) at the same time,” Sanchez said. “And the fact that one of them is from the United States is important. It says something. She’s not just in Mexico; she’s in America.”