One plus one equals two. This obvious equation is known by everyone.
But are there examples where the sum is greater than the addition of its component parts? In other words, where does one plus one equal something greater?
Take St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church (left) in Oro Valley, Arizona, and St. Anthony Mission and School (right) in Zuni, New Mexico. They are 277 miles apart, almost a five-hour drive. But, connected by Catholic Extension Society’s Parish Partnership program, they add up to something extraordinary.
St. Anthony Mission and School serves the Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico. Catholic Extension Society has supported St. Anthony since 1971. Founded in 1920, St. Anthony’s school currently serves 120 students, kindergarten through eighth grade. The school is totally dependent on outside resources to operate.
Father Patrick McGuire, pastor of St. Anthony, below, has a heart that is entirely with the Zuni people. He deeply admires their strength in family, their sense of extended family and their awareness of the divine. However, Zuni people face many struggles. Many families live in homes without electricity or the internet and thirty percent lack access to potable water. (Father McGuire always keeps the parish facilities open so his people can fill up their containers with life-giving water.)
Father McGuire and his staff believe that the Catholic faith and education is the key for these Native American youth to break the cycle of generational poverty and unemployment.
The modest request
In April 2022, Father John Arnold, pastor of St. Mark the Evangelist, visited St. Anthony Mission and School as part of Catholic Extension Society’s Pastor Immersion Program. The program is based on the insight that to find Jesus in our world today, we must go to the peripheries. And as Pope Francis believes, spending time with the poor revitalizes our church.
Touched by his experience, Father Arnold suggested that St. Mark should partner with Catholic Extension Society to help students at St. Anthony’s. In other words, he believed that one plus one should equal something greater.
He directed St. Mark’s 2023 Advent Appeal and also asked that young people from St. Mark’s Life Teen program speak at all the Masses on the first Sunday of Advent to help fulfill St. Anthony’s humble wish list.
They needed assistance with simple items like $35 for spiral notebooks, $15 for internet bill, $30 for crayons and coloring books. Other items included $600 for vestments and linens for Mass, $200 for catechism materials, and $20 for devotional kits for families.
More than an occasion for just a financial transaction, the Parish Partnership program moved everyone involved toward a true transformation.
St. Mark’s teens learned about never taking for granted the abundance with which they were blessed.
They learned about the Shalako, a ceremony of thanksgiving and requests for blessings. They also learned how the school teaches its students Zuni beliefs on respect and harmony with the world.
Additionally, the partnership was an opportunity to learn about the Zuni culture and how it intersects with the Catholic faith.
And, most importantly, the teens encountered Christ.
As one said,
Loving like Jesus did takes immense strength and courage. But the rewards are awesome because serving others means we are serving Christ, and in the process deepening our relationship with Him.”
Abundance everywhere
The parish partnership of St. Mark and St. Anthony, below, enlarges our sense of what is possible.
Their young people help us see that the cycle of poverty can be broken, that high school corridors can be places of care and support, and that all of us, from Oro Valley to Zuni Pueblo and points beyond, are part of the same tribe. We are more alike than we imagine.
God magnifies and multiplies our efforts in ways that defy our finite understanding of the world. In God’s divine wisdom, one plus one can add up to something extraordinary. The partnership demonstrated the vitality of the Catholic faith and Catholic education at its best.
Become a parish partner
With a compelling list of urgent projects to support our Church, Catholic Extension Society has created a turnkey fundraising program that is easily adapted for any parish and provides materials and guidance. Visit this page to learn more about Catholic Extension Society’s Parish Partnership program. Please contact Natalie Donatello at ndonatello@catholicextension.org for more information.
