Mission Guatemala

For over 25 years, Kansas City Catholics have journeyed to San Andrés Itzapa, Guatemala to walk alongside the poor—sharing in daily life and serving with humility and love.

Missionaries engage in hands-on work such as building homes, installing wood stoves, and constructing animal shelters for local families. They bring supplies to the sick and share joy with children at a school for those with disabilities. While the work is important, it’s the relationships formed and the spiritual growth that truly define the mission.

We pray together, play with the children, and strive to be Christ’s presence to our Guatemalan neighbors. In witnessing both the material poverty and profound spiritual richness of the people we serve, we are invited to reflect on our own lives—our blessings, our limitations, and our call to holiness. The mission becomes a transformation of the heart, inspiring us to carry the encounter with Christ in the poor back to our lives in Kansas City.

A priest accompanies the trip to celebrate daily Mass, offer adoration, and hear confessions—serving both the missionaries and the religious sisters at the convent where we stay. A highlight of the journey is a pilgrimage to Santiago Atitlán, where Blessed Stanley Rother, the first U.S.-born priest to be beatified, gave his life in martyrdom for the faith.