By Rita McInerney

Thomas Padilla, 18, and Hector Lanza, 22, are in the United States this Christmas, far away from the season's fiesta in Honduras. They traveled here with Father Emil Cook, a Conventual Franciscan responsible for educating over 1,000 boys who would not have otherwise had the chance to attend high school or the national university.

Father Cook has a small congregation by Honduran standards where one priest can have 35,000 people in a far-flung parish. He has 7,000 in 12 villages over 500 square miles. Along with his pastoral mission, he is treasurer and teacher at Boystown and a regular correspondent to about 400 people in the U.S. His "400" are people who have been supportive of both his parish and his dedication to giving poor Honduran boys an education.

Last week the priest and the two students were guests of Joseph Hirsch of Holy Family parish, Marietta, a supporter who has spent five weeks as a volunteer at the Honduran project. The Franciscan saw old friends and made some new ones at a covered dish supper given by his host. From Atlanta, the three traveled to Kentucky and Ohio and planned to spend Christmas with the priest's mother in Salina, Kansas.

His parish, Boystown and the junior-senior high school he operates are in Flores, a village on the main road about an hour's drive from the capital city of Tegucigalpa. In Honduras, 90 percent of the youth are unable to attend high school because of the extreme poverty. The country is the poorest in Central America. The lack of educational opportunities led him, shortly after arriving in Honduras 18 years ago, to work with and open his home to poor boys. Then, he said, he "got a high school going." Later, he moved to the Tegucigalpa area and formally opened the Franciscan Boystown and junior-senior high school in 1980.

"Poverty," he said, "is like being in a box with no way out. Education is the key to getting out of the box." The boys attending his school have to be poor and without any other opportunity for education. They must make good grades and maintain good conduct. "We want to help normal boys who would like a chance." The boys come from all over the mountainous country, referred by schools and teachers or brought to the school by parents eager for their sons to have a better life.

"It is not an orphanage, it is more like a boarding school," the priest said. It is a school students helped build; even those university-bound must learn a trade. All six of the cinderblock pavilions housing the boys have been built by students, along with the center house. And, the priest said, "We have boys in carpentry who build desks and tables for the school and for the local people."

Some do hand carving of wall plaques and the large spoons of Honduran mahogany often seen in gift shops. Others work on the farm that is part of the complex of 15 acres situated in a valley surrounded by mountains.

Most of the parents can't afford to pay anything toward the $90 monthly tuition, others pay five or 10 dollars, Father Cook said. Some parents contribute 200 pounds of corn or beans, a big help in feeding the students.

In addition to the 100 boys from Boystown attending the high school, "We have 25 at the university in the capital. They live in a house we rent," Father Cook said. "Then we have 10 other boys in trade schools around the country."

The junior-senior high school also serves the local youth, both boys and girls. The tuition is $15 monthly. Half scholarships are given to about one-third the 100 local students. About half these scholarships are granted to girls.

There are 10 teachers including Father Cook at the high school. Four of the teachers, including the principal, are graduates returned to work with the Franciscan. Hector's brother is principal, another brother one of the teachers. Hector, a first-year student at the university, hopes to return to the school and teach English when he is qualified.

Thomas, also a first-year student at the university, is studying industrial engineering. He studied with Father Cook for six years. Hector has been a student 11 years.

The priest believes 15 people will directly or indirectly benefit each time he helps one boy through the university. He figures when the youth marries his education will give him the ability to provide a decent standard of living for his family, he will help his brothers and sisters attain the same goal, and he will also help his parents.

Boystown students sign a contract, "The document," that they will pay back the money for their education and board, about $90 a month. Each youth works four or five hours each day. Junior high students go to class in the morning, work in the afternoon and study at night. The older boys work in the morning, study in the afternoon and have classes at night.

By working, Father Cook said, they are credited with $45 toward the monthly fee. There is no interest charged and the money is reinvested to use for educating more boys.

He doesn't want the boys to get the idea that their education is a "free gift. We are really losing money. The idea is to teach responsibility."

To him, education is the "door" for the youth. "If there's no door, they turn to sex and drink in their idleness. Education gives them hope. And a lot of their problems go away."

There is no government aid for his school and the American bishop of Camayagua diocese, the 450-year-old capital city of the province, is so poor he has to return to the states each year to raise money. The 400 letters Father Cook writes each month to benefactors in the U.S. and several other countries bring in about 85 percent of the $7,000 it takes to run the parish and school each month.

The letters begin with a few personal comments then recount news of the parish and the cursillistas, the rice crop. A donated copier is a big help in this phase of his mission.

For several years he has been receiving a monthly check from the Cursillo movement in Atlanta. In addition, Sister Margaret McAnoy, head of the Cursillo, said a check to pay for a Cursillo weekend for one of his Honduran parishioners is sent Father Cook whenever a cursillista dies in the Atlanta archdiocese. There are about 200 cursillistas in his parish.

Joe Hirsch tutored and helped with painting during his volunteer stint in Honduras about a year ago. When he returned home he spoke to several church groups and succeeded in getting a lot of clothing donated, including surplus from the Saint Vincent de Paul thrift shop, which he sends to Father Cook. The priest said clothing and kitchen utensils are always needed.

There are 250 priests in Honduras which has a population of close to four million. Only 50 of these priests are natives. Two graduates of Boystown have already been ordained priests. This month another will be ordained, along with a deacon.

The establishment, about four years ago, of an American base (Army and Air Force) at Palmarola, about 10 miles from Flores, has proved to be a blessing and a menace, Father Cook said.

The stipend the priest receives for celebrating Mass at the base goes "for the boys. Most of our bunk beds came from wood they were throwing away. Thanksgiving dinner came from the base, along with 20 American service personnel to eat with us. They have been very supportive," he said. Support includes the copier he uses to write his friends, and four new tires for the Land Cruiser which takes him around his parish.

The positive effects of the American presence include such community efforts as taking medication and health care to the people in the villages and treating the long lines of people who show up at the base hospital on designated days.

"Nothing is really black or white" to Father Cook. There is the tension. "Many Honduran people feel war is more imminent since the base has been there protecting American interests. I think America has a basically bad policy toward Central America. We could do more by aid and friendship. If we were friends with Nicaragua we could have a greater influence."

"Somoza was supported by the U.S. … and the hungry people were the ones who suffered and rebelled. They were not communists. Yet, Somoza got American aid because he was screaming 'communist.' You sort of drive them that way. I'm not saying Nicaragua is communist, there is a communist influence" but not, he said, to the extent in some other countries.

He has befriended many of the young Americans sent to serve in Honduras. For most, it's the first time out of the States. They get to know the people and begin to ask themselves "what are we doing here?" he said.

That question is one he never asks himself. In a country that offers no promise to poor children, he is succeeding in giving a future to as many as he possibly can.

(Anyone interested in helping Father Emil Cook may write him in care of the Office Staff Chaplain, JTF Bravo, APO Miami, FL, 34042. Attention Pueblo Franciscano.)