This story about one student’s Guatemala Study & Serve experience with Newman was written by Monique Garcia of Garcia Group, LLC. It is followed by a poem written by seminarian Thomas Elliott.
Elliott graduated summa cum laude from Newman University with his bachelor’s in philosophy for theological studies in 2024. Now in second theology at Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, Elliott is one step closer to fulfilling his vocation as a Catholic priest.
Since 2006, the Guatemala Study & Serve program at Newman has offered intensive Spanish studies abroad, and more than 115 Newman students and faculty have participated. Students earn 8-11 credit hours, stay with host families, speak Spanish, partake in local service projects as well as other exciting excursions and activities.
Participants and faculty in Newman University’s Guatemala Study & Serve program are grateful for support from the Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies.
When seminarian Thomas Elliott of Wichita joined Newman University’s Study & Serve Guatemala program in summer 2025, he expected to sharpen his Spanish and volunteer in local communities. What he experienced, however, was far deeper: an encounter with Christ in the faces of the poor.
“Before this trip, I thought I understood poverty,” Elliott shared. “But in Guatemala, I realized poverty is not just negative or sacrificial — it can be something beautiful. I discovered Christ in the people and learned humility: I’m not meant to bring God to others, but to encounter Him already present.”
Building stoves, improving water access and staying with host families in La Labor
The program began with a week of service at the Sangre de Cristo Health Project in La Labor, where Newman University students and Wichita seminarians with the guidance of Newman University Assistant Professor of Spanish and Co-Director of Hispanic Initiatives Sonja Bontrager helped build fuel-efficient stoves and improve access to clean water. What struck Elliott most was the spirit of community.
“Service was not about one person,” he recalled. “It was about living and working together — much like Christ formed a community of apostles. In the U.S., we tend to be so individualistic, but in Guatemala, I saw how people truly depend on and support one another. It was beautiful.”
Learning Spanish while confronting Guatemala’s painful past
The Proyecto Lingŭistico Quetzalteco (PLQ) de Español is a premier Spanish language school located in Guatemala. PLQ is a nonprofit language school with a long history of working with human rights groups and social justice organizations in Guatemala. PLQ aims to be a model for socially-responsible language instruction.
Newman University students and the Catholic Diocese of Wichita seminarians had the opportunity to study Spanish at two locations of the PLQ language school. One PLQ location is located in a rural area commonly referred to as the “mountain school.” The other PLQ language school is located in the mountain highlands in Quetzeltenango (Xela).
Both PLQ language school experiences pushed Elliott further than he expected. Elliott said he originally went to Guatemala to further refine and strengthen his strong foundation of Spanish. While his vocabulary and confidence grew, he discovered something much deeper.
“PLQ is very different,” Elliott explained. “They put an emphasis on Guatemala in the past and present. I knew that was going to be an aspect of it, but I didn’t realize how formative it would be. If you learn a language, you learn something deeply human. You cannot learn the depths of a language without learning about the people and their struggles.”
A self-described “language and word nerd,” Elliott found that PLQ’s approach gave him what he called an “incarnate reality” of Spanish.
“Being able to talk about the Catholic Church’s position on liberation theology, for example, is very different when you’ve walked the streets and listened to people who lived through the civil war,” he said.
The program tied grammar and vocabulary lessons to Guatemala’s culture, society and history. That approach opened Elliott’s eyes to the Catholic Church’s role in standing with the poor and inspired him to acknowledge that the U.S. Catholic Church has an opportunity to speak louder and with the same clarity.
“Being in Guatemala, I sensed that the church was visibly with the poor,” he reflected.
For Elliott, PLQ was more than language school. It was a reminder of justice, faith and human dignity, and, as he put it, that “when you do it to the least, you do it to me.”
Following in the footsteps of Blessed Stanley Rother’s courageous witness
The experience also deepened Elliott’s devotion to Blessed Stanley Rother, the Oklahoman priest who gave his life in Guatemala in 1981.
“I could feel Blessed Stanley’s intercession,” Elliott reflected. “He championed the poor, even in the face of violence. I remember reading about his final visit home to spend time with his parents in Oklahoma before returning to Guatemala in 1981. His father recalled how Blessed Stanley would gaze out the window, looking south toward Guatemala, his heart clearly still with the people there.
“I can understand that now — the longing, the sorrow and the love. Blessed Stanley championed the poor and did not compromise, even in the face of violence. His life showed that true victory is the victory of the martyrs — the gift of self. That inspires me as I continue my own formation.”
Rooted in compassion, strengthened by sacrifice: A seminary journey continues
Back at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Elliott continues to carry the weight of his summer experience.
“Visiting massacre sites and meeting survivors was painful but also a blessing,” he said. “It opened my heart to compassion in a new way. My vocation to the priesthood has been affirmed: to offer my life as a sacrifice, just as the priest offers Christ’s sacrifice at the altar.”
For Elliott, Guatemala was more than a trip; it was a transformative encounter with Christ through the poor. While ordination lies a few years in the future, the seeds planted in Guatemala continue to grow, guiding Elliott toward a life of sacrificial love and service for the people he will one day serve as a priest of the Diocese of Wichita. In their faces, he hopes to answer Mother Teresa’s reminder that “the greatest poverty in the Western world is not hunger or homelessness, but the poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for.”
Elliott’s journey reminds us that true ministry begins not with grand gestures but with the daily call to be the hands and feet of Christ for a world in need.
A poem by Thomas Elliott
Learn more about Newman’s Guatemala Study & Serve program
Since 2006, Newman University has offered intensive Spanish studies abroad, and more than 115 Newman students and faculty have participated.
