Exchanges change lives of participants

Spokane physician Laura Costello helps a patient. Stephanie Clark of Marysville, background left, also helped at the clinic.

As part of its missionary outreach in the Caribbean, the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane has for some years been in partnership with the Anglican Diocese of Belize.

This link arose in part from the presence of the Rev. Silvestre Romero, the son of the Bishop of Belize, as the Diocese of Spokane’s Hispanic missioner from 1999 to 2002.

Commenting recently on the growing partnership, the Bishop of Belize, the Right Rev. Sylvestre Romero, said the relationship between the two dioceses is gratifying. 

Even though this diocese is “not able to return material gifts in kind, we hope our gift has been and will continue to be our unique qualities as Belizeans—our appreciation, our hospitality and our love for you as human beings made, like us, in the image of God,” he said.

According to the Right Rev. James Waggoner, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane, congregations from around the diocese—in cooperation with local Rotarians and others—have provided such support as scholarship funds for student tuition assistance in Belize, medical supplies and travel grants. 

“Our most ambitious undertakings, however, have been direct and personal,” he said, referring to construction and medical teams that have visited Belize in recent years. 





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