Ministry growth

I have been back in Honduras, now, for exactly two weeks and it feels as if I haven’t left. The pace of work has increased and should increase more but still at times I feel as if I have a lot of time on my hands. But in the few weeks that I was gone, some of the seeds I had helped plant were beginning to sprout.

Campus ministry in the Catholic University appears to be moving, thanks be to God. A few days after I arrived back, I met a student in the street and he told me that there were about five or six students who wanted to revive campus ministry. I've talked with most of them and the prospects appear good.

This week, on Wednesday, there will be a fogata – a bonfire on the university grounds at 8 pm. It will be accompanied by music, talks, a drama on the passage in John’s Gospel on the woman caught in adultery (John 8: 2-11). I met with a group of students on Monday to help organize the event. It appears that this will go well and will help campus ministry get a new start.

I also met with the director and three priests involved with the Catholic University. We'll be planning a retreat day for faculty members in late April. I think I also persuaded them to have two Masses in the afternoon, instead of all the Masses in morning when there are not many students here.

The university itself is growing. The Catholic University had its largest new class this January – 225 students. The university has three compulsory retreats, including one for new students. There were six of them this trimester, but I only helped with one of them this past Friday and Saturday. There are two retreats for students in the middle of their studies – Christian Maturity – scheduled for the next two weekends. I hope to help with one of them.

I have also been connecting with the parish of Dulce Nombre. Last Sunday I facilitated the first half of a retreat for pastoral workers in one of the zones of the parish. Almost 80 pastoral workers took part. I will help with the retreats for the other two zones of the parish the next two Fridays.

Last Sunday Fr. Efraín and I spoke briefly about the project of training people in some of the poorest communities to construct silos to store basic grains. We'll talk about this soon.

I also have twice gone to the kindergarten in Colonia Divina Providencia. They are building a small room onto the building so that they can get a second teacher to take the smallest students. This is desperately needed since there are now about 62 kindergarten students – 4 and 5 year olds with one teacher. Fortuitously, there are a number of Canadian volunteers here for about two months and some are helping with the kindergarten.

Monday I had the chance to spend an hour talking with the bishop. Monseñor Santos is always so gracious. We talked about many things, including the upcoming visit of five members of St. Thomas parish during Holy Week. He also told me that the comedor infantil – the lunch program for poor kids – may be closer to starting since they will soon be starting some modifications to the bishop’s office and living area to set aside a place for the comedor.

Things happen very slowly here – but at least some things are beginning to happen. Patience, John, and trust in the loving providence of God.