Welcoming guests

 

Today I’ll be going to San Pedro Sula with a van and a driver to pick up six parishioners from St. Thomas Aquinas Church and Catholic Student Center in Ames, Iowa.

As some of my readers may know, I worked at St. Thomas for 24 years before coming here to Honduras in June, 2007. The parish has supported me and has established a relationship with the parish of Dulce Nombre de María where I am helping.

Several times a year I received groups from St. Thomas and arrange for them to connect with the parish of Dulce Nombre. This time there will be five student parishioners and one resident parishioner.

I am glad to have them, though a bad cold has kept me under the weather since last Friday. I hope it doesn’t slow me down too much.

For me, the visits are a chance for the US parishioners to get to know and accompany the ministry of Dulce Nombre parish. There will be some work – helping with a latrine and water container. But the main purpose is solidarity – learning how we can be sisters and brothers together.

This is, therefore, not a “mission” trip from the US. (God is here already.) Rather I hope it is a sharing of our common mission to be signs of the Kingdom of God and God’s love here and in the US.

Please pray for us. 

May 2010 immersion group with Bishop Santos

 

On a side note.

The diocese received a grant to create a booklet on Catholic Social Teaching for the base communities. Since no one stepped up to do the work, I began working on it. I passed it on to the director of Caritas so that he could review it. He handed it to our bishop, Monseñor Luis Alfonso Santos, who read it and revised it.  (I still am not good at writing in Spanish.)

To my great satisfaction, he loved it. It will be handed to him next week as part of the diocesan Pastoral Assembly and then will be printed.

It’s a large document with themes for 57 meetings. I pray it may help the Church live out its commitment to be Good News for the Poor.