The start of the year

A letter sent to St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Ames, Iowa, which is the sister parish of the parish of Dulce Nombre de María in Dulce Nombre, Copán, Honduras

As Lent begins, I’d like to send St. Thomas Aquinas parish our heartfelt prayers and thanks for you continuing solidarity with our parish, Dulce Nombre de María. You were especially remembered in our prayers at Mass on the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas.

January is not a very busy month in the parish because many of our parishioners are involved in the coffee harvests, which for many is one of the few ways to earn cash. Some people work their own lands, but many work on the lands of large coffee farmers. Work is hard, especially if it is cold and rainy. The pay is minimal – for a five-gallon bucket of coffee berries, a worker usually gets 30 lempiras, about $1.25; most can harvest about 5 buckets, though a few can harvest up to 8 or 9.

The parish has two manzanas of coffee – about 3.5 acres. (One manzana was purchased with a gift from St Thomas.) We have had three harvests and are awaiting the fourth and final harvest in a week or so. The coffee berries mature at different times and so there are several harvests. More than 400 parishioners came out to help with the harvest. It was great to see such participation. This will help the parish even though coffee prices are low this year.

The parish's coffee land

In February classes begin throughout the country. With the help of St. Thomas 125 students were given partial scholarships in the alternative program Maestro en Casa, in which students study at home and listen to radio programs to prepare themselves for weekend classes. Two of these students will do an accelerated program for two years of primary school, 61 will be studying the equivalent of junior high school, and 62 will be studying high school.

The sacramental life of the parish continues, even during the coffee harvest. There have been a good number of baptisms in several communities and there are an increasing number of sacramental marriages.

On the first Sunday of Lent we expect to have 55 catechumens participate in the Rite of Election, leading up to their baptism at the Easter Vigil.

Pastoral formation begins in earnest this month. This week there is a training session for the leaders of youth groups in the parish, a parish assembly for catechists, and a formation session for Delegates of the Word, those who lead Sunday Celebrations of the Word in their communities since the pastor cannot get around to the fifty or so communities.

The pastor, Padre German Navarro, usually has at least four Masses each Sunday. In addition, he tried to visit each village once every two months for Mass, which usually means two Masses at least five other days. Since feast day celebrations are special occasions for the communities, he often has more. Last Saturday, the feast of Our Lady of Suyapa the patroness of Honduras, there were more than six Masses.

Church in Plan Grande, dedicated to the Virgin of Suyapa

Ash Wednesday Padre will preside at five Masses. Delegates of the Word will receive ashes at these Masses to distribute at Celebrations in their villages.

During Lent, most villages have Stations of the Cross each Friday, often in the streets. On the Friday before Holy Week, we will celebrate a parish-wide celebration of the Stations of the Cross in Dulce Nombre. Since one of the concerns of the diocese is care for creation, we will have an ecological slant to the Stations.

During Holy Week, the parish will send out missionaries, two by two. These parishioners will visit homes in different villages, encouraging people to participate in the life of the church, especially at Easter.

During Lent there will be retreats in each of the eleven sectors of the parish, led by the sisters who live in Dulce Nombre. There will also be a youth retreat on the Tuesday of Holy Week.

In the communities, the faith is sustained by Sunday Celebrations of the Word, visits to the sick especially by the communion ministers, weekly meetings of the base communities, and religious education of children and youth. There are also about 12 active youth groups, one charismatic renewal group, and one married couples group. There are eleven active communion ministers and 14 in formation.

As deacon, I continue many of the formation activities that I have done for years, especially training catechists and working with youth leaders. I also accompany the formation of the current communion ministers and assist in the formation of the new ones. I also assist the pastor in our formation activities with Delegates of the Word and community church councils.

I try to visit communities two or three Sundays a month for a Celebration of the Word with Communion. I also assist at Mass each Sunday, almost always preaching, and assist at a few other Masses during the month. I have baptized a good number of infants and children, most often during Mass but now more often after Mass. I have also interviewed a number of couples in their final interview before marriage.

I also visit the sick, usually bringing them communion. Because there are more than 25 sick or aged home-bound persons in one town, with only one minister, I have begun to visit there once a month, trying to visit five persons each time.

I also try to keep in contact with the coffee association in El Zapote, especially now as they prepare their crop to send coffee to the US. I also am working with a project to bring English classes to children and youth in Plan Grande with a Honduran friend who has an English school in Santa Rosa de Copán.

The parish, as you can see, is going forward, step by step. There are plenty of challenges. The area is poor and so donations and offertory collections are small. St. Thomas’s quarterly donations go a long way to cover basic parish costs.

This January has seen more rain and colder weather. This makes travel really difficult at times. At least once a community called the pastor to tell him that the road was inaccessible. At least once I got stuck in the mud; but people helped me out.

We go forward, seeking to show signs of God’s reign in our midst.

Pray for us, as we pray for you.