September 2020

This September has been hotter than usual and the rains have been rather intense. 

The dirt roads are often hazardous – with potholes and trenches running across the roads. In a few places there have been small landslides and in one place the road is sinking, because of the rains. But the month has been full of joys and sorrows for the people of our parish.

FEAST DAY 

September 12 is the parish feast – Dulce Nombre de María. The pastor asked me to preach and so I prepared a homily. But in the morning, thanks to Terrence Moran, I came across a poem for the feast in English by Dom Pedro Casadáliga, a retired Brazilian bishop who recently died. I was able to find a Spanish version and concluded my homily with the poem. Here’s the English version: 

By Saying Your Name, Mary 

    -Pedro Casaldaliga  

By saying your name, Mary, 

We say that Poverty 

Has drawn the attention of God’s eyes. 

By saying your name, Mary, 

We say that the Promise 

Knows what a mother’s milk tastes like. 

 By saying your name, Mary, 

We say that our flesh 

Clothes the silence of the Word. 

By saying your name, Mary, 

We say that the Kingdom comes 

Walking alongside History. 

 By saying your name, Mary 

We say that we are with the Cross 

And with the flames of the Spirit. 

 By saying your name, Mary, 

We say that every name 

Can be full of Grace. 

 By saying your name, Mary, 

We say that every death 

Can also be His Passion. 

 By saying your name, 

Mary, We say that His All 

Is the cause of Our Joy. 

TRAUMA 

    I mentioned in a previous post to a tragic and brutal death of a young woman and then the death of her mother. At the instigation of the pastor, I went to visit the families to see what was needed. 

    The pain and the trauma are deep and so I contacted the diocesan Caritas office and arranged for two psychologists to come. 

    The first visit was to the village of the woman who was killed where the psychologist met individually with about ten family members in the church. Since the village is more than 90 minutes from the Caritas office in Santa Rosa, we arranged the second sessions in the Dulce Nombre parish center. A driver in the parish pick up for medical needs went to the community to pick up the people and bring them to Dulce Nombre, while I went to Santa Rosa to pick up the psychologists. The psychologists will come one more time to see the people. 

     For years I have been concerned about the mental health and trauma problems in our parish. The violence as well a domestic abuse leave deep scars in many people. I am glad that we were able to respond to this one family, but the needs remain. Perhaps we need to think about finding psychologists to come on a regular basis. 

 SACRAMENTS 

     Because of the pandemic, we have generally suspended religious formation classes in the rural aldeas. But there were some people who were prepared for the sacraments before the shut-down. I had about five interview sessions arranged for couples in one aldea who had completed their marriage preparation. But a few days after we arranged the meetings, the country closed down all travel. I am hoping to get back to them this coming Sunday to arrange the interviews, which I will do in their village. There are other couples who have been calling me to arrange the interviews. It is really encouraging to see these young people seeking the sacrament. 

    There were about 14 people in the catechumenate who would have been baptized at the Easter Vigil. I did get to meet with six of them and we are arranging their baptism and first communion for October 10. I will be trying to contact some of the others to see if they are prepared and still want to be baptized.

    Last Saturday, the diocese celebrated the Chrism Mass, which is usually scheduled in Holy Week, most often on Holy Thursday morning. But this year there was no travel at that time. The celebration was held in a large space with just the priests and a few others present. I served as deacon. 

GETTING AROUND 

     I have been getting out a bit more. Two Sundays I went to distant villages to preside at a Celebration of the Word with Communion. Next Sunday, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, I’ll be going out to three places – two of them have St. Francis as their patron. The pastor is away and so I am delegated to help them celebrate their feast day in a solemn way. 

     The regulations for circulation have become a little less strict. Now we can circulate and get to the banks once every five days. Before it was once every two weeks and then, more recently, once every ten days. I do have a safe conduct pass, arranged for clergy in the country but I try not to abuse the privilege for personal travel. 

     Getting around means more wear on the car. I have had two problems which were fixed with a minimum of time and money – a starter that wasn’t working and the ball bearings in one wheel. However, I may soon have access to a new pick up because of an anonymous donation. 

CHURCH MURAL 

 The church in Dulce Nombre is being repaired. The interior has been painted and the exterior will be repainted sometime in the next year. Much of the funding for this has come from the parish itself. 

     As we looked at the interior of the church, I noted the apse of the church, which is rounded in the Romanesque style. I thought we might have a mural painted there. 

    Well, we are beginning this process now. A muralist came about ten days ago and will begin painting soon. I will be writing about this in a separate blog post – with pictures. This is exciting. Without asking, I’ve had three people promise donations to cover the costs. 

THE FUTURE 

    The future is very uncertain. One concern of some people is whether people will come back to church when the restrictions are lessened. Now we are supposed to have celebrations with limited attendance, with people using masks and observing other health protocols. Sad to say, many rural communities are not doing this. This bothers me and I will occasionally say something; but I try to always have a supply of masks to give out to people. 

     I am not sure why people are so resistant to the health protocols. For some, I think they don’t realize the seriousness of the pandemic. We’ve been largely spared in our parish, but who knows the future. For some, they just don’t want to be bothered. Others just don’t have masks. 

    Talking with the pastor, we are concerned about those who feel left out and so we have to think about ways of reaching out to them, perhaps encouraging the lay pastoral workers in the aldeas to visit homes. I have been encouraging people to pray the rosary in October in their homes – or with their close neighbors. Even if they do this only once a week, it is a way to begin to foster a spirituality that is rooted in the family. 

    The danger is to think that we can return to the pre-pandemic church, with large meetings, big processions, and more. I think what we need to nurture is a spirituality of the church lived out in the families and in small groups. We will thus need to get out of the church buildings and not depend on old structures to help people live as followers of Christ. 

    There are many challenges. I pray that I may be open to them and to God’s call to be with the people.