Update on the parish of Dulce Nombre

Honduras has been on a curfew and lock down since March 16. It has gone through various phases – at first only once a week; then, once every two weeks; now, once every ten days (depending on the last number of your official ID).

Schools are closed, although in some places teachers come out once a week with tasks for the kids. This has created major challenges since most people don’t have internet access. Even having students do work at home can be a challenge, since there are many parents who have had limited formal education. A neighbor has been doing school work with some kids and I am delighted to hear her having the kids work on their letters.

Some older young people have limited access to smart phones and a very few have tablets or computers. One I saw a young man working on his high school classes at home. I think he was in one of the Maestro en Casa schools that St. Thomas has helped fund.

There has been no public transportation nor even taxi service in the cities and towns until very recently; now there is very limited public transport (between the major cities). Transport by private vehicle is limited. Until two weeks ago, there was to be no circulation of cars on Saturdays and Sundays and only once every two weeks depending on your ID number.

This, of course, has affected pastoral work in the parish. People cannot get out.

The government has put major limits on public assemblies and so, for several months, it was not permitted to have public Masses or Celebrations of the Word. Some people still did have them, though I think this was imprudent, especially since there was little adherence to health safety protocols. Except for a few funeral services I did not go out.

I did go out twice with the local government efforts to bring some basic foodstuffs to the communities.

The parish has assisted some families that still have needs for food and basic supplies. Also, the parish has been distributing corn and beans to families in need. (For years people have donated corn and beans to the parish to help in feeding people who come for parish formation activities, as well as for those in need. Since there are no parish meetings, there are moe basic grains available for those in need.

In June the bishops’ conference put out protocols for public Masses and so I began to participate in the Sunday Celebrations of the Word here in Plan Grande, partly because they were trying to practice some safety measures. Soon, I found out that though use of masks was mandated by the government (and the church), some people didn’t have masks, even though the government claims to have distributed several million masks. I decided to purchase several hundred masks to have available for folks.

Masses in the main church in Dulce Nombre have sometimes been broadcast over Facebook. In other communities, some people have sought out Masses on the television from one or two Catholic stations. The pastor has gone out to several communities on Sundays for Mass.

Protocols on the door of the main church in Dulce Nombre.

Religious formation has been restricted because of the difficulties of observing basic safety measures, especially with kids. However, we are beginning to open up the possibility of receiving the sacraments for those who had almost completed the formation. This particularly is affecting a good number of couples (20 or more) who had been in the middle of their pre-marriage classes. I originally had more than six interviews of couples scheduled for the first week of the curfew. They have, been postponed.

I have met with catechists in one major town where there are six catechumens who were preparing for baptism at the Easter Vigil. I hope to be able to meet with other catechists to see what we can do. I also started a Facebook group for catechists to try to do a little formation on line.

One of my concerns is that we need to provide materials and assistance for families. I’m planning to prepare a book on the Rosary to promote praying the Rosary in families, especially in the month of October.

In July I got letters from three of the local mayors to ease travelling around. Then I got a safe-conduct pass from the government, in my role as a member of the clergy. I then began to go out to several communities for the last pre-marriage interviews as well as for some formation on baptism or communion for those who had not received these sacraments. I also have gone out twice for baptisms.

I also assisted at the wedding of five couples in a distant village.

Several times I have gone out to visit people in difficult situations. Twice I arranged to deliver medicine. Several times I’ve visited the sick. And then there are the funerals. Friday, the pastor asked me to go to a funeral of a two month old infant; it was very difficult since the mother was severely traumatized.

I’ve also gone out a few times just to listen to some people who need accompaniment. In one case I arranged for a phone visit of the troubled person with a psychologist from the diocesan Caritas office. Yesterday I went out and talked to members of a family who have experienced a traumatic killing of a woman. I will be trying to talk with some folks to see what can be done to get them some professional help. The need for professional psychological help is becoming ever more apparent. We need to think of what can be done to provide places where people can be listened to and begin a process of healing.

The health situation continues to be problematic. The Honduran health system was extremely poor before the pandemic, but it has been stretched to its limits. Even the Secretariat of Health speaks about a broken system. This is exacerbated by ineptitude and inefficiency on the part of the government and the failure to pass on reliable information. The number of tests is limited and there seems to be some problems (including the disappearance of some thousands of tests.) And then there is the corruption. Millions of dollars of aid have supposedly been given to Honduras; field hospitals and respirators have supposedly been purchased, but some of them have not been delivered, others are not the right equipment or are defective; the prices paid have been extremely high in some cases, which leads many of us to suspect that there is wide-spread corruption. It has gotten so bad that people have taken to writing on the streets: “Where’s the money? We demand it.”

The pandemic has mostly affected the large cities and the north coast. The drastic measures have perhaps slowed the spread to other areas, though there are a good number of cases in the department of Copan where I lived, especially in the cities of La Entrada, Copán Ruinas, Cucuyagua, and Santa Rosa de Copán. There are cases in the main town of the parish, Dulce Nombre de Copán, as well as in one aldea.

But many people don’t seem to see that this is a serious problem, going about without masks. A further problem is the stigmatization of those who are COVID-19 positive. To avoid this, some people have hidden the fact that family members have tested positive.

In the midst of this the pastor has had people working on the church grounds in Dulce Nombre, repainting the church, repairing some structures, and more. We hope to have a muralist paint the apse of the church when he can get here from Tegucigalpa.

Where so de go from here? We're still trying to find our way.

I’ll try to write more on this in a week or two.

In the meantime, let us keep each other in prayer.