The times are difficult but hopeful

Before the pandemic shut down our lives here in Honduras (and in the world at large), my calendar was full. There were training sessions with catechists, parish meetings and formation meetings for delegates of the Word and Communion ministers, Sunday visits to communities to bring the Eucharist, visits to the sick, working with the social ministry coordinators in the aldeas, doing the last interviews with couples getting married, accompanying the pastor to villages for weekday Masses as well as one Mass on Sundays. And more. 

 For the first few months, mostly because of the government travel restrictions, I stayed at home. I did go our several times for funerals, to attend to a sick person, or to get supplies on the days we were allowed to travel (about once every two weeks). I twice accompanied the local municipal workers handing out basic foods and supplies. 

When the restrictions were relaxed and there were protocols for church meetings, I began to preside at the Sunday Celebrations here in Plan Grande, where I live. When I had a safe conduct pass, I went out a bit more for parish ministry, but I didn’t go out on weekends because no one was supposed to travel on those days. When this changed, I began to go to one Mass each Sunday. 

Now there are fewer restrictions, but I still consider it important to be prudent and careful, not trying to fill up my schedule, but going out when needed. I am probably a bit more cautious than I might be – but I am 73 years old and I’m finding my energy is less than even a year ago. 

So what have I been doing? 

For my mental and spiritual health I have been reading, praying, getting to Mass every Sunday. I've taken advantage of several educational opportunities and I'm participating regularly with a small group studying the social teaching of the church (in English) and also with a community organized by Maryknoll reflecting each week on the Gospel (in Spanish). I’ve had Skype sessions with my spiritual director (and should schedule another soon.) I also have had the chance to be with the Dubuque Franciscan Sisters twice; in fact, I spent the evening of the feast of Saint Francis with them. 

In terms of pastoral ministry, I have, as mentioned above, served as deacon at Mass once each Sunday, usually at an afternoon Mass in San Agustín or one of the larger aldeas. Often the pastor has me preach. Several times I have gone out on Sunday mornings to preside at a Celebration of the Word in a community and bring them the Eucharist. Other Sundays, I preside here in the aldea where I live. 

I also served as deacon at the diocesan Chrism Mass at the end of September.

The weekend of October 3 and 4, the pastor took off – a well-deserved vacation. Since the fourth is the feast of St. Francis, the patron of three villages in the parish, as well as a Sunday, the seminarian with us and I had to cover seven celebrations. I covered three on the feast of St. Francis. What a joy to be able to preach on his feast day in communities that I know and cherish. 

I have also made occasional visits to communities to visit the sick, being careful for their health (and mine.) 

I am probably stricter than many in terms of safety and security measures. I also try to take a supply of masks for people when I go anywhere. After an initial error when I castigated someone harshly for not wearing a mask, I realized that if I am really concerned about the people I should not make demands that cannot be met, but rather I need to provide ways for people to respond. So I'm buying and giving out masks.

Catechesis has been curtailed since March but there have been several places where people were prepared for sacraments before the pandemic struck and so we’ve had a few celebrations of the sacraments in various places. 

In San Agustín there were five young people in the catechumenate who would have been baptized at the Easter Vigil. I met with them as well as with an adolescent in a nearby village to do the last Scrutiny and the final preparations for their baptism and first communion. The pastor was going to baptize them at a Mass on October 10 but couldn’t make it and so delegated me for their baptism. It was a time of great joy, which was enhanced by the desire of the young people to be baptized with lots of water! The five from San Agustín received their first communion the next day at Mass in San Agustín and the one from the village waited until Wednesday when the pastor celebrated Mass there. 

This year we’ve had a record number of couples preparing for the sacrament of Matrimony. The pastor has me do the final interview with the couple and two witnesses. Before we did them in Dulce Nombre but, because of the difficulties of travel from the villages, I have done most in the villages. 

It is great to see these couples serious about their faith lives. Some of them have been living together for a time and have children, but there are a number who have not. There also have been three who had not been baptized. I did a special session with them (to supplement what they had received in their villages) and baptized them. There are also couples in two villages who have not followed up. Some of this is due to the difficulties imposed by the curfews and the closure of government offices. (In Honduras, couples have to be married civilly before they can receive the sacrament of matrimony.) But I’m hoping that we can facilitate their marriages in the next few months. 

A few times I have helped respond to the physical needs of people in the parish. The parish car to take the sick to clinics or hospitals in Santa Rosa (between 45 and 90 minutes) or San Pedro Sula (3 hours away) has been busy, taking two or more trips a week. We have a very attentive driver and so I don’t need to worry about this aspect. 

I have taken supplies once to a family at the suggestion of someone in the aldea, but often the people are finding ways to help others. A family lost their home in a landslide (but escaped safely); the local community has responded and they are constructing a new house in a safer place. 

There have been at least two very serious cases of medical need of two children for medical procedures. The costs are beyond the capability of the families – one was for close to $1000. The people often have been able to get some support from the municipal authorities as well as from the local village church community; thanks to a parish Solidarity Fund, we have been able to provide what was lacking and the children have been attended to. 

 Violence continues in the villages, often due to alcohol or substance abuse or mental illness. I don’t know all the cases and I am almost sure that there has been an increase of domestic violence and sexual abuse. 

We have attended to the needs of one extended family. A woman was brutally killed and left the family with various degrees of trauma. I went and talked with them and then arranged to bring two psychologists from the diocesan office of Caritas to meet with them. The situation worsened with the sudden death of the mother of the woman who was killed. Four adults, three adolescents, and five children have been affected. The psychologists have been able to meet three times with the adults and one of the adolescents. They also met briefly with some of the children. This has been good for the people involved, though some follow up will be needed. 

But this is only the tip of the iceberg of the trauma caused by violence and domestic abuse. We really need to find ways to support people as well as to work for the prevention of violence and abuse. We really need psychological attention at least once a week in the parish as well as formation in dealing with conflict and violence and the prevention of domestic violence and sexual abuse.

Work continues in the parish center with the re-modeling of the center to make it a better place for our many meetings for formation of pastoral workers. Thanks to a donation from someone at St. Thomas Aquinas, we are able to continue this work. 

There has also been continuing work on repairing and repainting the church, much of this financed by fund-raising activities in the parish, including the sale of food on Sunday evenings. This was going strong before the pandemic struck, but in the past few weeks the sale of food continues, but mostly as "carry-out". 

There is one other project, which I wrote about recently – murals for the apse of the church. An artist has been working for almost four weeks and the work is astounding. At the center of the apse will be an image of Mary, based on a Russian icon. 

Beside here will be a few houses and scenes from daily life to show how Mary is with the people and was rooted in the daily life of the poor where she lived. 

We also plan to have four images in the area below the apse. In the center we will have images of two Latin American saints – Saint Rose of Lima (the patroness of our diocese) and Saint Oscar Romero (the martyred archbishop of San Salvador). On the left, we plan an image of the pastor who built the church in Dulce Nombre, Padre Juan Genarro, an Italian missionary. On the left, we plan an image of Saint Lawrence, the martyred deacon who served the poor. The pastor wants this because we are the first parish in our diocese with a permanent deacon (me). I have received offers of assistance from three persons in the US whom I know – without asking for help. 

In the meantime, we need to think about how we can slowly expand our ministry in the parish. It will need to be done carefully, with concern for health. I think that our ministry must be more personal and relational, not focused on large events with lots of people. The pastor and I have spoken about a different way of doing mission – having pastoral work reach out to people where they live, visiting them in their homes. I also think we need to find ways to encourage a spirituality within the families, where the parents have a role in the religious formation of their children. Even catechesis may need to be re-thought – not gathering lots of children together in one place, but having smaller groupings of children in neighborhoods. (This seems to be happening in at least one village.) In addition, this may be an opportune time to renew the base communities, some of which had become large (30 people or more) and were more like celebrations than meetings of a community which could share faith and concerns about daily life. I hope we can promote smaller communities of four or five families.

Thus, we go forward, in the midst of many difficulties, but with hope – and with the determination to be signs of life and love.