July has been busy - prison, rains, and psychologists

We're only in the first week of July and it's been busy.

And rainy. 

  

JAIL 

July began with a visit to the Santa Rosa jail. 

No, I wasn’t incarcerated. The parish had been invited to make a visit to the jail as we’d done in previous years. Before the pandemic, parishes would visit the jail about once a year, bringing a meal and celebrating the Eucharist with the incarcerated. But since March 2020, there have been no visits. So, the pastor mobilized us for the visit, their first for over a year.

Currently, there are more than 650 persons in the jail, only 26 are women. Many are waiting sentencing. Pre-trial detention is not uncommon, sometimes for extended periods.

So, several groups of women in the parish were mobilized for the meal on July 1 – more than 1500 tamales, 4000 tortillas, and arroz con pollo - rice (100 pounds) with chicken, as well as four jugs of juice.

The pastor, Padre German, the associate pastor, Fr. Fernando, three women from the parish, and I went in four trucks, full of food, to the prison. For a number of reasons, we arrived late and so we started distributing the food before Mass. During the distribution, some of us went and visited with the women. 

 Mass was well-attended with hearty singing. Father Fernando gave good sermon that spoke to the condition of the prisoners.

A TRIP TO SAN PEDRO 

 On Saturday, July 3, I went to the San Pedro airport to meet two Dubuque Franciscan Sisters returning from the US. Sister Pat had been there for a short visit. Sister Katy had been there for more than a year, as part of her formation. She finished her novitiate there and made her first profession of vows on June 15.

It was great to see them and get a chance to talk with them about many things. There are now four Dubuque Franciscan Sisters in Honduras.

I began the trip with 9,999 kilometers on my odometer. That's since December 2020. The average per month is about 886 miles, with just a few trips outside the parish. 

PSYCHOLOGICAL HELP 

This week, the parish is taking advantage of an offer by the diocesan CARITAS office, which has sent us two young psychologists to visit with people in the parish. After two hurricanes, with the continuing pandemic, and with cases of domestic abuse and some killings, there is a real need to help people work through the trauma and disruption of life. We’ve arranged for the two psychologists to visit five locations where they will be seeing people. 

Monday, they were in Dulce Nombre, Tuesday in San Agustín, today here in Plan Grande. It will be interesting to see how this goes since the people do not have much experience with psychological counseling and often look on it as only for the “crazy.” 

It was good, though, to see that one rural village sent people for seven sessions. I gave them ride to and from San Agustín, with a full truck (since many brought children.)

My concern is what type of follow up is needed and how can we see to it. I would really like to be able to find a psychologist to come out to the parish for one or two days per week. At the very least, I hope we can find a way to get psychological assistance to the people who need it. 

ONGOING AND UPCOMING

The rainy season is here.

During this part of the rainy season, it is often sunny and hot during the day followed by heavy rains in the afternoons and evenings. Because of the precarious nature of the soils, especially after last year’s hurricanes, there have been a few small landslides.

I am concerned that we may have major problems if there are severe hurricanes later this year. I am hoping to meet with the village coordinators of social ministry and we’ll try to work on ways to prepare our communities for any such emergencies. 

We are slowly opening up and even beginning to work on religious formation for confirmation. There have been two training sessions for catechists for confirmation. We want to help them see their ministry as more than just giving classes. We hope they see the importance of forming the young people and also helping the young people develop an ongoing commitment to live their faith. We also hope that some of them form youth group or youth base communities.

I will also be having new meetings with the other catechists. I met with most of them in small groups a few months ago, mostly in the sectors of the parish. We may have some larger meetings, in zones, but being very careful in light of the continuing presence of COVID. 

COVID-19 is still among us and there have been cases in several rural villages. Masks and gel are increasingly important. I wear a mask, even though I am completely vaccinated, mostly to give good example to the people. I have noted to them that I am vaccinated but I wear the mask for their health and safety, just in case.

THE PARISH CENTER 

The parish is continuing the work in the main parish church and in the parish center – including the construction of a new area for formation. The church is almost completely finished, except for the possible installation of a few stained-glass windows. Most recently tow statues of angels were put in place as the base for the new main altar.

The new auditorium is in progress. The roof is finished but a concrete floor has to be laid.

We are planning to have a major celebration on September 12, the parish’s feast day. The main church has never been consecrated and so the bishop will be coming to consecrate the church. There will also be a blessing of the new formation area which will be named “Auditorio Santo Tomás de Aquino,” St. Thomas Aquinas auditorium, to recall the assistance of our sister parish, Saint Thomas Aquinas in Ames, Iowa. We hope that some people can come from St. Thomas to celebrate with us.

PERSONALLY

I continue going to rural communities on Sunday mornings for Celebrations of the Word with Communion. I usually go to a Mass in the afternoon. I often am expected to preach - giving the priests a break.

I will trying to do more visits to the sick in rural villages where there are no communion ministers nearby. It is a very important part of my ministry and one which I value.