The confirmation rush begins - and more news

Wednesday, January 26, I met with the catechists of confirmation to prepare for confirmations next month, from February 10 to 12. There were about thirty catechists from about 36 towns and villages in the parish who have been preparing about 425 for confirmation. We were preparing the Masses in five different places as well as confessions in six places. I’ll be accompanying them in the next two weeks.

Last Saturday, we had the first round of confessions in the main church in Dulce Nombre. There were about 56 confirmation candidates and some adult sponsors who came; even though there was only one priest, the confessions were finished in about three hours. Among those to be confirmed there were 28 who had not made their first communion. They received the Eucharist for the first time at the Mass at the end of confessions.

The pastor also asked me to baptize a couple and their child. I had recently done the final pre-marriage interview with them and I felt privileged to baptize them last Saturday, while the pastor was finishing up confessions. The couple also received their first communion at the Mass.

What a day for sacraments – baptisms, confessions, and first communions.

January has been a bit different this year. Father Kyle Digmann, the pastor of our sister parish, St. Thomas Aquinas in Ames, Iowa, came for a short visit. He had Mass in two communities, including one of the poorest and most distant, Debajiados. He concelebrated at two of the Sunday Masses and presided at the Mass to dedicate a new meeting space in the parish center, named after St. Thomas Aquinas (since much of the funding came from a donation from St. Thomas). We made a quick trip to the Mayan ruins in Copán Ruinas, about 80 minutes from my house. He had a chance to meet some members of the association that exports El Zapote Coffee to Ames. He even helped a short time with the harvest in the parish coffee field. It was all too short. I hope he and others from St. Thomas will visit in the near future.

Since November people have been harvesting coffee throughout the parish. This will continue until February in most places, though a few who have fields at higher elevations will be harvesting until March.

This year the coffee prices are better than I remember. That means that some harvesters are getting significantly more than last year. Last year they got 30 lempiras (about $1.22 for a five gallon bucket of coffee cherries)’ now some are getting between 40 and 50 lempiras.

But the costs have gone up. Some have told me that in some cases a bag of fertilizer costs about twice as much as a few months ago. We’ll see how this leaves the small coffee producers.

My pastoral work has been a little limited these past months. I try not to schedule many formation meetings in January, since the coffee harvest is one of the few ways people in the countryside can earn cash.

There was a parish assembly to do some planning for the year and there will be two small groups working on parish organization and evangelization in the next few days. 

For a number of reasons, exacerbated by the pandemic, the local community church councils have fallen apart in a good number of places; we hope to help revive them, but with an organization more participative than in the past. We also hope to revive the base communities and pastoral work in the towns and villages.

I have continued my custom to go on most Sunday mornings to various villages for Celebrations of the Word with Communion. Yesterday I went to Granadillal and next Sunday I hope to get to visit San Antonio El Alto; I plan to visit the sick after the celebration since they don’t have a communion minister to bring the eucharist to the sick.

One of the customs here is to have prayers in people’s homes on the night after a death, for nine days after the burial, and often for nine days a year after the burial. I was invited to two end of the nine days (novenario) here in Plan Grande. I also celebrated a funeral of an older woman here. 

Sunday a week ago, the pastor came for the funeral of a 97 year old man who is sort of the patriarch of the village, with many children (as well as grandchildren and great grandchildren) including two former mayors. I was also asked to be at the vigil on the night before the funeral. I had visited Don Máximo many times, once just before his death. But a local communion minister regularly brought him Communion, which sustained him. He will be missed.

I had two interviews of two couples who will be getting married. I have another one scheduled for February. I find it very hopeful that there are young people who are getting married in the church. Many have already been living together and have kids. They finally decide for one reason or another to get married. One of the more interesting cases is a couple who weren’t even baptized.

I hope there will be even more. The stability that may come from sacramental marriage can be a real blessing for families. this is important for these families, for our parish, and for Honduras.

Other more mundane concerns have taken up time.

I took the new parish truck for its 20,000 kilometer checkup. In less than 14 months I’ve driven more than 20,000 kilometers, mostly in the parish (though there were a few trips to San Pedro Sula). I also had to take another car to the mechanic in Santa Rosa and ended up buying a new battery.

I have reviewed scholarship applications for 159 young people for an alternative program for the equivalent of junior and high school. The students listen to radio programs, have home work in books, and get together with teachers about once a week. Help from St. Thomas Aquinas helps pay for half of the costs of books.

We had a clergy meeting which I attended. We have a deanery meeting in early February.

Such is life in the parish. I’ll try to offer a more reflective blog post after the confirmations are over.

I have not included any reflection at this time on the political situation in Honduras. The country's first woman president was sworn in at the National Stadium in Tegucigalpa in front of an enthusiastic crowd. Her inaugural speech was filled with hopeful signs of a new Honduras. Yet the National Congress is in disarray. Pray that this may be resolved in a way that furthers the good of the people and helps put an end to corruption and impunity.

I'll try to write more about this later.

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Thanks to Elias for the photos of the baptism and first communion. They were published on the facebook page of the parish.

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.

The year at Dulce Nombre de Maria: challenges and signs of hope.

I began to write this post on January 28, the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas to thank the parish of St. Thomas Aquinas in Ames, Iowa, for their continued support of our parish, Dulce Nombre de María. The day before our pastor had told me to send them his profound thanks for all that they have shared with us. This post is an expanded version, with photos, of a letter I sent to St. Thomas Aquinas parish.

On the morning of January 28, at 7:05 am, I got a phone call from a communion minister in a nearby village. He greeted me on the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas and expressed his gratitude for STA’s support of the parish. He was going to the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in the church in his village (which they do every Thursday for several hours) and told me that they would be praying for St. Thomas Aquinas Church during the day. I was moved by his call which showed me how much the people here appreciate the solidarity of St. Thomas.

That afternoon I went out to Mass in a remote village, getting there with no trouble. During the Mass, Padre German prayed for St. Thomas. Mass started late and rains began. The trip back home was hazardous; there were a few slippery hills where I wondered if I would get out. But I got home with no scrapes on me or the new truck; going over this narrow road by a landslide was one of the easier parts of the trip.

Today I want to take remembering the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas as an opportunity to review the past year. 

It has been a difficult year throughout the world and especially here. Honduras has been plagued in recent years by poverty, corruption, and a broken infrastructure, especially in the areas of health and education.

Then the pandemic hit. Honduras went on almost complete lockdown, which actually may have helped prevent the spread of the virus. But the medical system was overwhelmed and the efforts to bring in temporary hospitals and treatment equipment have been plagued by corruption and inefficiency.

For me, an introvert, this has been a time for reading, praying, and almost a retreat. I have also taken advantage of several on-line education programs, including a course on Intrafamiliar Abuse offered by CEPROME, which works on abuse prevention, especially in the church. CEPROME also provided a virtual study week on abuse for all the clergy of Honduras. Thank God for a fairly decent internet connection.

I also used the time for a lot of reading and a fair amount of baking bread. 

I am also blessed because a friend here in Plan Grande has a tomato project and even delivers the beef-steak sized tomatoes. This makes cooking and shopping much easier.

Our parish has not suffered from COVID-19 as much as the major metropolitan areas. There have been cases in several of the municipal centers and some villages – with several deaths. But the pandemic has disrupted life – and made life more difficult for many of the poorest.

During the pandemic, the pastor and I helped one municipality distribute supplies to the needy on two occasions. We went along to help assure that the aid was distributed to those most in need and was not used for political purposes (which is a great danger here, especially since elections are being held this year.)

In regard to pastoral work, we have tried to minister to the parish within the limits of the restrictions as well as in light of the need to adhere to health safeguards.

The pastor and a seminarian (ordained a deacon in December) went around to a number of places. I restricted my travels a bit more (now that I’m 73 years old), but found myself involved in pre-marriage interviews, baptisms, funerals, and more. I have presided at a good number of funerals, five here in Plan Grande. I also did pre-marriage interviews and helped in the baptismal preparation of three persons who were going to be married. There also have been a number of baptisms, not only of children but also of several adults preparing for baptism.

When the bishops conference released guidelines for public worship, I presided at Sunday morning Celebrations of the Word with Communion in the church here in Plan Grande and went out a bit more, though I adhered to travel restrictions which limited use of vehicles to certain days. When I got a safe-conduct pass, I went out a bit more and have visited a number of villages for Sunday morning celebrations.

I haven't traveled much outside of the department of Copán where I live, but the pastor and I did go to the ordination of three transitional deacons fore our diocese. 

Deacon Fernando's ordination in Dulce Nombre

Enroute to one ordination in Santa Bárbara we saw how Hurricane Iota devastated parts of that department, especially along the river Ulua.

In the midst of this, with the help of donations from St. Thomas as well as fund-raising efforts of parishioners, the parish was able to avoid laying off any of its few employees, notably the secretary and cooks. The parish was also able to continue the rehabilitation of the church in Dulce Nombre, mostly from donations of parishioners and the fund-raising efforts of some women in Dulce Nombre, selling pupusas, pasteles, and other food.

Thanks to a few other independent donations, the parish was also able to contract an artist to paint an impressive mural in the apse of the church. He will begin painting murals in the side chapels this month. 

This month the parish will start a major effort to prepare spaces in the parish center in Dulce Nombre for parish-wide meetings for formation of parish leaders, thanks to a very generous donation in the past.

The St. Thomas Aquinas parish support of the distance learning education program of Maestro en Casa has enabled many junior high and high school students to study, even during the pandemic. I remember visiting a home while we distributed provision and seeing a young man working on his homework. This year the scholarships will help about 160 young people to continue their education.

In the midst of all this, we had to attend to the parish coffee fields. We have had volunteers come out and do pruning and weeding. We have had several days when parishioners came out to harvest the coffee. A few weeks ago, more than 160 came out on a Monday and 60 more the next day and harvested more than 800 five gallon containers of coffee beans. 

As if the pandemic wasn’t enough, Honduras was buffeted by two hurricanes in October and November. Much of the devastation, especially from the first hurricane, affected the north coast, especially around the industrial center of the country in San Pedro Sula.

The parish was also affected somewhat by the first hurricane, Eta. Yet we experienced the brutal force of the second hurricane, Iota, with landslides, collapse of soils, and fallen trees. The ground was already saturated because of more rain than usual this year. The heavy rains and winds led to the isolation of many villages because of impassible roads and fallen bridges, some for almost two weeks. The rains, fallen trees, and mudslides also contributed to the breakdown of water systems in some areas as well as lack of access to electricity. Some roads are still hazardous when it rains.

But the worst damages from Hurricane Iota were to houses in several villages of the parish, as well as to the loss of farmland and coffee fields. More than 180 families in the parish were affected. Some have had to abandon their homes; others are living in hazardous areas where major storms could provoke more  landslides and destruction of houses.

At least one village will probably need to be relocated and some people in other areas will have to move to more secure places in or near their villages.

some of the destruction in San Marcos Pavas

Yet in the midst of this we have seen many persons respond to the needs of others, even though they are themselves poor. People have collected food stuffs, shared beans and corn with the parish to distribute, and even gone out to take provisions and clothing to villages. Migrants from here in the US and Spain have sent money to help respond to the needs of those affected by the hurricanes. We have also received aid from other parts of the diocese and even from some people in Tegucigalpa.

This coming year presents us with many challenges. How will we safely resume formation of pastoral workers in the villages? How will we help restructure the local faith communities, including a revival of base communities? How will we help communities that need to rebuild? How will we accompany the people as they deal with loss of houses and farmland, with seriously damaged water systems, with roads in terrible condition? How will we be present in the major health crisis of COVID-19, with hospitals overwhelmed.? How can we help assure that the vaccines, when they arrive, are distributed to those most in need and not used by politicians to garner votes in this year’s elections? How will we serve those people who are so desperate that they are thinking of migrating? 

We have received some financial assistance to help people rebuild, some from St. Thomas and some from my personal friends. 

We are doing some planning to work on restructuring the base communities in the parish as well as the work of the catechists. This coming week I’ll begin visiting catechists in the ten rural sectors of the parish.

We have work to do. But with the help of God, of the members of the parish, and of the generous friends of the parish, especially the parish of St. Thomas Aquinas in Ames, Iowa, we are encouraged in our efforts.

This year we also have the help of a seminarian, Melvin, in his year of pastoral practice as well as the transitional deacon, Fernando, for at least a few months - if not more.

On behalf of the parish, I want thank all whose who support us. We are grateful and I want to assure you that we pray for you.

May God continue to bless you. Let us pray for each other and support each other in loving solidarity.

Message to St. Thomas from Dulce Nombre

This weekend, October 12-13, I spoke at the end of all the Masses at St. Thomas Aquinas in Ames, Iowa, bringing greetings from our parish of Dulce Nombre de María in Honduras. Here are the notes for my remarks.

My name is John Donaghy, Juancito to the people I work with in the Honduran parish of Dulce Nombre de María, the sister parish of St. Thomas.

I have been in Honduras since 2007 and was ordained a deacon in 2016. It is opportune that I am with you here in October, the extraordinary month of mission.

This Sunday fifty parishioners will be going on a week-long mission to another parish in the diocese, without money and without cell phone, which Is probably harder. I am on mission to you, but without the austerity of my fellow parishioners.

I bring you greetings from our parish and, like the Samaritan leper, I want to share our thanks for your continuing prayers and solidarity.

We live in the second poorest country in the Americas, with 68% poverty, and 44% extreme poverty – “a land beaten down by corruption, impunity, drug-trafficking, and intense poverty,” as our pastor, Padre German Navarro, writes.

The parish has a strong sense of mission – with more than forty rural villages, which our pastor, visits at least once every two months.

Much of the parish’s pastoral work is done by the people. Every weekend Padre German has at least five Masses, but the other communities have celebrations of the Word, led by delegates of the Word. Where these is a Communion minister they have Communion. There are 28 in the parish.

Several villages have youth groups, but almost all have religious education, led by catechists from their village. In August we celebrated almost 200 confirmations in three different locations in the parish.

Your generosity helps us subsidize the costs of forming these leaders.

The area is poor without easy access to education and decent health care. The partial scholarships provided for about 100 middle and high school students helps, but the needs are great. This year one initiative has been an English class for 19 grade school kids in the village where I live – with your help.

The pickup bought with your donation helps us provide lower cost transportation for medical patients and emergencies. A Kansas-city based project brings medical brigades twice a year (and I try to accompany them).

We have our share of other social ills – farmers who get little for their crops, corruption and misuse of funds, rising costs of living, clinics without medicine, heat and drought, deforestation and contamination of water sources, among others. The coffee project which STA helped start is growing stronger. (Drink more El Zapote coffee!)

In the parish our village-based social ministry seeks to respond, by visiting the sick, collecting aid for the sick, the poor, and medical emergencies. About sixteen villages also participated this past month in planting trees around the communities’ water sources.

There is much more to share with you in terms of the pastoral work of our parishioners, as well as their needs. STA has helped in some very generous ways to help our formation of leaders, as well as to respond to needs. Thank you.

If you want to know more, I will be sharing here at STA at 7 pm on Monday night. But I also want to share our pastor’s invitation for you to come and see, “a land soaked with sorrow and tears, but also with tenacious sweat; marked by the footprints of death but also with the firm footsteps of Christ crucified and risen,” I can assure you that you will find a people who will welcome you with the love that casts out fear.