So called gang truce in Honduras - more thoughts

There’s an interesting article on Bishop Romulo Emiliani in ACI Prensa (accessible here in Spanish)on what many are calling a truce between the two major gangs in Honduras.

Bishop Emiliani said, “they have made a declaration of principles for reconciliation, with God, the society and the government; both gangs have concurred on this, without speaking with each other.”

Many commentators have spoken of a truce that included no crimes, no violence, and no extortion. I was skeptical about the promise of no extortions, which I had not heard. Up to this point, that gangs have been demanding “war taxes” or what we might call “protection money” from taxi drivers, bus companies, small businesses.

But,as Bishop Emiliani notes, one gang leader promised no crimes against the civilian population and the other said no more extortions.

It is a long process, which, according to the bishop, could last decades. He called it a process of “iluminación” – illumination, based in the desire of the gang members to stop the suffering of their children.”

What I heard in the statements of the gang leaders was a concern that there are no jobs, there is no real commitment to rehabilitation in the jails, there is discrimination against gang members, there are cases where the police violate their right and even, some say, kill gang members without cause. They want their children to have real jobs, real opportunities.

It is thus a process which needs not only dialogue and reconciliation between the gangs as well as between the gangs and society; it needs the involvement of the government, which, according to Bishop Emiliani, is participating in the process very timidly.

There is hope – but it’s a long journey.

Meanwhile, violence continues and people suffer the effects of structural poverty.

Gang truce in Honduras - first thoughts

Yesterday, in a prison in San Pedro Sula, representatives of the two major gangs in Honduras announced that they were seeking a truce between them. One of the leaders promised “Zero violence,” but another leader stated, “"We're willing to work to lower the violence, but we need everyone to be on board, because we're not willing to be the only ones."  

This is good news, if it holds. A lot will depend not only on the actions of the two gangs but on the willingness of the wider society and the Honduran government to make major changes. More on this in a later blog entry.

San Pedro Sula is the city with the highest percentage of murders in the world and Honduras is one of the world’s most violent countries.

Where I am in western Honduras, we don’t see much gang activity, but the gangs are active in the major cities and on the north coast. To finance their wars they demand “war taxes” – protection money – from businesses, as well as bus and taxi drivers.

Central to this process was Monseñor Romulo Emiliani, the auxiliary bishop of San Pedro Sula. Adam Blackwell, a Canadian from the Organization of American States who has been involved in the gang truce in El Salvador, was also instrumental to arriving at an agreement.

Monseñor Emiliani, a Claretian from Panama, has been a major force in the church’s Prison Ministry throughout the country.

Monseñor Romulo Emiliani, August 2012

Last March, during a bloody prison riot in San Pedro Sula, he negotiated an end to the crisis. He assured the prisoners that the police would not try to end in by a violent attack. Though about 17 were killed in the riot, more deaths were prevented.

Last August at a meeting in Santa Rosa of the prison ministry in northern and western Honduras, he spoke of his trepidation when he entered the prison three times; in one sense, he did not know if he would come out alive.

I was impressed by his courage and his willingness to take risks. It became clear that he loves the prisoners, though he is realistic about the situation.

As he said in an interview in El Heraldo, “On the human level I’m not very optimistic, but seeing everything from the vantage point of faith, there is where one can maintain hope, and where God can intervene.”

There was a truce between the two gangs in 2005, but it only lasted two months.

I have a little more hope now, especially because Monseñor Emiliani is involved, a person of faith, committed to prisoners, who has gained their confidence by his courageous initiatives on their behalf.

In this situation we can pressure authorities in Honduras and in the US to respond to this initiative of the gangs and accompany our actions with prayer.

Transforming conflict and prison ministries

Almost two months  ago, I was asked by Argentina, who coordinates the Santa Rosa prison ministry, to do a presentation on conflict for a regional prison ministry meeting which would include people from the north coast and our diocese.

I have been doing a few workshops on the topic, partly based on the workshops I’ve received from Caritas Honduras using the materials developed in  Colombia and other places in conjunction with John Paul Lederach.  I also try to incorporate what I’ve learned from the Alternative to Violence Program here as well as from nonviolence training I received in the US years ago.

The theme of the meeting was dealing with conflict. Their theme was “Prison ministries constructing justice and peace, avoiding conflicts.” 

Santa Rosa bishop, Monseñor Darwin Andino, sharing closing remarks

I, however, noted that the challenge is not to avoid conflicts – since conflicts are inevitable; nor is it to resolve conflicts – because resolved conflicts at times leave the underlying conflicts unresolved and new conflicts arise, rooted in the underlying problems. The real challenge is to transform conflicts, seeking to craft a new situation in the face of conflicts.

The workshop went well, better than I had hoped. But it was a humbling experience.

I was going to work with about 60 people who work in the prisons here, some of them former prisoners. Among them was San Pedro Sula auxiliary bishop Romulo Emiliani. At the end of March this year he was the major force to resolve a major conflict that started violently at the San Pedro Sula jail.

At the end of the meeting, Monseñor Emiliani spoke a bit about his role in that conflict. What most impressed me is his courage, his willingness to risk his own life, for others. Three times, he said, he moved into a situation where he could have been killed. But his faith and his dedication to prisoners gave him the courage to proceed forward.

Monseñor Romulo Emiliani

Would there were more people like Monseñor Emiliani.

Workshops, a youth assembly, and more

I haven't really written much about the parish in the last two weeks and so I want to share a few thoughts on events here.

 

Friday, June 22, the parish of Dulce Nombre had a dinner with a guest speaker, a priest who is also a singer from Choluteca. They raised money for the parish’s kitchen/dining room and meeting hall, which is rapidly being constructed – despite financial restraints.

Walls of the second floor are almost finished

The priest was  a good singer and an animated speaker. I didn’t quite like his style and found his message a little simplistic. But the people enjoyed it and the meal was good.

The mornings of June 22 and 23, I spent with leaders of the base community’s going over the new Catholic Social Teaching booklet they are using (and that I wrote); I used the meetings to help them improve their meetings, making them more participative. The leaders were receptive and, in fact, some mentioned that their style is to promote as much participation as possible. How encouraging in a culture where people in authority are accustomed to speak AT people for long periods of time. It was good to be with them.

At the meetings I also spent time doing a little reflection with them on the parable of the mustard seed, trying to help them relate it to their lives as campesinos. Perhaps I was reading more into the parable than is there but I asked them about seeds and how much time is needed for them to sprout – four days for a mustard seed, five for corn, four for beans, months for coffee, about a year for noni, and quite some time for trees. We talked about the need for patience and how people grow in their faith at different rates. This may help them in dealing with people who don’t seem to respond to their efforts to evangelize the people.

Sunday I went to Joyas Galanas. The road there was terrible and I thought I’d get stuck a few times – but new tires and four wheel drive low got me through. (I returned by a different route – with a much better road.) The crowd at the Celebration of the Word was small, but many came to Communion. 

The Joyas Galanas valley

Friday and Saturday of this week was the training session for new catechists. Forty-eight showed up – most of them young and most from a zone of the parish that needs a lot more youth in their ministries. Since it was a young crowd they were a lot less participative than I’d hope. We treated the sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist.

Catechists during a small group session

On Friday I did a session on examination of conscience. I went through a few ideas but we then spent about half an hour using the Jesuit examen. It was absolutely amazing the silence in the hall while we went through five steps. I was very glad to see even the young people taking advantage of silence.

Saturday morning I did a session on the parts of the Mass, using a sort of jigsaw puzzle approach that I’ve used before. In groups, they had to arrange the parts of the Mass in order.

I’ve done this before, but this time it was harder for the groups to do it. I ended up running between the four groups, helping them in the process. (And so, no pictures.)

Afterwards we reflected on how hard it was for them. They actually did very well with the Introductory Rites and the Liturgy of the Word but the Liturgy of the Eucharist was really hard for them. I think this was partly because I included the official Greek terms (epiklesis, anamnesis). But I think it was so hard because most of them don’t experience Mass in their villages very often. They might get to a Mass in their sector or a special parish Mass but many had Mass in their village only once a year! They are very familiar with the weekly Sunday Celebrations of the Word and so could identify the parts of the Introductory Rites and Liturgy of the Word. But lack of access to Mass made the other parts of the exercise difficult.

I left the catechists with a little booklet with the parts of the Mass. They were glad to have it and some talked about sharing it with other ministries in their villages. I urged them to study it with the village church council, especially before a Mass in their village.

Sor Pedrina at the Youth Assembly

After my presentation I hurried back to Santa Rosa with Sor Pedrina and six young people for the diocesan Youth Encounter. Over a thousand young people (and some older folks) showed up for the walk from the Catholic University to the City Gymnasium where Mass was celebrated, followed by a concert that ended with Benediction. We got there in time for Mass.

Bishop Romulo Emiliani preaching

Three bishops and about 8 priests concelebrated. Bishop Romulo Emiliani, the auxiliary bishop of SanPedro Sula, preached on the problem of violence and the need to turn to Christ. He’s quite the orator and the message was quite good – talking about the roots of violence in consumption, materialism, and more. He did speak a bit about corruption and other social problems of the country, including the 42% of infants with chronic malnutrition. I wish he had been more specific in his homily about the social and political roots of the violence here, since this was a Mass for Peace in the face of violence. But it was good.

After a lunch break there were warm up acts for the main event “Son by 4,” a Puerto Rican music group. Their singing was quite good, but I was left hungering for something more.

Son by 4 in concert; note all the cellphone cameras

The music was spirited. But at one point I felt that I was at a rock concert, with phone cameras going wild and people clapping and singing.

The lyrics, as far as I could understand, were very individualistic. They shared stories of their group and of a conversion they’d witnessed.

The lack of a social context left me wondering. The event cost 100 lempiras - $5.00, which is a lot for people from the countryside. About a third of  the group were Catholic University students, who are mostly middle class and upwardly mobile.

But I didn’t hear anything in the group’s songs about the poor. Love of God, yes – but love of the neighbor and a commitment to the poor didn’t come through to me. (Maybe I missed it, since sung lyrics are often hard to understand.)

I know some of the young people from other parishes were poor and others, including a group of five friends, do have a sense of care for the poor. 

Bishop Andino carrying the Eucharist in procession

I left at the end of Benediction. Bishop Darwin came back and carried the monstrance with the consecrated Host through the crowd and placed it in front of a statue of Mary. 

Monstrance with consecrated host before statue of Mary

The group sang several of its songs but what struck me was the image of the monstrance in front of Mary. It was, as a friend noted of the photo, “iconic.” The monstrance was placed in front  of the statue in such a way that it appeared to be just in front of Mary’s womb – where some icons place Jesus.

I was struck by this image as we knelt in adoration of Christ in the Eucharist.

I left and went  home – to a noisy neighbor playing music at an incredible volume. I went and asked them to turn it down and they did!

Reflecting back on the last week, I find again that I feel myself most at home with the poor – even at their celebrations with poor music. Their wisdom and piety nurture my soul.

The hype of the concert and its individualistic message left me cold – though the piety of young people kneeling in prayer continues to inspire me (as it inspired me during my 24 years in campus ministry at St. Thomas in Ames.)

There is hope – though it is a long struggle to lessen violence here.  I don’t think it will come through concerts or a lot of large meetings. It may come with the work of people in their communities, with small groups working and praying together.

Also, work on alternatives is important. And the parish of Dulce Nombre de María is planning to host a workshop in late July.

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More photos of the Diocesan Youth Encounter can be found here.