Two weeks in the parish

The church in Dulce Nombre, built about fifty years ago, has needed repairs and repainting for some time and the work has been progressing in the last few months. Most of the funding has come from some donations, from the sale of coffee from the parish coffee farm, but mostly from the sale of food before Masses in Dulce Nombre as well as collections.

In the process of taking off the stucco for repainting, the stone work on the two church towers was revealed. These are stones which people from town fashioned to put into place under the supervision of the pastor at that time, an Italian missionary, Padre Juan Genarro.

Padre German, consulting with many people decided that we will leave the stone visible – though we are looking for ways to seal the stone.

As the work inside the church progressed, stone was revealed on the back wall of the sanctuary. Padre is doing a make-over of the sanctuary to make it less-cluttered and more accessible for the Masses and other liturgies.

I mentioned that we might want to think of having a mural in the rounded vault above the sanctuary, since the church is somewhat Romanesque in style. We are looking at an artist or two who might be able to do this. I am in charge of this work – and would appreciate any suggestions (as well as any contributions for the towers or the murals.)

Clergy study week – the protection of minors and the vulnerable

Two weeks ago we had a study week for clergy, actually from Monday evening to Thursday noon. There were some last minute changes, but the highlight was a great presentation by a young priest who had just come from a course in Mexico on the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Persons.

The presentation highlighted the problem of abuse in the church. To this point, abuse by clergy in Honduras has been kept quiet. The abuse of power and conscience, as well as sexual abuse, have not been absent from the life of the church.

In part this reflects the clericalism and the culture of silence that is found in many parts of the church, especially in Latin America. But it also reflects the wider culture. Sexual abuse and domestic violence are not uncommon, to put it mildly. But one hardly ever talks about it and little is done to respond to this.

My guess is that in the Honduran church abuse is different than in other countries. One particular concern of mine is the abuse of vulnerable adults, not because they don’t know what is happening, but because of the imbalance of power. Recently we have seen some of this in the abuse of religious women in India and parts of Africa. It also happens here, in Latin America.

There are other cases. A prominent conservative Catholic publication revealed stories against a bishop who seems to have taken advantage of some seminarians. There may be cases of abuse of minors – female and male – that will probably come to light.

I pray that the church might be open to responding with justice and love – without defensiveness.

A good start is being made in the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán. The bishop will be setting up a commission to deal with prevention as well as reporting of abuse.

This is very important. It will, I believe and hope, open a can of worms. The abuse of power, conscience, and sex are not uncommon in the whole society. If the church begins to respond in an open and integral way, many may feel empowered to speak about the abuses in the society as a whole, in families, businesses, communities, and more.

Please pray for us – that we may have the courage and the conviction to go forward to protect the vulnerable among us.

Preparing for Confirmation

We’ll have confirmations in our parish, Dulce Nombre de María, on September 30 and 31. More than 160 will be confirmed in three different locations.

We have had two meetings of catechists this month. We meet regularly for formation on various topics and to share ideas. This month the topic was the Mass. I decided to take advantage of these meetings to work with the catechists to prepare the confirmation Masses. I had them choose the readings and also find persons to do the readings and fill the different functions.

We also had a morning for confessions. Most of those who will be confirmed, as well as some sponsors, came. Five priests from the deanery helped – but we had confessions from about 9:30 to noon. Then we had Mass, in which about 50 on those to be confirmed received their first Communion.

Other events

This Thursday we also had a training session for the members of our parish who will go on mission in October. In our deanery, missionaries will go to a different parish to visit people in distinct villages. These are parishioners who will take out a whole week and live in a different parish. Their commitment is extraordinary. We have had training to help them deepen their faith and their sense of mission. Next month we will have a two day training session which will include some training in how to approach people.

In past years we have had weeks of mission within the parish in which parishioners went in groups of two to visit homes in different villages in the parish. This year, as part of the Extraordinary Year of Mission, called by Pope Francis, people will be visiting other parts fo the diocese.

Saturday we had a youth encounter in a park near Dulce Nombre. Young people from seven different parts of the parish came. After walking to the park, there were games and presentations by the various groups as well as food, brought and shared by the different groups. We closed with a Celebration of the Word with Communion, which I led. It was fitting that it was the feast of Saint Bartholomew and that the Gospel was the calling of Nathaniel in John’s Gospel. I briefly recalled how we are called, often by other persons, to go and see Jesus – not just talk about Him. I also noted how Jesus saw the good in the heart of Nathaniel and praised him.

Today, I went to the 7:00 am Mass in Concepción and preached. After Mass I was going to a distant village when I noted that I had a flat rear tire. I changed it – but it took almost an hour since I didn’t have an adaptor for the tire wrench. Looking at the flat tire, the result of a nail puncture, I noted that the tire needed to be replaced. So, it’s off to Santa Rosa tomorrow to buy tires.

I had planned to leave today for a diocesan cultural day in the national seminary in Tegucigalpa. But, considering the state of the tire, I didn’t want to take a seven-hour trip without a good spare (and I can’t buy a tire until tomorrow.) So, regrettably, I decided not to go.

This may be a blessing in disguise. I came home from changing the tire and proceeded to fall asleep for over an hour in my hammock.

So continues the work of ministry in our parish.

Next month we celebrate our feast day on September 12. There is a novena of Masses each evening starting September 3. There will be a procession and Mass on the morning of September 12.

Our formation activities will continue. I will help in the day of formation for delegates of the Word, those who lead the Sunday celebrations in their communities. As I mentioned above we will have a two-day workshop for the missionaries.

I will meet, as usual, with the extraordinary ministers of Communion, accompanying them in their monthly meeting.

I will also have a special workshop for new catechists. We have about 25 people, mostly young, who are interested in becoming catechists. This will be a two year process, at least – helping them to learn their faith better, to master teaching skills, and to know about our parish’s life of faith so that they can communicate more easily with their local communities.

I will also have a meeting of Social Ministry. We have been meeting several times a year. In the last meeting we identified a number of problems. The two most pressing issues concern water. One problem is the contamination of water due to deforestation and well as the run-off waters of the coffee de-pulping process. We hope to be able to move forward promoting ecologically friendly processes.

But the other problem is access to water. Most of the water comes from mountain springs, but some of them are drying up, partly due to the lack of sufficient rainfall and the elevated temperatures we’ve been experiencing this past year or two. But also, deforestation has had a major effect on these springs. One of our projects is to devote the first weeks of October to various tree planting projects – in part to celebrate the legacy of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron of the environment.

Much more is happening in our parish and in the country. Migration continues, fueled by the violence of gangs and drug traffickers in the major cities and the north coast, by the lack of a justice system which promotes impunity and the lack of judicial sentences for crimes, the ongoing poverty and corruption, and also the climatic changes which make agriculture an even more precarious occupation. This will have to wait for a later post, but it deeply concerns me and many here.

But in the midst of this, God is found and people live their daily lives – often with great love and sacrifice. And there is joy.

August adventures and misadventures

I just realized that I hardly wrote anything on this blog in August. It was a very busy month.

We had a clergy study week from August 14 to 17. I had various misadventures with the pickup. I had to go to San Pedro Sula twice for migration issues.  There were baptisms and funerals as well as interviews of couples planning to be married. I had two Holy Hours and Celebrations of the Word with Communion in Dulce Nombre. I presided at three Sunday Celebrations of the Word with Communion and served as deacon at four Masses in the parish and two in the cathedral. I visited a youth group and an event planned by one group which had representatives from four different groups. I helped with training sessions: one for missionaries, one for delegates of the Word, and one for those in formation to become Communion ministers. I transported volunteers to and from the parish coffee field. I met with the diocesan Social Ministry Council. I attended a meeting of the El Zapote Coffee Association that is exporting coffee to Ames, Iowa. I also got to see a friend from Ames who was in Santa Rosa with a medical brigade.

Where to begin?

With grief and comfort:

One day I was in Dulce Nombre to help with the details for the exams that the Hermanas de María were giving for young people from poor families to determine if they would be accepted for their five year, cost-free boarding schools near Tegucigalpa. I was also interviewing a couple who are planning to be married this month. I was called in by Padre German for a delicate situation. Later that morning I spoke with a woman under great stress. It was overwhelming. That evening there was a Holy Hour in Plan Grande. I walked in and sat in the last row. I tuned out what was being said and prayed, first the Evening Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours. Then, I found myself handing over to Jesus, exposed on the altar, the persons who were suffering. I found myself weeping with them – but feeling comforted by the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. That experience opened me to open myself more to people’s needs and to try to find ways to reach out even more.

Keeping legal:

My residency card ran out this month and my five-year residency permit is finishing up. I am in the process of trying to get permanent residence. But, in the meantime, I had to get an extension. I was advised to go to the San Pedro Sula migration office a day before my card ran out. I got there in time and did all the paper work and paid the $40 for a two-month extension. But the kind worker in the office told me that the system would not allow her to enter my extension in the system, because the card had not expired. I had to come back the next day or later. I ended up going back the next week.

Pickup misadventures:

On the feast of St. Lawrence, a patron of deacons, I went to the 7:00 pm Mass in Dulce Nombre. As I tried to return home, I reached a slippery part of the road where I started sliding toward the right side of the road. I stopped before I hit the dirt border and tried to back up. I ended up slipping into the shallow ditch on the other side of the road. I was stuck – in the dark at 8:30 pm. A motorcyclist, who is from Plan Grande, stopped and we tried to get the car moving. No luck. I had in the meantime called Padre German who came out with two young men. Together with two other guys who were passing on a motorcycle, they pulled me out!

Both of my trips to San Pedro Sula were misadventures.

On my first trip, one tire exploded in the city, luckily I was not going fast and I pulled over and put on the spare. I got home safely, though I had to stop to get the tire bolts tightened! But the next morning, I was going to take the car to Dulce Nombre to get the tire fixed. The spare was flat! So I looked for someone who could take me to get the tires fixed. A young guy lent me his pickup!

On the second trip I had a tire that was losing air. I got it changed. But after getting out of the migration office, I had a flat tire. I went to get it fixed, but ended up having to buy two used tires.

There is more – including another tire problem last Saturday. So I ended up buying two new tires Monday.

There are also two experiences one in early August, one today, where I back up into a ditch leaving my back tires hanging in the air. The kindness of strangers got me out of those fixes also.

Marriage preparation

Here the marriage preparation takes place in the villages, with a couple leading the engaged in about three months of formation. Before that can begin, the couple have to see the priest to make sure there are no problems, but then there is the pre-marriage interview with the couple and with two witnesses. This past month I’ve interviewed four engaged couples. This has been a humbling experience, especially since the interview questions are quite serious. But it has been good – and I’ll be doing more.

I also had the chance on Sunday to meet with two couples who will be married here in Plan Grande within two weeks. I helped them plan the readings for the Mass and to go over the rite. This was a real time of grace since they are taking this very seriously.

Baptisms and Sunday celebrations

I may have set my record for baptisms. One Sunday I baptized forty young children (under 7 years of age) in San Agustín. On the feast of Saint Augustíne, back in San Agustín, our pastor baptized about seventeen between seven and fourteen years old. He had me anoint them with Chrism.

Each month I try to visit two or three villages that don’t have communion ministers to preside at a Celebration of the Word with Communion. August found me in three different communities, including Debajiados.

Formation activities

I had to prepare three presentations this past month.

Those in charge of the formation of candidates for becoming communion ministers asked me to prepare an activity to help the candidates discern their call. The formation is almost over and so we want to help them prayerfully discern if this is truly a call from God. We spent more than an hour in silence as they reflected on the questions I had prepared.

We had a formation session for the Delegates of the Word, those who lead Sunday celebrations in their communities – since one priest can’t get to all forty-eight or more places in one day! Padre had asked me to prepare a presentation on Pope Francis’s Amoris Laetitia, on the family.

Then we had a day of formation for the missionaries, volunteers form the parish, who will spend a week in October in one or two villages visiting people and inviting them to live their faith more profoundly. A few days before the event, Padre German asked me to do a presentation on Mission in Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium. Thanks be to God I had studied it and carefully marked up my digital text of the document. I ended up making a powerpoint presentation on the central topics. (It’s available in Spanish here.)

Holy Hours and Celebrations of the Word in Dulce Nombre

Padre German asked me to do two Holy Hours and Celebrations in Dulce Nombre on two Fridays in August. A Family Ministry group in formation was promoting these in different barrios of Dulce Nombre. These were my first experiences of Holy Hours with Benediction. I tried to promote times of silence to listen to Christ speaking to us.

But my preaching must have seen rather odd to the people in attendance, especially because of their concerns for the family (in August which is the traditional month of the family here in Honduras.) 

The first Friday was the feast is St. Clare and I talked about Clare leaving behind her family, referring to the Gospel for her feast day. Matthew 19, 27-29, in which Jesus talks about leaving behind, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. The Gospel for the second Friday was Jesus speaking on divorce. I wrote about this in a previous blog post, here.

I wonder if they’ll ever ask me to preach for these events again.

Youth groups

There are youth groups in at least nine places in the parish. I visited two of them last month and then had an evening meeting on September 1. Twenty young people from eight groups came. We ate, played, discussed, prayed – and we are beginning to form a youth council for the parish which will include a representative from each group.

On August 26, the youth group here in Plan Grande had a cultural evening. I was tired but spent about an hour there. There is a theater group here, about twenty years old, that performed a few pieces. I was about to leave when they announced the next one was on “The Elections.” I had to stay – and it was worth it.

The candidates appeared on stage with their supporters. One candidate, identified with the Allianza, an alliance of opposition parties, announced some of the things the party was going to do. The other candidate, identified with the National Party, promised his voters who live (or, rather, are interred) in the cemetery that he would provide them WI-FI, a soccer field, a new cell phone, and fans (since it is hot there in the graves.) This candidate won the election.

I was surprised and shocked. First of all, the theater group was trying to provide a commentary on the situation in this election year. There have been discussions about the dead on election rolls who end up voting! But I was surprised that the theater group identified this tactic with one party – the party in power. Here, before the elections, the politicians hot only make promises but many especially those in office, will distribute money, tin roofing, food baskets, and whatever in an attempt to influence voters. Sadly, many of the poor fall for this. I was thus pleased to see young people with a critical consciousness.

There was much more that I could relate but this is enough to give you an idea of the variety of ways my ministry plays out here in Honduras. What I do may seem to be a lot, but my pastor does three or four times as much – five or more Saturday evening and Sunday Masses, two or three Masses in different parts of the parish almost every day – and he’s the pastoral vicar of the diocese.

Pray for us.