A US visit

I’m in the United States for about two weeks, mostly to celebrate the fifty years my cousin, Mary Barrar, has lived as a vowed Sister of St. Joseph of Chestnut Hill.

I decided to take advantage of this trip and arrived a week early for a workshop on Creative Workshop Design at Training for change in Philadelphia. It was a very intensive workshop with people from all across the US and Canada, mostly working on issues of racism. It was challenging and helpful. I even had time to work on my catechists’ workshop and got some good feedback to improve it.

The workshop and walking through this West Philadelphia neighborhood were very good for me and I got a few delightful surprises.

Training for Change is, as I see it, fairly secular, though I believe it has Quaker roots. It is very committed to people of color – and is very much connected with LGTBQ activists. It was thus very encouraging to see how my obvious connection with the Catholic Church was never an object of disdain. In fact, I found many very supportive of me, even though I guess that they might not agree with all my beliefs and practices. That is important for me and I wish others, especially in the church, would have such positive experiences and move away from their combative and oppressive approach.

What also gave me cause for awe was the abundance of spring in Philadelphia. Though the nights were cool, the flowers and the trees were blooming. There were tulips and many other spring flowers and these beautiful pink flowered trees.

That struck me is how the flowers call from the trees and make the whole area around them a world of pink. Such abundance – even extravagance.

After Philadelphia, I went to Cranford, New Jersey, to visit and stay with an old friend (younger than I am, though). I also went into New York.

After confession at St. Francis of Assisi Church on 31^st Street, I went up to visit the Cloisters Museum, one of my favorite places in Manhattan. When I was a grad student in the city between 1970nand 1974, this was one of my refuges.

As I got off the subway, I asked a woman if this was the stop for the Cloisters. She said yes and told me how to get there. We continued talking on the elevator up to the street. She is among those who maintain a garden in the park that goes up to the museum and told me to be sure to pass through the park and see the flowers. We parted, wishing each other well.

It was a delight to speak with such a warm person and then to see the park with tulips and other flowers.

Then I spent a short time in the Cloisters, not only marveling at the art but glorying in the abundance of the trees, flowers, and herbs.

I’ll be heading to Philadelphia area tomorrow for visiting friends and family and for the celebration. After this I’ll return to home in Honduras, after a short visit to Mexico City, to visit the Virgin of Guadalupe and more.

A change of pace, but, God willing, a way to open me to better serve God’s people.

On the way to the East Coast of the US

I’m in the San Pedro airport, waiting for a flight to the US – through Mexico City. I’m not looking forward to a long lay-over in the Mexico City airport, but I’ll be in Philadelphia tomorrow night for a weekend workshop.

I got up, as usual, at 5:00 am to a beautiful morning. After prayer, breakfast, and a few chores around the house, I left and stopped off at the parish to say hello to Padre German before leaving. But I took this picture of a hibiscus which will bloom while I’m away.

I got to San Pedro Sula earlier than I had planned but with no thanks to the road.

I hadn’t driven t San Pedro since last October. The international highway from Dulce Nombre to La Entrada is in the worst shape I’ve ever seen or felt. In addition to the potholes and the parts where the asphalt is gone, there are the huge trucks which are struggling to go up the hills and also to avoid the huge holes. The road from Plan Grande to the highway is less treacherous than the international highway (even though it’s mostly dirt and gravel).

However, the flowering trees were a great joy.

Passing near Trinidad, Copán, there were these incredible flowering pink trees. I didn’t find a good place to stop and take a picture. But from La Flecha, Santa Bárbara, to San Pedro Sula, there were these incredibly beautiful trees with yellow flowers, sometimes as lone trees on a hillside with other trees. What beauty.

I also found Radio Progreso, the radio sponsored by the Jesuits in El Progreso, Yoro, on the car radio. I even heard their noon program on feminism - not your usual Honduran fare.

I’ll be in the US until May 2, in both the New York and Philadelphia area. In Philly, I’ll be joining my family to celebrate my cousin – 30 days younger than I am – Sister Mary Barrar, who has been a Sister of Saint Joseph (of Chestnut Hill) for fifty years. It will be great to celebrate this with her and with many cousins and their families.

I’m also going to a workshop this weekend. I just hope I am awake enough after all the travel and the all-nighter in the Mexico City airport.

After leaving the US, I am planning to spend two days in Mexico City, mostly to visit the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

I really didn’t feel like leaving home. There is so much to do and I feel so much at home in the parish – but this should be a good respite. I especially look forward to seeing friends and family.

What's wrong with elections

Yesterday the US held elections and Barack Obama was re-elected as president. On Sunday, November 18, Honduran political parties will hold their primary elections. Then we’ll have to wait another year until November 2013 when Hondurans will elect a new president, as well as members of congress and municipal authorities.

Reflecting on what I read about the US elections and what I see here in Honduras, I’d like to suggest that there are serious flaws in the way that democracy is being practiced.

First, there is often a temptation to demonize the opposition.

Reading what some people were writing on Facebook was demoralizing. Not only were there outright lies, but the tone was downright ugly. Civility was absent as proponents of one candidate raged against another candidate, most often, but not exclusively, against President Obama.

Some of the ravings reminded me of the commentaries here in Honduras in the months before the June 2009 coup overthrew the elected president, Mel Zelaya.

Why is it that some people think that their opponent is demonic?

Secondly, there is a temptation to present one’s candidates as saviors.

I didn’t see this much in what I read about this happening in the US, though some supporters of President Obama approached his campaign.

But here is Honduras it’s more blatant. There’s even a political candidate whose theme is “Salvemos Honduras – Let us save Honduras.”

Thirdly, there is a tendency to see politics in terms of political leaders who will rescue us.

Politics is what the politicians do for us or against us, some think. Therefore, their roles are exaggerated as if everything political depends on them. Thus they can be viewed as either demons or saviors.

Fourthly, these temptations are based in a tendency to see elections as the ultimate act of democracy.

If democracy is reduced to elections, those elected are not considered accountable for their actions during their terms, but only when they seek re-election. What is important is who wins the elections, not how they serve.

In a different context, Monseñor Ricardo Urioste, who served under Archbishop Oscar Romero, said that “elections are a note in the symphony of democracy.” They are essential but not sufficient.

These temptations indicate a failure to take responsibility.

To ensure real democracy, people should vote but they should also participate in other ways of seeking to transform society. When Alexis de Tocqueville visited the US in 1831, he noted the importance of intermediary organizations, the civil society for the health of the republic. Involvement in civic organizations, unions, study and action groups, and pressure groups offer an alternative to the dyad of elected officials and those who elect them. They offer a place to influence policy from the perspective of the people. Recall the importance of the civil rights movement to make changes in our society. Pressure by the people is often more important than mere elections.

Furthermore, I believe that these temptations are rooted in placing trust in might, rather than the power of God.

The scriptures are clear:

“Not by power or by might, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord.

Or as the psalms note in several places, as in psalm 33: 16-17

The king is not saved by a mighty army;
A warrior is not delivered by great strength.
A horse is a false hope for victory;
Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength.

The might of the US empire is limited, not matter what we may think. A little humility would help all elected officials in the US and throughout the world. They are not the saviors and the “god complex” can lead to all sorts of evil.

In the face of this we need to work together in a different manner for the common good, and especially for the good of the poorest and marginalized.

But also we should pray.

Here is a prayer by noted biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann in his Prayers for a Privileged People,  that I found on the Facebook page of Tammy Walhoff:

Post-Election Day Prayer
            by Walter Brueggemann

You creator God

   who has ordered us

      in families and communities,

      in clans and tribes,

      in states and nations.

You creator God

   who enacts your governance

      in ways overt and

      in ways hidden.
You exercise your will for

   peace and for justice and for freedom.

We give you thanks for the peaceable order of

   our nation and for the chance of choosing—

      all the manipulative money notwithstanding.

We pray now for new governance

   that your will and purpose may prevail,

   that our leaders may have a sense

      of justice and goodness,

   that we as citizens may care about the

      public face of your purpose.

We pray in the name of Jesus who was executed

   by the authorities.