The Dulce Nombre mural: the idea

I don’t know when we began to think about a mural for the church of Dulce Nombre de María. The church was being painted and was resplendent, a bright white lightening up the whole church.

The pastor, Padre German Navarro, and I began to think about possibilities. He originally wanted an image of Mary in the center with images of Fr. Juan Gennaro, who built the church, and me, the first permanent deacon here. I quickly nixed the idea of my image there. First of all, I’m not dead yet; secondly, I’m far from being a saint. 

I had seen the work of a muralist, Alejandro Carbajal, in Santa Rosa de Copán, on the front of INEHSCO, the institution founded by Padre Fausto Milla for the promotion of natural medicine.

Finally, I contacted Alejandro in late 2019 and he came to Dulce Nombre to talk with us. Then the pandemic arose and we had to put everything off. 

Finally, in September 2020, Alejandro came and began working in earnest on the mural. We talked about possibilities and modified original plans.

An image of Mary, based on an icon, would be at the center, in the curve of the apse. Below there would be images of Fr. Juan Gennaro on the left, Saint Rose of Lime and Saint Oscar Romero between the windows, and Saint Lawrence the deacon on the right. The artist would put images of the houses and landscape of the parish in the background. 

One day I drove Alejandro around parts of the parish so that he could see what the parish looks like. I took a lot of photos so that he could refer to them. He then incorporated houses and scenes from the parish into the mural. 

I helped him find images of the saints and of Fr. Juan Gennaro. We ended up using a woodcut of Ade Bethune as the inspiration for the image of Saint Lawrence. We also came across a photo of Monseñor Romero in a Mass in Chalatenango, El Salvador, where he was receiving a bag of beans in the offertory of an outdoor Mass. The image was captured by Brother Octavio Duran, OFM, who was a seminarian at the time and later, after emigrating to the US, became a Franciscan brother. (We got permission to use both images as inspiration for the art.)

We also decided to incorporate faces from the parish in the image of St. Lawrence. It would be a mural that reflected the reality of our parish. In many ways, we were trying to show the incarnational aspect of our faith – the Son of God became flesh among the people. In our mural, he, his mother, his saints, and his people are present in the lives of our people. I was particular insistent that the image of Mary would not be above the houses at the bottom of the dome. Mary was rooted in the people and so she is in the middle of the homes of the people.

We chose four other images for various reasons. I’ll develop the theology and spirituality in another post, but this is a short explanation. 

Father Juan Gennaro was an Italian missionary priest who spent years in Dulce Nombre. He was well-loved by the people, in town and in the countryside. He also designed and built the main parish church – in an Italian Romanesque style, very different from many churches in Honduras. He also designed several other churches, often using stone, including the church in Piedras Coloradas. He was, as I’ve been told, ecumenical, joining with a local Protestant church, the Central American Mission, in a procession in September, the month of the Bible. He also designed their church. Therefore, it was fitting to include him, together with an image of the Dulce Nombre Church.

Saint Rose of Lima, the first saint of the Americas, is the patron of our diocese, Santa Rosa de Copán; so, it is fitting that she is pictured. Saint Óscar Romero, martyred archbishop of San Salvador, is a Central American saint who identified with the poor and was their advocate. In a poor parish, it is a blessing to have his image before us as we pray.

Finally, there is the image of the deacon, Saint Lawrence. A deacon of Rome, he was called to surrender the treasures of the church to Roman authorities; he distributed the goods of the church to the poor and brought them before the Roman prefect and proclaimed that the poor, those present before him, are the true treasures of the church. Needless to say, he was martyred, according to tradition roasted on a gridiron. He is one of the patrons of deacons. Since the first permanent deacon in the diocese is serving in our parish (that’s me), it was fitting to feature Saint Lawrence. 

There is another aspect present in the mural, which I will develop in a later post. In our diocese, based on baptismal theology, we are organized around the triple ministry of the baptized – the liturgical, the prophetic, and the social. In baptized we are formed in the image of Christ, Prophet, Priest, and Servant-King. In a sense the murals reflect that. Father Juan Gennaro is baptizing – the liturgical. Saints Rose and Oscar Romer make present the Word by their lives and preaching. Saint Lawrence served the poor. 

At the bottom of the mural, above the presidential chair, the parish has placed a crucifix surrounded by a resplendent light. The crucifix belonged to Monsignor James Supple, the founder of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Ames, Iowa, which is our sister parish. It was given in 2007 to me when I left for Honduras. It is my mission cross. It is so fitting that the link with our sister parish is represented by the cross of our Savior. 

There is much more to say and I hope to be able to write about the spirituality of the mural in several posts, in English and in Spanish. 

For this mural is not a decoration, a mere work of art. We see this as a catechetical work, that may lead those who look upon it to deepen their faith, leading them to live in the presence of Jesus, Mary, and all the saints.

COVID, Pastoral work, the Apse Mural, and Coffee

Life goes on - and every once in a while I come across a picture opportunity - as I did one day last week driving through a neighboring village.

A few days ago, the pastor told me to be more careful and to be sure to wear my mask in Dulce Nombre. 

I have been very cautious, even since things have opened up. I wear my mask outside the house, except when I’m in the parish center and talking with the pastor and others there. I avoid large concentrations of people and try to keep a distance. 

The pastor was going to ask me to preside at a funeral of someone who had been killed but then decided that it might be best for me not to go. He went instead. 

The cases of COVID-19 have increased in certain parts of the parish and there have been a number of deaths. Some of this has been due to the carelessness of people. There was a family who had a vigilia, a wake, for someone who had died – six of those in attendance tested positive for the virus. In addition, there have been political meetings with little concern for safety. The internal elections of candidates will take place in March and so the candidates want to go out and find supporters. Health concerns are not really addressed. 

In the midst of all this, I try to be careful and prudent. One thing I have done is buy a large number of masks and give them out to people whom I am meeting with. I have had almost no rejections, especially when I explain why. 

But I still have done some pastoral work. 

Most Sundays I preside at a Celebration of the Word with Communion, often here in Plan Grande where care is taken for health concerns. In the afternoon I usually go to one of the places where there is Mass where I preside and often preach. 

I don’t go out to communities as much as I used to – and miss the opportunity to visit the sick. But last week Padre German asked me to visit a thirty-one-year-old young man who is bed-ridden because of a cerebral blood clot (or something like this.) He has already had three operations. He and his wife want to get married. And so the pastor asked me to see what can be done for the young man and if the couple was ready for marriage. They’ve been together for more than 12 years and have two kids. They also signed up for the marriage preparation in their village, but the pandemic ensued – as did the health of the husband. 

The husband had three operations in the Santa Rosa hospital. His wife accompanied him; but, since there was no room at the shelter for family of those in the hospital, she slept in the streets for nine nights. The doctors recommended another operation in a hospital in San Pedro Sula (about three hours away), but they didn’t go – partly, I believe, for not having $150 for an ambulance and perhaps partly because of the young man’s fear of death. He wasn’t eating much but was taking ENSURE about three times a day. When Padre German saw him two weeks ago, he couldn’t talk since the family had run out of ENSURE. He gave them money to buy a can (about $40). That seemed to help since I was able to talk with him. They had little of the ENSURE left and so I left some money to help them buy what they need. 

The wife has been caring for him and her two children (ages 11 and 8) since he got sick in March. At times she has to carry him to get him in a wheelchair and she often has to feed him. I talked with them about marriage – and I hope that they can soon get married. I also tried to encourage him to proceed with the operation. I hope to talk with them in a day or two. 

Interestingly, I mentioned the case on my Facebook page and someone volunteered to help with the transportation costs. I just pray that he decides to go ahead with the operation. I’ll work with the local church community to raise funds and see what we have in our parish Solidarity Fund. 

I also ended up working with people in another village to help them raise the funds for a family that lost their home in a landslide. They were in the house when the earth came over the house but they escaped without danger. The local church community has raised some funds and also got some help from the municipal government. We were able to help them with some of the tin roofing with our parish Solidarity Fund.

The sacraments continue. 

In the next two weeks, I will be having interviews with two couples before their marriage. One of the couples I’ve known for a few years – she’s a catechist and he went through the catechumenate.

There are a few places that have been preparing for baptisms – with concern for health and safety. I’ll be baptizing four little kids in two weeks. 

The one big project in the last few weeks is helping the work of the artist who is painting the apse and sanctuary area of the main church. I’ve been conferring with him, going to Santa Rosa for supplies, and providing him with some pictures of the area. We want to have a mural that is rooted in the lives of the people here – while calling them to live their faith.

This weekend the apse mural was finished.

Today they moved the scaffolding and the artist began to work on the lower part of the sanctuary.

The upper part is an image of Mary, based on an icon. It is striking. On both sides of Mary you can see scenes from the countryside, reminding us that Mary is a woman of the people.

In the lower section we will have four figures. On the far left we will have a painting of Father Juan Gennaro, an Italian missionary, who built the church and was for many years a beloved pastor. Between the three windows we will have images of two Latin American saints – Saint Rose of Lima who is also the patron of our diocese and Saint Óscar Romero, who was martyred in El Salvador in 1980. At the far right we will have an image of Saint Lawrence the deacon. The pastor wants Saint Lawrence because we are the first parish in our diocese with a permanent deacon.

The artist is using some images and photos as inspirations for the murals. Today he began working on Saint Lawrence, using a woodcut from Ade Bethune as his inspiration, but using features of the people around the saint that reflect people here.

We do not know what the future holds in store – especially since the pandemic still continues to afflict us. The pastor goes out almost every day to one or two villages. There is no religious formation as before though there are a few efforts with small groups. There have been some baptisms of infants and there are marriages.

We will probably have more marriages this year than any recent year. One woman to be married, with a unique sense of humor, which some might call twisted, suggested that they want to be marriage before dying.

Next week will have some celebrations for All Souls Day. They will be scaled back from previous years because of health concerns. For example, we won’t have the usual Mass in the Dulce Nombre Cemetery though there will be a Mass in church in the evening. 

At the end of November, we have celebrated a parish-wide celebration of the Feast of Christ the King. We won’t have one this year, though there will be Masses and Celebrations in several places.

One of the joys of living in the countryside is that at this time of the year there are oranges, mandarin oranges,  and passionfruit. The trees int he neighboring villages of El Zapote and Candelaria are full.

The coffee harvesting has started. It will be interesting to see how it goes this year – whether there will be enough harvesters and if there will be sufficient care for their health and safety.

The parish coffee field looks good. Last week a small group came and cut down the weeds between the rows while other harvested a few of the coffee berries that were ripe or over-ripe. These usually are not good coffee. But the coffee bushes are well-laden. The real harvesting will be, for the most part, from late November till early February.

I'll try to keep you attuned to what goes one. Please continue to pray for us and thank you fro your support.