NEW YEAR 2007

This year is for me a time of major change. I turn 60 on June 1, but the major change is a new ministry, a new place to serve those most in need, to serve the Kingdom of God.

Honduras is beckoning me and I am slowly preparing - selling stuff, giving away stuff, making assessments of what I need and don't need, preparing for leaving St. Thomas after more than 23 years ministry.

But more than anything I feel this as a real calling from God.

A spark in me is bursting into flame, fanned by the call of God in the poor of Honduras. I pray that I may be worthy of this grace.

I am amazed - not quite surprised, anymore - by the responses to my decision. People have come up to me asking about how to support the ministry financially. Others come up to inquire about ways to participate - by visiting, by helping come to teach English, etc.

This is a grace not for me but for the parish.

I have some concerns. I just hope we can quickly make clear the arrangements for raising funds and getting the funds to me through the diocese. But so many other aspects of this have, in time, come through. Thank God.

This time of waiting has also been teaching me that I must trust more in the Providence of God!

What a blessing!

All is grace.

NEW ORLEANS

With 12 others from St. Thomas I spent the week before Christmas in New Orleans.

There have been some changes in New Orleans - cars have been removed from the Lower Ninth Ward, many houses have been bulldozed there, and there is more life in the city. But we were told that there are still about 6000 houses that need to be gutted.

We worked on three houses -including spending two days on a house on Clabourne Street that we couldn't finish. It looked like an easy job but, as one person noted, it was symbolic of New Orleans. We kept uncovering things that needed to be. Behind the wood walls there were 2x4s and plaster and lathe; above the ceiling was an other ceiling and on the inside of the roof was plaster and lathe! The last surprise was that there were at least 8 levels of flooring. And so despite two long hard days of work (by a hard-working crew) we left the house unfinished.

At that house we encountered many sides of the complexity and tragedy. The owner was a 91 year old woman whose daughter had lived in the other side. A son, 67 years old, was the only relative in New Orleans and so was beleaguered, with relatives asking him to look after their houses. He looked worn out but was most generous to us - buying Gator Aid twice and then Cajun shrimp! Life is hard for these people but some are so generous.

Again this experience - good hard work - touched my heart and reconfirmed my decision to go to Honduras next year.

We had some very good reflections.

I realized again that New Orleans is a kenotic experience for me - as we emptied the houses, I too was emptied. But then I remembered the passage from Philippians 2 that I love - where Paul speaks of Jesus "emptying himself" and becoming human. The kenosis of the incarnation of Jesus has been an important part of my spirituality and now it is pulling me to be with the poor.

God is good!

Sometime in early 2007 I will be off to ministry in Honduras.

When this will happen, I don't know since I have told Fr. Ev, our pastor, that I will stay until a new person is hired so that I can help orient that person and help them make connections in the community.

I also don't know how the fundign will be worked out. The diocese in Honduras does not have money. I am confident that I have enough possible sources for assistance that I don't need to worry about this. It also appears that St. Thomas is looking for ways to assist me. But I don't know what this will look like and so I have some concerns about fundraising.

Throughout all this time of discernment I have grown in confidence that if this is God's will a way will be found. At times it's hard, but this has been a way of helping me to trust in God's loving providence, a way to grow in trust. And for this I am grateful.

I am not a person who is very good with ambiguity, but God is leading me. And so I must trust, for he is here.

Yesterday, September 28, about 8000 people came to Santa Rosa de Copán in western Honduras in support of Monseñor Luis Santos. There was a meeting, a march, and finally a Mass at the cathedral. It is great to see the support he is receiving as well as the mobilization of the people in support of changes in Honduras.

The issues are many - but the one that has really touched a nerve is the presence of open pit mining in Honduras, the contamination that this has caused (even to the water supply of Santa Rosa de Copán), and the fact that the companies pay Honduras a pittance (about 1%).

There are also other issues, including deforestation and corruption. It is good that I'll be able to be there - in support of a real evangelical ministry - of Good News to the poor.

Gracias a Dios!

"As long as Christian morality is thought to be mainly about whether and when people should go to bed, no bishops are going to be crucified. And this is depressing."
Herbert McCabe, OP, Law, Love and Language