Dulce Nombre Parish Mission

Today the parish of Dulce Nombre sent forth 74 parishioners for a week of mission, covering 53 towns, villages, and hamlets in the parish.

Entering the church in procession before Mass

The parishioners, most of whom participated in two training sessions of a day and a half each, went forth in twos and threes. Some have one mission site; others will visit two or three villages.

They left their cell phones at home and went without money, depending on the hospitality in the places where they will mission. If this sounds like something out of the Gospels, it is! If this sounds like Pope Francis asking for a church that goes out from the church building, it is!

The seventy four missionaries will, with guides in the villages, visit every household, listening and praying. This is not so much an evangelistic crusade as a mission of showing the mercy of God by their visits. After greeting people in their homes and listening to them, they will pray and share a scripture with them. I prepared a list of a few scriptures related to sitautions they might encounter.

As part of the mission,we are urging them to have special concern for the sick and the elderly. If they see serious needs, they will work with the people in the village to see what can be done. We have the hope that they can promote a work of mercy during their visit.

Padre German is making himself available when there are groups of the elderly or ill who want to be anointed or receive the sacrament of reconciliation. If there are elderly or sick who only want to receive Communion, I will go out and bring them Communion.

The missionaries will also promote other meetings and celebrations while in the villages. I expect they will meet with some base communities and youth groups as well as lead a few Celebrations of the Word, Holy Hours, or praying the Rosary. We are urging each place they visit to end with a celebratory get-together.

The Mass this morning was long since each missionary was giving a Cross and individually blessed by Padre German. Beginning about 10:45, we sent the last missionaries out about 1:15!

They will be in mission until next Sunday when we will have a Mass to end the Mission.

I was impressed especially by the large number of young men and women who are going on mission. Yes, there are many who have been involved in the church for more than a decade, but there are enthusiastic young people among them.

I pray that this is, for all of them, an experience of renewing their faith by sharing their faith and living with others. I also pray that it will help deepen the faith of many in the parish who are disheartened or who have not been practicing their faith.

I do have to admit that I was skeptical that this could happen, but God works miracles. Seventy-four people leaving their homes, their family, even their cell phones, dependent on the hospitality of strangers. What a beautiful way to live the faith.

As we were preparing for the mission, I heard Padre German speak of his experiences of mission, including spending forty days in one place where they served flor de izote every day. He spoke of the difficulties he had experienced and of the joy that accompanied these missions that were times of conversion and faith for him.

As I listened, I felt that I had not done this, but then I remembered my experience in the parish of Suchitoto, El Salvador, in 1992. I volunteered with the Salvadoran priest and five US women religious – two of whom are now here in Honduras.

They sent me to the furthest part of the parish – a four hour walk from Suchitoto. I visited and worked with several communities, but I stayed most of the time with the Clavel family, usually for several days each week. The family had recently returned from exile in Honduras, due to the civil war. The father, Esteban (God rest his soul), who had been a catechist and had fled El Salvador because of threats, had made a house out of a cattle stable. They had eight children, from 2 to about 18, living in the house, but they took me in. To avoid displacing a child from his cot, I brought a hammock for sleeping.

It was a great experience, even if there was not water in the community (until late in my stay), even if there was no real latrine, even if there was no electricity, even if this was before cell-phones and there were not fixed phones for miles, even if we had to go to the nearby river to bathe, even if the meals were mostly tortillas and salty beans.

Yet every morning I awoke with a deep sense of gratitude. “Gracias a Dios” were often the first words in my heart.

May the missionaries be safe – but even more may they experience the love and mercy of God and share it. And may they find joy in mission.

In the darkness, lights

Preparing to celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi tomorrow, I spent most of the day in domestic pursuits – washing clothes, some leaning around the house, dealing with trash, and baking bread.

Tomorrow I plan on going to Mass in the morning in Dolores, Copán. After Mass, I’ll head to Gracias to spend the evening with the Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Family (the Dubuque Franciscans) – sharing the feast of St. Francis with a part of my Franciscan family. One of the loaves of bread is for our meal together.

There has been much darkness here, as I noted in my previous post. But there are also many lights.

On the day of my ordination the rector of the country’s major seminary, located in Tegucigalpa, invited me to come and speak with the seminarians about my vocational discernment and the diaconate.

On Tuesday, September 20, I arrived at the seminary, after spending the night before in Gracias with the sisters. I preached at the evening Mass and then gave a talk at 8 pm. I have posted it in Spanish here but I haven’t yet translated it into English! I was also asked to preach at the morning Mass for those studying philosophy. I stuck to the readings and didn’t philosophize!

I left early which was good since I had a flat tire way up in the mountains of Intibucá – about 17 kilometers from the nearest town with a llantera, a tire repair garage. But, before the flat, I had the chance to see the rice fields near Jesús de Otoro, incredibly green. I also stopped just outside of the town of Intibucá to buy two pounds of strawberries! 

Friday, October 23, to Sunday, October 25, I spent in San Pedro Sula at a workshop on analysis of reality, sponsored by the Social Ministry of the northern and western dioceses. Padre Ismael Moreno, SJ, popularly known as Padre Melo, led the workshop. I need to review my notes, especially his analysis of the last fifty years on Latin America.

 

Padre Melo

There were five others from the dioceses of Santa Rosa and it was a delight to talk with them during the workshop. I gave a ride to the workshop to Rigo who is the Social Ministry coordinator in his village and in the diocese. On the ride, he shared a bit of his story. What impressed me is how he had little formal education but finished three grades through an alternative program.

The representatives of the diocese of Sant aRosa de Copán

I also met a young man whom I had met before here in the parish of Dulce Nombre. Walter is now living in the diocese of Trujillo on the northeast coast, doing a lot of youth work on the parish and diocesan level. He’s from a difficult and conflictive area here in the department of Copán. He returned with me to see his grandmother and some other relatives. He too impressed me. He only studied in grade school but he reads a lot and I found him very thoughtful.

There are good people who do marvelous things despite limitations. They reaffirm my long held belief that formal education is not the real standard for determining the effectiveness and worth of so many people here (and throughout the world.)

Last Thursday I had a delightful workshop with catechists in El Zapote del Santa Rosa. They had asked me to help them think through the Eucharist. I pulled together a few thoughts but also incorporated some insights from Bishop Robert Barron’s Eucharist, a work from 2008 which I found very helpful – personally and for my ministry.

Friday and Saturday we had our second training for members of the parish who will go on mission to other villages from October 9 to 16. Padre German has told them to go without money and without their cellphone. They will depend on the people in the village where they will go.  It sounds like Jesus sending out the disciples!

Seventy-three came and agreed to go on mission. Two of the sisters, Oblatas al Divino Amor, Padre German, and I led the workshop. I need to write some more on what we are doing. But it was impressive to find so many willing to spend a whole week in mission. I was really impressed by one young man whose mother died last week. He is active as a catechist and with the youth group in his village and is willing to take the risk of going on mission – even as he mourns his mother who endured a struggle with cancer before her death.

Sunday, I had a meeting with the youth leaders. There were only six of us, but it was a very fruitful meeting. Two of the groups wanted to plan events for the youth of the parish – one at the end of October, another in November. They finally agreed to a date for one at the end of this month, October 30, in Delicias, Concepción. Since this falls within the week of my visit to Ames, Iowa, I won’t be there, but I trust these young people who took the initiative. Padre German will be able to come in the afternoon for a Mass. I wish I could be there.

These are some of the signs of hope here in Honduras. There are more which I hope I can share in the coming weeks and months.

And the heliconia is blooming!

WOAH!

Last week the original case files for the assassinated indigenous environmental activist Berta Cáceres were stolen when the auto of a judge involved in the case was stopped and stolen by two individuals who stopped and threatened her after leaving work. She said that she was taking the files home to study.

Last week a bridge built about three years ago collapsed during a major rain storm. I was told that the part that collapsed had no rebar, the reinforcing steel bars that are used to reinforce concrete.

Road to Quebraditas

A major rural intersection at Caleras on the road from Dulce Nombre is an environmental disaster. The place has been flooded twice in the past three years and now a major coffee dealer had built a storage barn and a drying deck right by the stream. The stream is now filled with silt and vehicles have to go through water to make the turn off to Plan Grande, San Agustin, and about 24 more villages in the parish. If you go straight the road lead to fourteen more villages. The rear of busses often scrape the ground where the stream cuts through the mud. There used to be a small culvert there. The situation would probably be worse but each day several pick-ups of silt are removed by people seeking sand for construction. If we have several major storms or a hurricane, about forty villages will have no access to Dulce Nombre.

A Facebook friend recently posted a photo of the road near the village of Quebraditas. It has been bad for at least a month but from the photo it seems as if it’s impassible: a large ditch – about a foot deep -  runs down the middle of the road.

People have also told me that there have been a few landslides in other areas.

There have been two suicides in the past few weeks as well as a killing in a rural community.

Padre German had two funerals in Dulce Nombre on Friday, but not the only ones last week. Cancer is taking a fair number of lives these days.

I also heard of the death of a newborn who was delivered prematurely because of the health condition of the mother.

Then there is the death that I mentioned in an earlier blog post of the 31 year old delegate from pneumonia.

In the face of all this I weep, but I also find myself a bit disturbed.

About two week ago I took three Franciscan sisters to San Pedro Sula to visit a seminarian in intensive care as a result of a car accident. In the waiting room of the emergency department (where the intensive care is located) of the public hospital I noted three young guys with green shirts which featured government propaganda about jobs for Honduras with the letters JOH on the back, the initials of Juan Orlando Hernández, the president of Honduras. Someone told me how a relative of hers had gotten employment in another medical facility but had to promote the National Party (of the president) to keep the job.

The other day I gave a ride to my neighbor to Dulce Nombre. I noted the large number of pickups with women going to town. She told me that she and the others were going to Concepción to collect the Bono de Mujeres, a “gift” from the government to needy women, of 2200 lempiras, about 95 dollars.

There are other government “give-aways” that look to me like ways to “buy” votes.

There’s a lot more that is disturbing, but I’ll save my rants for another day.

But look for a more positive blog post in the next few days. I’ve encountered signs of hope – and I continue finding them.