Mountain Excursion and Banica Business

Over the past few weeks I was able to make an overnight trip to some of the more remote campos of Pedro Santana. I brought a traveling Christmas catechesis kit which consistent of laminated images of the Annunciation and the Birth of Jesus, various images of Mary with Child and a kids song "Yo Tengo Un Amigo Que Me Ama." Here I am leading a game before we settle down for the class. The kids are absolutely beautiful.
We slept in the chapel in Sierrecita and walked each day to the various visits. One of the main concerns up in the mountains is destruction of the environment. The people need to make a living, but there is no flat ground. They end up burning hillsides so they can plant crops for a few years until all of the top soil runs off and they must burn more hillside. Its not a sustainable way of life, but the government is not doing anything to help them. They only have schools because our bishop has built them in each village. Hopefully some new iniciatives can take hold like fruit orchards or peanut crops which are less taxing on the soil.
Please pray for two of my students from Los Memisos who will be baptized on December 14th as well as several from Higuerito who will hopefully be receiving their first Communions soon. This weekend they will be making their first Confession!

The past month in pictures.

Me with my students in Higuerito. Working with the Teresitas on an art project. The Teresitas with their finished products - Jesus actually moves over the water! A very glorious Wednesday included Potato Cheese Soup for dinner. A "Rights of the Child" mural in Elias Pina. At the market in Elias Pina. A rainbow over Banica's school. The volunteers (minus Brendan) at the waterfall in El Morro. The Rio Artibonito at an overlook east of Pedro Santana on the way home.

Te doy lo que tengo

¹Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer. ²And a man who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple. ³When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. ⁴But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, "Look at us!" ⁵And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶But Peter said, "I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene--walk!" ⁷And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.

Acts 3


This Scripture explains for me what being a missionary means. We do not have silver and gold, but we have much more that that; we possess Jesus Christ who has given himself completely to us. We cannot make hunger, illness, ignorance here disappear. But we can bring a spiritual richness that comes with knowing Jesus Christ. Lord, by our hands, in your name, may their hearts be strengthened!

Las Fiestas Patronales

Every year thousands of pilgrims descend on Banica from all over the country: Santo Domingo, San Juan de la Maguana, Comendador, Elias Pina, Pedro Santana...all over! They come to pay their respects to St Francis of Assisi on his feast day, October 4th. "Patronales" time begins on the 24th of May with the feast of Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes (Our Lady of Mercy). This is also when they begin the novena to St Francis. We have a procession from the church with the statue of St Francis up to the cave (about a mile and a half away). The people of Pedro Santana process with St Joseph, their patron saint, to meet us and we walk the last stretch together. You can see above a snapshot of the procession with both saints, the priests and people of both parishes. The school in Los Memisos closed the on the 25th for patronales (very early!) and by the 30th all the schools were out for the fiestas. Each night the 3rd order Franciscans offer prayers and the novena in honor of St Francis as the "fiesta" organizers set up a huge stage in the middle of the street with a truck load of speakers. From the 2nd to the 4th we had live bands - all for free. Joe Veras, specializing in Bachata was on Friday. On Saturday we had Omega, which is a very popular merengue band here. The streets were PACKED so much that we could barely move! Last night we had Felix D'Olio, my personal favorite, who sings mostly bachata but also some baladas. We took advantage of the fiesta to have a little fun ourselves. Maureen, Jimena and I got all dressed up and we had a great time!
On the day of the 4th the pilgrims (and our two most enthusiastic missionaries, Isaac and Brendan) hike up for Mass at the cave at 7am (1.5 miles plus a climb up) with the bishop of our diocese here. Pilgrims go up to the cave and often spread ashes and dirt on their faces or hands. You'll see a picture of that above as well. After the Mass at the cave there is a final Mass with the bishop again at the church followed by another short procession with St Francis.
Today everything is on its way back to normal, but first there was the counting to get out of the way. The pilgrims donated in total over $4000 to our parish during these days. That's a lot of coins!
In short, Patronales is a blessing and a cross. Days and nights of continual activity with little rest and little sleep. Loud music playing to all hours in the streets and crowds and crowds at church and at the concerts. Jimena and I live on the same street where they set up the stage and the truck of speakers. Motorcycles and cars racing dangerously down our little town's overloaded streets is a big safety problem. There is also the disappointment and sometimes anger in seeing a misguided devotion to St Francis that places him above God, and a lack of respect for the Eucharist. the Mass and the sanctuary. But there is real faith here and many of the pilgrims and baniqueros alike are richly blessed through St Francis' intercession. In fact, I trust that St Francis, in his humility, will truly lead those faithful pilgrims to Christ rather than take the inordinate devotion they try to give him for himself. It's a great big party, everyone has family in town and there is much joy. I myself enjoyed the music and festivities and admiring what faith I did witness. Music, piety and partying mix here in a way we never experience in the States.

St Francis, pray for us!

Fall Happenings

We've hardly stopped moving and doing in the past three weeks (except of course, for the time we set aside each morning for prayer). The sports league, organized and led by Mairin and Brendan, started a couple weeks ago with a kickball game. This week the girls did basketball and the boys did soccer. Since sports are a great way to teach virtue, we are trying to use the league to instill good sportsmanship. We've had a few fights and some pouting and stomping of feet among the boys, and the girls seem to be ultra-competitive, so I guess we have our work cut out for us!
After sports league on Wednesdays and Fridays we have a hour tutoring session for about 10 kids who are students at our parish colegio (elementary - 8th grade) school who need extra help in reading and writing. Most of these students came from the public school and were not able to learn to read and write well there. Now in the colegio, they have some catch-up work to do and we are trying to help as best we can. We've divided the group of kids by skill level and topics/skills they need to work on and are usually able to work with them in a 2-1 kid-missionary ratio :-)
Teresitas has more than 20 girls this year ages 7-13. We meet on Saturdays at 10am. We start with a game, then study the Bible (this week we learned how to look up verses in the Bible) and then Jimena teaches them a song (and often a dance) that we all learn. It's a lot of fun and the girls really enjoy it. It is supposed to be an evangelization tool and the girls really love it. But these girls really need prayers because many of them do not go to Mass. One of the most important rules is that in order to be a member, one must go to Mass weekly. Many of the girls have made this commitment and fulfill it, but others are struggling. Please pray for them so that they can build good habits young!
This week there was a bit of a scare. A rain storm caused 4 light poles to come crashing down in Banica, one right in front of my house. Thankfully no one was harmed as far as I know. The poles were replaced with new, cement ones the very next day! So maybe that wouldn't seem so miraculous in Virginia...but I was absolutely blown away. As a friend here put it: "Las cosas estan malas aqui, pero cuando quieren trabajar, saben trabajar."
Saturday afternoons we often have free for a trip to the river and when we can we snag a moment, we try to explore. I showed the group the Haitian "fort" and the river canoe crossing. Here are the ladies on the road to the Haitian fort.
Miss you all, but having a great time! Praised be Jesus Christ!

From One to Five!

Four new volunteers have now joined me here in Banica. We picked them up in the capital on the 25th of August in the capital where I snapped a picture of their plane. Here is a picture of all of us near the "Welcome to Banica" sign at the entrance to our pueblo. Now that they've been here a couple weeks, we have all settled into a routine and our projects have gotten underway. Mairin and Brendan (shown below working on lesson plans) are teaching English at the parish school and have organized a sports league for the school kids. Today was the first day of the girls' sports league and more than 30 kids came! Jimena, who is Peruvian and already fluent in Spanish, and I have been focusing on catechesis in the campos and are leading the Teresitas (with Mairin's help) and a Bible study for young women. Isaac is giving piano lessons to six very excited youngsters, helping with catechesis and providing musical accompaniment during Sunday Mass. We also all spend time tutoring some of the local kids who need help with reading and writing twice a week. Thank you Lord for sending more generous souls to Banica!

Summer's End and a New Beginning!

Summer in Banica was busy with visiting youth groups, building projects and campamentos. It was also time for visiting home and making more time for my family here in Banica. Here are a couple pictures of a campamento in Manyaya and the beautiful countryside.

We are now all settling down for the fall. Classes at the parish school began last week and the public school is working on getting started as well. As for me, I am happy to have some semblance of a routine back. I will be continue giving classes in Los Yareyes and Higuerito and will also be working in Los Memisos, a community witha fairly large school where many still need to receive baptism. Look for another update soon!

Blog Delinquency

I've been delinquent about updating my blog this summer. Sorry! I posted some more pictures of this summer and the past year on Facebook if you would like to check those out! Please keep praying for the mission!

The Rainy Season

The front and back of my house during one of the really big rains this past month. They had just cleared out some debris from a tree that had to be cut down and mistakenly placed it right in front of the door causing water to well up and flood into pretty much every room in the house. We all pitched in to mop up and made a fun time out of it all.

May is for Mary

For the last day of Teresitas, the girls group we have on Monday evenings, we had a little Marian feast. We met at the parish and then all went up to el centro. The girls really enjoyed the truck ride even though they were all crammed in. We had just finished making "prayer guides" for the glorious mysteries, so we used those to help us pray the glorious mysteries. Then each girl offered a flower that she had brought to our lady. Afterwards we ate brownies and celebrated. Here you can see the girls finishing up the rosary before our lady, offering their flowers, and their happy faces afterwards. Mary looked very beautiful adorned with the gifts of her daughters!

Christ comes in the Sacraments

Before I left to spend a month at home in Virginia, 22 of my students received sacraments. There were four baptisms and twenty two first communions! This was once of the best days I have had since coming to Banica because I was able to see my work bear fruit. These kids worked hard to learn their catechism and were faithful about coming to Mass, most without their parents' help. Here you see them listening and raising their hands during the homily and you can also see Aris' baptism, Pedro being confirmed and Juan Elias' first communion. I truly believe that in this one day the darkness of sin and ignorance often so present around us here in Banica was diminished by the light of Christ that began to take hold in their hearts. May the Lord guard their innocence and purity as they grow older and fill them with His Holy Spirit so that they can be little missionaries in their own families and communities.

Campamentos de Lectura

After observing that many of my catechism students struggled to read and write simple sentences and understand what they read, I had asked Father O'Hare if I could organize "campamentos" to work on literacy. My original idea was to have the camps run for a week in each community. We would read books to the kids, have them practice reading and writing on their own and try to make reading a fun and positive experience. We also sang, danced and played games.
Four Banica high schoolers who needed service hours for school asked Fr. OHare to help them out. So we put them to work helping with the 'prototype' literacy campamento. We held it in mid-May in El Palital and Los Yareyes. I provided materials and then general plan and the four young ladies lead everything. Here are a few pictures of the girls and their little students. The group picture shows the "big kids" group. We had a "little kid" group as well. The kids had a great time, and it was fun to see how much they enjoyed the stories and games, and how much effort they put forth to do a good job on all the activities the girls had for them.
One of the things I really liked about the campamento we did was that it was faithful to the principle of solidarity. As much as we can, we need to let Dominicans serve and be missionaries to Dominicans. We can facilitate, but should not try to do everything. If the goal is to eventually be "self-sufficient" the people themselves need to know that evangelizing isn't just for Americans and/or foreign missionary priests, nuns and volunteers. I think in many ways a Dominican educated in his faith and close to Christ could do so much more because he would not be an outsider.
From this experience I realized that our literacy efforts would probably be more effective if they tried to do more for fewer kids rather than a little for a lot of kids. Thus, instead of planning many week-long reading camps in many different communities, I have decided to hold a three-day-a-week class in Banica for the whole month of July. We invited kids from 5th and 6th grade in the parish school who need help with reading and writing. Many of these kids came from the public schools so they are behind.

Holy Week and Easter

Happy Easter everyone!! Christ is Risen!! Indeed He is Risen!!

Here are some pictures from Holy Week and Easter Week, in no particular order. First, Good Friday mascaras with their whips. I think they are supposed to represents souls burning in Hell. To the right of that, me with the Haitian country side in the background (notice how barren it is). The living stations of the Cross in Banica on Good Friday. Father Murphy and Tom in the chapel at Ana Caona after our trek up the entire international highway (a little Easter Week adventure). My brother Chi with my kitten, Matiw. Monsenor Grullon and the vicar general, Fr. Miguel at the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday in San Juan. Living Stations again. Our truck braving the international highway. Great views (and heights) take your breath away!