Where to begin. Well, for starters, if you have read the blog for awhile you know that one of my responsibilites is the US Navy AUTEC base, where I serve as the Catholic Chaplain for the Catholics on base. This ministry is a bit different in that I am serving a US population which includes sailors, civil engineers, contractors, and their families. Weekend liturgies can be 7 people or 37 depending upon what is happening on the base. Companies send in technicians to test new products all the time and when that happens the population can swell.
There is a part-time Chaplain, employed by the Navy, that serves the Protestants on the base. He is a great guy but only there every other weekend. Consequently, if any emergency happens mid-week, I get the call.
We recently had a Chapel Council Meeting - basically this is like a Parish Council but it includes representatives of all denominations, and Navy personnel. This is a pic of the current council.
All really wonderful people with hearts as big as all outdoors.Parish life is busy as ever - particularly busy now since Ginni has left for a month of nursing back home. She needs to take her Hospice Certification Test once again so she has much to do. It will make for a lonely November. If all goes well I might get to fly home Thanksgiving week and be there Mon-Fri. I can't miss the weekends though, covering the 3 churches is always a priority.
CCD is running full tilt - we've started slow because we have had a few Bahamian holidays that interrupted things. Columbus Day in the US is Discovery Day here - after all Columbus did land here and it is a major holiday. The schools also had a mid-term break which also interrupted classes for a week. Right now we're on schedule again and, with Ginni gone, it is very challenging. Ginni and I have done tons of educational things prior to coming here, but its been primarily with adults, doing children is a whole different kettle of fish.
Speaking of kettles of fish - Peter, our maintenance man/groundskeeper has been very generous giving us fish he's caught. Typically they are small 'fryers', but this past week he came by with a whole tupperware container of cooked fish in a sauce - delicious. "Deac - Ya Gotta taste some Bahamian food mahn!" He also had some beans and rice, but not what Bostonians typically think of when they hear 'beans and rice'. Peter's were white rice with lima beans - really quite a delicious contrast when mixed with the sauce and fish. The sauce is a tomato-based sauce but heavy on the lime and red pepper (heat). Anyway, I liked it alot.
The generosity of the Bahamian people is really amazing. We stop to give communion to an older woman whose family really has very little and, every time we stop, two ice cold sodas appear for us. Other families have given us everything from peas and rice, to stuffed crab, to coconut tarts and cakes of all kinds. One family even dropped off a bag of lobster tails!
I guess the latest news is the issues we continue to have with our local thief, addict, and homeless man. Homeless isn't totally accurate - he has a very large extended family but at this point in his life he has alienated most of them. We see him from time to time staggering drunk in the town and he has a history of stealing and addiction. He drops by the church 3-4 times a week asking for a drink, a sandwich, or whatever else he thinks we might have. We let him wash our van and pay him with food but, while we try to be as generous as we can, he is becoming more and more of a problem of late. The most recent thing that really sent me over the edge is Ginni found him sleeping in the church van. I read him the riot act about this months ago and he hasn't done it, but last Saturday morning Ginni went to the van to go pick me up at the airport and there he was. She had to wake him up and get him out before she could leave. A bit scary for her to say the least.
I decided to speak to the local police and get some advise. They said I could have him arrested for breaking into the van but instead we decided that they would take him aside and, in rather stern words I suspect, let him know that if it happens again they will indeed arrest him.
On the one hand I want to be charitable - but on the other we need to be safe.
Well, I need to be heading off to Cargill Creek for CCD so I will sign off for now. Hope to be more faithful in writing in the future. - Peace
