Christmas in TX

Hello Again
Well we got a Christmas surprise - a priest!
Yes the Archdiocese was able to send us a priest for most of Advent, through Christmas and New Year.  So, for the first time in five years, Ginni and I are spending Christmas with our family.  We usually get to see Mike and Joe more often, since they are in NY, relatively close to our home in MA, but our son Matt is in that alien country called Texas.  So we spent two weeks with Fr. Vince, and when he had the lay of the land down pat, we left for two weeks in TX.

Fr. Vince is a wonderful priest - the retired Vicar from Jacksonville, FL.  By the time we left he was driving the van, picking up people, and making himself at home.  This seems to have continued since we left - here is a pic he emailed me of one of his new friends in Cargill Creek.

Our son Matt lives in Kingwood, TX a Houston Suburb.  He has a great home here and his career seems to have taken off.  When we arrived he met us as the airport and we found out that his wife's two sisters would be joining us for a few days.  The guest list would be six visiting adults, and 5 visiting children, add in Matt's family and you have 8 adults, 6 kids and 2 dogs - where to put them all!!  We came up with a great solution, Ginni and I would sleep in the pop-up trailer - giving us some silence in the midst of the reunion.  What we didn't count on was the night-time temps dropping into the low 40's.  It was a challenge but we did it for the 2 nights we needed to.

One thing we learned was that the hubby of one of visiting families has never been baptized.  He has been going to various churches  near Dallas, so he's interested, but hasn't made a decision yet.  Well this missionary couldn't help but offer to take him outside into Matt's pool and do the job right now.  Clearly I wasn't about to do that without talking to him in detail but it was a funny moment.  I did follow up later and it looks like he's open to an email dialogue - which may lead to baptism (or not).  Time will tell but if we can be part of making that a reality, you know we will try.

As I write this it is Christmas Eve.  We took our grandson Jack to see a movie this afternoon but the big surprise for me is the culture shock of the Super Wal-Mart and the grocery stores.  The sheer volume of what is on the shelves and prices compared to Andros is shocking.  Absolutely unbelievable!

Last Sunday, we went to St. Martha's parish in Kingwood.  St. Martha's has grown since our last visit here and the new church is overwhelming - our new church in Mastic Point could fit in the lobby (actually, four of our new churches could fit in their lobby.  Here is a pic of St.Martha's:

One thing I know we needed to buy for Andros while we are here is communion hosts.  We left Fr. Vince with enough, but he should just about use up what we left him.  After Mass on Sunday I asked the Deacon at St. Martha's (one of eight Deacons they have - yes 8), where do you buy your hosts for St. Martha's.  It turns out that the Houston-Galveston Archdiocese is blessed to have an order of Carmelite nuns who make and sell hosts to the parishes of the Archdiocese, AND they are only one town away.

So, yesterday Matt and I took a drive to the Carmelite monastery in New Caney, TX..  This is a cloistered monastery, meaning the Sisters live with minimal contact to the outside world.  Sr. MaryAnne gave us directions over the phone and when we got there we were met by Sr. Anne, who was very helpful.  Here is a pic of their facility in New Caney, TX

Sr. Anne answered the intercom when we rang the bell and directed us to go down the hall on the right and into the first parlor on the left.  We found a cozy room with a table and chairs and the metal grate that would separate her from us.  She came in with an armful of hosts in different shapes and sizes and for just over $30 we had over 1,000 hosts and 100 of the larger priest hosts for Mass.  She was very helpful and when we left I asked if there might be one of the sisters who would be willing to adopt our mission and lift us up in her daily prayers.  To my surprise Sr. Anne said "Oh I would love to do that, and thank you for asking me to".  What a blessing this trip was.  Praying for missionaries is one of the charisms of this order of nuns - St. Therese the Little Flower spoke of it in STORY OF A SOUL.  I am very pleased that we have this type of spiritual support from these holy women of God.

Well, I have been typing for awhile so I should head back downstairs to be with the fam.
Ginni and I wish you all the very best that Christmas can bring
Till next time

Dedication of Our Lady of Hope

Well I cannot believe my last post was in OCT when we opened up the restored building in Behring Point.  As you will see, we have been a bit busy.  But speaking of Behring Point - that building has been put to work as THE place for our religious ed classes for the primary school kids on Andros.  Still no electricity, still no running water - but it works really well for our kids and seems to be a hit.

Now on to Mastic Point - if you follow the blog you know that for the last 4 years we have been travelling to North Andros to provide Sunday services for the folks up there.  The ride is horrible.  When we began the drive was about 40-50 minutes, now the roads have degraded so badly it is an hour and a half.  Despite that, we have kept going and the community has grown from a few families to a Haitian community and other local Bahamians that have had to attend other churches since there was no Catholic presence.

Well after years of fundraising and wonderful support from St. Timothy's in Norwood, MA; St. Anthony's in Cohasset, Ma; and Immaculate Conception in Weymouth, MA - plus many, many friends and family in the US and the Bahamas this community will no longer meet in the 4th grade classroom of Mastic Point Primary School.  Now we will meet in Our Lady of Hope, the newest Catholic Church in the Bahamas!
In the Rite for the Dedication of a Church there is this wonderful pic of Mary covering a church with her hands as the people gather to worship - we loved it so much we put it on the cover of the program.

The day started with us all gathering outside and the Archbishop opening the service with prayer, receiving the keys from the builder and then opening the doors so we might all process in while Ginni led us in song.

Once inside, the Archbishop blessed the Holy Water and then sprinkled the altar, the walls, and the people.

After the Holy Water came the Liturgy of the Word and the Archbishop's homily.  Then came the intercession of the Saints, which I had to sing.  I had no idea the litany was so long - three pages of saints who we called for their intercession in song!

This was followed by the Prayer of Dedication and Anointing.  The Archbishop began by pouring Chrism all over the top and at the four corners of the altar.

 Then he spread the Chrism evenly over every inch of the altar, truly consecrating it.

After anointing the altar he anointed the walls, at four distinct places where we had installed crosses for this purpose.

After the anointing came the incense.  Incensing the altar, the walls, and the people, the fragrance filled the church, as will our prayers.

Now it was time to 'dress' the altar - Ginni helped as the altar clothes are spread out for the very first time.

 The Archbishop then blessed the light that, for the first time, will illuminate the altar, and the church. He passed it off to the Deacon who brings the light of Christ to the altar.

 After lighting the altar candles I then lit the candles at the four points on the walls where the Archbishop had anointed with Chrism, and then set the table for Eucharist.

After celebrating the Eucharist we were able to gather everyone together to pose for a group picture in front of Our Lady of Hope.

We were blessed in that all the Catholics who could, travelling north to be here for one joint service.  One bus left from Behring Point, another from Fresh Creek, and a third traveled into the Haitian shanty town to bring as many as could come.  While our usually gathering at the Primary School numbers in the twenties, we had over 100 plates at the reception that followed - and ran out!  What a faith-filled crew we have here on Andros!

We want to thank everyone who participated - and if you were not here, but donated time or money - you participated.  Thanks to everyone - and please continue to keep us in your prayers.
Till next time.

Behring Point is up and running

In my last post I told you a little bit about our project to restore a building that had been a bakery on the property of St. Mary's in Behring Pt, the southern most part of our island.  Fr. Gabriel Roerig, OSB arrived on Andros in 1894 and spent 56 years serving the people of Andros.  After building the church and rectory he built a small building known as the bakery.  He would bake bread for all the people here with no food.  The running joke here is it was called 'window bread', because he sliced it so thin you could see through it.  What the locals say is, 'nobody sliced bread any thinner than Fr. Gabriel, BUT, everyone got a slice.

Anyway - we noticed the walls were solid, but the windows, doors and roof where rotted away.  Knowing our kids at that end of the island had to kneel on the church floor to use the benches as desks, we decided to restore it.  So here is a pic of the building after the rotted wood and roof were removed

and here is the new building - not too shabby!

We had our first lessons this week and the kids got right to work with Ms Ginni watching over them

One bit of excitement was the snake that lived in the foundation decided to make an appearance, but he soon left and we carried on quite well.

Even having a game of Simon Says between lessons.

While we feel blessed to have this building - we do not have running water here, or electricity.  While Fr. Gabriel lived 56 years here without electricity, in 2013 its a challenge in 90 degree heat.  We were blessed to find a 'storm fan' while in Nassau.  This little battery operated unit has a fan, led lights, and a radio for use during hurricanes.  I bought 2 for about $60 each and leave them plugged in at the church to charge the battery and when we have class we pick them up and run the fans on the battery - it works just fine (haven't told the kids about the built in radio yet).

The lack of running water created a problem because little kids need to use the poddy when CCD lasts all morning like our class does.  Someone suggested a composting toilet and we checked them out.  We found one for $860 that uses no electricity and no running water - a toilet used for RV's or boats or that remote camp in the mountains.  It has two tanks, one for liquid waste, one for solid.  The liquid we bring home and dump in the toilet,  the solid is set up with a paddle and you put in peat moss.  After doing your business your turn the paddle and the solid waste and peat moss mix, naturally creating compost over time.

Next to what had been the bakery is the church and the rear door to the sacristy.  Well the church is really beyond fixing but the sacristy is solid so we locked off the door into the church and used the sacristy door as the door into our new sacristy-rest room.  You can imagine the interest when I had to show our kids this new invention.  All the lessons went well until we said it was time to go - - then everyone had to pee.   Each took their turn and it worked like a champ.

Enough for now - next time we should be opening up the new church in Mastic Point - I'll have lots to tell and hope to have pics to post as well.

Till next time

Hello Again -
Well another month has passed since my last entry and as summer is winding down the work load is ramping up.  Usually we let the kids start school and give them a month before we add CCD to their work load.  This year, Discovery Day, a national holiday  (US Columbus Day) is on Oct 14 so rather than start CCD and a week into it have two of our three classes cancel due to the holiday, we are starting the following week.  Saturday morning the 19th will be all our Primary School kids for an all-morning session in a building we restored in Behring Point, the southern-most point on our island.  It is also on the property of the very first Catholic Church built on the family islands (family islands = Bahamian islands not Nassau).  Fr. Gabriel Roerig, OSB was the first priest here and he built the church:

with a 2-story rectory:

and a bakery.

The bakery is 9x32 and it is that building we restored. (The church needs a $10,000 roof and the 2nd floor of the rectory has fallen into the 1st floor, but the bakery was a restoration we could afford).
Anyway - I should have pics of the restored bakery next time - AND - children in the midst of CCD within it.

Next, of course is the progress on the new church in North Andros - the Mastic Point chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Hope is coming along - the focus of the work now is on the inside but there have been a few additions on the external work, such as the small porch being added at the entry way.

 Inside, the sheet rock is up and taped and sanded - here one of the workman is beginning to prime the woodwork around the windows

 and here we are with the walls primed and ready for a little color.  Eventually the rear and side walls will be white and the front wall behind the altar will be baby blue (or sky blue, or light blue, or ...)

With money being tight we are doing everything on a shoe string.  I found an old discarded processional cross and spent some time sanding and polishing before adding a corpus from another old broken crucifix to get what will be a very nice processional cross.  I was also able to take a small wooded tabernacle from Christ the King in Cargill Creek that had been taken out of service years ago and sanded and stained and restored that.  In our garage were a few old discarded chairs and tables - to say they were in rough shape was an understatement - but with more sandpaper, elbow grease, and an old can of walnut stain the table will now be our credence table and the chairs will be the presider and deacon's chairs.  Now the seats of these chairs were in horrible shape and my lovely seamstress wife took it upon herself to reupholster them.  Here she is in the 90 degree heat "basting" the new fabric onto the seat, prior to our stapling it down securely. (I thought basting is what you did to a turkey but I guess there is a basting stitch that pulls the fabric tight before stapling it down - who knew?  Ginni knew!)

The Archbishop has confirmed he will be with us on Nov 17 to dedicate the new building so it is definitely crunch time!

One of the details of building a new church is furnishing it.  We have restored 8 ten-foot pews, again with sandpaper and a dark walnut stain.  St. Thomas More in Nassau has sent us an altar they have taken out of service that is fabulous.  Holy Family in Nassau has recently expanded into a new church building and has donated us their old Stations of the Cross.  I already mentioned the processional cross and chairs -but- we still need an Ambo(think podium), holy water font, thurible (think incensor), holy water sprinkler, etc.   The details in doing this are amazing.

This leads us onto our next adventure.  One of the AUTEC Catholics tells us his brother lives in the St. Petersburg diocese in FL and he is very well connected and could probably find all these things in church basements over there.  If it was OK, he'd be willing to pay for the shipping of anything he could get donated.   Sounded good to me - so off he goes.  I get the email asking for a list, which I provide, and he goes off on his treasure hunt for us.  The next I hear, an email has been sent to all the parishes in the St. Pete diocese soliciting donations for our mission church.  Now that is quite the deal - but - the next day I get an email from  a Deacon, the Vice-Chancellor of the diocese saying he has researched Our Lady of Hope and there is no such church in the Bahamas - what is going on?  SIGH   So I crank out an email explaining the church doesn't exist yet, who I am, what we're doing, etc. and cross my fingers.  Next day there is a wonderful email thanking us for our service and wishing us much success in furnishing the church - Whew - what a relief.

A few weeks ago as I drove thru the Haitian shanty town to pick up people for church I was directed down new paths my van had never seen (or attempted) before.  When we were back on the main road one of my friends said, "Deac, there are many more that want to come once we have a church - you're going to need a bigger bus!"

Did I tell you about Barry?  Barry has been meeting with us from time to time this summer, considering joining the church.  He is from North Andros and his job -- he drives a bus.  Does this sound like God's plan or what!

Till next time - Peace

Growing the Church

Well hello again - I can't believe my last post was in July after our trip to the US in June and here it is SEP already.  Well let me tell you what has been going on.  During that trip we were able to do a mission appeal at Immaculate Conception in Weymouth - AND be with all my friends at St. Timothy's in Norwood for the 50th Anniversary - AND see my family once again.  The end result was a very fruitful mission appeal.  Enough to put a roof on our new church in North Andros.

Our Lady of Hope, in Mastic Point is going up as we speak - roof and all.  Since we took this pic last week the windows and doors are in and the siding is going on.  We didn't have enough money to tile the floor so we were going to paint it BUT since I distributed these pics to friends and family a few have asked how they can help and that help may just be enough to put down tile!  Praise God.

The interior has a long way to go.  As you can see here as they begin to frame the sacristy and put in the window for that space.  Suffice it say - coordinating this AND preparing for the upcoming year of CCD is a very full time job.

On the spiritual front - this year we took the summer months to begin a Charismatic Prayer Meeting at Christ the King, the southern-most parish on the island.  There are several Pentecostal churches there and we have begun to notice their influence on some of our members.  While this might deter some Catholic clergy, we have been 'Catholic Pentecostals' via the Charismatic Renewal for a few decades now and that spiritual expression is 'home' for us. "Did you know Deac be speakin' da tongues, mahn?"  We started with six people the first week, then ten, so we'll see what happens -- right now its back to school time so people are coming back from being away all summer, some are off-island doing back to school shopping, its a bit chaotic for the next week or two -- if attendance rises or falls is the Holy Spirit's business so we will wait until October and decide if we want to add this to our ministries once we start teaching CCD.

Our Primary School students will have a new home for their classes this year.  Another abandoned building has been put to work by our renovating what had been a 'bakery' on the grounds of St. Mary's in Behring Point.  Fr. Gabriel, the first priest on the family islands, build a church and a rectory, then this bakery to bake bread for those who had none.  People still tell me that nobody could slice bread thinner than Fr. Gabriel, but everyone got a slice.  This is a pic of Fr. Gabriel with some of the local kids circa 1940

Anyway - the interior dimensions of the building we restored are 9'x32' and for the first time our kids will have tables and chairs.  No more kneeling on the church floor and using the pews as desks.

Maybe next time I will have pics of this new building with tables and chairs.  Our budget for that effort was nil, since we were also building the church in Mastic Point so we have the building, tables and chairs, but no running water or electricity.  I was able to get a 'composting toilet' that you would put on a boat or a camper that does not need water.  It will convert the waste into compost that we can use on the property.  My  mother used to say 'necessity is the mother of invention' and it is certainly true in this case.  We will see how we last without electricity since that means no fans in the midst of the Bahamas heat.  Maybe there is a solar fan in our future if I can find one.

Pray for us, we certainly need it

Anniversary Pics (and Urine???)

Well as you can tell by the subject line of this post I have two completely unrelated topics to share with you.  First, in my last post I promised some more pics of the 50th Anniversary at St Timothy's.  Well here you go.  A friend of ours was in the choir and they sat to the right of the altar so he had a bee-line view of the celebrants and got some wonderful pics.  This first one is a purely coincidental pic of Cardinal O'Malley's profile and mine.

Then he was able to back up a bit and capture all three of us on the altar to include our Pastor

Finally, there is the offetory, and the gifts being presented to the Cardinal, which I then took to 'set the table' for the Eucharist.

It truely was a wonderful celebration.

Now on to the second topic that you may find surprising but actually its not uncommon here in the Bahamas.  We have several sick parishioners here that we bring communion to.  On occasion we hear about 'bush medicine', where locals have identified home-brew medication from local plants or traditions that may or may not be effective, but they swear by.  One of our visits really tested Ginni's Visiting Nurse skill set so here goes:

Our parishioner is on his porch, looking quite frail and so we sit and talk a bit before starting the communion service part of our visit.  During that initial conversation he tells us he has had a terrible sore throat and alot of mucus built up in his chest.  So he's be taking some tea to cut through it and it's been working.  His tea is a combination of sour cassaba, tea, and urine.  Now he says this, I get it, and I look to Ginni who hasn't really heard him clearly.  So we talk a bit more and a few minutes later he says it again, sour "cassaba, tea, and urine, yep Faddah, dat really cuts it."  Realizing Ginni still hasn't heard him, and what her reaction would be if she had, I try to avoid falling off my chair and start the communion service, trying not to crack up as we pray.  On the outside I am praying the penitential rite, reading the Gospel, a short reflection, the Lord's Prayer . . .  but on the inside I know that when Ginni finally understands his 'medication' it will be something to behold.  So we finish communion, our friend says, "well thank you Deac", and I reply, "no problem, my friend, glad you are feeling a little better, hope that tea keeps working" and again he says, "yes, that sour cassaba and urine, it be doing the trick", and this time Ginni gets it, she leans forward and says "Excuse me, are you saying 'urine'?" and he replies "Oh yes, Miss Ginni" and putting his hand towards his genitals he says "I takes a little of my urine, and puts it in a cup with the cassaba" Ginni, in one motion, sits ramrod straight in her chair, inhales deeply through her nostrils, and blinks twice. "Oh".  Well I just about lose it.  Her reaction in that instant was absolutely precious.  We had encountered bush doctors who make a variety of teas from crushed leaves of this plant or that plant for everything from curinging headaches to initiating pregnancy but this was the first urine drinking we'd encountered.

Once she recovered she did a good job of explaining this wasn't something he should continue.  The body was getting rid of things it didn't want in urine and he shouldn't be drining it.  He understood, and when we promised to bring him cough drops to help his throat he said he'd stop drinking urine and we left.

Once in the car I looked at her and just cracked up "Excuse me, are you saying urine?"  It was unique.  Suffice it to say, she was not amused - but I was, what a hoot.

Well, gotta run - till next time

Vacation?

Hello once again -
Well since my last post the big news is our time back in the US for the last two weeks of June.  The real occasion for our trip was the 50th Anniversary of St. Timothy's in Norwood, MA but we also got to reconnect with old friends and family as well as work on our home in Canton, MA and our cabin in Hillsborough, NH, neither of which we can sell in the current economic climate.  (Wouldn't you love a log cabin on a lake, in ski country?  Let me know if you're interested).
Anyway - it was a very full schedule of meetings and work and celebration so let me get to it.  We arrived on Friday, just before the Saturday evening celebration at St. Timothy's.  We had Saturday day to catch up with people in the parish on the schedule of the event and questions about the liturgy and at the regularly scheduled 4:30 liturgy on Saturday the celebration began - but let me back up.

A room had been set aside for all the visiting clergy to vest in the lower church.  We had visiting priests from all over the Archdiocese who had, at one time served at St. Tim's, Cardinal O'Malley, his Secretary, and me, the only Deacon.  Our Pastoral Associate had posted the order of procession and the stations for communion we were all assigned to.  While we waited for the Cardinal there were stories of past experiences from these priests that were hilarious.  One was of Fr. Rocco who, as Pastor, had had a disagreement with some parishioners who put together a petition and letter of complaint to then Cardinal Mederios.  A few weeks later Fr. Rocco is summoned to the Cardinal's office.  So he goes off to the meeting, fully expecting a confrontation but upon his arrival he is informed he has been elevated to Auxiliary Bishop of Boston (with no mention of the letter).  All the priests got a kick out of that one.

Anyway - time is moving and no Cardinal, so we head out to the front door for the Entrance Procession and our Pastor is waiting patiently on the steps, no Cardinal.  We wait, and literally about 3-4 minutes before the start up pulls the Cardinal's car.  Our Pastor whisks him downstairs, he is vested in moments, his Secretary comes to me and says "Frank, the order of procession you were given is wrong, you're before the priests, not after them"  it was a small nit, but I thought it cool that the Cardinal's Secretary knew my name and just didn't say, "Deacon - - -".  One of my friends sitting in the choir has some great pics.  If and when he sends them along I will post a few for you but here are a few pics of the liturgy - you can see me pretty clearly in this first one showing the Cardinal preaching.

So the Mass and Anniversary celebration went off without a hitch, and afterward there was a huge tent on the lawn and a reception. 

Throughout the night people would come ask me about the ministry, we'd share stories and I'd talk about the need for money for the new church in Mastic Point and a wad of bills would be stuffed in my hand.  Some people had envelopes with a card and a check.  Others would promise to send money.  I was overwhelmed with the interest and generosity.

The next day, Sunday, I preached at the 8AM Mass to help out.  Didn't do a mission appeal (I felt I had hit up the people of St. Tim's on every trip home - they deserved a break).  But at the end of the weekend I had over $1,000 in unsolicited donations!

Our next task was going to work on the cabin in NH.  It's a log home on a lake in ski country but the economy for places like this is still pretty dead.  We had set aside 4 days for NH - two to do non-stop work and two to give ourselves time to relax.  The weather was forcast to be 2 days of rain, then 2 of sun so we saved the sunny days to get the work done and took the rainy days for ourselves.  We drove far up into the mountains to the Eagle Mountain House - a favorite Inn of ours. 

It was great.  What a change from the flat terrain of Andros to be in the mountains again.  We sat on the porch with a cold drink and read novels!  Not something we ever have time to do on Andros, that's for sure.

Then it was off to the cabin to try to spruce it up a bit.  With the help of John and Kay - wonderful friends of ours, and my nephew Troy, we re-stained the deck, did a ton ( no, two-tons) of yard work, and repaired a list of small things that tenants had broken.  Totally exhausted, we headed back to Mass.

The rest of the week we met friends for lunch, for dinner, for drinks - reconnected with so many wonderful old friends of ours.  After the vaca was over we realized we only had time to eat at home once!  The following weekend I preached at all 5 Masses at Immaculate Conception in Weymouth MA to solicit funds for the new church.  They were very generous donating enough, when added to monies from St. Tim's and friends, to ensure we can put a roof onto the building.

Then back to Andros (whew).  When we got back we found that the walls were going up at the new church but there was a hiccup with the contractor's generator breaking down - and rain.  Progress is progress but its slow -- as I write this we are all nervously tracking tropical storm Chantel on its way to the Bahamas.  It is good to see the walls starting to rise - we are hoping for a September occupancy - pray.

As I write this it is Independence Day in the Bahamas.  Our nation is 40 years old today!  Last night was the Ecumenical Prayer Service, and Independence Day celebration.  I was on the stage in my black clerics with about 8 other ministers.  It was a wonderful celebration with song, dancing, preaching, song, preaching, et.al.  The fireworks were super - despite the rain!  Sorry, no pics of this event, but again, many great friends to celebrate this occasion.
Well enough for now - till next time

OLOH CCD Mother's Day & a trip to the West Side

Well hello again
If you follow me on facebook you know we have had a month of rain that should be in the record books.
We have a cystern to hold rain water and at the beginning of May I washed it out to get ready for the rainy season.  It is circular and is four feet wide and four feet deep.  Today, June 3, its FULL!  Hope that gives you some idea of the rain we have had.
The rain does a number on our roads here, pot holes that live up to their name, literally as deep and wide as your biggest pot.  In the rain they fill up when the roads flood and can really destroy your car.  Our 45 minute drive to North Andros is now an hour and 20 minutes.  One of our parishioners who owns a hardware store went North to get some frieght and lost his oil pan and gas tank in one of those holes and had to be towed home.  Lucky for him he was still on a part of the road with cell phone coverage.  There are miles of that road without any way to call for help.
Anyway, let me catch you up on some news - first, the North Andros construction is well under way.  The foundation and septic are in and we are now into phase 2, walls and a roof - well, walls anyway.  We need more fundraising to get a roof.  Anyway - here is a pic of the sign, (notice the currently meeting sign at the bottom - it says, Currently Meeting Mastic Point Primary.  Still meeting in the Primary School and I am so anxious to take that down and have our own church

Here is a pic of the recently poured foundation

It will be finished by the end of the summer we hope.

On another note - CCD is finished for the year PRAISE GOD!  But I thought I would show you a few pics of that.  A few years ago we restored an abandoned church and turned it into a Parish Hall/School .  It has been fantastic.  At the southern end of our island (Behring Point) we are trying to do the same thing.  St. Mary's has been abandoned for years and it is the oldest Catholic Church on the family islands (Bahamian islands other than Nassau).  This property has a church, rectory, and a building called the Bakery where Fr. Gabriel Roerig OSB (the first Catholic priest on a family island), would bake bread for the locals.

"OH Faddah - dat Faddah Gabrel could make bread - nobody could slice bread thinner than Faddah - you could hold it up and see the sun tru it - but we all got a piece"

Anyway - we can't afford to restore the church or rectory but this bakery has promise.  Its taken much longer than we planned but we hope to be able to move in within the next few weeks.  Unfortunately, not in time for this school year - so the kids down south still had lessons in the church.  I use a TV table for a desk and the kids used the pews as desks.  Here are a few pics of that in progress.  First, here I am using my 'white board' to explain something to the kids

and here they are all working away on their papers - the teen you see in this pic is Emily.  She became a Catholic this year and as part of her Social Svc component she helped us with the CCD lessons. 

                                   

and another angle - not the most comfy position for CCD, but they never complained, not once

and then there is snack time, usually cookies and lemonade - Deacon has to keep his strength up

The other highlight of the last month or so was Mother's Day. We ordered carnations and Ginni baked, and baked, and baked - 5 cakes, dozens of cookies and cup cakes - dozens.  Here she is at Cargill Creek trying to make sure the mothers get some before the kiddie descend in droves

It really was a great day - wonderful community time for everyone to chat after services were over.  This isn't the best of pics but you get to see what the view is like from the front door of Christ the King.

Here are two Grans - great ladies showing off their carnations

Our Mother's Day up north was a little different.  Having church in a 4th grade classroom didn't cramp our style one bit.  Sorry I didn't get a pic of the teacher's desk converted into an altar but here you can get the idea of our Haitian friends gathering up the sheets we put together that has English on one side and Creole on the other.

Having church at 4:30 on Sunday can be a long day for some of our members up north.

Finally, I have mentioned before that Andros is only populated on the East side of the island -  the rest is swamp.  That means that the West side is still pristine, undeveloped land.  The Bahamas National Trust has been formed to protect the environmental beauty of the Bahamas and last week they offered to take the clergy of Andros to the West Side to show us its beauty and get our support to push added environmental protections.  Well its everything they said.  Going thru this bight to get to the West side we saw a half dozen turtles, herons, and fish in clear blue water.

Well, enough for now - till next time