In my last post we had just celebrated Confirmation - and it was on the feast day of our patron, St. John Chrysostom. Our parish church in Fresh Creek is physically the largest and we had a combined service back in September on St. John Chrysostom's feast day for Confirmation. Unfortunately, that is the last time we were able to celebrate the Eucharist since we've had no priest since then. As we pass the mid-point of November and head into Thanksgiving we hope that will change shortly.
As you know, the Church held a Synod of Bishops, and our Archbishop was present in Rome for that event. In fact, he has yet to return. Archbishop Pinder was appointed to the 'Congregation for the Evangelization of Families' and, with several other Bishops and Cardinals, stayed behind to begin to work with them. He is scheduled to return this weekend.
Here is a link to an interview Archbishop Pinder gave to Vatican Radio during the Synod. Once you open the link you need to 'play' the radio button to hear it:
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/10/16/abp_pinder_on_synod_the_structure_of_the_family_is_key/1108699
On a different note, one of the Bahamian Deacons has died and I was blessed to be able to attend his funeral at the Cathedral. It was quite an event. The funeral was at 10AM on a Tuesday and the Cathedral was packed. Deacon Rahming was one of the first Deacons in the Archdiocese of Nassau and was a wonderful man. Here is a link to a Youtube video where I am part of the procession - singing away. I was told I did a good job 'walking and singing at the same time'. (I'm sure there's a way to get it to appear rather than have you click the link but its beyond me how to make that happen)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJqC3uyiwbY
After the funeral we processed to the cemetery and, when the casket was being lowered into the grave, discovered the casket was too wide for the concrete vault. After getting it only halfway down, they had to haul it back up, take off the side handles with a screwdriver, then re-lower it. All the while we just kept singing. Only in the Bahamas.
Back on Andros we are in full swing with CCD and RCIA. This year we have six candidates in RCIA, spread out over 3 different parishes. This makes coordinating classes a challenge but we're doing it. We have welcomed someone into the church ever Easter since we arrived and this year will be no different. The expression "Growing the Kingdom of God" has a whole new meaning when you can put names and faces on how the church is growing!
Another exciting development has to do with our Deacon Candidate. Four years ago the Archdiocese started the first Deacon class in 10 years and we were blessed to get one of our men accepted into the program. This academic year is his 4th and final year in formation. Praise God, if he can get through this final year he will be ordained in the Spring/Summer time frame and Andros will have a Bahamian Deacon. Time will tell how these 10 men will impact the Archdiocese, but it will basically double the number of ordained Deacons here.
Getting back to CCD, when we first arrived we had over 50 kids in CCD and we were running like crazy to plan First Communion, Confirmation, and classes for the kids in between those sacraments. Over 6 years the majority have passed through Confirmation and this year we have just 18 students - AND - we are blessed with an actual teacher who has volunteered to teach our Primary School students. What a blessing!
Finally, I want to thank all of you who, over the years, helped us build Our Lady of Hope in North Andros. Last week we celebrated our first anniversary in that building after 4 years of meeting in the 4th grade classroom. A year flew bye in no time - remember this pic from the Dedication Service we had last year?
Along the same lines, this weekend we will celebrate the feast of Christ the King at our church in Cargill Creek - Christ the King. To celebrate the feast of our patron we asked people to sign up to bring cakes and cookies for after church, but by the time we were done we had people offering chicken, mac&cheese, cole slaw, AND cakes and cookies - it will be quite the event and I'll do my best to get some pics for the next post. Until then - pray for us and we will do the same for you - Peace.
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