Deacon Frank and Ginni on Andros

February Already!!!

2012-02-03T13:42:00.000-08:00

Well I couldn't believe the last post I had here was Merry Christmas and Jolly Junkanoo. It is February already and so much has happened.

As I write this, Ginni is back home in the US being a nurse to earn the money we need to stay here. Let me explain - we do have a plan on the money issue. We have a 2 family home in Canton and a log home on a lake in NH ski country. Rental income from those properties allow us to be serving here in the Bahamas while keeping the mortgage, taxes, water bills, and insurance paid up. (If we could sell either of these properties we certainly would, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards in this economy). The problem is that not all tenants actually pay their rent - its created a financial burden we hadn't expected. The bad tenants have left and we had a few months between tenants so we are 'financially challenged'. Ginni should be able to get the hours to help fix this, but it means she'll miss about a month of Bahama time.

So Gin is gone and I am doing the 4 weekend liturgies, and the 4 CCD classes, and the RCIA classes and the cooking, cleaning, laundry, et. al. Getting time to blog is a problem!

As I wrote those words it struck me that for decades, the missionary priests that came here did all that I just described day after day after day. When I read about thier lives and what they accomplished I am amazed. Throw in the fact that for many of them, there were no roads, no air conditioning, not even electricity. Heros, every one of them.

I do have one anecdote those of you from Boston will get a kick out of. When we came here we brought all the baggage of the sexual abuse crisis in Boston. The Bahamas has been spared this scandal and so the sensitivity to 'protecting God's children', while present, is not as in-your-face as it was in Boston when I left. Bahamian parents tell me if their child acts up during CCD classes the 'beat dem deacon - if dey be bahd beat dem'. A major difference from Boston where hugging a child is frowned upon.

So anyway, Ginni is gone and I am driving the kids home after CCD. Three of these teenage girls live about a half hour away and as we drive one of them says, "Deacon, when we get out into the bush can you pull over so I can get out and pee?" I say, "Excuse me?" She says, "When we get out into the bush please pull over so I can get out and pee." I was blown away - all 3 girls thought nothing of this request - it was a perfectly innocent request from their viewpoint and expected me to just say "sure, go ahead".

Well, fortunately, our route goes past the Andros Town airport and we hadn't reached it yet so I suggested we stop there and they can actually use a toilet and they thought that was a great idea, so we did. But I gotta tell ya, if we had gone 10 minutes more we would have been driving in the bush and it would have been an interesting dilemma. Thank God I remembered the airport up ahead.

Other items of interest - the tail pipe on the van's muffler disconnected and I had tied it up with a wire coathanger until I found a parishioner who does welding. I took it to him and he welded it back on, no problem. When I offered to pay he was insulted. "Dis be da choich van Deacon, I do dis for da choich". A week later the other end of the muffler has the same problem. The pipe from the engine INTO to muffler disconnects. Once again its back to the coat hanger solution until I can find my parishioner. Turns out he is off the island seeing a dentist and won't be back for a week. (Island life dictates when you don't have something you make due until you get it). So my wire coathanger works for awhile but comes loose so I crawl under the van and wire up another one (to discover I had parked near some fire ants). Anyway this lasted until he returned and in 20 minutes this was fixed and, once again, he refused to even consider any payment. Good people.

This weekend we will have a visiting priest - the Archbishop. We are into our 4th year here and this is his 1st weekend visit to go to all the churches. It is unfortunate he is coming while Ginni is away but that's life. This past year the Archdiocese sent a surveyor to map out all the church-owned land on Andros. He will fly in Saturday morning and we will spend the day viewing all these sites so the Archbishop gets a sense of the property here. The surveyor found some land I wasn't aware of and determined some that I did know about were much larger than I had imagined. I am hoping some will be land the Archbishop may be willing to sell to help us with the costs associated with building a chapel in North Andros where there hasn't been a Catholic Church in over 40 years.

On that front - it occured to me that the Knights of Columbus might be a resource to help us with the new chapel. Coincidentally, the Grand Knight has an annual dinner to honor the clergy throughout the Bahamas and I was invited. Unfortuanely I could not attend but I sent him an email, thanking him, then telling him about the opportunity in No. Andros and asking if the Knights could help. Well I got a very nice email back, it turns out he grew up on Andros and would love to present the need to his brother Knights at their next meeting. Who knows - this could be a huge help in making this a reality. Right now the local Bahamians up North, and a few US donors, have reached the $6,000 mark. I have one builder who quoted me $50,000 and another for $30,000. All we really need is four walls and a roof (and a bathroom). I am hoping I can get the costs down but buying materials and getting them here is a significant addition to the price.

Shifting gears once more. You may be aware that the Catholic Church has changed some of the responses at Mass to be truer to the original Latin. For example, for years the response to "The Lord be with you" has been, "and also with you". Well now its "and with your spirit". Some people have picked up the new wording throughout the Mass, for others its been harder. I saw this poster the other day and fell in love with it.

One other area this has affected is music. At St. John Chrysostom in Fresh Creek the only instrument we have is a drum, and Ginni's guitar. All the new music that has been adapted to the new words are written for organ or piano. So my lovely wife took it upon herself to create an arrangement for the Gloria on guitar that uses the new words (as I said earlier, in island life you either do without or make do - so Ginni took the bull by the horns and made do). It is a wonderful version of the Gloria and we are now singing it at all of the Bahamian parishes. AUTEC is using a version from the St. Benedict Mass in the missalette. If I can ever figure out how to post audio here I'll try to record a version of us singing it. Suffice it to say this was a huge undertaking for Ginni and she did a great job.

Well I really need to sign off - this is the 1st Friday of the month and we have a Holy Hour of Adoration at the AUTEC Chapel I need to prep for. Please keep us in your prayers

- Deacon Frank

Jolly Junkanoo

2011-12-30T12:49:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and a Jolly Junkanoo to you all!

Junkanoo is a uniquely Bahamian celebration with bands and dancers and floats and the parade goes for hours! Literally, it starts at midnight on New Years and goes well into the morning hours. To say the costumes and bands are dressed to the max is an understatement - incredible stuff.

Just as an example - here's a pic of just one Junkanoo dancer - imagine a couple hundred - and that would just be one of many, many bands marching in the parade.

Christmas here was wonderful. We had our usual full complement of Sunday liturgies and with Christmas being on a Sunday this year it actually made things simpler. Here is a pic of our altar at St. John Chrysostom, fully decorated for Christmas!

New Years will be a lot busier than Christmas. We will have our 6PM service at the AUTEC Base, then a midnight Mass at St. John Chrysostom in Fresh Creek, then we'll have our regular Sunday liturgies beginning with the 830AM for those at St. John who couldn't make midnight, then the 1115 in Cargill and the 4PM up north in Mastic Point. Its the Midnight Mass followed by the 830 that'll be the killer.

Midnight on New Years here is called Watch Night Service. Its a British thing where the people want to be in Church to pray in the New Year. It will start at 11 with carols and the liturgy starting at 1130 and running through midnight.

All in all we continue to grow the Kingdom of God here on Andros and we pray 2012 will be even more fruitful than 2011. May God bless you all as well

Till next time

An Andros to Kenya connection

2011-12-23T09:42:00.000-08:00

Well its Christmas eve eve and we've wrapped up CCD and are preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus here on Andros. Our last week of CCD was actually a unique one so I thought I would share that with you.

One of the new things we are trying this year has a Maryknoll connection. Maryknoll is a missionary order of priests and Ginni and I have been getting Maryknoll Magazine for years. This year they introduced the Maryknoll classroom. What they offer is a program, at no charge, where they will send a copy of Maryknolll Magazine for every student in your CCD program AND a teachers guide with suggestions as to how to use the articles in a classroom setting. Well, with the keyword being FREE I had to check it out and so, in DEC we got our first box of 50 magazines.

The DEC issue had a story about a special Children's liturgy held in Kenya. Over 30,000 children attended from all over the nation and priests, deacons, and bishops joined in for a wonderful day-long celebration of the children of Kenya. At one point the children were given baloons imprinted with the message 'Pray for the children of Kenya', which they released during the liturgy. The article described songs and liturgical dance, an offetory procession that included not only bread and wine, but stalks of sugar cane, fruits and veggies from family gardens - even live chickens as children brought gifts from their home villages.

Using this to teach about the 'Church Universal' and expose our kids to the needs of other missionary countries is a new thing for our kids and it went over great. After the lesson, our primary school students cut out paper baloons with the same message the children in Kenya had used. Then we took pictures of the kids and emailed them to the bishop in Niarobi.

Here is a pic of our class in Cargill Creek with their ballons.

Here is a closeup of the ballons - hope you can see the message.

A few days later I recieved a response from Kenya and when CCD resumes I'll be sharing it with our kids. What a hoot.

Ginni and I have a friend who is a Dominican priest now serving in Kenya so for kicks I sent him an email with the same pics, explaining how we came to do this. He replied asking who that old guy with the white beard was sitting with all the kids? Everyone here in Cargill Creek knows - its SANTA!!

A few days later our friends at the AUTEC Navy Base hosted their annual 'Winter Wonderland'. Its always great to see Christmas lights decorating palm trees.

I especially like the Live Nativity that is part of the evening. I read the story of the shepherd and the angels from the Gospel of Luke and as each is introduced children dressed as shepherds and angels join Mary around the manger where a baby is lying. This year we had a 6 month year old baby with his Mom and Dad. Its not the best of pic of the live nativity, but you get the idea. This pic of the palm trees gives you a better idea of our Bahamian Christmas on AUTEC.

Finally, in my last post I said I wasn't sure if we'd have a priest for Christmas - well we will. A priest from Serbia is studying at Boston College and has offered his service to the Archdiocese of Nassau and we are the lucky recipients of his generous offer. What is so cool about this is that he is living at St. Columbkille's in Brighton, MA. That is the first parish Ginni and I lived in when we first got married! Small world.

I hope to post some Christmas pics in my next post - until then.

Deacon F.

Home again

2011-12-07T15:41:00.000-08:00

Well we are back on Andros! WE - get it? Ginni is here too!

Gin left for most of November so being back home TOGETHER is a treat.

Thanksgiving was wonderful and it was fantastic to see all my old friends at St. Timothy's once more. Being up on the altar at the 9:30 and 11:00 Masses once again was very special.

The trip started with Thanksgiving in the Hamptons where my sons Joe and Mike live. Our oldest, Matthew, flew in from Houston with his wife and son as well so it was the first time all three of them have been together for awhile.

This Thanksgiving was extra special in that we me Mike's 'special girl', Catherine, and her family invited our family to join them for Thanksgiving dinner. Once we all sat down there were 28 of us. We brought the turkey and some veggies, and they provided even more veggies and desserts and let's just say nobody left hungry and we all carried home leftovers!

I must say that, coming from the mission field in the Bahamas, spending a week in the Hamptons was a bit of a culture shock. Everything there was elegant - absolutely over the top. Even the trip I took with Mike to the hardware store made me shake my head. Absolutely everything you would ever need is right there - no waiting for the boat to bring it in at all! While Mike picked up what he needed I was able to get a masonary bit for my drill back on Andros. Now I can fix that hurricane shutter that was ripped loose by hurricane Irene. (Getting a masonary bit like this usually means a trip to Nassau).

The day after Thanksgiving Catherine's parents invited Ginni and I for dinner and it was great to finally have time for just the four of us sit and talk. We had a wonderful time and look forward to getting to know them better over time - if only via the internet and email.

After a week in NY we headed back to Canton, MA and every minute of out time was booked. We had lunch and dinner with friends almost every day and took an overnight trip to NH to meet with new tenants for the cabin up there. There was also the do-to list of things needing to be fixed that got done.

Coming back to Andros was not uneventful. We got in on Friday and we were scheduled to do an evening Benediction at the Navy base - only to find that the van's battery was dead. So I pushed it down the hill to try to start it by popping the clutch, but to no avail. So one of the people on the base came and picked us up, we did the Holy Hour, Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and Benediction then he took us home, promising to come back the next day to jump the battery, which he did.

That next day we learned our toilet was broken - and I didn't have the right tools - so off to my hardware store to learn they didn't have any wrenches right now, but they could be on the boat on Wednesday So - Saturday evening we start our weekend liturgies and by Sunday morning the tail pipe on the van disconnects from the muffler (don't ya love it). We still did all four weekend liturgies but the van was a bit louder than normal.

Suffice it to say, I am writing on Wed, the boat from Nassau is on the horizon - one of our parishioners welded the tail pipe back onto the muffler, and we're almost back to normal.

This is exam week for our students here, after which they have a 3 week Christmas break. We have had two CCD lessons already this week and two to go, then it'll slow down a bit. Christmas is huge here with Junkanoo being a major celebration. Marching Bands dress up to the hilt and the competition is fierce. Mardi Gras in New Orleans or Carnival in Rio has nothing on Junkanoo in the Bahamas. I will definitely try to post pics -- its a two day parade if you can believe it.

Next week we go to Nassau for our monthly clergy meeting and it couldn't be better timed. I am so low on consecrated hosts that I will be bringing a ciborium and tapping the Tabernacle at the Cathedral once again. I hope I can stretch what I have to get through this weekend. I know that I cannot count on having a priest for Christmas so I need to replenish on my own.

Well, enough for now, I gotta go meet the boat and see if the wrenches made the trip.

Till next time - please keep us in your prayers.

Deacon Frank

Going Home for Turkey

2011-11-17T18:18:00.000-08:00

Well on Monday I will be flying home for Thanksgiving but its been run run run to get there.
One thing we discovered a few months ago was that the Maryknoll Fathers have created the Maryknoll classroom for CCD programs. After checking it out and talking with them we decided to give it a shot here in the Bahamas.

Maryknoll publishes a bi-monthly magazine telling stories of their missionary priests, sisters and lay missionaries all over the world. They will send you a copy of the magazine for every child in your program and age-appropriate teachers guides explaining how to use the articles in the magazine for your class.

The first box of materials arrived this week for the months of November and December so I rolled it out to all our classes this week. Oddly it was the younger Primary school children that took to it, while the older Confirmation class found it difficult to grasp.

In either case it exposes the children to the "Church Universal" and the realization that the church on Andros is the same church in Bolivia! It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few months.

Tomorrow will be an interesting day here as we try something else that's never been done. Every year the High School has a "Career Day" where they invite the major employers and the College of the Bahamas to come to the school and the students get a chance to see the opportunities (and challenges) that await them. It struck me that we should host a Vocation Table at this event and when I proposed it the High School jumped at it - and so did the Vocation Director for the Archdiocese AND the Nassau monastery of Benedictine Sisters.

So - tomorrow I will meet the morning plane from Nassau and we will be off to the High School for what should be an interesting day. Keep it in your prayers - this is our opportunity to plant a few seeds and see what happens.

I started this post by saying I was going home for Thanksgiving. Monday morning I will start that journey - which means I have taught my last CCD lesson and my last RCIA class for 2 weeks! With that said this weekend will be crazy busy. I already said it starts with an all day Friday Career Day - then its the 4 liturgy weekend, but this weekend is special for a few reasons

First, its the Feast of Christ the King so our parish in Cargill Creek will be celebrating their patron with cake and soft drinks.
Second, it is also the day we perform the Rite of Acceptance for our RCIA candidates, indicating their willingness to proceed, and our parishes willingness to accept them as candidates for full communion with the Catholic Church so two of the four liturgies will have this special twist. Third - since I won't be there for the next week I need to set up each church for the First Sunday of Advent, meaning prep for the visiting priest (even though it could be a Deacon), and set up the Advent Wreath (et. al.) in all the churches, etc. The local sacristans will change the altar cloths to Advent purple but I'll need to remind them for sure. Suffice it to say it will be a busy day.

Just to spice things up, I also have a contractor doing a major upgrade to the church windows while I am gone. The south side windows are so eaten away by the salt air they no longer open and some panes of glass have fallen out. We're replacing them with double hung windows with less moving parts, which will be an improvement. Funding for this effort is courtesy of our parishioners who were so generous in support of the annual Archdiocesan appeal. By exceeding our goal to the extent they did we had over a thousand dollars returned to us from the Archdiocese and that refund will pay for the new windows - Alleluia!

All in all we are incredibly busy and the Thanksgiving break will be a nice breather before the Christmas rush.

Please keep us in your prayers
Deacon Frank

Its been almost a month

2011-11-08T08:33:00.000-08:00

Hello again-

Sorry for the delay in blogging but life gets in the way. Actually, right now Ginni is back in the US getting in some nursing time. We are still without a tenant to rent our NH property and so, to continue getting what we need to pay mortgages, insurance, taxes, et al on the property we cannot sell in this economy, Gin needs to put in a month or so from time to time, and its time.

With that said, that leaves me to do CCD alone - not my favorite. Gin and I have done quite alot in the church but teaching children had never been one of them so we're learning what works and what doesn't on the fly.

One thing that we tried this year was to invite the Director of Youth Ministries from the Archdiocese to join us for a Day of Renewal with our Confirmation class. What made this a challenge is we involved all the kids from all 4 faith communities to come together so we had kids from Fresh Creek, Cargill Creek, the AUTEC Navy Base, and one from our newest community in Mastic Point from the northern part of the island. Let me tell you, some people just have the gift for dealing with kids and Jay has it. It was an all-day Saturday session and he brought his laptop and a projector and we had games and videos and talks and work projects - all in all it was a great day and we hope to do it again sometime after the holidays. Here is a pic of me helping some of the kids with a project. Jay is standing at the table behind me

working with another group of kids.

Since my last post we seem to have the diesel situation under control. The local station is still unreliable, and my friend who sells it out of his backyard has taken a step away from that so, when we can get it, I fill the van, another 5 gal gas can, and two other drums so I have a backup. Right now both my friend and the gas station are out so I have used the gas can and put one of the drums into the van this morning. The gas station hopes to get diesel on the WED boat. If he does, on THUR I will fill up my drums and the van and I should be in good shape. If he doesn't, then on FRI I'll drive north for an hour where there are multiple stations for me to re-stock. It is a pain, but its island life. If you can get it, great, if not do without. Unfortunately diesel is something I can't so without so when I can get it I hoard it a bit.

Something you may find interesting is my recent run in with more local residents of Andros that I didn't realize lived here. I think I told you earlier of my run in with a tarantula. Well that has to be superceded by the recent scorpion encounter. What made this interesting was that it took place in our living room, not in the great outdoors. This invader simply ran out from under the TV Table and headed right at me in a perfectly straight line. Gin had been reading a book on the sofa and if I hadn't seen it my guess is it would have taken up residence under that sofa - but I did see it. I yelled, 'scorpion'! and jumped up, grabbed a sandal, and smacked it. Gin looked up and said 'what?' and I said it again, then swatted it again. Incredibly - inside the house! Here is a pic next to a quarter so you get some perspective on size.

On the mission front, in addition to the 40+ kids in CCD I have 4 people in RCIA. Two have just started and 2 who started last year but, for a variety of reasons, had to take time off. If all goes well all 4 will recieve sacraments on Easter. We have been blessed to have been able to bring new people into the church as converts to Catholicism every year we have been here.

Lastly, our efforts to build a new church up north is progressing. The Architect thinks that the old church might be able to be restored so we hired a builder and he put a team of Haitians together with machetes to go clear the land around the old building. Once cleared he is less confident than the architect that the walls are stable enough. It turns out that 50 years ago they built with whatever they could get their hands on - conche shells, lime, sand, etc. While plentiful they were not that stable. So, they build walls 2' thick that could support the roof and be stable. Today, there are building codes and, after clearing the land, the 2' walls have deteriorated to the point we'd have to add something on the top and what remains at the bottom would crumble once we started. So while I would love to restore the old building, restoration in this case would cost more than new walls. I hope to have some costs soon so when I return home for Thanksgiving I might be able to solicit funds from friends and relatives. Keep this one in your prayers, we have had no Catholic Church there for over 40 years and the Catholics have been going to Anglican, Methodist and Pentacostal church since there is no Catholic church. We have a community of about a dozen who come to the Primary School for church on Sunday afternoons but I think once we put a sign up and start building that number could triple.

Pray for this effort, it has the potential of bearing much fruit.

Till next time.

Diesel and Voodoo

2011-10-15T11:06:00.000-07:00

Well hello again - I knew that once CCD started my time would be scarse, and I was right, so the blog has suffered a bit.

Our newest experience has to do with diesel - or the lack thereof. I have told you that I have been getting my diesel from a local man who syphons it out of old oil drums and fills my tank. Well the local gas station has started carrying diesel and, since they rent their space from my friend, he asked me to stop using him as a source and start using the gas station.

So I fill up, no problem and off we go running errands, driving kids from CCD, etc. When, while half-way to Cargill Creek for Sunday services the van starts bucking and coughing and stalling and, in the middle of nowhere, this is not good. This is also a sign of bad diesel fuel. I have actually helped out a member of our church who was stranded once because of water in the diesel (a common problem here). It turns out that underground gas tanks are metal and metal tanks filled with diesel can get water in the fuel by simple condensation that takes place as the tanks are emptied. It seems anyone with diesel (but me) has experienced this problem and the only solution is to drain the tank and put in new fuel. So anyway, I nurse it to the church in Cargill and start setting up for church when, without my knowing it, one of the members takes Ginni's keys and goes off to pick up people in Behring Point who have no cars. So we wait and wait and wait, and eventually he returns with a bus load of people. "Deac, you got a problem mahn, der be water in da tank or som'ting".

So we have church and the people from Behring Point all hitch rides from other people and I nurse the bus back to Fresh Creek. Once home we call the people up north telling them we can't come to Mastic Point, but I have no way to get any message to the Haitians so I know they were just standing there in their church clothes all afternoon - what a bummer.

Now that I am home, what to do? So I gather up empty gallon water jugs, get a long hose and prepare to suck the diesel out of the van using the hose as a syphon. Well after about 10 minutes its clear this isn't going to work because the piple leading to the gas tank curves and then leads into the tank and my hose won't make the turn. So I crawl under the bus and try to follow the gas line to see if there is any other way to get the bad fuel out when I notice a drain plug on the tank. So I jack up the bus and crawl underneath it. I find the drain plug and unscrew it and diesel starts flowing into my old water jug, then the next, then the next, then the next - until I fill all 5 jugs and screw the plug back in.

Now I pull out my reserve diesel fuel that I save in plastic drums for use when a hurricane knocks the gas station (or my friend) out of diesel. The backup has saved me before and once again it will do the trick. Once I am about half full I take it for a spin and all seems well.

So I curse the gas station and call my friend saying his tenant gas station is selling bad diesel and I would really like to start using him again. He apologizes but doesn't have any diesel himself right now. So I sigh and start ferreting around for other sources of diesel on the island.

Later that afternoon - cough, spit, cough, stall, and the problem is back. Someone asks how old my diesel was that I had pulled out of the garage and I, quite frankly, didn't know. Can diesel go bad? Maybe, especially if condensation or rain got into the drum I had used.

So, once again, crawl under the van, jack it up, drain the fuel (did I mention the stinging ants that live here - they don't appreciate Deacons laying in the grass under his van one little bit). So for a second time I take a spin after draining the tank, but this time there is no difference.

My only choice now is to ship the bus to Nassau and bring it to the dealer. This is something I have avoided using local mechanics to do oil changes, filter changes and regular maintenance. Then I have the bright idea of going to one of my members who drives the local school but. That is diesel and he maintains it. So I drop the bus off with him - but this is where it gets interesting.

When I drop off the bus he says, "Deac, come with me" and he leads me to the front of his house. I really have no idea why we're taking this little stroll until he says "Deac, do you see this hole?" and there is a small circle about 6" across where the earth was recently turned over. Then he says, "See that one?" and points to another spot about 8' away, and then another and another. He tells me that he came home from work that morning (he works nights at a 2nd job) and he noticed the first one right in front of his front steps and then discovered they completely encircled his home. During the night, someone had come and dug these holes, filled them with some kind of white powder and pennies, then covered them up. When he found the first one he dug it up to see what it was and that's what he found buried in each hole. The only explanation, Voodoo. It turns out this is a common hex, or curse, supposedly anyone who steps on the buried pennies will become penniless.

So - I take some time to belittle the curse, explaining that Jesus is stronger than any hex and he believes in Jesus, "Yes Faddah, I believe in Jesus, I know this is bad but Jesus keep me strong". It was a rather interesting 20 minute conversation to say the least. Then I had to go deal with his wife who had her own fears on this topic, but she too was convinced nothing would come with it - but could I come by tomorrow with holy water?

Anyway - after that bit of excitement I walk home and he starts work on the bus. The next day is Monday and we need the bus to transport kids home from CCD. Monday morning, no bus, I wait as long as I can, still no bus. I end up calling someone from Cargill who works in Fresh Creek and he offers to take the kids home if there's no bus - and there wasn't.

At eight that night I hear our bus pulling into the yard. "Deac, it wasn't the diesel, and it wasn't the fuel filter - there is a 3rd primer pump filter hidden on the other side of the bus that looks like it never was changed - it was totally plugged with goo". He had found the problem.

Alleluia - Alleluia - Alleluia -- with that I feel more comfortable with the diesel from the local station and we are back in business. Hopefully we have de-bunked the Voodoo business as well and nipped that one in the bud, but I'd love to discover who is digging holes and filling them with pennies.

One last new thing on our plate has to do with crime. Violent crime is out of hand here, we are a nation of 350,000 with a murder rate, after 9 months, of over 100. That is an incredibly hi number if you study murder statistics. The local government has a firearms amnesty program for the month of OCT and the Archbishop has asked that all Catholic Parishes be a drop off point for illegal firearms if their owners are fearful of dropping them off at the police station. So, while nobody has visited us yet, should anyone want to deliver illegal firearms to us, we will take them and get them off the street and then deliver them to the police station ourselves. Just one more interesting twist to ministry in the Bahamas.

Keep us in your prayers - we sure can use them.
Till next time.

Just an update for you all

2011-09-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

Hello my friends -
Well things here are starting to ramp up.

Our new AA group is meeting at the Fr. Gabriel Roerig Parish Center on Saturday mornings and it seems to off to a great start.

Our CCD program seems to be pretty well set and, when you add in RCIA, bible studies, Adoration, . . . our week will be very full. All of this will crank up the first week of OCT.

Next week we will be travelling to Nassau for our monthly 'Pastoral Day' where all the clergy of the Bahamas come together for a day of prayer and community. This one will be unique in that the Archdiocese of the Bahamas is implementing VIRTUS, an educational program for clergy and those that work with youth about protecting children. This is a program the Archdiocese of Boston implemented years ago and I have already taken the class twice - but I'll be doing it again here. Nassau has not had any cases of clergy sexually abusing children but this will do a good job of educating us about the issue and protecting our children.

Usually when we go to Nassau for this meeting we stay Wed-Fri and enjoy time away and get some shopping in for those items we cannot get on Andros. This will be a Tue-Wed trip however because of other things on our schedule. For example, when we did RCIA last year we had two women who have crazy schedules. The result was that when Easter came around they were months behind in their classes and we felt it best to defer their acceptance into the church. So - all summer long we have been doing make-up classes to catch them up. Then we have 3 new people who want to begin RCIA this year. So we will have the new people on Mon night and the catching up people on Wed night. The end result is we do the Mon night class, fly to Nassau Tues morning, shop on Tues, attend the Wed Pastoral Day, then fly back to do the Wed night class. Run, run, run.

The following week CCD starts so our weekly schedule will be
Monday afternoon - grades 7-9
Monday night - RCIA for those from Fresh Creek
Tues afternoon - grades 10-12 (our confirmation class)
Tues night - RCIA for those from Cargill Creek
Wed afternoon - grades 1-6 from Fresh Creek
Wed night - RCIA makeup from last year
Thurs afternoon - grades 1-6 from Cargill Creek
Friday - we saved for ourselves (except for 1st Fri Adoration and Bible Study the 2nd and 4th Friday evenings and a need to do homily prep for the weekend)
Saturday should be finalizing the homily prior to the Saturday weekend liturgy
Sunday is full with 3 liturgies from 8AM until 4 PM

It will be interesting to get back into all this after taking a breather over the summer
Keep us in your prayers.

On a lighter note - fruits and veggies on Andros seem to come in all at once. What I mean by that is you will have weeks of Mangos - and nothing else, but Mangos are everywhere. Then its cabbages, then sappodillies, then onions, etc. You get swamped with gifts of that one particular produce, from everyone (and I do mean swamped). Right now its avacados - they grow them huge here and they call them pears. These avacados are all delivered, sold, or give away, rock hard. They are inedible - but a week on the window sill and they are delicious. The problem is that you go from zero - to 12 really ripe avacados all at once. And the gifts keep on coming.

When we first arrived here 3 years ago I planted a pit near a sea-grape plant that was on its last legs. The sea grape is long gone but the pit took root and is now 3-4' tall. In another year or two I will be picking my own avacados!

The same thing happened with a mango pit - although I think this pit was just tossed aside by one of our children. It landed under a bush by the front of the church and now it is taller than I am!

My last bit of news is related to the community in North Andros. The Archbishop has given us permission to build a chapel there called Our Lady of Hope. I did some research on Our Lady of Hope and found the National Shrine to Our Lady of Hope in the US is in Tewksbury, MA. It turns out this was a devotion fostered by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI). Coincidentally, the OMI's used to be located at St. Jean de Baptiste parish in Lowell, MA - the host parish of St. Joseph High School for Boys on Merrimack St (where I went to High School).

I sent them an email explaining what we are doing and they sent a packet of prayer cards and booklets explaining about the apparition of Our Lady of Hope in France. We have distributed them to our local folks and I will be giving some to the Archbishop when we see him next week. God is amazing!!

Next week I will be meeting with contractors to try to get a sense of how much a simple chapel would cost to build - nothing more that 4 walls and a roof. The community in No. Andros has already donated enough to clear the land and put in the foundation but we clearly will need to do a development campaign to add those four walls and a roof. I'll let you know what I find out.

Enough for now - keep us in your prayers
Deacon Frank Tremblay

AA on Andros!

2011-09-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

Well surprise surprise - two blog entries in two days - this is a record!
With Ginni away I just had to tell someone about my morning and today you, my blog readers, are the lucky ones.

This morning is rainy and overcast but, true to form, our local homeless man limped his way up the driveway for his daily sandwich. I had given him a Maryknoll magazine we had for something to read and he sat on the porch watching the rain and eating when a car pulled up.

I went out to meet whoever it was to find it was Ernie - an employee at the AUTEC Navy Base. He had a bahamian man with him and a 3-ring binder. It turns out that Ernie is active in the Alcoholic Anonymous group at AUTEC and he'd been coming off-base to meet with this man who had just started his road to sobriety. They had been meeting in a park, then in a local bahamian home, but today the home wasn't available, and with the rain, neither was the park and he hoped he could meet on the porch.

I told them they were always welcome to come here to have the meeting, but with my other friend eating his sandwich I thought they needed more privacy than this area and invited them into the rectory to use the screen porch. They gladly accepted and spent a little over an hour there.

When they were done I made a point of telling them that if they EVER needed a place to host an AA meeting for the Bahamians we would be very open to being a place they could meet. Ernie jumped at the offer and said, "OK, how about Saturday's at 9:30". So it looks like we are now blessed to have the first and only AA meeting on Andros! I couldn't be happier.

Then, Ernie looks at our homeless friend and invites him to come too! Now this fellow has a definite issue with rum and drugs and when he asked what AA was I explained that it was a meeting for people who had problems with rum and a way to help stay sober. He actually said, "You know, I could use dat Deac" and Ernie laughs (turns out Ernie knows him only too well).

Drugs and alcohol are a major problem in the Bahamas and on an island like Andros there are literally no resources to address the issue. If the established AA group on the Navy Base really is willing to come off base and conduct a Saturday morning AA meeting at our church it would be a great beginning to something that could make a very real difference.

Keep this one in your prayers - till next time.

Another week without Ginni

2011-09-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

Well its been two months and finally Ginni is due back next week Wednesday, less than a week. In that time she's missed a baptism, a funeral, a hurricane, my first encounter with a tarantula, lots of work planning CCD, and yesterday my newest Bahamian experience - a camelion frog.

Yep, a frog that actually changes colors to match his (or her) surroundings. Now frogs are very common here, but to see one huddled up on top of a white bench we have in an open patio - and to see the frog also be totally white, well that was amazing.

Ginni has our camera else I certainly would have taken pics of this guy (and the tarantula) to share with you all. During her US trip she was going to visit our newest grandson so she HAD to take the camera for that.

On the spiritual front, tonight we are going to try something new at our monthly First Friday Adoration services. Instead of my doing a short reflection we will sing the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. This should be interesting since those that attend the Holy Hour are somewhat musically challenged. I trust that God will understand and accept what we offer.

While summer is a slow time for me here this month is crunch time to get ready for next years religious ed classes and RCIA. I have been cranking on the laptop to put together a curriculum for the High School and the Primary School kids we will have. We estimate that this year we will have almost 50 students. Before she left Ginni and I decided that since we have no 1st communion kids this year that we would use the parables to teach the Primary School kids about the life and teachings of Jesus. For the High School kids, however, it will be Confirmation year so our classes there will have to cover the doctrine they will need to learn. Suffice it to say its alot of material to pull together. Doing this without Ginni also has the risk of her coming back, looking at what I've done, and say, "Gee - did you forget about ---", and she'll be totally right and I'll have to re-work it. For now all I can do is keep plowing away and we'll see what happens.

A complication we always have is primary school. There is only 1 High School so we can grab all our kids off the bus as it passes the Parish Ctr and do them in one class. The Primary Schools are spread all over the island so we have kids in at least 4 different schools over a wide geographic area. Planning how to pull them together when some parents don't have cars, parents work, schedules don't cooperate, . . . With minimal to no parental catechists.

Once Ginni returns the planning and scheduling of our classes will be a big one.

Well, enough for now
Keep us in your prayers

Funerals and Hurricanes

2011-08-24T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hello again - much to share so let me get right at it.

Since my last post I have been awakened by early morning visitors at my door several times. The first was at 4AM when someone came to tell me that I was needed at the clinic because someone had died. I threw on some clothes, grabbed a prayer book for this type of situation and 15 minutes later I walked into the clinic, which was packed!

It seems that at 2AM this man, a known asthmatic, knocked on the door of the doctor's house, told him "I be dying" and collapsed. Once at the clinic they tried resusitating him, but to no avail, the asthma had been putting a strain on his heart for years and this attack would be his last.

When I arrived the crowd literally parted like the Red Sea and I walked straight into the examination room (there is only one) and, surrounding the gurney were his family and closest of friends. I began to pray spontaneously, then opened the book and read the Rite in praying over the deceased. After prayers they took him to the morgue amid much wailing and crying from the crowd.

I stayed for a little while, but this was a Saturday night (now Sun morning) and, having an 8AM liturgy, I left to try to get a bit more sleep (unsuccessfully).

Here in the Bahamas when someone dies on these remote islands they ship the body off to Nassau since we have no morticians. Usually the funeral is 2 weeks later, always a Saturday morning.

I helped the family plan the funeral and it was clear to me that since he was only in his 30s this would be a huge event - I was not wrong. Every seat in the church was full, I added 8 pews I had in storage to an open patio area we have outside the church and that filled up, then people stood outside peering in the windows. During the service, once again there was the Bahamian wailing and crying and falling down and fainting and screaming and it was clear that he was much loved by all. After the formal funeral service we walked (in 97 degree August heat) to the cemetery. The herse had gone to the cemetery to set up the awning over the gravesite and, with such a huge crowd, the herse could not get back to the church. The church parking lot was full, the driveway, both sides of the street leading to the church - absolute grid lock - so the pall bearers carried the casket out the church, down the driveway to the street, then placing it on the gurney we rolled the casket all the way through town to the cemetery with the entire church walking behind us singing away. Quite the send off - Bahamian style!

The second early morning visitor was knocking on my door a few days ago at 6AM. Their teenage daughter was sick and they needed a place to stay until the clinic opened at 8. She was running a temp and doubled over with cramps. Now, I should explain that Dengue Fever is rampant on Nassau and she had just visited there. This is a mosquito born virus that is quite nasty. Hundreds of cases have been confirmed, 3 have died, and the estimate is that the number of actual cases is in the thousands. We did our best to keep her comfortable, not an easy task, and eventually they left for the clinic. They returned a few hours later en route home to tell me the doc had given her a shot for pain, but all they could do was let it run its course. Island medicine can be a challenge.

As you know, this week hurricane Irene has decided to visit the Bahamas and I have been in prep mode all week. The US Navy has evacuated AUTEC and I put up over 50 hurricane shutters on our house and the church and just when I thought I was about done, with only 3 windows to go, discovered that the frame the shutters connect to was missing on one window. I found the frame in the garage and, although it was bent and rusty and stashed away because it was a wreck, I was going to have to use it.

What complicated this is that it was the top bracket of a window using 88" shutters where the window sill was about 6' off the ground. I have no extension ladder so I took my step ladder, leaned it against the side of the church, climbed to the very top step and, holding my drill over my head, drilled the pilot holes for the screws into the concrete wall - not an easy task. Then I repeated this on the other side of the window for the 2nd screw. Balancing on the balls of my feet I then had to screw in the screws (again over my head into concrete). Suffice it to say the screws did not cooperate and each took quite awhile to penetrate the cement. Once done I hoisted the hurricane shutter into place, to find I had hung the bracket 1" too low and the shutter wouldn't fit. So, up the ladder again, take out the screws, take down the bracket, drill new holes, screw new screws to get the bracket in place - all the while balancing on the topmost step of this ladder leaning precariously against the side of the church, while Irene is sending me the early waves of 30 MPH gust, lightning, and the occasional gale of rain which caused me climb down and wait for it to pass. Finally done, the shutters up, I called it a day after 12 hours of getting the shutters up on the church and the rectory. I was pooped!

Today the storm is nearer, it is a constant 40MPH wind with gusts to 60 but the storm itself has veered to the East. It will still do a number on the Bahamas but my island should be spared the most destructive force of the storm which will be here tonight, tomorrow and finally leave the next day.

Gotta run - till next time.

Emancipation Day on Andros

2011-08-01T12:54:00.000-07:00

Well its been a month already since my last post - time sure flies!
Today is the first Mon in August which in Emancipation Day in the Bahamas. In 1834 the British Empire freed all slaves and outlawed slavery. It would be 30 years later that the US Civil War would decide this issue for the US.

There are alot of things that have happened over the last month. Ginni has had to return to the US to finalize agreements with our new renter in Canton get some nursing in to replenish our funds after several months with no rental income. God bless her!

We had our meeting with the Archbishop for our annual review. It was a wonderful meeting with the Archbishop spending over 2 hours with us. We reviewed a wide range of topics and he approved our work in North Andros, authorizing us to start work to build what will be the only Catholic Church in North Andros. He even told us that it should be named Our Lady of Hope Chapel! So last weekend I went north and told our people there the news. They have already donated almost $2000 - enough to clear the land and put in the foundation. We will see how it goes. Summer is actually a tough time to do any development work. Most people have left Andros for friends and family in cooler climates. Even our Haitian friends up north have left so we will see how this effort progresses but we are thrilled with getting the Archbishop's blessing.

One thing that is kind of related to this is that the Bahamian government is requiring we have all church lands surveyed. This has resulted in my learning about church land sprinkled across Andros. It may be reasonable to consider selling a plot or two in order to raise the funds to build Our Lady of Hope - time will tell what happens with this one, but the idea that an entire new faith community might spring up from our work here is exciting.

Along those same lines, about a year ago a priest visited us from Providence RI. It turns out when he was in the seminary the Archbishop was his classmate! Well, he was taking a class in FL and, being so close to the Bahamas, he called his old classmate and they had a bit of a reunion when the Archbishop invited him to take the short flight from FL to Nassau. After visiting for about a week the Archbishop asked if he'd like to help cover one of the remote parishes over the weekend. He said yes and, since we were long past-due in having a priest, he spent that weekend with us on Andros. Well he saw what we do and the need for priests here in the Bahamas (it had been a L O N G time since we'd had a priest). He heard Ginni and I talk about our ministry here, some of the adventures we had experienced, and he met the Bahamian people. Well - he's back.

During our meeting with the Archbishop he told us that Fr. Doug would be returning to the Bahamas long-term. Ginni and I looked at each other and just about jumped out of our seats. He is a wonderful priest and we could not help but feel we played a part in his making this decision. After his visit with us we kept in touch via this blog and he, and his parish, were very generous in supporting our renovation of St. Gabriel's Church into the Fr. Gabriel Roerig Parish Ctr.

Fr. Doug will be on Long Island - a remote island much further south than we are. There is a Bahamian Deacon there already and they have 6 churches needing coverage so Fr. Doug will have his hands full. Keep him in your prayers. This year on Long Island is a year of discernment and it could extend beyond this year - we sure hope so.

Just to give you an idea of our need for priests - we have not had a priest here since Easter (yes that was April and we are in August and there is no shot of our getting a priest for awhile yet). I went into the weekend not sure if I would have enough hosts but I made it by the skin of my teeth. I will need to fly to Nassau this week to get more consecrated hosts. Fr. Glen, the rector at the Cathedral has been very generous openning his tabernacle for me whenever we get into this situation.

With Ginni gone and no CCD I have some time on my hand until I began to work on what we will do next year for CCD. Next year should be a Confirmation year for us (confirmation is a 2 year program here). So I have been working out schedules and classes for primary school and then the secondary school Confirmation Program. I have a ton of work to pull this all together, right now I have a skeleton and now I have to put the meat on the bones.

This past weekend I was blessed to baptize a 4 year-old boy visiting his Grand parents on Andros. Grammie and Grampie wanted him baptized and, after getting permission from his parents in Nassau, I had a Baptism-prep class for them and the God-parents, then on Sunday I filled my conche shell with water and we welcomed in one more member of our Church.

Finally, I think I should mention the heat. I know alot of you in the US have been sweltering in the heat of summer but this is 'wicked awsome hot'. I did 3 liturgies on Sunday and literally soaked through all my clothes with sweat each time. So 3 liturgies, 3 changes of clothes - I was so ready for a shower when the day was done!

Well, enough for now - please, please, please keep us in your prayers.
- Peace

Vacation, Independence Day, and back to work

2011-07-09T11:42:00.001-07:00

Well its been a month since my last post, delayed primarily by a 2 week trip to the US, so let me try to catch you up on things.

My last post was after an angina attack that put me in the hospital for a few days, followed by the Vicar General's direction I should do nothing for a week or so. So, that's what I did. Once we were back on Andros with new medications and a relatively clean bill of health we got a surprise email from one of our tenants saying that things were tight and they didn't think they were going to be able to make their rent so - they were leaving in 2 weeks. Despite having a lease committing them thru September they were simply abandoning thier lease and leaving.

While this was a shock, it was complicated by our having told the other tenant that since they had been unable to make their rent payments we were exercising our option to ask them to leave (they were a tenant-at-will month to month renter). So - while I was to avoid stress and take it easy, all of a sudden we had no tenants renting our home and that income was how we paid the mortgage, insurance, taxes, etc. We had tried to sell the house prior to starting this ministry but, due to the housing market, were unable to do so and we rented it. Now we still have the financial obligations but with both tenants leaving we are in a financial bind.

So Ginni headed home to deal with finding new tenants and get in some nursing to make a few dollars. We had planned to take a few weeks in June to go home for my nephew's wedding, but now our trip had double duty - the wedding and the house. Originally it was a one week trip to go to the wedding but now I had to arrange coverage for two weekends here in Fresh Creek because of this renter situation. In the 3 years we have been here I have never been away for two weekends in a row but the Archdiocese assured me they'd find coverage and I was to deal with the problems at home.

A week after Ginni left I followed. The tenant who left on two weeks notice had left, but had left alot of personal items behind, while the tenant we had asked to leave was still packing up. The house was in chaos but we were able to clean one apartment and begin showing it to possible tenants pretty quickly. With a few possible tenants on the hook we sent off their credit info for credit checks and then took the vacation we promised ourselves we needed.

Ginni had traded a timeshare we have for a week in the Berkshires and it was great to be back in that part of the country where I grew up. I grew up in Pittsfield and we stayed in Lee. What a difference from the dry flat tropics of Andros. Here were green mountains and hills, lush green seemed everywhere, while the rain had yet to arrive in Andros and our grass literally crunched under your feet there. The first 3 days we drove thru back roads and visited my old house; Bear Town State Forest, where I used to camp; and used the putt-putt mini golf and pool at our resort. Later in the week it rained a bit so we visited the Norman Rockwell Museum, a local winery, the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, walked the grounds of Tanglewood, and even rediscovered the old ShadowBrook Jesuit Seminary (now a Yoga Center). Ginni and I met on a retreat at ShadowBrook when Ginni was at UMass so it was wonderful to see the place again.

With the rain persisting we left a day early to deal with the house and spent a day following up on possible renters and cleaning before leaving for my nephew's wedding and an overnight stay in Lowell. A high point of this trip was seeing our newest grandson again. I hadn't seen Leo since the winter when he was only a month or two old - he's a different little boy now at 6 months old. Sitting up by himself, smiling and rolling over he will be a handful once he starts crawling! What a cutie. The other high point was our son Mike brought a date to meet the family. A scary step with my family but one she handled very well. Mike has been dating her for several months and he is smitten - time will tell where this leads.

Anyway, now its back to the house and finally getting the upstairs tenant to come and remove their belongings. We also hired a friend from St.Timothy's who works as a contractor to come and fix a long list of items needing repair who made great progress while we were in the Berkshires and at the wedding. One thing we found was that, with the housing crisis, alot of people looking to rent are people who have lost their homes by not being able to pay their mortgage. Consequently, the credit checks are all pretty horrible. We finally settled on one man who was divorced, but liked the larger apartment because it gave his kids a place to stay when visiting on weekends. His credit was just as bad as the others but his mother was willing to co-sign and her credit was great. So we do the final meet the day before I have to fly back to Andros, his mother signs, I sign, and Ginni and the tenant were to sign a few days later when he would bring his security deposit and the 1st month's rent. So, I fly home and when Ginni meets with him he can't come up with the money and his mother really doesn't want to loan it to him. So that falls through and we are back to square one interviewing tenants.

Ginni has to return to Andros and currently our friends are showing the apartment and collecting Rental Applications and sending them off to the credit check company, who email the results to us. Doing this from the Bahamas is a royal pain, but we have no choice.

Anyway - when Ginni returns I meet her in Nassau and the next day it is my followup appointment with the Doctors who treated my Angina attack. All the test results were fantastic, I have no coronary blockages at all, 100% clear, and the drugs have my pressure down - all is well. The Dr that did the MRI says I have arthritis in my neck that will continue to cause me discomfort but no heart issues. So I can resume life and get back to work.

With the Dr's under control we fly back to Andros and Ginni has her first day home in about a month. Of course as soon as we get home the power goes out, the water pressure drops to zero, and the heat and humidity is through the roof. Eventually power returns, we unpack settle in, and Ginni goes to take a shower. First, she runs into a 3" spider crawling up the shower curtain, kills it, turns on the water - and there is none. She takes a bird-bath in the sink and comes into the bedroom. She turns on the lamp on her nightstand and it flickers so I suggest it needs a new bulb. She goes and gets a bulb and when she comes around to her side of the bed she says, "OH, Oh, Fire!" and I see that the extension cord from her lamp to the outlet had split and now it is spouting sparks and fire. Well she unplugged it and we cleaned the scorch marks off the tile and replaced the extension cord, then climbs into bed - that was Ginni's first night home.

So the first week back has been uneventful but July 10 is Bahamian Independence Day and so on Saturday, July 9, after our normal Saturday liturgy at the Navy Base, I head over to the Queens Park for a ecumenical prayer service led by all the clergy here in Central Andros, followed by midnight fireworks. Since we were away I didn't have any particular role other than being present on the stage - until the moderator realizes they need to fill about 10 minutes before the fireworks and she turns to me and say into the microphone, "before we end tonight why doesn't Deacon Tremblay come share a few words". So, thrust into the spotlight, I do an impromptu talk about to be truly Indepent, we need to be Dependent upon Jesus. Then remembering last week's homily about our being yoked to Jesus, I took off on how the Bahamas has done exactly that, explicitly stating in the Constitution that the Bahamas are a Christian nation. I guess it was pretty well accepted, I got a few AMEN DEAC's from the crowd and I filled the 10 minutes without embarrasing myself.

Next week we will be helping ANCAT, a local conservation group, with their summer camp for youth. Our new Parish Ctr will be a gathering point and our van will be a resource to get campers from point A to point B, but we will benefit from learning more and more about the the flora and fauna of our island and they teach the kids. It will be a busy few weeks but an opportunity to learn and share the faith a bit when opportunity presents itself to both the kids and parents.

Summer time is also a time for us to begin planning next years CCD curriculum and we will begin doing makeup sessions for 2 women who were in our RCIA program and had to withdraw due to work requiring literally all their time. If we can catch them up in July and August, they can resume in Sept and receive the sacraments next Easter! PTL!

Another item coming up is our annual review with the Archbishop. We will have been here 3 years in Nov (imagine that) and when I sit down and list all we did last year in preparation for this meeting I am amazed at what we were able to do. CCD for 57 children, RCIA, funerals, baptisms, restoring St. Gabriel's church, a parish mission, . . . the list just goes on and on.

I want you to know that WE know, without you and the Holy Spirit we would probably have been sent home after the first year. Your prayers and support are a major reason we've been able to do what we have done - THANK YOU.
So - until next time

Not Quite a Heart Attack

2011-06-03T15:17:00.000-07:00

Well as you can tell from the title of this blog entry we have had some excitement here.
While driving North to Mastic Pt on Sunday for our 4th weekend liturgy I began to experience chest pains. I thought it might be heartburn and ignored it - even asked Ginni for some TUMS. After the service it persisted and I asked Ginni for a 2nd TUMS on the drive back. Throughout the night it persisted and when I went to lie down the pain from my chest thru my should blades was so intense I had to sit up. Gradually, I was able to lie myself down and had a fitful night sleep.

While it was better the next morning it was still there so Ginni loaded me into the van and we headed off to the clinic. The local clinic does not have a ton of high tech equipment but they do have an ECG machine and that showed I had 'right branch blockage' and the DR recommended I go to Nassau and have a blood test. (Blood tests can tell if there has been heart damage). So we go to the bank, get out some money, pack a bag and head to the airport to get the last flight off Andros. Once we landed we took a taxi to Doctor's Hospital for the bloodtest. They took my blood alright, and then did their own EKG. The next thing you know I am in ICU with 4 IV's and a machine doing my blood pressure every 15 minutes.

The next day, with my blood pressure normal and the pain gone they wheel me to the Cath Lab and insert a catheter in an artery in my thigh and push it on up into my heart to see what they can see - and the good news is they could see no blockages, nothing at all wrong with my heart or arteries.

The cardio doctor explained that I experienced 'acute unstable angina'. Angina is what happens when the heart muscle isn't getting enough blood. Now the question is why. Usually its a blockage, but I didn't have any. It turns out in 2% of angina cases it can be caused by smoking, or drinking, or stress, or drug abuse, etc. In my case, the 4th liturgy of the day may have done it but I actually enjoy the long ride thru Andros to get to Mastic Pt so who knows. Bottom line is I am on drugs for hi blood pressure and chlorestoral and all is well.

I was kind of blown away by the love that just flowed over us throughout this experience. The Archbishop came to the hospital and prayed over me. The priest Ginni stayed with during all this showed up with the holy oils and gave me the sacrament of the sick (I now have recieved all seven sacraments). The Vicar visited as well and made a point of telling me I was to do no work at all this weekend. So, while I am on Andros, its rest, rest, rest. Saturday we will have a visiting Deacon do all our liturgies and I am on the bench (which is driving me nuts).

So, after getting back on Andros, the phone has been going non-stop with people telling me how much they were worried and how much they prayed and how glad I am well. To say that this outpouring of love was overwhelming is not overstating the case. I feel totally swaddled in the sincere love and concern of all these people and it is the most affirming, uplifting experience you can imagine.

Enough for now, I hear Ginni driving the van into the yard and I don't want to get in trouble.
Peace

Water

2011-05-19T07:03:00.001-07:00

In past blogs I commented on the fact that the quality of water here is pretty bad. In periods of drought it is worse (which is what we have now). We have a water filter outside the house that is connected to the water main that feeds the residence, but it still doesn't feel safe to drink.

Anyway - the way our water filter works is that it does its job just fine, but when it is clogged with goo it basically just stops letting water flow into the residence. So our cue that its time to change the filter is when you go to take a shower and the water starts strong, fades, and eventually stops. Last night it started as a fade so it was a bird-bath wash up in the sink using our reserve water bottles we keep under the bathroom sink.

This morning I walked down the hill to the street and turned off the water main, then came back up the hill and disconnected the water filter, pulled out the old one, slipped in the new one and hooked it up again. Then, back down the hill, turn on the main and back up the hill to make sure everything was screwed in tight and nothing was leaking.

You would think that at 8AM this was a pretty easy job, and it was, but at 8AM it was already in the mid 80s so when I came in and Ginni gave me a hug it was, "Oh my, your shirt is soaked, did the filter spray you?" I didn't have the heart to tell her it was soaked thru with sweat at 8AM.

Anyway, she was happy that she could now flush the tiolet and do a load of laundry (Ahhh, the simple things of life).

Gosh its hot

2011-05-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

We have had a day or two in the mid80's with a great sea breeze so it has been wonderful - then a front came thru yesterday morning with lightning and thunder and about 20 minutes of driving monsoon-like rain. It only lasted about 20 minutes, but when the sun came out all that water went right into the air so now its low 90's with 80% humidity - talk about oppressive!

Then, to add to the heat, one of the many abandoned homes we have here mysteriously came ablaze and burned to the ground. The AUTEC fire department sent their pumper but it was a woodframe house that had been sitting in the sun for several years so it went up like straw. Nobody was living in it so nobody was hurt, but now we have this smoldering source of smoke that is filling the air, and will continue to for another day or so.

With the heat, tempers get hot and we have more occurances of domestic violence here. I have been asked to intervene in two different family situations, which can be a bit dangerous. Most recently our local alcoholic friend who visits us daily for a drink and a sandwich appeared with a bandage on his arm. It seems he was helping a local man feed his pigs and, when they returned late, the man's wife asked him why they were so late. He told her they had to stop in a particular town for gas and she went balistic - it seems her hubby has a sweetheart in that town and she turned on her hubby with a vengence. It was then that that hubby started beating our alcoholic friend with a broom for telling his wife where they went. The wire wrapping of the straw at the end of the broom sliced his forearm open as he was defending himself - thus the bandage. I'll need to pay that family a visit later in the week too.

With the heat growing we know summer is near. I announced that our CCD classes will end at the end of the month, which will give us a bit of a break (Amen), but we will be working with a local conservation group this summer to teach some of the children conservation activities they can do to help preserve the pristine environment we have here. We did this last year and it was great fun for the kids, and for us. We also learned alot about the eco-system here and we look forward to learning more this year.

As we continue to reach out to new people we have had success with a few families who had been practicing Catholics, but haven't come for the last 4-5 years. What we are finding is a whole group of 2-3 year old children that have never been baptized. Speaking with these folks it is clear they all consider themselves Catholics and they want their children baptized - especially if the child is a handful. More than once I have heard the mother say, "Oh Faddah, des chillun need da water Faddah, dey be bahd Faddah", and the child is sitting there looking up at me with these big brown eyes, as cute and innocent as you can imagine. So we talk, they get to know me and we get to know them, and eventually they show up on a Sunday. We talk some more and eventually they come to me with God-parents who are Catholics that received Confirmation and we plan a little Baptism prep class. It doesn't sound like much, but this type of evanglistic outreach has resulted in quite a few baptisms.

One thing I am noticing is that unless we go to the home and seek out these 'unchurched Catholics', they would stay at home and we'd never know they were there. Once we know where they are, AND we go to them and sit on the porch and talk - THEN there's progress. One step at a time.

Finally, one last bit of news is that Saturday is our church picnic. A Pentecostal minister has a small fishing lodge that he is letting us use Saturday afternoon so we should have some fun in the sun, people showing up with food and drinks and, like scripture says "Everyone shared what they had in common". We did this a year ago and it was a big hit - hopefully this year will be the same.

Till next time.

Easter and beyond

2011-05-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

Well I cannot believe I haven't posted since Palm Sunday.

Suffice it to say we had a very busy Holy Week and Easter. Last year, once Easter was finished, we didn't see a priest again for 4 months dramatically complicating our First Communion children who were looking forward to First Penance and First Communion. Consequently, this year we decided to do First Penance and First Communion during our Easter services, which were fantastic.

Fr. Bill Martin, once again, travelled from Vermont to be with us for Holy Week. Fr. Martin is a retired Air Force Chaplain who enjoys staying at the AUTEC base. He is also an avid fly fisherman so whenever he's not in church, he is wading in the surf looking for the elusive bonefish - and Andros is the bonefish capitol of the world!

We did 4 Palm Sunday services to kick things off, then I had a few days to prepare for Easter. This began with preparing for the footwashing on Holy Thursday (we only did one of those with all parishes coming together for that one). Then there were 3 Good Friday services (Fr. Martin did the one at AUTEC and did two, one at Cargill Creek and Fresh Creek. Then it was off to build the fire pit for the Vigil, prepare the candle that St. Timothy's in Norwood, MA had graciously donated, set up for an enlarged choir and prepare the oils for those who would be baptized and confirmed at the Easter Vigil. Oh, and don't let me forget that during the afternoon, we did a First Penance Service for the children.

When Fr. Martin saw the fire pit and the driftwood I had accumulated he commented that wood that has been saturated in salt water doesn't burn that well, creating a bit of anxiety for me, but when the fire was started it was the best we have had here. Literally, flames were 3'-4' high and it went off without a hitch. My singing the Exultet - not so much. Practicing that 5 minute solo was great, but real time my voice cracked once or twice, c'est la vis!

For me, the high point of the Vigil is conveying the sacraments on my RCIA candidates (yes I said MY RCIA candidates). We had 4 people in the program this year but 2 had missed so many classed due to the demands of their job we decided they should wait - but the other 2, a husband who was baptized and confirmed, and his wife, who was confirmed, were literally beaming! Then, 4 children joined them and all 6 recieved their first communion.

The Vigil took about 2 and a half hours and then on Sunday we were at AUTEC for an early morning Easter Day service, where another child recieved First Penance before the service, and then First Communion during Mass.

After AUTEC we headed south to Cargill Creek for another Easter Day service where, yet another child recieved First Penance before the service, and then First Communion during Mass.

This particular service had another great event for me, one of the children from the community at the northern end of Andros in Mastic Point was baptized and recieved First Communion. I was so thrilled to see the fruit of all those hour-long drives up north bearing fruit in this way.

So - Easter was a hit! He is risen, yes He is truly risen!

After Easter the Archdiocese has its annual Clergy Retreat, so I packed up for a week in Nassau and Ginni headed back to the US to get in some nursing time (late rent from our US tenants is creating a financial challenge for us). She should be back mid-May.

I can honestly say this was the best of my retreats here in Nassau. It is my 3rd Easter retreat and this one was quite good, focusing on the role of Clergy, our ministry, our call, how we work together (or not) - very real-world practical material from a Fr. Ron Knott from St. Meinrad's Seminary in Indiana.

Now that I am back on Andros (sans Ginni) it is CCD prep all morning, and CCD all afternoon. I do have a few marriage prep/baptism prep/RCIA sessions to fill my evenings - and then there is the ever-present need for homily prep, writing up the parish bulletin, Sundays' Prayers of the Faithful, and the financial reports - all those behind the scenes things that need to get done to keep the place running.

Well, enough for now - please keep us in your prayers - till next time.

Happy Holy Week!

2011-04-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

Well I just came in from going out with my machete to chop palm branches for Palm Sunday and it made me realize I hadn't posted here for a few weeks, so here we go -

First off, you cannot imagine how much I appreciate the support staff at St. Timothy's during Holy Week. Music issues and liturgical planning issues are all screaming through my head while, back in Norwood, a team of dedicated folks deal with all these details. Not so here on Andros, let me tell you. Cutting my own palms is just one of many details.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me try to catch up on a few things that have happened over the last few weeks. First is Jr. Junkanoo. I may have mentioned this before but we finally got our cable back that allows us to download pics from our camera so I wanted to share these with you. Junkanoo is usually a Christmas Mardi-gras like celebration and it is huge here. In the sping the children all over the family islands have Jr Junkanoo competition with costumes, bands, floats -the whole nine yards. Here, for example, are the junknaoo drums that have been set out in the sun so the goatskin can stretch and create a better sound.

These are actually old garbage cans, and oil drums that have been decorated with actual real goatskin stretched over the top. We have 2 in our church as part of the music ministry!

Here is an example of one of the floats.

You cannot imagine the amount of time and energy it takes to make one of these. Put about 20 kids in home made costumes behind the float, with drums, horns, whistles, cowbells - all dancing up a storm and you begin to get an idea of what Jr Junkanoo can be. Add about 10 of these floats and the party can go on for hours.

Leaving Jr Junkanoo for a moment - I have told you that CCD pretty much dominates our mid-week workload. All the support we got from home helped us to restore St. Gabriel's church in Calabash Bay and we have been using our new Fr. Gabriel Roerig Parish Center for classes.

Here is a pic of the building mid-construction

Here is a pic of our first Marriage Prep class that we held at the Parish Center. We've come a long way baby!

Most family island parishes send their engaged couples to Nassau for Pre-Cana. Its a real feather in our cap that we were able to do our own class locally. Having done marriage prep for several years at St. Timothy's in Norwood gave Ginni and I a wealth of experience that we were able to put to good use in this class.

Most recently, the Archdiocese of Nassau just held its CHRISM MASS. This is the liturgy where the Archbishop consecrates all the holy oils that will be used over the next year. Here is a pic of the consecration that gives you a nice view of the sanctuary and the crowd of priests and deacons around the altar.

Here is a pic of the recessional with your's truly in procession. What was a treat for me at this liturgy was that I was selected as one of the Deacons to bring up one of the oils and present them to the Archbishop for consecration. It was a honor to be asked and I was thrilled to be involved in such a way at such a sacred moment.

Well, enough for now, this will be a crazy week for sure. We will welcome new Christians with baptisms during the Easter Vigil, and bring others into full communion with the Church through Confirmation. This year we will also do First Penance and First Communion during Easter so it will be a joyfilled day. (We learned to do First Communion early when, last year, we didn't see a priest on Andros for 4 months after Easter!)

Pray for us - we certainly need it! Till next time

Beyond Busy

2011-03-07T17:06:00.000-08:00

Well my friends you cannot imagine how many times I have said, "Oh I gotta put this in the blog" and yet I haven't had a minute to blog - literally.

Lets see, where to begin - well, ever since Ginni returned (and she is already planning her next trip to MA), we have been booked solid, with not a day to ourselves. This is primarily due to our scheduling our first pre-Cana program. We have two couples who want to get married. One is a Bahamian couple, the other a couple from the AUTEC base where he works, while she is still finishing college in the US (FL). This complicates life since, he cannot attend the 10 week series in FL and for her to attend it here, she needs to fly to Andros.

After talking to both couples it was decided that the best thing to do to cover all the material was for us to do two all-day Saturday sessions. It would be a challenge, but she committed to flying back to back weekends from FL to Andros - so we had a plan. Now all we needed to do was build a pre-Cana program.

We spoke with the Archdiocese of Nassau and got a clear understanding of their requirements, then we talked to the parish in Florida and got a list of what they needed to satisfy the requirements of their diocese. Using material we had brought with us from the Marriage Prep program at St. Timothy's, and a six CD set provided by the Archdiocese of Nassau, Ginni and I put together six presentations, and we folded in the six CD's, to come up with a pretty comprehensive program. We were able to get another Bahamian couple to join us for discussion groups and we were good to go. It went off without a hitch and we got a wonderful picture of us all but now we cannot find the cable that goes from the digital camera to the PC so showing you those pics will have to wait.

Now, while all that sounds nifty, you cannot imagine the amount of work putting all that together was, plus keep doing our regular 4 CCD classes, RCIA, and 4 weekend liturgies. To say we did not have a minute is no joke.

Bottom line - we pulled it off, but it meant two, very full, 7 day weeks with no break BUT IT GETS BETTER. In the midst of all that we had a death in the parish. So, while preparing and presenting, we were dealing with a family in mourning and the planning of the funeral.

In past blogs I have mentioned the grandparents raising 7 grandchildren. It is a difficult situation and we are trying our best to help this family in so many ways - everything from food packages to proctoring exams when we learned one girl had been kept home to do chores so often she missed final exams. Well - a year ago Grampa died and it was a very emotional funeral. The death that surprised us all now was Grammie, who died of a sudden stroke.

So our plate runneth over. The funeral was this past Saturday and, after planning it all out with the family, coordinating the vigil and the funeral with the mortician (all morticians here are in Nassau so we had to plan details like shipping the body back to Andros on the ferry). And the elephant in the room that nobody is discussing is willing to discuss right now is what will happen to the grandchildren. Will their mothers take them back? Will the adult children of Grammie and Grampa who are here (all unemployed) suddenly become responsible. Pray.

To describe a Bahamian funeral is not something I think I can do in this blog. Suffice it to say there is emotion. Family members were crying, wailing, falling on the floor, and more. I had 3 surprises during this funeral. First, our representative in Parliament showed up. I think he was there because this family was a major supporter of his party, not because he was particulary close to Grammie. Second, well after the service had begun, the Anglican priest comes walking down the center aisle of the church, in his vestments and comes into the sanctuary and takes a seat. I was blown away! Unannounced, he just arrives. Suffice it to say he did not have a speaking role during the funeral but I MUST talk to other Bahamian clergy to see if this is the norm here - do clergy just show up at funerals of other denominations here? It was not something I would ever have guessed was possible but I guess it is.

The third thing was the most scary. I said Bahamian funerals can be emotional - well we are at the cemetary, the pall bearers have the casket over the hole. It is supported by three straps that are connected to a mechanical gear that, when cranked, will lower the casket. There are 2 pall bearers on each side and one at the head of the casket. Well, the cranking begins, the casket begins to descend, and the pall bearer at the head of the casket, her son, yells "Oh no mama don't leave me" and dives onto the casket - yep, right on top of it, spread eagle! Well the straps at his end of the casket give way and thank God the other pall bearers were still holding on otherwise it would have come crashing down. It took a good 15 minutes to pry him off the casket, all the while screaming and crying. Not an experience I look forward to repeating.

So Ginni and I are going into our 4th week without a break and we're a bit tired, but now Lent is upon us and Ash Wednesday is looming. I will do 3 Ash Wednesday liturgies, one at each church and the final one will be an Ecumenical service at the Anglican church, with me preaching. Last year we hosted, now its their turn. I actually just had a phone call from the Anglican priest wondering what I was doing for ashes. It turns out that, although he is hosting the service, he has neglected to do anything about actually having ashes to distribute - so he wondered if I could provide them. Fortunately I had asked parishioners to return last years' palms for burning to make ashes and I have an impressive pile. He wondered if he could have them by tomorrow! So tomorrow morning I will be burning palms.

Did I mention Jr Junkanoo in all this? Junkanoo is a Christmas festival where local groups make floats and costumes and have bands and dancers and all march down Bay St. on Nassau and are judged. It is a MAJOR BIG DEAL here. Well, the local Minister of Youth and Culture pulled together Jr Junkanoo competition for the primary schools of Andros and, somewhere in the midst of everything else I described, we had a Jr Junkanoo competition here in Fresh Creek. Again I got some great pics that I will post the day we find the lost cable. It really was quite impressive. All the children, the teachers, and adult volunteers did a fantastic job. We saw the start of the competition and 3 of the 7 groups, but had to leave to get back to the rectory to teach our RCIA class (you can only double book yourself so far).

So, right now Ginni is leading choir practice and instead of writing an Ash Wednesday homily I decided to take time out and get something onto this blog for you all. If you can believe it, there is more, but enough for now.

Pray for us. PULEEZE Pray for us.

Another death and our 1st Pre Cana Program

2011-02-17T18:29:00.000-08:00

Hello All - well this week we flew to Nassau for our monthly clergy meeting and actually had a great time reconnecting with all the other Deacons and Priests in the Archdiocese.

Just prior to leaving we learned of the death of a parishioner. She had a stroke and was airlifted to Nassau, then later died in the hospital there. This ill be an emotional funeral with much wailing and crying but it will be awhile for this family to get themselves together. I'll share more about this in another post.

Right now Ginni and I are putting a ton of energy into putting a Pre-Cana program together for 2 couples preparing for marriage. Thank God we worked on the Marriage Prep program at St. Timothy's - without that experience we would be up a creek. We actually are creating a bit of a hybrid program combining alot of what we did at St. Tim's and using a 6 CD set recommended by the Archdiocese. It really is a very well done series of talks on human sexuality and marriage that, when combined with the practical components of marriage prep really results in a good program. So Ginni and I will deal with topics like Expectations, Adjustments, Communication, Finance, etc. and we'll let the DVD deal with sexuality then jump in to deal with all the questions that come up. We plan to fit all this into two very full Saturday's - starting the day after tomorrow!

While this is dominating our time right now we are still teaching 4 CCD classes and RCIA so it is run run run - hurry hurry hurry - Oh, did you look at the readings for Sunday yet? sigh.

We had a priest on New Years, but not since, so while we were in Nassau I picked up more consecrated hosts to hold us over until we know a priest is coming. Before you know it our kids will be ready for First Penance so we hope a priest will visit us within the next month or so.

Enough for now, I will stay in touch
Peace
F.

Snow, sleet, freezing rain (and other storms)

2011-02-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

Well as I watch CNN from the rectory here on Andros I can see that the snow up north just keeps coming and coming. I really feel for all my friends and family dealing with 10-15" of new snow, plus sleet and freezing rain with temps soon to drop into single digits. All the while here it is mid 70s during the day and 60s at night.

With that said, in the summer they will enjoy 80 degree temps while we melt with temps over 100 and are forced to scan the horizon for hurricanes. Look at it this way - when you have a storm up north you shovel it and life goes on -- if we have a storm down here, we may have to rebuild our house.

Anyway - while I bask in the lovely Bahamian weather I am dealing with a variety of other storms. The violent crime here continues to escalate with 12 murders in January to start off the new year. At this rate we will clearly set another record in 2011. It is a concern for me because I have a few family situations that are beginning to become potential sites of domestic violence.

One woman has asked me to help her get her son out of her home. He is a drug user and has become increasingly more violent in his outbursts. I dropped by unexpectedly and we were having a chat under a mango tree when he returned yesterday. Not knowing I was there he came around the corner, clearly irritated about something but backed off when he saw me. What gave me pause was the 2' machete he was carrying. His mother and siblings saw him, their eyes got big and he began to say something to one of the kids when I stood up, stopping him mid-sentence. Seeing me and just nodded in my direction saying, "Faddah", then turned and left. It is clear that I need to do more here but the level of social services and police support is minimal so it will be a challenge.

On another front, one of my CCD kids has shown up with what look like cigarette burns on his scalp. I spoke with a nurse in town and she said that there is a scalp fungus they are seeing in school children and she has a free shampoo to address it if I could get the boy to the clinic. It would also be a way to evaluate if it is the fungus or abuse. After speaking with the mother about the fungus and the free shampoo she promised to take the boy in. I learned later, however, that the mom showed up at the clinic to get the shampoo, but didn't bring the boy. So that is still something I'm concerned about.

Ginni remains in the US getting in some nursing time (between the snow storms). One of our tenants have left and, lacking that rental income, we need the extra money to pay mortgage, insurance, taxes and water bills on our home up north. Clearly it would be better to sell them but the real estate market is still pretty poor so we are stuck in the landlord-tenant mode in order to pay the bills. We are hopeful she will be able to return in another week.

This week includes the feast of the Presentation (when the infant Jesus was brought to the Temple in compliance with Mosaic Law) and a tradition in our church is that on that day all the candles to be used in church over the next year are blessed (Christ is the light of the world so we use this feast of His presentation in the Temple to bless our candles). Since our parishioners can be on boats fishing, or off island, or working - rather than having a special liturgy I did a short Candlemas service at the beginning of all our liturgies on Sunday. It seemed to be well recieved and I was glad I could do something to make the liturgy a bit special.

Thursday is the feast of St. Blase, so while I blessed the candles at the beginning of our service, at the end I invited all who wanted, to come forward and have their throats blessed. It was quite the liturgy (all four of them).

Speaking of 4 liturgies, last Sunday after our 4th liturgy, I was driving the Haitian man home who has been attending services with us in Mastic Point. I asked him about the return from exile of ex-president Baby Doc Duvalier to Haiti. I was shocked to find out that he, and just about all Haitian people are thrilled he has returned. They're very happy he has returned from exile and are confident he will not go to jail but will be eventually elected President of Haiti once more. His english is poor so I couldn't really get much more out of him as to why he was so well recieved - other than the fact that when he arrived, and his limo was driving to Port a Prince, Baby Doc was tossing money from the limo windows - I guess that is one way to get a political following in a country ravished by poverty. Nobody is asking where that money came from in the first place. Time will tell where that goes.

Enough for now - please keep us in your prayers - especially for those family situations I'll be dealing with.

Peace

Back on Andros

2011-01-19T17:41:00.001-08:00

In my last post I asked you to pray that the 2' of snow in Boston wouldn't impact my flights back to Andros and it clearly worked. All my flights were on time and today it was mid 70s all day long while I know Ginni was wrestling with sleet and freezing rain .

I have had a few experiences in my first week that I thought I would share with you. I arrived late Friday and found out about 3 deaths that took place while away. Yes, one was another murder in Nassau. A school teacher who is related to the owner of the local grocery store was shot and killed while away. Our parishioner was clearly upset and called from Nassau to tell me she wouldn't be in church Sunday since she was going to be dealing with this. While we live in an 'island paradise', crime and violence in Nassau is out of control.

One of the local addicts is someone that frequently visits the Church looking for a sandwich or a soda. We have some history with this man, not all of it good. He has a history of committing robberies in town and most people have shunned him. On occasion he has taken advantage of our generosity and I've had to cut ties with him more than once. It has not been a good relationship, but eventually we reconcile (until the next time). There is clearly a pattern.

Anyway - his mother is one of the 3 deaths I mentioned earlier. She died in the hospital in Nassau and, since the family doesn't have the money to ship the body back to Andros for a funeral, the funeral and burial were in Nassau - which meant our friend had to go to Nassau. Coincidentally, the church where they held the funeral was the Cathedral - a rather impressive venue to say the least.

So, this morning I am praying my Morning Prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament and from behind me I hear "Deacon, can I come into the Church?" Well I wasn't expecting that in the midst of the dead silence of my Morning Prayer so I jumped about 3 feet, but then told him that, certainly he could come in. (You must realize that in the 2 years we have been here he has come to our front door to ask for food almost daily - but he has never set foot inside the church).

So he comes into Church and sits in the back and I continue Morning Prayer and I hear the pages of a missalette being turned. It struck me that here we are, together in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Me, the Deacon, with my prejudices about this man, and he, the addict, having just lost his mother, sits in silence just a few pews behind me. Ahh, the unifying presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

After about 5 minutes I hear the phone ring in my office and, since I was actually expecting a call, I went out and left him alone in Church while I took the call. When I came back he stood up and we talked a little. His experience in the Cathedral was moving and he knows he does bad things, but asked if I thought it was OK for him to come back to church. He knows some of the members might give him a hard time, but he wants to try. He also asked if I thought it would be OK for him to go to confession the next time we have a priest. Well, this was like a wave crashing down upon me. I am thrilled he has had the experience he has had and I really do hope he shows up on Sunday. I do know that some of the local folks will ask me if I know what I am doing since 'clearly he is only here to case the joint' (I've heard that before). But if there is a glimmer of hope that he is serious, it is worth the risk.

After we talked, he asked if he might have a sandwich and, since all I had was peanut butter and jelly - he took it gladly and was on his way. Keep Herbie in your prayers.

Now then, let me tell you about that phone call. Arnie had called a few days earlier asking me if I could find the baptismal records of his father. He thought his Dad was born in the early 1920's in Small Hope, which would take some researching on my part so I took his number and promised to call him back. Well his number was a cell phone and calling cell phones on Andros can be an adventure. In the Bahamas you buy your cell phone and then buy phone cards. You enter the phone card number into your phone and you have that much credit for your phone. So you can get a $20 phone card and use $20 worth of phone calls - when you have used all your minutes your phone is busy if anyone calls. So, you guessed it, after I find Arnie's Dad I call his number and I get that rapid busy that says to me that he has no minutes and all I can do is hope he calls back - which he did when I was praying Morning Prayer with Herbie in the back row.

So I take the call and explain what I had found and he was thrilled and asked if he could come get a Baptismal Certificate of his father's baptism and I said "Sure, why don't you come over around 10AM" Fine, all set - I figure Small Hope is the next town he shouldn't have any problem getting here by 10. Well 10 comes and goes, 10:30, 11, around 11:30 there's a knock on the door and its him. We talk a bit, I give him the Certificate, and he explains that he is trying to prove his Bahamian Citizenship. There is no record of his birth (the keeping of Birth Certificates is better now, but 40 years ago if an island midwife didn't bother to send a notice to Nassau, the birth may or may not ever get on the books and, in his case it didn't). So he was able to get a legal Affadavit that he was the son of Alton and, if he could prove Alton was a Bahamian, then he could prove he was a Bahamian - except, there is no Birth Certificate for Alton either! The fact that the Church maintains Baptismal Certificates however, would prove to be his salvation. With Alton's Baptismal Cert he could show Alton was born in the Bahamas and, with his Affadavit he could prove he was Alton's son and he would be home free. Of course if Alton had ever bothered to get Arnie baptized it would have been much easier, but that's another story.

What impressed me about Arnie however, was not this story. It was what he went through to get to me and pick up the Certificate. It turns out that while his Dad was born in Small Hope, the next town to Fresh Creek. The reason it took him so long to get to me was that Arnie lives in Lowe Sound - at the very northern end of the island and has no car. Arnie hitch-hiked for 60 miles to see me and when he left he was going to do it all over again to get home. What an amazing testimony to his perserverance to straighten all this out and prove he is a legal Bahamian.

And finally, there is Jane. Jane is 89, blind in one eye, and since her recent stroke she is homebound. In her house there are 4 daughters, all with several children, all unmarried and the fathers of these children are nowhere to be seen. Anyway, we know this family pretty well and I have been bringing her communion for several months on Sunday afternoon. For the past two weeks one of the boys in the house, about 10 years old, has been coming to church on Sunday, all by himself. This week when I brought her communion she started by asking 'Did you see my boy in Church today?' I said I did and she said, that's my grandson and I want him to be Catholic just like me. She has been evangelizing her grandchildren! The daughters consider themselves Catholic, although they don't come to church and none of their children are baptized. I have spoken to them about it but hadn't gotten anywhere - but Jane has!

When she told me she wanted this boy baptized I said, "Well that is nice Jane, but we need his mother to give permission for that to happen". At which point Jane turns to the door and yells, "Theresa, come in here, Deac wants to talk to you!" In comes Theresa and in a few short minutes she agreed to have her son baptized - and his little brother! I explained she needed to find God-parents that were Catholic and we planned to do a Baptism Prep session, then schedule the Baptism. THEN, she tells me to come in the next room to meet her cousin who just had a baby and wanted to have her baptized as well! So off I go and there's a young mom with a 2 month old sweetie in her arms, and the Daddy - so I give them the same little talk about God-parents and planning a Baptism Prep session and it feels like we are on our way to 3 new members of our Church - all because Jane was doing her job, without pressure, without guilt, just simply witnessing to the importance of being a Christian and, in God's time, people heard her.

So, as you can see it has been quite a week. Ginni is still in the US so I am flying solo with CCD and RCIA and the choir misses her terribly (actually everyone misses her terribly). So please keep me in your prayers.

Till next time

Travelling up North

2011-01-12T07:15:00.000-08:00

Well we finally got to fly up to NY to see our new grandson - and what a joy! He is a precious little Christmas present that we totally enjoyed holding and hugging and kissing and cuddling for hours on end. Joe and Liza are doing great with little Leo and we enjoyed our time visiting with them and our other son Mike. Uncle Mike competed with us for 'Leo-time' but we managed to share him as best we could.

Mike has a 4-wheel drive jeep and, after the first snow storm of this trip he and I went '4-wheeling' through the forest on trails very few cars would dare attempt. We plowed through the white stuff with ease and I realized many of my Bahamian friends would get a kick out of seeing their Deacon in the snow so I had Mike pull up and we took this pic.

Now after seeing this pic once again I must tell you that Ginni has about had it with the beard. I had let it grow for Christmas because so many people asked me to play Santa with the Bahamian Children. Ginni has been asking me to cut it back for weeks and, now that we were with Joe (who has a nicely trimmed beard) I gave Ginni a Christmas present and used Joe's trimmer to create a whole different look. Here is a pic of the new me, watching the Boston College - Nevada bowl game with my grandson (the newest Boston College fan).

As I write this we have already left NY and are now with friends in Walpole MA and right now we are getting 18-24" of the white stuff. I am scheduled to fly back to Andros on Friday and I am hoping that the airport will use Wed night and all day Thurs to clean up so I can still get out on time. If I'm not back by Saturday the Archdiocese will have to scramble to provide coverage for the weekend liturgies. This storm is supposed to go all day Wed and end around 8PM tonight, after having started around midnight. Something about 20 hours of straight snow that tells me travel might be an issue.

This trip was a thrill for Ginni and I - to get to play with our grandson, and to re-experience snow (which I haven't seen for a few years) has been wonderful - but its time to get back to my 80 degree home on Andros.

Pray for a safe flight - until next time, Peace.

Junkanoo

2010-12-27T15:11:00.000-08:00

Well it is Boxing Day - the day after Christmas and a national holiday in the Bahamas.

Actually, since the day after Christmas was a Sunday, today - Monday is the holiday.

Boxing Day means Junkanoo in the Bahamas a day of festival and parties.

Parades start at midnight and go all night and into the day - think caribbean mardi gras and you come close. Each year a theme is selected and different bands spend the year making costumes and preparing for band competition.

The competition is SERIOUS and the winner gets serious bragging rights. Actually, there are 2 sets of parades, one on Boxing Day, and one the day after New Years. Last year one group one the Boxing Day parade and another won the New Years Parade. The two big bands are THE SAXONS, and THE VALLEY BOYS - but they are not the only ones (which is why it takes all night for the bands to march down Bay Street before the judges).

What is interesting is that the bands consist primarily of cow bells, whistles, and horns - plus the dominant instrument DRUMS! Big drums, little drums, homemade drums - and they set the beat for the entire band, big time!

This year the parades are fighting an up hill battle with the cold. Temps in the night drop to the 50s and the hi temp is low 70s. As you can see from the costume above, it can be a bit chilly in some of these outfits - not to mention the people in the grandstands watching at 3 in the morning!

Now I do want to mention that, as I write this, I realize the folks in New England are getting 20" of snow and blizzard conditions so, while we struggle with temps in the 50s I will get no sympathy from them. We pray you all stay warm and drive safe in the midst of all that white stuff I used to have to shovel.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all - and have a Happy Junkanoo too!

Bahamian Christmas

2010-12-24T10:34:00.000-08:00

Hello my friends -

Well as I write this it is Christmas Eve Eve and we are ramping up for a busy weekend.
This past week was full of Christmas-related activities, such as the Chamber of Commerce asking me to play Santa, a Christmas nativity play at AUTEC, a Tree Lighting Ceremony at the roundabout, and putting together plans for Christmas liturgy.

One thing that is unique about the Bahamas is that it is an explicitly Christian country. By that I mean that the Constitution actually says the Bahamas is a Christian Country. Unlike the US, therefor, government officials will speak from the podium at public meetings thanking the Lord God for sending Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Every year we have a tree lighting ceremony in Fresh Creek, complete with the Royal Bahamas Police Force Band. Every year I am amazed at how freely government officials proclaim Jesus as their Lord and Savior (not only is it true, but in the Bahamas it is politically correct to do so - just the opposite of the US).

This year I hadn't been asked to do any specific role at the tree lighting so I was in jeans and a polo shirt, sitting with Ginni, enjoying the music, the speakers, and the celebratory atmosphere of the event. I was really caught off guard, therefore, when the MC said, "I notice Faddah Trimble is with us today, Faddah, will you come on up and lead us in the final Benediction?" I actually pointed to my chest and said, "Do you mean me?" People in the first three rows all turned and said, "Yes Faddah, he be calling you up" So up I went and did a spontaneous prayer and blessing - only in the Bahamas.

At AUTEC Navy Base was a bit more prepared. Every year they have a 'Living Nativity', where the children dress as shepherds, wise men, Mary and Joseph, with a newborn drafted to play Jesus (this year it was a baby girl cast as Jesus). I had been asked to read the nativity from Luke and, as each event was read, Mary and Joseph would take up their positions in the stable that the seabees had built, then the shepards would walk on stage, then the wise men - all the while I am reading the story of Jesus' birth. This isn't the best of pics but here I am reading the narrative as the procession is taking place.

It really was a great event, followed by an evening of local Bahamian food from folks that had been invited onto the Base to staff booths, along with local craftsmen and local charities the Base supports. It really was a good time - there is nothing quite as pretty as coconut palms trimmed with Christmas lights.

On another bright note, I had a call the other day from the Vicar of the Archdiocese telling me that we WILL have a priest for Christmas. A priest from the Seminary in Miami (where the Archdiocese of Nassau is sending its seminarians) will be joining us. As I said in my last post, with Christmas and New Years both being on Saturday we have back to back liturgies with Christmas followed by the Sunday services the very next day so this will be a huge help.

We met Fr. Rios yesterday and we have decided he will preach on Christmas and I will do the Sunday homilies for the Feast of the Holy Family. We'll repeat that the following weekend with him preaching for the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God on New Years, and I will take the Epiphany on Sunday. With him staying for the whole week we will, for the first time in years, be able to have daily Mass as well, not to mention the availability of Confession!

Some very kind people have given us a food basket for Christmas. While we appreciate their generosity we know so many people in need that much of the basket has found its way into their homes. We have come to know where the families are that will be having peanut butter for Christmas dinner and donations like this help us help them and they are always very, very thankful.

One story along these lines will give you an idea of what I mean. I have told you in prior blogs that in the Northern part of the island we have encounted a growing Haitian community who work the fields in the farms up north. A few weeks back we were driving one of them home after having church in the primary school (since we have no church up North). I asked him what crop was he working on and, in broken english, he said, "No work today - two weeks" I repeated my question and again, "No work - two weeks". Well it turns out that he had no work right now and the next time he was promised work was in two weeks. When I finally understood that I asked what he was doing for food while he was out of work and his answer was, "No work - two weeks". The bottom line was, there was no work for two weeks, there would be no pay for two weeks, and there would be no food for two weeks. He, and all the Haitians there, would be 'getting by', but there was no plan as to how that would happen. It was the way things were for him, pretty much the normal way of life - when you had work, you ate, if not, you didn't.

Well I didn't know that this was such a desparate situation and I only had $20, but I gave it to him for food and you would have thought I had given him a thousand. "Thank You, Thank You very much - God bless you" It was an endless stream of thanks and praise.

The next week when I picked him up he had a plastic bag full of green tomatoes he gave us. He had no money, but what he did have was the produce that the farmer thought unworthy of bringing to market - and he gave us what he had in thanks. To be truthful, what he gave us was not that appetizing to look at but - after about a week they turned bright red and, once ripe, were delicious! We ended up giving many of them to those Bahamian families with so little I mentioned earlier. Our bounty, met his need - from his bounty we met the need of others. God is good.

Well I will sign off for now - Merry Chistmas to all of you. As Jesus was born in Bethlehem we pray that he may be born anew in you - He is Emmanuel - God with us. AMEN? AMEN.

Bahamas Cold, Warm Babies, and more

2010-12-16T16:56:00.001-08:00

Hello Again
Well, once more I am writing from Nassau, attending our monthly clergy meeting with the Archbishop. This trip is unique because of the cold. Bone chilling 50 degree temps at night and mid 60 days have all Bahamians bundled up. I am actually wearing my Boston College sweatshirt day and night!

While this is terribly cold here I know back in the US people are laughing as they deal with temps in the teens and 20s. Watching the Patriots play the Jets a few weeks ago was an eye opener. We could see the breath of all the players on TV as they lined up to play as the announcer commented on the 20 degree temps, then the following week they played the Bears in the snow!

One of the biggest news stories here, after you get past the cold, is that BTC (Bahamas Telecommunications Corp), is being sold to British Cable and Wireless. BTC is our phone company and one of the few profitable government run operations. Privatization of the phone company has been a hot topic here for years but now that its finally happening we have had protests in the streets, confrontations between the police and union marchers, & political wrangling unlike anything I'd seen in the US. Coincidentally, BTC just did an audit of its customers and decided to convert all Churches to Business Class customers, tripling our rates. After months of back and forth arguing over this it was determined that since we only have 1 phone, and its in the residence, we can be converted back to residential if we change our listing from St. John Chrysostom Church to St. John Chrysostom Rectory. Time will tell if this plan works out, but we clearly cannot afford business class rates, its a killer.

Speaking of killer, the Bahamas has had a record number of murders in 2010 and the crime wave is very serious here. The economy has many, many people out of work and the result has been a skyrocketing crime wave. The police do a pretty good job of catching the bad guys, but a poor job of preventing the crimes in the first place. It really is quite serious. When we come to Nassau on trips like this one, once we are in for supper we stay in. Going out in Nassau at night is really rather risky, unlike Andros where we feel much safer. The priest we stay with on Nassau has warned us that, if we go from the Rectory to the Church at night, we should take a flashlight and never walk across the parking lot alone. Believe me, we follow his advice. Actually, the Archbishop spoke on this topic at the clergy meeting this morning, warning us all to review our security plans. With so many businesses upgrading their security systems churches are views as the next area of opportunity for thieves, especially with the midnight liturgies we will be having over the next few weeks. Merry Christmas.

On a more positive note, the big news in our life right now is the birth of Leo John Tremblay, our newest grandson, in Sag Harbor NY. Born 12 DEC at 12:30AM, 7lbs, 6oz, he is beautiful and we can't wait to get home and visit.

Getting home will be complicated since we have nobody to cover my weekend liturgies. I am hoping I can lobby to get someone for the weekend of Jan 8 so I can leave after New Years and spend 2 weeks up North cuddling with the little guy, otherwise it will be a Mon-Fri trip for me.

Our liturgical schedule for the holidays is VERY complicated this year because both Christmas and New Years (The feast of the Holy Family) are on Saturday. So, you have the Saturday Christmas liturgies, complete with that extra Midnight Mass, and then the very next day the full slate of Sunday weekend liturgies. I will have 6 liturgies for that 2-day combination. With that complete, the very next weekend we do it all again with New Years Day on Saturday, including midnight services, then the Sunday morning services starting at 8. It will be interesting to see what kind of turn out we get, not only because of the frequency of the liturgies, but also because a large number of my parishioners will be in Nassau for Junakanoo.

Christmas time on the islands is one of great celebration. On Nassau it is a MAJOR big deal and the Junkanoo celebration is serious business. To describe it, you have to think of it on a par with Mardi Gras in New Orleans. There are Bahamian marching bands, in elaborate costumes that they work on all year long. They compete for points just like the Rose Bowl Parade floats in the US and there are serious bragging rights involved. Once the parade begins it goes well into the night and beyond midnight into the next day!

One of my chores while here is to return with a ciborium of consecrated hosts. We haven't had a priest in so long I am literally down to just a few hosts between the 3 churches. The Rector at the Cathedral has been very supportive of us on Andros and I am confident he will give us what we need to hold us over until we can get a priest to visit.

Today we spent the day shopping and we sent two shopping carts, filled to the brim, with supplies we need to the docks. On Fri morning the ferry makes the Nassau to Andros run and we will take the 7AM flight to beat it home and recieve the shipment at the Fresh Creek Dock. This will include the final few things we need for the restored church in Calabash Bay, as well as things we just don't have on Andros. My challenge will be to arrive in Fresh Creek, run to the bank to get money to pay the frieght charges, and line up someone with a pickup truck to help us carry it all from the dock to the Church (ahh, island life).

Till next time - I pray you all experience the fullness of Emmanuel, God with us.

Catching up with the news

2010-12-08T10:58:00.000-08:00

Hello my friends

Well once again I have not been as faithful to posting here as I would like, where to begin?

For starters, at the AUTEC base we have a member we affectionately refer to as 'The Card Lady'. She is a sweetheart and has taken it upon herself to generate Get Well, Birthday, and Bereavement Cards for just about everyone on base. Well she has outdone herself! Awhile back there was something called 'Clergy Appreciation Day'. I had never heard of it, but she had. With very littel fan-fare, after our Saturday evening liturgy, I was surprised with a celebration complete with chesse and crackers, fruit, juice and cake, a card, and a wonderful photo album as a gift. Everyone who came to church filed into the hall at the rear of the church, including a few visiting engineers from companies testing their equipment with the Navy. It was great to be recognized like this and it really gave me a sense that what we are doing here is appreciated.

A few weeks ago we stopped to do our regular Sunday communion call with Anna. I have mentioned her here in the blog before. Anna is in her 90's and blind. On this Sunday we were told it was her 95th birthday, so after communion we all sang Happy Birthday and she sang and clapped her hands along with us. I've never posted a pic of Anna before, but to commemmorate her birthday she let us take her pic - here it is!

Anna, if you remember, is the woman who once gave me a hug and then said, "Oh Deacon, you be da big mahn, you come from da big bone" - cracked me up.

As you can see, the beard has gotten a bit long. The local Chamber of Commerce has asked if I would be willing to play Santa and so I have let it go. I am not sure when that will take place but you will certainly hear about it here if it really happens.

Every month we go to Nassau for a meeting with the Archbishop and the other Bahamian clergy. Our meeting is at the Emmaeus Ctr, a great facility for meetings like this. It sits atop a hill overlooking Nassau and is a great place to pray, as well as connect with other clergy to compare notes on are various ministries.

The grounds include a Benedictine cemetary and I have actually found the grave of Fr. Gabriel Roerig, OSB, the first priest to ever serve on Andros.

I have much more to tell you but I just realized the time and I have to run out to teach our last CCD class before the Christmas break. After class we will head out to the AUTEC base for dinner, followed by the rosary and a liturgy to celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. As an island nation getting to church can be problematic for many people so the Archdiocese of Nassau only has two holy days of obligation, Christmas and The Feast of the Holy Family (New Years). However, with so many Americans on the Navy Base we thought we would celebrate the Solemnity with that community.

Anyway - I better get going.

Till next time

from Andros to Houston

2010-11-24T11:11:00.000-08:00

Well my last post was from Nassau, this comes to you from Kingwood TX, a Houston suburb, as I spend Thanksgiving with my son Matthew, his wife Melissa and our first grandson Jack. I am looking forward to turkey with all the fixings but tonight (be still my heart) we will have steak!

Good beef is hard to come by on Andros so to have a nice thick steak (rare) with a nice glass of red wine is absolutely decadent.

Our priest shortage is so dramatic in the Bahamas that for me to make this trip I had to make it a Mon-Fri event. I stayed on Andros while Ginni left last week so I could be there for the weekend liturgies then, first thing Mon morning I was on the 7AM flight out of Andros to Nassau, then a quick hop to West Palm, followed by my third plane to get from FL to TX.

On Friday I will do the same gig in reverse, making sure I am back on Andros for the first Sunday of Advent.

Just before I left I realized a fantasy I have been thinking about for awhile. How to make our church on Andros more Bahamian? One of the most successful industries on Andros is the prodution of a rather unique fabric called Androsia. It is a print, coming in a wide range of colored fabrics, with designs of fish, flamingos, starfish, conche, sea horses (and the list is endless). Usually the fabric is a bright color with the print being white, with a very unique look.

This pic of a sea-grape pattern gives you an idea of what I mean.

Anyway - with the liturgical colors changing from green to purple for Advent I took our sacristan to the Androsia factory and we bought about 7' of purple Androsia fabric (pretty close to the color in the pic above, but rather than sea grapes it has schoools of fish). While I am away she will hem one length of it for the altar, and make another section into a new cloth covering our tabernacle. Having matching material will be striking, especially since our people are so used to mix and match colored alter clothes that, for the most part, they don't even realize they don't match. For example, the altar cloths for ordinary time were dark forest green, while the tabernacle was covered with a light mint green cloth and the ambo was yet another shade of kelly green. Matching purple Androsia alter linens should be a big hit.

I may not see a priest until Christmas (if even then), any priests out there want to spend Christmas in the Bahamas? With Christmas being on a Saturday, followed by the Sunday liturgies, this year I may just sleep in Church with back to back to back liturgies for 3 communities spread all over Andros.

Well, I hear my grandson coming in from playing with the boy next door (who Jack has convinced that I am really Santa with the white beard). So I think I will sign off and take time out for one more tickle fight.

Till next time

A quick update from Nassau

2010-11-17T17:51:00.000-08:00

Well much has happened since my last post about the Navy Ball - where to begin.
Well for starters let me tell you that I am writing this entry from Nassau. Ginni is back in the US dealing with our property in NH (our tenant has left) and getting in some nursing time (more money to help cover the expenses we still have owning property in the US is always welcome). If you know of anyone who might enjoy a NH log home, on a lake, in ski country, we are putting it back on the market to see if it might sell. We wanted to do this 2 years ago when we started our ministry here in the Bahamas but the market was so horrible we decided to rent. If it sells now, great! If not, its back to the renter option for us. Time will tell.

Work on the Church we are converting to our new Parish Center is progressing nicely. The sink and counters in the rear room has yet to be done but the interior body of the building has progressed enough that we started having CCD classes there last week. When I return to Andros I will try to post some before and after pics for you all to see. So many of you back in Mass. contributed so generously to this effort I really want you to see what you have helped build.

Friends from Stoughton visited us last weekend. John and Jane are from St. James parish in Stoughton but I first met them when I was working at the Sacred Hearts Retreat Center in Wareham. Jane was a close friend of a prior Director of the Retreat Center who recommended her as a possible Retreat Leader. Jane led our annual 'Lenten Retreat for Women', for several years. It was an absolute treat to have them visit and they really wanted to help us out while they were here so we put them to work.

Jane helped Ginni pull together some exercises for the children to do in CCD, folded our new 'Children's Bulletin' that we distribute every week for the kids, and worked with John to help resurface our 're-cycled' white board we now have at the Parish Center. I should explain. Then AUTEC Navy Base on Andros had a rather unique piece of furniture they were not using. It was in the Chapel conference room. It was a double-sided white board and, between each white board was a pull out collapsable room divider. The white boards had been written on so many times with permanent markers, then cleaned with abrasive cleanser, that the white boards were unusable. I found a company that makes peel and stick white board material that we used to resurface the old boards (actually that 'we' was John and Jane who peeled and resurfaced the old white boards). It came out great and saved us a ton of money on a new board.

John and Jane also repaired some screens in the Church that were broken and were able to secure many of them that were falling out of their frames. These Church windows are 10-14' tall and the screens were held in place by old clips (in those windows that had clips). If a strong wind came off the sea it was not uncommon for the screens to be blown out of their frames, which can be distracting when it happens during my Sunday homily. Using a drill I had picked up on a trip to Nassau, and jury-rigging some new clips I had bought (which were the wrong size), John and Jane basically resecured all the screens in the entire Church.

They came with us to all 4 Sunday liturgies, including the one up North in the new community we are trying to establish in Mastic Point. I should mention that while this community has a large Haitian population the numbers that are coming to our service has dropped off significantly. There is a new immigration official up there and many Haitians are afraid to come to a public service for fear of harrasment.

The most tramautic thing to touch us here recently was the attack of a Catholic nun here in the Bahamas. This is a woman we know who has a ministry on another island. Late one night she was the victim of a home invasion, robbery, and was physically assaulted. This was quite upsetting to us, everyone who knows her, and to the Catholic population in the Bahamas. Crime here is a very real problem, especially violent crime. In the recent census conducted by the Bahamas, the nation has 350,000 citizens and we are sitting at just over 80 murders so far this year. That is more than one murder every week.

Last week I saw and interview with the Mayor of San Jose, TX on TV regarding thier murder rate. The reporter wanted to know if the violence from the Mexican drug cartells had come over the border to San Jose. The Mayor said, 'Well we are a major US city with a population of 350,000 (which I noted since it was the same as the Bahamas, and it was 1 city)" They've had 14 murders this year. The Bahamas has passed 80 and it continues to grow.

When we heard about this attack on the Sister we felt we had to do something and so this week we will have two prayer services for the victims of violent crime. In the two years we have been here we know of 5-6 people who have lost relatives to murder on Nassau or one of the other islands. The first service was on Tuesday in Cargill Creek and a mother whose son was murdered a few months ago, and her husband, were in attendance. The second will be Friday night in Fresh Creek. Please keep us in your prayers in this regard, it is a very upsetting issue. Also keep our Archbishop Patrick Pinder in your prayers. He has a heavy burden leading this Archdiocese in such a climate. While you are at it, this woman of God who was the victim of this attack could use a few prayers too.

To end on a happy note, Sunday will be the feast of Christ the King, the patron of our parish in Cargill Creek. We will have cake and cookies after services on Sunday. A celebration like this is just what the Doctor ordered after a week of grieving and angst regarding the attack.

Till next time

The Navy Ball

2010-10-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

Hello All - October is the birthday of the US Navy, and so our AUTEC Navy Base has an annual 'Navy Ball' in October and this year I was invited to lead the Benediction prior to the meal (an expected benefit of having the XO (Executive Officer) on the base converting to Catholicism and in our RCIA program).

This is a very serious, very gala event on the base and they hold nothing back to make sure this is THE event of the year. They bring in guest chefs from the US (actually these Chefs donate their time to come at no cost to recognize the service of our military). This year the Admiral for Under-Sea Warfare was the keynote speaker.

To create a space with the dignity this event requires they complete redecorate a building on the base that normally is the local bar. They completely cover all the walls with white paper and using streamers, black silouette cut-outs, and black and white WW II Navy pictures they create an incredible setting. This corner table should give you some idea of what I mean.

The base turned out in full dress whites for this event and you can imagine how impressive it was with every ribbon and medal prominently displayed on the chests of these service men.

For me, I was surprised at how nervous I was to say the benediction in front of this crowd. Knowing everyone would be in dress uniforms and the wives in gowns what to wear was an issue for Ginni and I (I actually only have 1 tie). Ginni knew about this so she brought a more formal dress when she came back from the States, I on the other hand decided my best option was to wear my roman collar - not something I usually do.

We arrived at the base in time for our Saturday evening service (which we moved up from 6 to 4:30 so we could arrive at the Ball on time). There was about a half hour of cocktails and small talk before we were called to take our seats.

The color guard marched in the side door with all the formality you can possibly imagine. It really was very well done and after they had put the US flag, the Navy flag, the AUTEC flag, and the MIA flag into their stands a female officer came forward and sang a wonderful rendition of the National Anthem. Then it was time for the Benediction (gulp). I went to the podium, asked everyone to join me in prayer and every head bowed. From that point on it was the Holy Spirit but I was blown away, and rather humbled, when one of the officers on Base sent me this pic.

The XO led a ceremony recognizing all those who had been killed in action, followed by the Base Commander's welcoming remarks and his introduction of the Admiral. He gave a wonderful address, recalling not only the birth of the Navy, but also major events in the history of the Navy from John Paul Jones to the current nuclear powered submarines. Then it was the 'call to chow' and the food was rolled out - and what a feast it was! Chefs from the US donate their time to honor our men in uniform and it was absolutely fabulous. Here is a pic of our table and a bit of the ballroom so you get some perspective on the number of people who attended.

Dessert was next and, just like the meal, it was delicious. What was fun about this was the cutting of the cake. Traditionally the person with the least service time cuts the cake with the person with the longest service time. So the XO started a countdown - everyone with 2 years or less, please stand. A group stand and he asks 'those 18 months or less', people sit. 'Those 12 months or less', people sit. Eventually it fell to a young Ensign. Now that we had the person with the least service it was time to find the Senior person in the room. The XO started the countdown with all those having over 25 years and peoples scattered around the room stand. 'Those with 26 years', people sit, eventually the finalists are the Base Commander and the Admiral at the head table, and this one man in the middle of the room. Now let me describe this sailor. He is clearly career Navy, his head is shaved, his chest is full of medals, now as the years click off, and he remains standing, all the sailors in the room shout "Yo Senior Chief!" another year is called, he remains standing, "Yo Senior Chief!", again and again, "Yo Senior Chief!" it was fabulous - especially when the Admiral sat down!

Inevitably the Base Commander came out on top with 30 years. Here is the pic of the XO handing his sword to the Ensign. From left to right it is the Base Commander, the Ensign, the Admiral and the XO. It was a great time and we are thrilled we were invited to attend.

After dessert there were a 'series' of ceremonial toasts. It was good that each table had 2 bottles of wine, just to get through the series! After the toasts were completed all Navy personnel were commanded to stand, and they did. What followed was a rendition of 'Anchors Aweigh' that was absolutely inspiring - no music, no song-sheets, just these men and women far from home showing their pride in serving in the US Navy. Let me say a word about that. These folks are part of the US military and, when called upon, they will fight for our nation. What these men and women do at AUTEC, however, is create test scenarios for the men and women in the military, and their equipment, ensuring that if called upon they'll be ready. In a large part, their job is to make sure their readiness acts as a deterrent to having to fight. AUTEC's role, in ensuring our NAVY is the best, is to deter our having to prove it. It is with that mindset that AUTEC works to ensure the peace. Enough said.

As we were leaving I met one of the Chefs and we talked a bit.

He was keenly aware that he has been blessed in life and being able to donate his time and talents to pull off an event like this was an honor. We talked a little about what we do on the base and with the local Bahamian people (I try not to miss an opportunity to evangelize). With virtually no prompting on my part he said that if I could stay in touch with him, next year he'd like to come a few days early and provide a meal for a local Bahamian community. My thoughts flashed to the Haitians we serve up north and how they'd react to chocolate covered strawberries and a true gourmet meal. We'll see what happens.

Clearly, this has been a rather different experience for us here on Andros - but one that we thoroughly enjoyed. Till next time - pray for us, and we'll pray for you.

Driving Bob Marley

2010-10-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Well I have much to tell but not too much time to type so I will cover just one of our experiences and share more with you later.

One of the novelties about driving the Church van is that everyone on the island knows its the Church van and feels perfectly at home waving you down for a ride. This is a good thing, giving us an opportunity to meet new people and share the faith - but, as you can imagine, it can be a bit risky at times. With that said, we pretty much pick up anybody that waves us down.

Last Sunday we were on our way home from Cargill Creek with a van about half full of folks we were dropping off on the way when we were flagged down by someone needing a ride to Fresh Creek. This young man was in his 20’s and looked a bit like Bob Marley, dredlocks down to his shoulders, an old T-shirt that had seen better days, and a plastic bag full of Lord knows what. Several of the older women in the van gave him 'the look', but he settled in for the ride nonetheless . He was very thankful we stopped because some local folks had told him we wouldn’t because we didn’t know who he was, which is clearly not true. We explained that on the way home we stop and bring communion to a few people and he was willing to come along for the ride anyway.

Our first stop was in Man O War Sound, where we visit Anna. I told him he could wait for us in the car but he got out to stretch his legs. After greeting Anna and her daughter we began the Eucharistic Service with prayer and I noticed our young passenger listening by the door. I read the Gospel, (remember the story of the widow & the unjust judge?) Then I took a moment and preached a bit about that Gospel and the message that, like the widow and the judge, we should never give up, but in good times or bad, continue to pray to our God who loves us – just like the widow kept after the judge. God is our Father and He takes care of His children. After giving Anna and her daughter communion we all climbed back in the van and headed towards Fresh Creek.

Once we were alone, our passenger opened up and it turned out the Holy Spirit was moving right there in Anna's living room! He told us a bit about himself and how much what I said touched his heart. He stopped going to church when he was 13 we he discovered his minister and his mother having an affair. That was it for him and he left the church and never went back. His relationship with God was crushed by this experience and he had no place for this in his life. Now, in his mid-twenties, he heard the message that we should never give up, that we are God's children, beloved, and we should perservere in our faith whatever the world throws at us - God used this to touch his heart. He was clearly moved and the ride to Fresh Creek was an amazing one with him sharing his life story and Ginni sharing about the love of God and the Holy Spirit just about lifting the van off the pavement.

When we dropped him in Fresh Creek the 'coincidences' continued when he told us he was from Mastic Point, which was where we were headed later that day! He had some errands to do in Fresh Creek so we parted company. After another communion call, we packed the van for our services up North in Mastic Point and on the way we found him once more, on the side of the road about half-way to Mastic Point, and gave him a lift to Mastic Point. It was a blessed time for him and for us and he may just join our community in Mastic Point for our services next week in the public school where we meet there, we will see.

Keep him, and us in your prayers - till next time.

Busy Weekend

2010-10-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

Well after all my complaints about weather the last few days have been fabulous. The winds have died down, the white caps are gone, and we are back to tranquil aqua waves lapping against the shore, blue skies and temps in the 80's . Just to give you and idea of what I mean - here is a pic of my back yard when looking to the left:

And here's the view to the right (not too shabby unless there are 30mph winds and driving rain)

I know it was Columbus Day weekend in the US but here its called Discovery Day and there were parties and events all over the island. For example, Saturday, parishioners in Cargill Creek hosted a fundraising cookout. Ribs, Chicken, Fish, Conch, Mac&Cheese, Peas&Rice - yum. Ginni baked all day Friday and we brought over about 4 cakes she made for the effort (2 chocolate, 1 pumpkin bread, and a bunt cake - double yum).

Like most things here, there were issues - for example at 7:30AM our phone rings and its one of the more active members of the parish who was supposed to work the booth dishing out food and collecting money. Her son, the night before, had gotten into an altercation with the police and she had to go see what she could do. The eve of Discovery Day was a Friday night, and cause for celebrating. After a bit too much beer, this young man ended up spending the night in the local jail. Eventually he was released, but not until late Saturday afternoon.

We arrived at the picnic at noon, when the event was to kick off, but found ourselves alone for almost 2 hours as those cooking the food finished up, taking on the slack of our missing parishioner now busy at the police station. A two hour delay in starting may seem like much, but this is the Bahamas and there is a running joke about Bahamians being on Bahamian time.

"Der be no rush faddah, don' worry, we get it done, and it be off da chain mahn!"

Basically translated - 'Chill out Deacon'

Bottom line - the food was great, the company was great, and one woman even surprised us with some Guava Duff, the absolutely primo Bahamian dessert. This is a white cake with a unique texture, topped with Guava fruit. You get a slice of this on your plate that is then drizzled with a sweet white cream sauce - its one of my favorite Bahamian treats.

We ended up having to leave around 3 to get home and prepare for the Saturday evening service at AUTEC, but the picnic continued with people dropping by all day and into the evening to buy a plate of food. When all is said and done it looks like they may have brought in over $800 which we will use to fix so many of the things needing fixing in Cargill Creek.

Speaking of facilities, as I mentioned in my last post, the donations we received while we were in the US are now being put to work to restore St. Gabriel's in Calabash Bay. The water line is installed and the septic tank as well. The electric lines are also installed and we are waiting for inspector to approve that work prior to the Electric Co. connecting the electrical line. 3 of the 4 interior walls are all painted white, the one behind where the altar was will be blue. With the donations we brought back, the new floor tiles will arrive on the boat Wednesday. It will be wonderful to have a floor! We hope its no more than 2 weeks before we can move in and start having classes. This will be a major improvement for our kids, as well as the community of Calabash Bay.

After we got home from the picnic we cleaned up and headed off to the Saturday evening service at AUTEC. Once a year AUTEC invites vendors in to showcase products they want to sell at the PX on base and this weekend it was the company that provides beer and wine who were hosting a 'tasting', to which we were invited. So - after the final blessing and church we strolled over to the 'Lighthouse Pub' to check it out. The manager of the Lighthouse is a young woman who has just started RCIA with us this year and she outdid herself serving all sorts of appetizers for the tasting. The goal of this event is to give the residents on base an opportunity to provide input on what the PX should be selling. Some items on the shelves will be replaced by new ones as a result of this social. So we tasted a few wines, submitted our votes (even though we are not allowed to shop at the PX since the Navy views us as Bahamians and not residents of the Base). What was nice, however, was we connected with Mary (our RCIA candidate), met many of her friends, and talked a bit about RCIA and why would anyone want to join the Catholic Church. Interesting conversations to say the least.

Then it was off to prepare for Sunday. We were up at 6 (with difficulty), but the 8:30 in Fresh Creek, where Ginni led our newly formed Choir, went off with out a hitch (don't you love this pic of her with her guitar).

Then we were off to Cargill Creek for the 11:00. With this being the holiday weekend we didn't go north to Mastic Point for our usual 4PM service because the school was all locked down for the holiday and we are still using the Primary School to hold services up there. Suffice it to say we were quite happy to crash. But we couldn't rest too long - Monday evening is RCIA.

This week we need to renew our Bahamian drivers license. Its become complicated because Andros just recieved a camera for driver license photos (our current licenses have no pic). The problem is the folks that know how to run the camera are a bit scarse. We went in on Wed last week and were told to come back Friday. Friday the traffic officer was in but the camera system was locked away and the man with the key wouldn't be in until Tuesday. Tuesday he is in, but there's a problem with the camera so we need to wait for the repair man to come on the boat Wednesday. Pray we don't have any traffic violations, because at this point both our Bahamian licenses are expired. "Don't worry Deacon, if you have any trouble I'll tell them you've been here and its our fault, not yours". (Try that with a State Trooper in Ma.)

So all is well, but there's much to do - this past week we also have had a man from Love Hill drop by asking if we had any meat. He is low on funds and can't afford meat - "Do you have any extra meat?" Another woman came by because the electric company shut off her power - she hasn't been able to pay for 3 months and now that the bill is over $600 they shut her off. "Could you give me a couple of hundred so they'll turn it back on?" Then in the midst of requests like this another woman drops by. This is a woman who we know has very very little, and who we had helped pay her electric bill a few months back. Now she is bringing us two loaves of bread she had baked. "Here, this will help you through Deac".

These are things that make you take a deep breath, look up at the blue blue sky, and sigh.

Till next time

Wind and Rain and Wind and (did I say wind?)

2010-10-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

Well if you have been following the tropics you know we have had storm after storm. The first tropical depression left us and went up the east coast (actually cancelling a Red Sox Yankees game) but while it was here it was wind and rain central. Now let me explain wind when it comes to a tropical storm on Andros.

First, Andros is flat and we are on a cliff facing east. On one end of the church we have an efficiency apartment for visiting priests. Its a very nice set up, however the windows are mechanical crank-out windows and, over the years, with the salt air blowing on them, several of the cranks no longer work.

Knowing we were in for a bit of 'a blow', with the wind at a mild 15-20 mph I went around that end of the church to check them out. Well, to my surprise, one of the panes was already lying at a crooked angle and another had also become loose so, as a precaution, I went into the garage and pulled out the hurricane shutters for that end of the building. I knew this was not a hurricane, but at the very least I wanted to keep the water from blowing into the apartment.

So I grab an armful of these corrigated aluminum sheets and a bucket of clips that clip the sheet of aluminum to fasteners that are screwed into the concrete walls and begin to put them up. All the while the wind is raging and, once or twice, it picked up my pile of shutters and blew them across the yard. Eventually I had that end of the church covered and I knew it would be safer.

Well as night settled it the wind grew stronger, power went out, and pretty much stayed out for most of the night. The power of God's creation was all around us as lightning and rain and wind pummelled the house that night and into the next day. Power came on and went out again but eventually that storm moved on and up to Boston.

But that wasn't the end of it - a 'frontal boundary' settled in over the Bahamas and that front just basically sat there for 4 days. The wind was nuts! Absolutely incredible. To walk the 20' from the door of the rectory to the church I literally had to lean forward in order to make it. While it was a pain to deal with, the next storm that headed towards us from Puerto Rico ran into the front and bounced off into the open Atlantic, and the same thing is happening now with what is tropical storm Otto.

So - we haven't had much time online for blog updates because either power is out, or internet is down on the island, or power is out -- island life can be interesting.

Two days ago we had wind and rain overnight that kept Ginni up all night because of the lightning. She complained the next day that she could not believe I slept through it all.

This weather has put a crimp in the work to restore St. Gabriel's church. They had dug out the pit for the septic tank, but its hard to pour concrete in a driving rain storm. Actually, pouring concrete is a misnomer here. In the US a cement truck would come and concrete would be poured out into a form to make the septic tank. Here, two men pour a bag of concrete onto the street (yes the street), then add sand, creating a pile about 3' tall. They then mix that pile by hand with shovels to get the sand and concrete all mixed together. Then they fill a 5 gallon pail with water and gradually add water while mixing and mixing and mixing until they get a nice gooey cement mixture. You can not imagine how back breaking this work is to do it by hand, but that's what they have to do, so they do it.

We still hope to be able to open the building this month, but CCD will start a few weeks late.

Our plan is to rename St. Gabriel's church, creating the 'Father Gabriel Roerig, OSB Parish Center' Fr. Gabriel was the first priest to minister on Andros. He was ordained at St. John's Abbey in Minnesota and came here directly from the Abbey, then spent over 50 years serving the people of Andros. When I read of what conditions he worked under I am embarrased when I complain about losing power and internet access. He didn't have electricity! There were no roads - yet he travelled up and down Andros building churches, baptizing babies, teaching children and adults, serving as priest, and doctor, and mason, and carpenter, and dentist - you get the idea. There is a great book documenting the history of the Catholic Church in the Bahamas, from Columbus to the 20th century, including Fr. Gabriel. It is UPON THESE ROCKS, by Coleman Barry, OSB. I got a copy on Amazon.com, a great read.

Here is a portrait pic of Fr. Gabriel I recieved after emailing the Abbey in MN

Here is the last known pic of him with some of his friends on Andros. I think this gives you an example of the reality of his ministry. Ours may have its difficulties, but he's become a bit of a hero to me.

Enough for now, keep us in your prayers.

Frank and Ginni

Back on Andros!

2010-09-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

Well we arrived back on Andros and the excitement didn't take long to begin.

First, we land in Nassau and clearing customs took a bit too long so we missed the only flight to Andros. We knew this was a possibility so we had arranged to stay at St. Joseph's parish 'in case' we needed to. Once inside St. Joseph we borrowed Fr. Martin's car and went to the Chancery to drop off donations we recieved while at home (Thank you all once again!)

At the Chancery we found that the priest who had offered to cover my parish here for 2 weeks was called back to Nassau by the Archbishop after the first week. This created an issue for some of our children. Since we had been without a priest for 4 months, several of our children had left the island for summer vacation when we were finally able to have First Penance and First Communion. With Fr. Glen spending two weeks here to cover for our absence we had set it up that on the 2nd week he would hear thier first confession and they would recieve first communion. So -- when he was called back to Nassau our little cherubs show up dressed in white to find a Deacon had been flown in to cover the weekend liturgy. Disappointing to say the least. So they continue to wait and the NEXT time we have a priest we'll have a special celebration.

Now let me tell you why the priest was called back. It turns out that while we were away the Chancery was robbed! The business office has a buzzer to get inside and one of the women was getting buzzed in when a man came up behind her and pushed her through the door, causing her to fall. He then put the muzzle of his rifle against her forehead and asked for her bag. It was terrifying for her and the secretary that buzzed her in but thankfully nobody was hurt. Coincidentally, the priest who was covering for us lives in the Cathedral, next door to the Chancery, and he has a closed circuit TV camera panning the driveway. Police needed him to come back to Nassau to open up the camera so they could see if the tape had captured the robber. -never a dull moment-

So the next day we get the Saturday morning flight to Andros to discover that our parishioners had moved the van from the airport to the church so it wasn't sitting there all week unprotected. Fred picked us up and drove us home and we started the chore of unpacking and settling in. We needed a few things at the store which is when we found the battery was dead. I tried to jump it with a neighbor but it wouldn't jump. Using Bahamian ingenuity we rolled it down the driveway and popped the clutch, which with a standard transmission is a tricky way to get it started - and it worked.

I drove to Love Hill and saw that the tables and chairs for the new parish center had come in, I drove to a few other parishioners and said 'Hi, we are back' -- all the while hoping this driving was charging the battery up again. Finally I stopped for lunch with Ginni, but after lunch, still a dead battery. Now I push the van down the driveway, jump in, pop the clutch, it starts again and off I go with Ginni to find a battery. "Yes Deac - I can get a battery big enough for that van, how about Thursday?" Island life - if you don't have it, you can get it, just wait for the boat to bring it. A nice idea but not when we need to go to 3 different churches to hold weekend liturgy (only one has a hill we can push the van down to get it started). I made several stops, all with the same result, until I went to the Baptist minister who has a garage. He says, "Your battery is the same as the one in my jeep - I could order one like the other guys or take the battery out of my jeep for you to use". Bottom line is we got a battery and the weekend liturgy went off without a hitch.

The other piece of news we learned after getting back on Andros was the attempted murder in Cargill Creek (next door to our church!) Next to our church there are a few dillapidated buildings tucked away in the bush. A family of squatters had moved in about a year ago, a mother, her boyfriend, and 5 kids. The buildings are owned by a parishioner who heard this family was homeless and he told them that if they were despirate they could use one of them. Well they were despirate and moved into the one with a roof, creating walls by hanging blankets. Well the oldest boy and the 'step-father' hadn't been getting along and, from what can figure out, during the night the boy decided to get rid of the 'step-father' using a butcher knife.

The man was able to get away but it was a very bloody scene, he is in intensive care in Nassau and the boy is in prison awaiting trial. The mother is in Nassau next to his bedside and the other kids are staying with friends all throughout the settlement. Terribly sad situation for everyone.

That was our 1st day back.

I makes me wonder that when we leave for 2 weeks, the Chancery gets robbed, there's an attempted murder, the van dies, and our kids miss out on First Communion yet again. Maybe we should just stay put.

Monday was spent getting ready for RCIA. Our first class was scheduled for that night and 3 of the possible 8 candidates showed up. Some of the others may still show up - time will tell.

I think that's enough of an update for now - pray that tropical storm south of Cuba stays far away from us - right now the projected track would have it go right over us. I sure hope Cuba takes the wind out of its sails.

Till next time

Here's an update

2010-08-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

Well once again I have let too much time pass between blog entries - mea culpa!

Much has happened this past summer so I will try to give you the highlights.
First off, the economy is killing the folks here in the Bahamas. Tourism is down significantly with hotels at 20-50% occupancy. The trickle down effect of this is major. With no jobs in Nassau people have moved back to the family islands with high hopes, only to have them dashed when they find out the reality here is no better.

Locally, there is a carpenter with several children who has asked if I had any work. He didn't want money, he wanted work. Coincidentally the next day a gale blew through and ripped a 10' strip of flashing off the roof of the church and I was able to give him the job of climbing up on the roof and tacking it back in place. (Ginni was thrilled I didn't try this one on my own - especially after my adventure last year when I climbed on the roof of the church to hang the Christmas lights). It wasn't a big job, and I didn't have much to give him, but in his words "Its better than nothing Deac, and I'm providing for my family with the work of my own hands". Bahamian pride is alive and well.

The window in the sacristy has a major leak whenever it rains and that is his next job. While it would be easy to slip him a few dollars, he would much rather earn it and there is clearly alot of little jobs around this place that, when I have the money, I can use to help him out.

While I'm talking about construction - the construction effort at that old church I mentioned earlier is under way. We had gone to bid and hired one of our parishioners who does this type of work. St. Gabriel's will become the Fr. Gabriel Roerig, OSB Parish Center. Fr. Gabriel was the first priest to ever minister on Andros and he spent 56 years here serving the Bahamian people. This church had been closed years and years ago and all the windows and doors had been smashed in and boarded up, and termites were starting to take over. Our vision is to restore it as a parish center where we can teach CCD, have parish meetings, and an occasional social. A place for CCD is the primary need right now and through the generosity of many people, both Bahamians and our friends and family the work is under way.

The Sister of Mercy who had preceded us had recieved 10 colored windows from a church in Maine that had been closed. They didn't fit anywhere so she stored them in the closed St. Gabriels' building. Well termites love cardboard boxes, so to cockroaches (some day I will tell you about Bahamian cockroaches the size of your thumb). When I first saw the windows all you could see was a pile of corroded cardboard, dust, and yuck. After I did the initial cleaning of St. Gabriel's I realized I had windows - and they were an odd size. Months later, when I was meeting with the contractors, it turned out the window size is also an odd size so whatever windows we bought the windows would need to be re-framed. One contractor said, "You know, if I have to reframe the windows anyway, why not use this colored windows you already have?" That little pearl saved us $1,000.

Right now the windows are in, new doors are in, and they are breaking up the concrete floor where the water line will be for the toilet. There's still much to do before CCD classes begin in Oct, like adding electricity, putting in the water line and septic, building a bathroom, installing a toilet, powerwashing the building and paint - and the list goes on and on. When we get closer to completion we will need to buy the tables and chairs as well. We have been blessed with many donors and we hope that we can pull in the last few thousand we need to replace the floor, time will tell, but God is good!

Let me tell you just how good. The AUTEC Navy base has a room we have used to teach the children on the base. In that room is a piece of furniture that has a white board on two sides, between the white boards is a room divider that collapses and slides into a storage compartment between the two boards. Now, over the years, people have mistakenly used permanent markers, and they'd been scoured off, but it happened more than once so now its pretty much unusable and it's stored off to the side and never used. Well I did some research and found a company back in Massachusetts that sells this contact-paper-like-stuff that effectively resurfaces old white boards. So I posed the question, "Could I have that old white board thingy in the corner for our new parish center?" Without blinking an eye the Navy Chaplain says "Fine with me", the Commander says "I have no problem", the Chapel Coordinator says, "Would you like to use my truck?" God is good. So we are progressing well with the Parish Center.

With all this good news - ministry to our Bahamian friends has its peaks and valleys. One family has a potential child abuse situation that I've injected myself into and, with the help of Social Services, we may be seeing the light at the end of that tunnel.

Another family has a young girl that has been kept out of school to do chores, resulting in her missing so much school, and her final exams, that she'll have to be kept back and repeat. We worked with the family to correct the situation, and with the school so that I was allowed to proctor her, and give her the exams here at the church. The end result is she is moving on to the next grade and her parents have a clear understanding of their responsibility to get her to school

A long-time member of our church passed away in Nassau a few weeks ago. We met with her son and understood that, because of their financial situation, they would be burying her in Nassau rather than shipping the body back here for burial. While we were in Nassau we met with another son from Nassau and shared our stories of Maria. We had never met this man but he knew all about us from his mother. It turns out Maria had us in her cell phone listed under the name 'Guardian Angels'. You can imagine how that made Ginni and I feel when we heard that story! A few days later we got a call from the Vicar General in Nassau saying that Maria's funeral would be at the Cathedral and they wanted me to preach. I was blown away!

Ginni and I have had wonderful experiences here, there is the joy of Baptism and 1st communion, there is the sadness of kneeling next to the body of a parishioner on the floor of his home and praying with the family. Funerals are a major event here, and usually full of wailing and crying - but Maria's funeral was one of victory and Ginni and I were thrilled to be part of it.

Now we are cranking up for CCD and RCIA - much to do, as you can imagine. Ginni will be flying home Wednesday to get in some nursing (pending Hurricane Earle's track towards Nassau). I haven't been able to take any time this year and was planning on working through until I got a call from the Rector at the Cathedral. It seems he like to vacation on the family islands and wanted to know if he could come to Andros and spend a few weeks here - and at the same time give me a break. (Did I say God is good?) So I will leave Sept 10 and join Ginni in the states for a few weeks before we actually jump into CCD.

Well, enough for now, till next time - keep us in your prayers.

Frank and Ginni

2010-08-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

Hello My Friends

Well summer on Andros is in full swing right now. Every day it is in the mid 90's and for Ginni and I it is a challenge. Remember the old saying "It's not the heat, its the humidity", well here we have both! This is particularly challenging when you have some physical labor to do.
Last week, for example, our groundskeeper rang our doorbell at 7:30AM to get the key to the garage. He wanted to mow the grass before the day got too hot (and before his other job started at the local lumber yard). Fortunately, 7:30 is about the time I'm up, the coffee is dripping and I am lighting my candle for Morning Prayer - so I was up.

He takes the key and happily heads off to the garage. A few minutes later the lawn mower is roaring around the yard and Ginni pokes her sleepy head out of the bedroom door "Is
that the lawn mower?" (Ginni is not a morning person). I nod and she shakes her head and goes back into the bedroom.

Ten minutes later (remember I started this describing the heat), the doorbell rings again. I open the door and Peter is standing there drenched in sweat, but in his hand he is holding our water meter, or what used to be our water meter until the lawn mower sliced it in half. On Andros the island is pretty much one big limestone rock. This means that everything usually underground back in Massachusetts is above ground here (like the water line from the street to your house).

Every house here has a white PVC pipe running from the street to the house, that's your water line. It is above ground and, at the very end, near the street, is a blue ball about the size of a tennis ball, with a tiny window on one side and the meter clicking away in that window. That's the water meter and our lawnmower pretty much destroyed it.

While Peter was indeed covered with sweat at 7:30 in the morning from the effort of mowing the grass, he was also pretty wet from the geiser now rising up into the air in a rather impressive arc and landing out into the street from what used to be our water line. So before Morning Prayer, before my toast and peanut butter, before the coffee has finished dripping, I'm working with Peter to try to shut the water off to all of the Church property - find a way to cap the geiser, then find someone from the water department to figure out where we go from here.

Fortunately for me, the main man at the water department also plays the organ at our church in Cargill Creek. Bottom line, Peter and I were able to figure out how to plug the broken pipe until help arrived. When it did, he was able to restore the connection to the water main without a meter (we need to wait for a new one to be shipped by boat from Nassau - ahh, island life). So for now, we have free water until the new meter arrives.

By the way - the geiser did help cool off my sweaty groundskeeper and I did get back to Morning Prayer (an interesting prayer time that day to be sure), as well as my coffee, toast and peanut butter - God is good.

Summer School

2010-08-05T14:13:00.001-07:00

Hello again -
One of our parishioners works for the Bahama National Trust. This is a group that works to set aside land as part of a National Parks System, among other things. During the summer there is not too much for the children to do on Andros so she runs a summer camp to introduce the kids to the different eco-systems here on Andros. They do a class, then a field trip, usually each day on a different type of ecosystem.

Well, they were going to show the kids 'blue holes' and needed a van to carry them to the northern part of the island and they asked us! Were we glad they did!

A blue hole is a naturally occuring geological phenomenon and Andros has more than any other place in the world. I've mentioned before that this island is basically a rock - very little surface dirt on most of the island. There are literal 'holes' in the rock, some as big as football fields, that are very very very very very deep, and filled with water.

We had found one about 20 minutes from us and have gone swimming in it. What we learned at summer camp was that, not only are there land-based blue holes, there are ocean-based blue holes. We drove to Conche Sound, a nice little beach we would never have found on our own. Peter, our guide, pointed out to the sea and said, "Do you see that area of water that's a shade darker than the rest, where the water isn't quite as rough?" No if he hadn't pointed it out I wouldn't have noticed, but there was this area where the surface of the water was actually calmer than the sea that surrounded it, and it was a darker shade of blue.

Well, that was a blue hole about 30 yards off shore - and it was one we were about to lead 12 primary school kids with snorkles to explore (yikes!). Peter explained that this particular blue hole was particularly dangerous in that off the side walls of the hole were caves that went under the sea bed for great distances. When the tide changes the hole can act like a suction hose and a funnel will form sucking surface water down into the hole - or if the tides coming in the water can be forced out of the hole and water will bubble up on the surface. So, taking 12 little cherubs to snorkle over this blue hole had its challenges.

So one of the volunteers starts passing out snorkles and masks and Peter takes one of the more experienced boys with him to the hole, after about 5 minutes the boy swims back and I take the 2nd child out to Peter then swim back half-way while Ginni sends the next child out to me. In short order we had a conveyor system of kids swimming to me, where they wait for Peter to finish with the child he has at the hole, then they go out for their turn. Meanwhile Ginni and the other ladies with us kept the kids occupied that were waiting their turn (a job I was glad was not mine).

When all the children were done I swam out to Peter and finally saw the hole myself. It was amazing. You swim out over sand and turtle grass and then all of a sudden there is this shear drop. You could see 60' down and, on one side of the hole, there was an old fishing boat that had sunk into the hole years ago. There were lots of fish, amazing color, and quite the experience.

Once back on shore Peter told us that National Geographic had done a special on Blue Holes and this particular hole was a feature part of the article. They sent a scuba team to dive the caves off the side walls of the hole and one of those dives set a worlds record for the longest cave dive. It turns out the caves go miles under the surface of Andros. We actually drove over the caves on the way to the beach!

After the dive we had lunch - the summer school includes breakfast, which they ate at the classroom before we arrived to pick them up, and lunch. Lunch was peanut butter sandwiches and I was surprised at them providing breakfast and lunch since I knew this program had a very small budget. Later I learned that they provide breakfast and lunch because if they didn't, these kids wouldn't have breakfast or lunch, and once again the reality of island life here hits home.

Over the course of the week we had 3 excursions like this, and I realized if we were tourists this type of experience was worth a pretty penny. The environmental groups we worked with, the fishing lodges that let us use there boats, the tourism office who loaned a guide, were all provided at no cost to the Bahama National Trust folks to help the children learn about what a precious place Andros is. We were very thankful our offer to drive the kids exposed us to this too!

Till next time

Pics from Anniversary Liturgy

2010-07-28T14:40:00.001-07:00

Back in early July I mentioned that the Archdiocese of Nassau was celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Nassau being made a Diocese (not too shabby if you realize Nassau has only been an independent nation for 37 years).

At the closing liturgy there were bishops and visiting priests present from throughout the Caribbean, as well as the Nuncio here representing the Pope. The entrance procession through a totally packed Cathedral was impressive to say the least.

Archbishop Pinder gave a wonderful homily, walking through the history of the Archdiocese and bringing to mind past Bishops and Archbishops, Benedictines who initially served here, and the many other religious congregations of men and women who have helped make this Archdiocese the unique place that it has become.

For me, it was indeed humbling to hear all this and know that we are now part of that history. That Ginni and I are, in some small way, writing our own pages in the history of this Archdiocese.

One of the things the Archbishop did to celebrate this anniversary was the creation of a special medal, struck for this occasion. The Cordis et Mentis award (Heart and Mind) was created on the occasion of this anniversary to recognize people throughout the Archdiocese of Nassau who, over the years, had served the church in such a way that they deserved special recognition.

We were particularly pleased that two of the honorees we from our parishes on Andros. In this picture the Archbishop poses with all those recipients of this award throughout the Archdiocese. I like this particular picture because in the background you can see not only the old original St. Francis Xavier Cathedral on the right, but also the new St. Francis Xavier Cathedral on the left. St. Francis Xavier was the first Catholic church built in the Bahamas, later elevated to the status of Cathedral.

The following pictures are of Ms. Evelyn Minnis, from St. John Chrysostom in Fresh Creek and Mr. Harold Braynen, from Christ the King in Cargill Creek. These two individuals, during the years when there was no permanent clergy on Andros, were the driving forces behind keeping the people together and continuing to grow the faith on Andros.

The following picture shows Ginni and I with Harold and his wife Charlene after the ceremony. I am pleased to share with you that, after much prayer and discernment, Harold is also beginning his journey in the Deacon Formation Program here in the Bahamas.

If you look closely, Charlene is holding the medal that Harold recieved while he holds the certificate. I told Charlene that although Harold was recognized at this ceremony, she had a major part in him being recognized so she should be the one wearing it!

We are blessed with many good people here and Evelyn and Harold are only the tip of the iceberg. It was a wonderful celebration, affirming that the Church is growing here and if we take the time to look around and see the many gifts of the Holy Spirit that are all around us we have much to be thankful for!

Bye Bye Bonnie

2010-07-24T06:44:00.000-07:00

Well Tropical Storm Bonnie blew threw here in the middle of the night and it seems all is well. I was glad I put up the hurricane shutters in the priest's apartment. There no water leakage on the leaky windows I covered - naturally the windows that never leak, which I did not cover, had a lovely puddle waiting for me the next day.

The storm itself was a wind and rain event. The wind was pretty constant at about 30-40 mph all night long and when the rain started it was a monsoon! Around 2AM the lightning and thunder just rocked the place, literally, windows rattled and when I got out of bed I could feel the vibrations from the thunder in the soles of my feet on the tile floor.

What was most surprising the next day was that on the patio between our home and the church were about 100 small white paint chips all over the grey floor - the storm actually blew chips of paint off the walls! As I drove through town and saw a branch here or there I could not help but wonder about our Haitian friends up on the northern part of the island. In that community there is actually 1 house, the rest are the tin roof huts with makeshift walls consisting of whatever planks were around when they were built. Some have dirt floors, some are raised up on cinder blocks and have plywood floors. Needless to say they were not built to endure tropical storms, much less an actual hurricane.

We haven't been able to hold church services for them up north since the schools closed (we had been meeting in the school). I have called my Bahamian contact up there, but she is off the island for the month of June so, since they have no phones, I will have to take the hour drive up there to check up on them, and possibly have church outside next to the fields where they grow cabbages and onions.

We still haven't had a priest for some time. The last priest to join us on Andros was on Easter but I am hoping we will have one with us soon. The first communion class is still waiting to experience their first confession and then first communion, but for now we wait until either a visiting US priest on vacation offers to help, or a priest from Nassau can be sent. I was talking to the Sister who had been on Andros prior to our coming here. She is now on another family island and she's in the same boat, not having had a priest since Easter.

The Archbishop actually does a great job providing coverage throughout the Bahamas with the limited resources he has. In the US a priest may cover multiple churches by driving great distances. When the different churches are on different islands that are miles and miles apart it creates a whole different dynamic.

The Bahamians simply smile and say "Dis be island life faddah" - and smile, recognizing the reality of island life. When you run out of something you just have to wait for the boat, if its not on the boat you wait for the next one. When I had a flat tire once, it took 4 days before I could get another tire - all you can do is wait. In our case, we're waiting for a priest (a limited resource). Until then, everyone has to settle for the Deacon. :)

Till next time.

Tropical Storm threatens oil spill - what about us!

2010-07-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well if you watch CNN or the Weather Channel you've been hearing about this tropical storm that is brewing that could cause all kinds of caos in the Gulf of Mexico and disrupt the oil spill cleanup. You might also have heard that this storm is forming IN THE BAHAMAS!!!

You got it folks, lets forget for a minute where it 'might' go, and talk about where it IS!

Actually, as far as storms go, its not that big a deal compared to an actual hurricane, but the point is, this storm is right now chewing up the south eastern islands of the Bahamas and is on track to just follow the entire Bahamaian chain and pass over the tip of Florida.

This means Andros, and Fresh Creek in particular, is the bulls eye of this storm's projected track. So - the good Deacon needs to get ready. The storm is headed on a NW track and we sit on the east coast of Andros so we'll get it from the SE. The sky right now is dark dark grey in that direction and the wind is about 20-30 mph.

Our church as a small apartment for visiting priests on the south end of the church that will get the full force of this thing so I went into the garage and pulled out hurricane shutters and covered all the windows on that end of the church and the window in the sacristy that faces due east. Usually we don't need the shutters for a big wind/rain event, only for hurricanes, but these windows all face the sea and the years have taken their toll. We know that several of these windows leak and some of them, being the crank-out style, no longer close tightly. So I sorted through piles of tin shutters until I found the right ones, gathered up the metal clips that hold them in place, and my ball-pean hammer (actually my only hammer) and the shutters went up not only to protect the windows, but to help keep the rain out as well.

Rainstorms here are an amazing example of natures power. The wind is so strong here that the rain falls sideways, literally, sideways, parallel to the earth.

As I write this its about 4PM, we have already lost power once around 2:30, and I am sure we'll lose it again a few times before this passes on by and creates problems in the Gulf. All we can do is sit and wait - after all its not a hurricane, its not even a tropical storm, its a tropical depression, basically a big windy rainstorm (OK since the Weather Channel shows it as all red and orange its a really really big rainstorm).

So we will just sit tight and see what happens. Both here, and in the Gulf - but for now, its OUR storm and the Gulf will have to wait their turn. Bye for now.

Vacation Bible School - Bahamian Style!

2010-07-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

Hello again - Well let me tell you what's been keeping us busy this week - Vacation Bible School.

For the past 25 years the AUTEC Navy Base has been hosting a Vacation Bible School (VBS) for all the grade 1-6 Bahamian children. This has been done in collaboration with an evangelican church from the US who has been planning the entire program, gathering up volunteers, equipment, supplies ... Then coming to Andros to lead the Bible Study. On the Bahamian side there is a complex network of volunteers to register kids, and coordinate transportation.

Historically, the volunteers have conducted fundraisers in their local churches to fund this mission trip which includes them chartering 2 planes to get here and AUTEC has provided housing and food for the team of volunteers once they are here. This year, however, with Navy budget cuts and economic stress, the policies have changed and this year the volunteers have to pay AUTEC for on-base housing and food, which may mean this is the last year for this program.

Later on tonight I will be talking with some of the other ministers, and possibly a government official, to see if we can continue the program using the Crabfest Fairgrounds. Clearly the team that comes from the US wants to keep coming, they just can't afford the added expense and there isn't anything the Navy can do with current Navy budget constraints. If we can pull this off using Bahamian resources we just might keep this program alive. Keep this one in your prayers because this program is a winner!

Last year Ginni and I were travelling off island and missed VBS, this year we made a point of being here and you cannot believe how valuable this program is for the local children. During the school year the kids are all in school doing what you do in the school year. In the summer there is NOTHING for them to do. There is no mall, no movie house, no bowling alley, no youth center, not a thing - until Vacation Bible School. So the kids come in droves, from everywhere. This year there were over 200!

Ginni and I get to the gate at the Base a little before 8AM where there are already a crowd of kids waiting to get signed in. Signing the kids in is a MAJOR project. This is, after all, a secure US Navy Base. Every day Security requires each child is signed in, gets a guest badge, and is chaperoned while on Base. So I drop Ginni off on one side of the gate, where she works with the Chapel Staff to sign in kids and pass them off to the Security Guards. The Guards sign in the kids and give them their Navy badges, then they are passed through the gate in blocks of 10-12 and given to me. They pile into our Church van and we drive off through the Base to the beach where the volunteers are waiting. They climb out of the van and the guitars and song time begin to kick off the day as I shuttle back to the gate to get another load.

After 4 or 5 van loads of those kids that have been dropped off early, the buses begin to arrive. Two school buses of kids from the far reaches of the island arrive and the check in process continues until they are all done and the bus loads of kids hit the beach where Ginni and I are now traffic cops directing the kids towards bleachers that had been set up under a pavilion the Navy has at the beach.

One thing that happens to me since I let the beard go longer is that the Bahamians want to know if I am really Santa Claus. So of course I say I am and explain that I always come to the Bahamas for the summer and tell them all about my riendeer and the elves working away at the North Pole. These two just couldn't get enough of it.

Camp songs from my youth are still in vogue, we used to get our kids out of bed with "Rise and Shine and Give God Your Glory Glory", and here it was again - complete with hand motions and weaving back and forth in your seats. A guitarist that was just fantastic with the kids, and a crew of 20-something volunteers that were the most energenic, positive, upbeat crew you can imagine. The kids ate it up. Older songs like "Amazing Grace" become new when sung to the tune of "The Gilligan's Island Theme Song". The song leader was an incredibly talented guy, he had the kids in the palm of his hand in no time - singing, clapping, and making all the hand motions to each song, including the Deacon!

After "song time" there was a skit the volunteers put on depicting a bible story such as Daniel in the Lion's Den, or the birth of Christ, or Noah. Hillarious stuff and very well done. Then the kids would go to small groups. On the first day each block of about 10 kids were given a colored sticker and they had picnic tables with the same colored flag. When in was time to break the volunteers would shout, "OK, purple team come with me". "Green team, over here", "Yellow team, follow me" and in minutes all 200 kids were off doing their individual projects with 2 team leaders. The organization was amazing.

Once they broke up into small groups it was time for us to head back to Fresh Creek and get back to work on our own programs. We haven't had a priest since Easter (does that give you a new perspective on the priest shortage) and we have lots to do. Last week Ginni led "A Ladies Renewal Night" for the women of all 3 churches. We had a great turn out and Ginni's reflection was as big a hit as my barbequed chicken fresh off the grill. We hope that this might become a monthly event and help bring our 3 churches closer together.

Well there is always more to tell, but I need to go meet one of the contractors about restoring the church in Calabash Bay we want to re-open, so until next time - Peace.

Independence Day - True Freedom

2010-07-14T14:03:00.000-07:00

Well a few weeks have passed since my last post and we've celebrated the US Independence Day as well as the Bahamian Independence Day a week later.

Whenever we attend a Bahamian holiday, the difference between the US and the Bahamas always strikes me as amazing. The difference is that the Bahamas is an explicitly Christian nation. Unlike the US that tries to be tolerant of all cultures and religions, the Bahamas is Christian and has no fear about making that plain.

Here, on Independence Day, the stage at fairgrounds is full of priests and ministers, as well as government officials. Whoever speaks, be it the Town Administrator or the Baptist Minister, they all praise Jesus, and thank God that because of Jesus Christ we are free, and an independent nation because Jesus Christ died for us. True freedom only comes from Jesus, without Jesus we're not free - thank God we are a free independent nation!

To have this as part of the Minister's presentation is one thing. To have it also be from the Town Administrator, or the Member of Parliament is radically new for us Americans. In the Bahamas Christianity is in the Constitution and everyone here it totally comfortable with Christianity being proclaimed publicly.

This time of year is also the time for the daily downpour. We have blue sky sunshine all day long and then - BOOM - torential rain and thunder and lightning and power outages and rain coming at you sideways - then its done and the sun is out again. A few days ago we drove from Cargill Creek back to Fresh Creek and mid-way had about 3 minutes of a downpour. Then we realized it was a strip of rain that we basically, drove through. There was no rain north of that downpour, nor any south of it, but if you lived in that strip of rain you probably had your 3 hour rainstorm.

A few days ago it was a terrific storm, that actually ripped a strip of flashing off the roof of the church. A 10' strip of copper strapping was now held on by 1 nail as it rapped against the side of the church. I had loaned our ladder to a parishioner and it took 2 days to get it back and, when he returned it and saw the flashing he said, "Deac, You're not going up there are you?" I said that sure I was, it was only about 10 nails to put the flashing back in place, and he said, "Oh no, Deac, I don't want you up on the roof of the church. You call Leonard and if he can't do it, I will, you're not going up there" (Leonard is a parishioner who does roofing). I thought to myself, 'this is what Ginni would say', but held my tongue.

Anyway, I tried calling Leonard but his phone was out of commission so I drove to work sites where I expected to find him and still couldn't find him, but while trying to reach him I remembered another parishioner who is a carpenter that recently lost his job (this economy is a killer here) and drove by his house. "Sure Deac, I can fix that, want me to come over now?" So he came back, and in 10 minutes all was well. I gave him $20 and it was like I'd saved his life. With that $20 he'll get some rice and a few other things to get his family though the week.

I guess the last thing I should mention with this post is our work to restore the church in Calabash Bay. St. Gabriel's has been closed for quite some time, the windows and doors were all smashed in and termites had begun to take their pound of flesh. Ginni and I would really like to restore it and so, last year, I put money in the budget to restore it. Well the contractors who have looked at it have come in with bids well in excess of what I put aside. So now we are trying to figure out how we can change what we 'want' to what we 'need' and come up with other sources of support to get the job done.

It will be a struggle, but hopefully some of you reading this blog might be willing to help restore St. Gabriel's so our CCD classes might actually have tables and chairs instead of sitting on the floor and using the pews in church as desks. We need to replace 13 windows, 4 doors, install water and electricity, repaint the interior and exterior, plus add a septic system for the toilet. (The Anglican Church had a fair and I won $100 of plumbing supplies in the raffle, so with that, I bought a toilet!) Anyway, we are about $4,000 short so that's our next challenge.

Feeling generous? Let me know.
Love Ya - till next time.

Deacon Frank and Ginni

Ginni is back! The ministry goes on.

2010-07-02T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hello all:
Well Ginni has returned after a few weeks of nursing back in the States. Hospice just keeps on going and they seem to be happy to welcome Ginni to do some per dium nursing when she can. This is good, because we need the extra income she generates; but its incredibly stressful for her and, even after just a few weeks, she returns a bit frazzled.

While she was away we had a string of violent crime here in the Bahamas. In one week we had 3 murders in 24 hours, with a total of 5 murders in that same week, one of whom was from Andros. Nassau violent crime is getting a ton of attention here, and it should. I already know of 10 families who have lost a family member to murder.

I heard about this particular murder while I was at the AUTEC Navy base for dinner before the Saturday evening service. The cashier told me a person from a local town was killed last night in Nassau and he was related to one of my 'members'. It turns out he is the step grandson of someone who comes to St. John's.

This news upset me a bit and my planned homily took a few twists and turns I hadn't planned as a result. When I got home I threw that homily away and a new one emerged. Bahamians know this problem is serious and universally, when asked how should we deal with it, the answer is "hang them!" My problem with that is two fold - first, hanging them is immoral; second, hanging them deals with the problem after it occurs, we need to deal with it BEFORE it occurs. The question is - how do we stop the murder in the first place?

There is clearly a need for stronger gun control laws in the Bahamas, but there is also a greater need for a personal relationship with Jesus. Bahamians are proud of the fact that this is a Christian nation - unlike the US it's in the constitution that this is specifically a Christian nation. Consequently there are churches everywhere and everyone claims to be Christian. My sense is that while church is important here, and people go to church, they may or may not have a relationship with Jesus. Church without Jesus is smoke in the wind. All the prayer books, candles, incense, icons, and crosses are nice, but without Jesus they're nothing.

What we need here is revival! Suffice it to say the updated homily made people sit up straight and take notice. Now what? Well this has become a focus of my prayer, and with the Holy Spirit, and Ginni, let's see where this goes.

On a different front, this week is the July 4 weekend in the US - happy Independence Day! In the Bahamas, the following weekend is Independence Day, July 12. We will have a huge party at the Crabfest Fairgrounds and all the clergy will be up on stage (including me, in my Roman collar). It will be a wonderful celebration, just like last year, and I am looking forward to it.

This weekend is also the closing liturgy for the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of Nassau as a diocese. Two of our parishioners here on Andros will be recognized with a special medal struck for the occasion for their years of service to the Church, and I am very proud of them. I hope to have pictures for the next post. While in Nassau for this event, Ginni and I plan on taking a few days to stay at one of the resorts on Nassau to celebrate our wedding anniversary back in June. It will be interesting to experience the Bahamas as most Americans do with all the glamor of Nassau.

Finally, some of you know that our source of diesel fuel is a man who has barrels of diesel in his back yard and who, at $5/gallon, will siphon fuel into our van with a garden hose. Well he told us he is going to Cuba for a few weeks and so I filled up several 10 gallon containers with diesel to get me through his absense. I made sure I have a functioning funnel - I haven't mastered the talent of sucking on a garden hose to get diesel to drain into my gas tank just yet.

Enough for now - till next time - Peace!

Summer Blues

2010-06-22T08:38:00.000-07:00

Well as I realize I am not as faithful to this blog as I should be I find myself a bit depressed this morning. Ginni has left to do some nursing in the States, and hopefully earn the money we need to keep our heads above water - so being without her has its affect. But there are other issues that I am sure that people in ministry like this have faced before.

As most of you know, we couldn't sell our home in this economy so we rented. Well of the 3 families renting property we own back home, 2 have lost their jobs in this economy and paying rent on time has become a problem.

As we enter the summer months things change rather dramatically here. First, school is out so most families take their children and head off to Nassau or the States for the summer. They do that because there is no work here, its too hot to stay, and there is literally nothing for their children to do. At least in Nassau there is the mall, or the movies, or the bowling alley. Here there is not too much - so off they go.

This complicates ministry on several fronts, but one that is bringing me down a bit is that we haven't been able to have a priest here since Easter, that's 12 weeks and counting. Our 1st communion kids are ready for 1st penance and 1st communion but it looks like many of them will be off the island by the time we get a priest. Last week I went to Nassau and recieved another ciborium of consecrated hosts so I can continue to do Eucharistic Services. The Archdiocese is doing a great job covering the parishes in all the islands. With some priests taking well deserved vacations, and others experiencing illness, it is very difficult for them to cover all the parishes in the 'family islands' right now, so we wait. Eventually we will have a priest and we'll celebrate the Sacrament but the shortage of priests now makes me wonder where we will be in 10 years.

Now having less people to serve may seem to make our lives easier, but in reality it creates a hidden financial burden. With the loss of the people, the weekly collection drops off dramatically, while the weekly bills stay constant. So having been here over a year now I can project that things are going to get extremely tight over the next few months.

With that on the horizon, I am still waiting for the insurance money for the Church that was flooded back on Palm Sunday. The Archdiocese changed insurance companies 3 days prior to our flood. So, the insurance company that had approved our claim and authorized us to do the work (which we did), was the old insurance company and now we are waiting on the new insurance company to pay for the work we already did, on the authorization of the first insurance company .

There are other financial and facilities related issues we're dealing with, but buildings and money are only one aspect of being the Administrator for this mission.

For example, in the midst of the financial issues, and the priest shortage, we have been working with a family that is desperately poor and who, we have learned, tends to control their children by beatings. Unlike the States, this is accepted and not uncommon in the Bahamas but in this family's case it is severe. We are now involved in child custody issues between parents and grand-parents and when the children confide in us we are told to be careful what we do to help because if word gets back to Mom that they've spoken to us they are beaten. I have met with social services here and they know the family. Bruises are explained as, 'she fell down' and nobody in the family will support the accusations whispered to us. It is an ongoing issue that will take time to resolve, but it is emotional and difficult for us right now.

While we struggle with all this stuff there are successes. It does look like we will be able to restore an old church that has been closed for several years, and put it to work at a Parish Center for CCD classes and parish meetings. Rather than the children sitting on the church floor and using the pews as desks we hope, with the support of the Archdiocese, to actually have tables and chairs -and- maybe even add a toilet to this building that never had running water.

Also - this is the 50th Annniversary of Nassau being designated as a Diocese. We have had several activities commemorating the Anniversary and the closing Mass for the Anniversary Year will be July 5. I have just learned that 2 of our parishioners from Andros will be recognized with a special medal commemorating their years of service to the parish, and the Church, at that Mass. So - while things are tough, there are good times and signs of hope as well.

God is good, His mercy endures for ever and ever - Amen? Amen!

Keep us in your prayers

It's hot!

2010-06-07T13:07:00.000-07:00

Well my friends, there are the hot dog days of Boston I am very familiar with. Then there is hot.
A full week of 90 degrees with 80% humidity is a killer.

We do the Saturday evening service at the navy base (with AC) and when we come out our glasses fog up from the humidity. Sunday morning starts with the 8:30 liturgy and when its done I can literally wring out my shirt. I actually have to change clothes before we leave here at 10 to go to Cargill Creek for the 11AM liturgy, after which, once again, I am soaked.

Once we get back from that one we have about an hour to clean up and get ready to head North for our last liturgy. Ginni takes a shower and changes her clothes while I am loading up the car with all we need (since we have no Church up north and this liturgy is in the Primary School).

The service up North is interesting in that we have uncovered a Haitian community and some local Bahamians have begun hearing about our 4PM liturgy in the school and have joined us. The Haitians live in very poor conditions and some are extremely limited in their English, but come anyway because they know it is 'Catholique Church'. I really need to find a resource for Creole if I am ever going to break into that community. Anybody know where I can get a creole sacramentary?

The bottom line is the Haitians do speak some English, they need it for the market, trips to the clinic, and the children must learn it for school. The kids are actually a great source of translation when I can involve them in conversations. Often the adults simply smile and say, 'OK, OK, OK', which sometimes makes sense if they're answering a Yes, No question, but often doesn't when its not a Yes, No question.

"Do you want us to pick you up for Church next week?" OK, OK, OK
"What crop will you be brining in after the onions are harvested?" OK, OK, OK

But with all that said, we do communicate enough to get by. We've begun to realize what songs they recognize, and try to focus on them during liturgy. For example, everyone knows Amazing Grace.

How these folks live in this heat is beyond me - never mind how do they work the fields and do the heavy physical work they do in this heat.

Well enough for now, stay cool where ever you are.
Love ya

Frank and Ginni

Our 2nd big fire on Andros!

2010-06-01T09:04:00.000-07:00

Well my friends, if you remember, last year (see post for May 8, 2009) we had a huge fire in Fresh Creek where a huge building burnt to the ground. There is no fire department on the island other than the US Navy, and their big truck won't fit over the bridge.

Well we had another, this time it was the Anglican church. The Anglican community here in Fresh Creek meets on Sun evening. They have 1 priest covering 6 churches up and down the east coast of Andros so starting at 7AM and going non stop till 7PM he is a busy guy and Fresh Creek gets the Sunday evening service.

Anyway, they have their service at 7, it goes till about 830, and everyone goes home. By that time I had already done my 4th liturgy of the weekend myself and had crashed. Ginni and I are watching TV when, about 10, the power goes out. This is not uncommon so we decide to call it a night and go to bed.

Well the next morning I get a call from someone on the Navy base saying she'd just seen an email saying that their Fire Department was called out during the night and St. Michael's Catholic Church had burned to the ground. Well there is no St. Michael's so she knew it was wrong but when she called the Fire Dept she was told the white church on the water had burned - well that describes us, and St. Stephen's, the Anglican Church. So when I answered the phone she was sooooooo relieved. I jumped in the van and rode down to St. Stephen's and sure enough, just 4 walls standing, the rest was a smoldering hulk.

Our phone is our fax machine, so when the power went out we lost phones. Having gone to bed we didn't even know the activity that was going on less than a mile away, while parishioners were trying to call us to let us know.

I've spoken to the minister and they are fully insured and will rebuild, until then they're merging the Fresh Creek community with their Calabash Bay community in the next town, but it is a terrible loss.

Suffice it to say, we would REALLY like to see the Bahamian government get a fire department off the ground for the family islands like Andros - time will tell, but don't hold your breath. Until then I am keeping our fire extinguishers fully charged, and I bought two 100' garden hoses. It's not much but its something

Till next time

Summer time Summer time Sum Sum Summer time

2010-05-27T14:54:00.001-07:00

Well my friends, CCD is over for the summer and our ministry here now takes on a whole new look and feel. We have time to read, time to plan, time to visit parishioners, our T I M E is our own once again, Alleluia! For example, I just read Sydney Poiter's autobiography 'The Measure of a Man" (a native Bahamian by the way) a really great read with wonderful insights on growing up on Cat Island and how the values his Bahamian parents helped him in making some difficult life choices.

With that said, the list of things we want to do this summer is a long one.

Years ago a small church in Calabash Bay was closed and we'd like to restore that building as a Parish Center. St. Gabriels has been boarded up for years - it would be a big plus to the town if we could restore it AND a place we could set up to do all our CCD classes in next year, as well as hold parish meetings.

We took this pictures several years ago before we moved here permanently. Between then and now a homeless man broke into the church and smashed all 13 windows which are now covered with plywood. Termites are doing their thing and it will be a ton of work. BUT if we can pull it off we'd have tables and chairs for the kids (rather than them sitting on the church floor and using the pew seats as desks).

The building is on the bus route from the High School, so we could do 1 class for all our High School kids together, rather than 1 at Fresh Creek and another at Cargill Creek.

Throw in having a place for social gatherings, parish council meetings, etc. and you can see why this is a priority for us this summer.

Another possible summer job will be a new church up North in Mastic Point. Over 20 years ago the Catholic Church up north was closed when a major building effort was started on Grand Bahamas island and many North Andros Catholics left for work on Grand Bahamas. Well, they are moving back, and a large Haitian population has also sprung up on North Andros. Unfortunately there is no Catholic presence on North Andros so many have joined the Anglican, Methodist or Baptist Churches.

So we started making trips up north and have been "holding church" in the local primary school. After about 6 months of this, with attendance ranging from 3 to 15, we spoke with the Archbishop who gave us permission to investigate putting up 'a simple structure' to guage the demand. Clearly, while meeting in the primary school gives us some sense of the need, having our own place to meet will do alot to grow the Catholic community up there.

Well, since we still own the land I crawled through the bush to find the remains of St. Savior Catholic Church. You can't see any evidence it exists from the street, but once you plow through the vines, dodge the poison wood trees (yes, poison wood - imagine an entire tree where everything, bark, leaves, everything, acts like poison ivy), and keep going through all sorts of brush, eventually you come upon this:

Yup this is all that remains of St. Savior Catholic Church. So we start thinking about what our options are when we discover that the AUTEC Navy base here on Andros is upgrading some of the resident's homes from 60' trailers to permanent structures. The trailers have all seen better days and are destined for demolition - or were, until we had the bright idea that if we could get permission, we could probably convert one of them into a chapel. The Commander has given the idea his blessing, and so has the Director of Base Housing. Now the Navy has to bless it for this to become a reality. THEN we need to get the blessing of the Bahamian government, look into whether we pay duty on 'importing' the trailer from AUTEC soil to Bahamian soil, and figure out how we get it from AUTEC to Mastic Point. Not to mention all the other details like clearing the site, preparing it for a trailer, hooking up utilities, . . .

There is still alot to do on this one. How do you get a 60'x14' trailer from one end of the island to another? How do you get a 14' wide trialer over 2 bridges only 12' wide? Does ANYBODY have a 60' flatbed to move this thing? Not to mention that the roads are 'challenging' to say the least. There are a ton of issues we'd need to resolve so while the trailer idea is still in play, so is building a simple building (although no building is simple once you start thinking about septic systems on an island made of rock).

The summer should be interesting. It won't all be work however. One thing we're getting ready to look into is scuba diving. Think about it, we're living on the 3rd larges barrier reef in the world - why not? Well there is the shark issue, and drowning is another one, but exploring the reefs does have its appeal.

Throw in planning next year's CCD classes, soliciting our next class of RCIA candidates, and possibly putting together a weekend Marriage Seminar for the Bahamians - and we've filled up the summer 'free time' rather nicely, don't you think.

Keep us in your prayers - if we can get half of this done it'll be a great summer.
Till next time

Confirmation - and a whole lot more!

2010-05-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

Hello Again

Well I promised in my last post that I would tell you about Confirmation so here it is - and a bit more.

Archbishop Pinder flew in on Wednesday, May 12 and we had some time alone to talk about ministry and enjoy the breeze off the ocean on the porch. After dinner we loaded up the van, met some folks from Man O'War Sound who wanted a ride, picked up another from AUTEC and off we went to Cargill Creek for Confirmation. We had planned to have Confession at 7 and Confirmation at 7:30, which is exactly what happened, but it wasn't easy.

If you remember from prior blog entries, on Palm Sunday we had a toilet flood the church in Cargill Creek and we were trying to rip out the old soiled rugs and replace them with tile (using insurance money) and get this done in time for the Archbishop's visit. Well the morning of his arrival Gin and I were down there mopping the floor and putting everything in order after the workers had finished the installation the prior night (is that cutting it TOO close?).

Suffice it to say the church looks magnificent! People turned out from AUTEC, St. John Chrysostom in Fresh Creek, and most of the surrounding towns to see the first Confirmation on Andros in several years. Our class this year was made up of 6 students. Two had never been baptized so they recieved the sacraments on the Easter Vigil. Here is a pic of me with the Archbishop, and the remaining 4 after they were confirmed.

On another note, in prior blogs I have told you about the family with the 8 grandchildren living with 'grammie'. Well we finally got the pics of the baptism of all 8 grandchildren a few weeks ago. Between the flu, absent god-parents, missing parents, and a variety of other logistical issues pulling this off was much harder than it seems it should be - but finally we were able to make it happen. This first pic is of us all gathered around the font. Right before I began using my conche shell to start pouring.

Here's the baby of the family, being held by her Dad - the only Dad of the eight kids who was there for the Baptism

(Does that red hair in the foreground look familiar to any of you?)

Here's one of the girls leaning forward over the font

Here's another, one of the boys this time.

Enough already - you get the idea. Suffice it to say I was thrilled to finally have this entire family baptized.

Finally - an option in the Baptism Rite is the blessing of the lips and ears. That they may hear God's word and proclaim it. Ginni got this on video so lets see if I can get it to load.

More Easter info - Confirmation is next

2010-05-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

Its hard to believe its been 6 weeks since Easter already - time flies.

During that time we have had a wonderful visit by friends of ours from MA who now live in VA. Company is always welcome, especially when they are old friends. There is an old ryme "Make new friends, and keep the old, one is silver and the other one is gold". Well it is absolutely true.

Frank and Ellen have known us for a L O N G time and it was a joy to see them again.

Frank and I have always loved fishing and one of our RCIA candidates (I guess I should start calling him a new Catholic now) took us out on his boat. It was a rough day and inevitably we all caught fish but most we returned to the sea.

This is a MARGATE and cooked up very tender.

We have had a few Easter pics given to us from other folks with cameras. This is at the blessing of the fire and you can tell by the fire that the wind was b l o w i n g!

Here is one of me trying to get the Easter Candle into the church without the wind blowing it out or me burning my hand - I was able to do both! Then I had to sing the Exultet - fortunately there were no pictures or recordings of that!

The candle was donated to us by our parish back in Norwood MA. Although it already has had a year's service it is MUCH better than anything we could have gotten here. Thanks St. Tim's!

This is one of the Bahamians we welcomed into the Church during the Easter Vigil. I am at the ready with the chrism as Fr. Frank Herrmann prepares to confirm him.

After Easter is the annual Clergy Retreat. Priests and Deacons go on this retreat together and it was a great time to finally rest after the Easter crunch and wallow in the Lord's presence. It was bitter sweet in that, while the retreat was great, one of the Sacred Hearts fathers who was a great support for us here, retired. The retreat was his last Bahamian event and after 39 years in the Bahamas he will be sorely missed.

Before he left he shipped me some of his books. I took one of them on retreat, a meditation on the Sacred Heart by Bernard Haring. The retreat provided lots of spare time and the book was the highpoint of my retreat, once more I learned about the awesome, overwhelming love of God in a new way.

Another high point of the retreat was my discovery of the graves of the Benedictines who have served on the islands. One of them, Fr. Gabriel Roerig OSB, was the first priest to evangelize the remote 'family islands'. The island he made his home was Andros, my island. He arrived here with his books, and his tools, and basically built his church, built his house, and built the faith of the Bahamian people here into a thriving, living church. When I read about his life I am absolutely blown away with what he accomplished, having so little to work with. But all things are possible with God and, with God, Fr. Gabriel did amazing things. Finding his gravesite was significant for me and I spent one afternoon just praying by the gravesite.

Our next hurdle is Confirmation. After almost 2 years here we have 6 that are of age for Confirmation. 2 had never been baptized so they recieved baptism, eucharist, and confirmation at the Easter Vigil. The remaining 4 will be confirmed on WED night, the Vigil of the Ascension. St. Timothy's usually has Confirmation on the Ascension so I feel a certain kin-ship with the Archbishop coming tomorrow for this blessed event. But that is the topic for the next post.

I should tell you one more tale of life on Andros. Palm Sunday we arrived at the Church in Cargill Creek to find the toilet had overflowed and ran all night. This soaked the rugs in the Sacristy and the Church. In this climate the mold and mildew wasn't far behind. So I put in an insurance claim and we get through Palm Sunday. During Holy Week there is a part of the Good Friday liturgy when the celebrant lies prostrate before the altar (We did a solomn bow so as to avoid the rug).

Eventually the Archdiocese told me the claim was approved, I ask if I can start work and they so go for it. So -- I go buy $2000 worth of tile, hire a mason, and off we go. Well the day the tile arrives at the dock, I meet it with a truck and we take it to Cargill Creek, where the Church has no power. While the trucker unloads the tile I discover that in the circuit breaker box we'd had a fire and all the wires were melted. How the Church didn't burn down is God's doing. So now I need to find an electrician. So I drive back to Fresh Creek and find an electrician willing to come look at it. Then we head off back to Cargill Creek. He sees it and says "O Deacon, dis is bahd". I explained I had a mason arriving in a few hours to start work and he was going to need electricity and he does his best to jury-rig a fix, but says its a patch job and he'll have to come back - fine with me.

Anyway he fixes it just as the mason arrives. Work starts and the Archdiocese calls to tell me that they had changed insurance companies and the approval from the 1st company was invalid since the change had happened prior to the flood and the 2nd insurance company would now need to give its approval. At this point its too late to turn back so I tell them to go get the approval.

While I am waiting for that the work continues and, wonder of wonders, the inside of Christ the King now looks fantastic with a new tile floor - and it was done in time for Sunday services! Now he's working on the Sacristy and I'm sure it'll be great. All I need now is for the insurance money to come in so I can replace what I've already spent.

Next time I must tell you about Confirmation and 'having Church' alongside a caggage field with some migrant Haitians I discovered up north. Run Run Run

Till next time

Easter on Andros!

2010-04-08T14:37:00.000-07:00

He has risen! Easter has finally arrived, Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia!
Welcome to Easter at St. John Chrysostom in Fresh Creek! Doesn't our Easter Altar look grand!

Our Paschal Candle here is courtesy of our parish back in the US - thanks St. Tim's!

We were blessed to have 4 people join the Church this year as adults. Two are from Cargill Creek and were baptized. One is from the AUTEC base and another worships with us here at St. John Chrysostom. The later two were as recieved into the Catholic Church recieving Confirmation and the Eucharist.

With those coming from Cargill Creek, and not having transportation, my Easter Vigil started with a drive to Cargill Creek to pick them up, with their family, friends, and God-parents.

After the drive there and back I threw on my vestments and went outside to face my first of several anxious moments - the lighting of the bonfire for the beginning of the Easter Vigil liturgy. Using dried palm branches for kindling and wood from old shipping pallets, we soon had a roaring fire. Now my next anxious moment, lighting the Paschal Candle in a stiff breeze. After 3 attempts God smiled on us and the Paschal Candle was lit for the entrance procession. I sang "Christ Our Light" and the people responded, singing "Thanks be to God", as they lit their individual candles from mine and the church went from darkness to light as the fire spread.

My next anxious moment (do you see a pattern here) was my singing the Exultet. This 5 minute solo is the role of the Deacon but having had so many wonderfully talented music directors I have never had to sing it. Well, now it was my turn and somehow I got through it.

As I mentioned, a major highlight of the Easter Vigil was our being able to welcome 4 people into the Catholic Church. This first pic is the first being baptized, while the second waits her turn.

She didn't have to wait long. The challenge for me was baptizing her without spoiling her hair or her makeup too much. Trust me, she got wet.

When I saw this pic I got a kick out of her God-mother. She is making sure she doesn't miss a thing.

Confirmation followed and with 4 candidates, thier sponsors and God-parents, a Deacon and Fr. Frank Herrmann, SJ (who joined us from Boston College) it made for a full sanctuary.

Here are pics of Fr. Frank anointing with the Sacred Chrism as he Confirms all four of the newest members in the Catholic Church

All in all it was a wonderful Easter Vigil. Being able to welcome 4 people into the Church capped off 2 years of formation. It was so good to see them profess their faith and recieve the sacraments we have talked about so much.

With the Vigil under our belts it was on to Easter Day liturgies. First, we went to the AUTEC Navy Base. Here Fr. Frank and I pose at the Chapel doors with our pianist after this Easter celebration.

Then it was off to Cargill Creek, where we baptized two children as part of our Easter Day celebration there. Here Fr. Frank watches and I welcome one of the two children, and her mother and Godmother, with the traditional blessing at the door.

Here we bless the water we are about to use to baptize our newest members of the Catholic Church.

After this celebration, our 7th liturgy of the Triduum/Easter liturgies, it was time to take a deep breath and rest a bit. We were sorry that Fr. Frank had to get back to Boston College so quickly, but he teaches at BC Law School and had a Monday morning flight. We promise that the NEXT time he comes (and there will be a next time) he'll get more beach time, and at least one drink with an umbrella in it.

In retrospect, this Easter was Wonderful wonderful wonderful

Palm Sunday

2010-04-03T12:24:00.000-07:00

Well this year Palm Sunday was a bit different from last year.

Fr. Bill Martin was with once once again. A retired Air Force Chaplain, he has been joining us for Palm Sunday through Holy Week and Easter for over a decade now, staying at the AUTEC base during his stay, and getting in a little flyfishing for bonefish at the same time. This year, however, he would be leaving us on Holy Thursday and missing the Triduum and Easter. So while the joy of Palm Sunday was VERY present, it was different knowing Fr. Bill would soon be leaving and missing our Easter Celebration.

With that said, we were blessed to find Fr. Frank Herrmann, a priest from Boston College, who was willing to fly down on Holy Thursday and celebrate the Triduum and Easter. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The day before Palm Sunday we gathered up local palms like last year. Palms here are a bit different from palms distributed in the US. I never realized that in the US we only really got one leaf from the palm branch. In the Bahamas everyone gets a whole branch - which means getting ready for Palm Sunday here is a bit more work.

Fr. Martin blessed the palms outside and processed into church like last year. With everyone waving a branch, this really is an impressive site.

Finally, we proclaim the Gospel of Christ's passion, using the 4 part dialogue that involves the Priest, Deacon, Narrator and Community. This interactive proclamation of the Gospel is a powerful witness to Jesus' passion. This pic is from our parish in Cargill Creek, about 40 miles south of our home in Fresh Creek.

Next it is on to the Triduum - Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday - three days and 6 liturgies later we will finally rejoice on Easter! This year we have 4 adult converts that will be welcomed into the Catholic Church during the Easter Vigil - and the Kingdom of God continues to grow, even here on Andros.

Peace

The High School Choir Join Us

2010-04-02T17:18:00.000-07:00

Well my friends I am finally able to down load pics from our camera onto the computer. So, while we are in the midst of Easter, I can share with you an event we created during the 5th week of Lent.

I had heard through the grapevine that our High School had a choir, and so I did a little leg work and we were blessed to have a visit by the Central Andros High School Choir. The Bahamas is a Christian nation (that fact is actually written into the Bahamian Constitution). So - the public schools here teach religion classes AND they have a Christian Choir at the High School.

The Choir was looking for places to perform and, after talking to the Director we invited them to join us. Well, it took some planning but it actually happened! It turned out that the biggest challenge was getting them to show up at our 8:30 Sunday morning liturgy. In retrospect I think 8:30 on a Sunday morning is a challenge for most teens, but they were there.

Actually, it was about half. Throughout the service kids would come in and join these 6 hardy souls until we were at about 12 by the end of the service - including 2 liturgical dancers that made the Lord's Prayer come alive.

After this service we drove in a little caravan of cars and mini-vans to the next church and Cargill Creek got a full dose of wonderful singing and the liturgical dancers did not disappoint. We hope that whenever they want to perform in public again they consider us. They were fantastic and they will always be welcome!

Ginni's broken, gotta run faster.

2010-03-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

Wow, 3 weeks since my last post - I'm slipping. Well when you hear about what's been going on I think you'll understand.

Most of you know my wife goes home to do some nursing every other month. That gives us the extra money we need to pay for international health insurance and an opportunity to check in on our home we are renting since we couldn't sell it when we started this ministry (my sense is the housing market is still pretty lousy).

Anyway, about 4 weeks ago, on one of these trips she slipped on the ice and broke her left arm. So, back in Boston, she's dealing with Doctors, Therapists, Insurance, et. al. Not an easy task when your healthcare is this international healthcare we now have that primarily covers you out of the country.

On my end I had geared myself up to do double duty on CCD, plus all the other stuff for a 2 week gig, now we're not sure if (not when) Ginni would rejoin me. So I shuffle my priorities and get my head on straight to do 5 CCD classes, plus RCIA, 3 weekend homilies, sick calls, and (did I mention) an outreach to a Catholic Haitian population I had started before Gin left.

Somehow (can you say Holy Spirit) it is getting done. Meanwhile, back in the States, Ginni is doing all she can to get back here. Our son Joe went to Canton and took her to NY to stay with him (which she loved), and with the help of our family in NY Ginni had great care. Three weeks after the break the Doctor gave her the permission to travel and last week she landed back on Andros safe and sound - but not sound enough to teach CCD just yet (sigh). So, while I am still doing the 5 classes, Gin and I are together again.

Earlier in the year I had decided that during Lent I would do a Lenten Mission. Something the parish had done in the past but hadn't for years since there was no permanent clergy. The mission is scheduled for next week and I am stealing something St. Timothy's is doing back in Norwood "How to have a Mary heart in a Martha World". For those unfamiliar with scripture, Mary and Martha were the two sisters of Lazarus. Martha was a busy, busy, busy lady. Mary was more contemplative. When Jesus visits Martha is running around cooking up a storm and Martha complains. JC says Mary has chosen the better part. So enough with the bible lesson, the point of the mission is how, in the midst of our busy, busy, busy lives (like Martha), do we nurture a quiet heart (like Mary). Cool idea right? Right. Except doing this with a functioning Ginni had been the plan, doing this while I'm still doing double duty makes life interesting.

Gin and I learned long ago that whenever you are going to do something extra for the Lord, don't be surprised if life starts getting tough. The evil one doesn't like to lose any more territory and the Mission is exactly the kind of thing that he tends to battle against. So, while life is a bit nuts right now I praise God. This Mission is going to be great if so much is going wrong.

Now, having said that, I don't look for satan around every corner and this next bit of news is one of those. Sometimes God's plan is hard to understand, but that's why we are blessed to have faith. In my last few posts I have talked about a family where the grandparents are raising 8 of their grandchildren in rather spartan conditions. All 8 will be baptized on Easter morning. Well, last Thursday I got a call at 6AM that grampa had died. I got dressed and drove the 30 minutes to their house. He had been found by one of the kids on the living room floor and he was still there, although covered by a blanket. The police and doctor and nieghbors and friends were all there and it was very sad. Eventually, when the police and doctors were done they left the room so we could pray and despite the tears the prayer came easily and it seemed to help as tears and wails were replaced by a few 'Amen, Faddah' and 'Yes, Jesus'. From depair and crying, to resurrection and victory, sounds to me like the Holy Spirit was in the room!

Funerals here are a big deal. EVERYBODY in town comes and it can be incredibly emotional with wailing outbursts that can be intense. This funeral will be bigger than most since this man was a mainstay of the town, very well liked, with a huge family (19 children, 33 grandchildren). So - add that to the pile and you get a sense for why I haven't written in 3 weeks - sorry about that.

Right now his body is in Nassau. It will be sent back on Friday and there will be a viewing at the church all day Friday and into the evening. The funeral itself will be Saturday morning and the church will be filled, as will the front lawn and most of the street.

The week ahead will include the regular regiment of CCD classes, the Mission, preparing for the funeral and, by the way - Palm Sunday, with the processions and pomp that comes with it. So, keep us in your prayers, without your prayers and support we wouldn't get out of bed in the morning - with them, all this gets done, plus a new outreach to the Haitians in the northern part of the island. Ain't God Grand!

Poverty?

2010-02-25T09:07:00.000-08:00

I gotta tell ya about my latest CCD experience.

One of the families we have been working with is that family I have written about before with the grandparents taking care of a large number of grandchildren while the parents of these kids work in Nassau. This family has very little and things are tight, and at times I can imagine they get a little desperate. They are happy, but when we visit usually the children have no shoes (shoes are for school and church), the clothes we see them wear at home are worn quite thin (but their school uniforms are always clean and neat), and when they go fishing, its not for sport - but for food (snacks are things they find growing in the bush, like coconuts or sapadillies). Suffice it to say they live a hard life and if we had any extra we'd give it to them, and we have.

Well, we have enrolled these kids in our Religious Ed class and this past week the topic was freedom. The books we use talked about the Exodus and Israel's freedom from slavery. Then the book had an exercise that explained there are a variety of types of slavery. There is slavery from racism, sexism, addiction, poverty, etc. The exercise they had to do was to describe something they would do to battle slavery to each of these types.

So the first one was freedom from addiction and they all struggled with that one. I said to one boy who has an older brother in Nassau. "What if you went to Nassau and found out your brother was addicted to drugs - what would you do?" He replied "I'd try to get him into rehab." Perfect, so with a pretty good understanding of the exercise they all get to work writing ideas on how to overcome these various forms of slavery.

It is then that one of the girls from this family raises her hand and asks, "What's poverty?" Just about knocked me off my chair. She doesn't know she's poor, life is what it is. I explained that poor people have no money, they may be homeless and might have to beg for food - and she understood that, AND that I wasn't talking about her. But I gotta tell ya, at that moment, when this particular girl asked me "What's poverty?" you could have knocked me over with a feather. She doesn't feel poor. She has a house that is just fine with her, she has a family that loves her, she has food that she's happy with.

What a lesson for me!

Here's the latest

2010-02-21T15:24:00.000-08:00

So much to say and so little time to type.

Well, here is the big one. Ginni went home to do some nursing (and earn the money we need to pay for international health insurance). To go from the Bahamas to Boston weather is a challenge, but she did it and, right before the 10" of snow, she slipped on some ice in the driveway and broke her arm. Yup, broke it.

So, she is home, in alot of pain, and I'm trying to adapt. The break is about 2" from the shoulder so they can't put it in a cast. The bone is cracked in a V shape and they immobilized it, and put it in a sling. Bone pain is tough and she's dealing with it, but being so far away it is tough for both of us. Simple things like taking off her blouse are incredibly painful and there's not much I can do from here but sympathize. Thank God the kids bought us the internet telephone service. Skype has been a god-send for us. We can talk as if she's next door and deal with all the questions about her care and how she's feeling, which is a big help for both of us.

Not much more to tell you on that front, other than its not clear when she'll be back. I am trying to wrap my head around getting all we did together done by myself, but it will happen.

On the ministry front so much happens at this time of year I'd be scrambling even if Gin was here. During Lent there are special liturgical services for all those who we have been preparing to become Catholic. Ginni and I have been teaching weekly classes ever since we arrived here and this Easter we have 4 people that will become Catholics. This week, for example, was the Rite of Election. Our Catechumens will become members of the Elect. (Actually, since I am writing this on Sunday evening they HAVE become members of the Elect.)

Traditionally, this service is performed by the Bishop, as they present themselves before him and write their name in the Book of the Elect, indicating their desire to be Baptized, recieve the Eucharist and Confirmation. In Boston we have so many candidates we fill the Cathedral twice, for two different services (I just read that Boston had 600 this year). In Nassau, the Cathedral is filled as well, but island life gets in the way of everyone being able to fly to Nassau, then spend the night, then fly home. It is just too expensive and impractical for that to be possible. There is an option in the Rite for this situation where the local pastor can perform the Rite. Since they can't write their name in the Book of the Elect, they still proclaim thier intent before the parish and I will enter their name on my next trip to Nassau.

For me, this is extremely rewarding. Every week these people have been meeting to learn about the dogmas of the church, and study the scriptures. To do this, every week, for what will be 2 years when we are finished is a testament to their fidelity. The Holy Spirit is alive on Andros.

On another front, I did my first Ash Wednesday Ecumenical Service. Ash Wednesday is a challenge here since I have 3 churches and only 1 me. I did a 9AM service in Cargill Creek which was poorly attended since people have jobs. There were a few retired people there and one child who had been kept home due to his asthma. From there I went to AUTEC and did another service from 12 to 130 so that the sailors and the Bahamian employees could come to the Base chapel as their lunch breaks occurred. There were several Cargill Creek folks that dropped in then, as well as US Base employees. Finally, at 6PM the good folks from St. Stephen Anglican Church joined St. John's for an Ecumenical Ash Wed Service. I hosted at St. John's so Rev Furguson of the Anglican Church preached. Next year the roles will be reversed. Suffice it to say it was a stressful event for me. For starters, my keyboard player from Cargill Creek who swore he'd come to play, didn't show up. The Anglican choir, who I had thought would lead us in song, let me know they were only planning to do 1 song. Then Rev Furguson didn't show up until 6:10 for the 6PM service. Once we got rolling, the program I had planned went off just fine, but I was ready for a drink by the time they all left. ( BUT ITS LENT SO I COULDN'T HAVE ONE)

One last story for you. I had heard that the High School had created a Christian Choir and they were looking for places to perform. So I called the High School and arranged a time to meet with the director. On the day of the meeting I put on my only clerical shirt with the Roman Collar (I've learned that for official meetings wearing the collar is expected) and I get ready to go. I knew I needed to get some diesel fuel so I go to the local man who syphons diesel into my van (the gas station in town has diesel but their pump has been broken for months). Well, I get to Phil's house and there's nobody home. The van is running on fumes so its back to the church where I now keep a 10 gallon container filled with diesel for emergencies. Naturally, since I am all dressed in my 'go-to-meeting' clothes, while filling the van this is when I spill diesel fuel all over my shoes.

With the van fueled up, I now smell like a gas station so I run into the house change my shoes and sox, putting on new sox and changing into black Crocks (the only other black shoes I have). So off I go to meet the choir director, smelling less like a diesel gas station, but retaining a bit of that aroma.

At the High School the kids were between classes, moving from one to the other and seeing me I got more than one "Hi Deac" as they filed past me. It actually made me feel quite welcome. So I meet the Choir Director, a very nice guy, and we put together a plan for them to visit us during the 5th Sunday of Lent. They will visit both Bahamian Churches and might even be able to have some liturgical dance as part of the service. If Ginni is back by then maybe we can get some pics or maybe even a video!

Meanwhile, I am now trying to figure out if I can ever wear those shoes again - anybody have ideas on how to get the gasoline smell out of leather?

Till next time

Busy Busy Busy

2010-02-09T07:07:00.000-08:00

Hello again - in my last post I talked about the new construction we completed at St. John Chrysostom. Well we are now using it big time as our ministry continues to grow.

Right now we have 60 children in CCD between the AUTEC base, St. John Chrysostom and Christ the King. CCD by far is the most time consuming part of our ministry. Lately, however, people seem to be coming out of the woodwork to have their children baptized! Praise God!

One woman had stopped coming to church when the Sisters who had been here left, and were not replaced. (4 years prior to our arrival, the Sisters who had been administering the parish left and were not replaced. Instead, the Archdiocese sent Deacons or Priests to cover weekend liturgies. No resident clergy has been here until we arrived). She hadn't been coming to church for over 5 years but word of mouth in the town finally reached her that things were moving at St. John's. So, she gave us a call. We met her and found that she is a single mom with 5 sons. The 3 older boys were baptized, now in their teens, but had never come to CCD and had never received 1st communion. The other 2 were not baptized. So we did some instruction and a few weeks ago I baptized her 8 year old and her 1 year old sons. Her 8 year old is now in 1st communion classes, they haven't missed a Sunday service, and yesterday the 3 teens showed up to begin their preparation for 1st communion. God is good.

Her situation, unfortunately, is not that rare. Women here can be pressured into showing their love for a man by having his baby - marriage may or may not come later. In her case is hasn't. Her 5 sons are the result of relationships with 3 different men over a 15 year period.

I had a conversation with another girl in a similar situation and asked her if she was considering marrying the father of her daughter and she told me "Oh no Faddah - marriage is a big responsibility, I not ready for dat!" It was an interesting conversation, but she felt that marriage was a commitment she wasn't ready to make, something on a higher level from having a child. We have alot of work to do on that front - she's not alone in that mindset.

But that is only one story. There is another family with 8 grandchildren to be baptized (I think I mentioned them in an earlier post). Well the grandfather of that family had a serious issue with high blood pressure that caused nose bleeds and ultimately they put him on a plane to Nassau to be hospitalized. We spent some time with the family and, thank God, he is back now. If anything happened to him Lord knows how the grandmother would cope with the 8 kids. Of the 4 are old enough to begin instruction for 1st communion, two are in high school and two in primary school. We see them in class now every week.

We have two other couples with children that have also approached us. One with 3 children, the other with 2 - none are baptized, but the recent births have prompted them to come forward as their friends and neighbors tell them to go see the Deacon.

We do have a few CCD classes now being taught in homes of parents. These classes take about a dozen children but we meet with them once a month to do one huge CCD night where I teach on a topic like The Saints (right after All Saints Day), or the Mass, or our next one that'll be on Lent.

Speaking of Lent, the Anglican's have a new priest on the island and we had him visit us for dinner. Hopefully we will actually do an Ecumenical Ash Wed service next week. Still a few practical issues to work out but, with the newly refurbished church, St. John's will host. My hope is that any Catholics that may have gone over to the Anglican church when the Sisters left may see what we are doing here and return. You can pray for us about that one.

So - bottom line, things are jumping and we are running full tilt once more. Keep us in your prayers, we sure need it.

Frank and Ginni

Camera is fixed!

2010-01-23T17:42:00.001-08:00

OK, I promised to upload pics once the camera is working again so - since we still can't find the right kind of batteries we borrowed a camera and here we go.

First, this is the pic of cross atop St. John Chrysostom - ablaze in Christmas lights -

From downtown Fresh Creek its a shining spot on a dark horizon.

Up close: Suffice it to say, climbing up on the roof and standing tippy toe atop a ladder on a slanting roof to reach the cross bar and make this happen was an adventure and a half!

But the real buzz about Fresh Creek is the work we've done on the church. We had an offer from the Sea Bees to do some community service work and - coincidentally - it came right after we did a three month fund raiser to upgrade things in the church needing fixing. So here are some before and after pics for you. It's like a new church!

The Before pic (after we moved the altar and chairs from the sanctuary to prepare for the work)

Where the altar had been

The Sea Bees hard at work

The 'After' pic - still without the furniture - but can you believe it!

Our first liturgy

Suffice it to say we are thrilled with the outcome. There were just too many coincidences to not give God credit for this one - AND the generosity of our parishioners - AND the work of the Sea Bees.

The parishioners all seem thrilled with the outcome and we are as well. Just one more to-do that we can check off the list - now its back to CCD, Baptism Prep, and RCIA.

Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Christmas lights AND Construction!

2010-01-14T07:29:00.000-08:00

Well I know I said in my last post that I'd be telling you more about the Christmas and New Years celebration, but things are jumping on an entirely different front so let me just tell one story about that then move on.

In preparation for Christmas I ended up climbing up onto the roof of the church and stringing lights on the cross. Hights are not my favorite thing. Our church is designed with a slanting roof with the high end on the southern end of the church over the altar. The cross is not on the rooftop but under the peak, against the wall, at its highest end. From the ground I had noticed lights were stapled to the cross but I'd never seen them lit and nobody in the church could remember ever seeing them lit.

It struck me that if the cross were lit up, it would be quite the site and a visible witness to the whole town. So when Ginni and I were decorating the church for Christmas with plastic poinsettas, a Christmas tree, and a few other decorations, I pulled out an extra set of lights and our tallest ladder.

Now Ginni knows I don't do well with hights and she was not too keen on my doing this, but - well maybe that's enough said about that and I'll just move on.

On the south side of the church, years ago, they added on an efficiency apartment for the visiting priests. This addition has its own roof about 9' up, and it slants up to meet the wall of church that the cross is attached to. So I climb up onto the roof of the priest's residence with a string of lights, then s l o w l y creep up that slants upward to where it meets the wall of the church, and the cross. I had brought an extension cord that I had plugged into an outside outlet but when I plugged in the old lights around the cross they didn't work (not a surprise since they'd probably been there 20 years).

So now I start stringing the lights I'd brought, weaving them around the wire of the old lights. Its then I realize I can't reach the top of the cross and need a step ladder. So - - I creep very very s l o w l y back down the roof, down the ladder to firm ground (whew), then go get a little 3 step stepladder to help me reach the cross.

Back up the ladder, back onto the roof s l o w l y creep back up the slanting roof to the cross. Now I set up the little 3 step stepladder and realize this is going to be tricky (remember I said this roof was on a slant). So I have this small ladder braced against the wall, but its incredibly tippy since the roof slants, and of course to reach the top of the cross I need to be on the very tipitty top of the ladder. Eventually, with a lot of fear and trembling, the lights completely encircle the cross and, sitting on the roof, I plug them in - nothing. The same string of lights that worked just fine inside the church are dead up here.

So I sigh and try to imagine taking them all down and putting up another string - or just forgetting this little project when I make a discovery. These lights have a fuse built into the plug. If you force the side of the plug apart, inside the plug is a fuse - and a spare. So I try forcing the plug apart and break a nail.

Now I have blood dripping down my finger and I'm still trying to get the plug apart, now using an old screw I found on the roof. Eventually the plug separates, I swap the fuse with the spare, put the plug back together, and Alleluia the cross blazes into light and its been aglow ever since.

At this point Ginni wants to know if I am EVER going to come down from the roof - she's both scared I'm on the roof of the church and mad I'm on the roof of the church. But she was willing to hold the ladder when I finally climbed down.

Once we get our camera some batteries I'll take a pic for you.

Whew - that was longer than I thought so let me just tell you our newest development and I'll expand on it in my next post. A week ago the Sea Bees from the Navy Base called and asked if I had any small jobs they might do as a public service. (Sea Bees are the Navy's construction guys). They're scheduled to leave in February and had some time. Coincidentally, from Oct-Dec I conducted a fundraiser to address some of the infrastracture issues (like termites in both churches). Well, the fundraiser did pretty good and after the termites were dealt with I had some leftover.

I had talked with our Parish Council about the buildings and we had a long list of things that were needed. One was to replace the torn and stained 20 year-old rugs with tile. So this past week I have been dealing with tile vendors, shipping materials from Nassau to Andros, and now the Sea Bees have ripped out the rugs and are laying new tile - its fantastic!

Still lots to do to be ready for this weekend's Sunday liturgy so I am more than a bit panicked right now. Again, once the camera is fixed I will post some pics of this entire project.

Enough for now.
Peace.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-29T17:19:00.001-08:00

Well Christmas has come and gone and now we are getting ready for New Years!
It seems I have so much to tell since my last blog entry so lets see if I can limit it to the high lights.

First, lets talk about our diesel van. We now have a gas station with a diesel pump. Unfortunately a few weeks ago his pump broke. So we go see a wonderful man who has drums of diesel fuel in his back yard, and a garden hose. You pull in, tell Phil how much you want and he puts the hose into one of the drums, sucks on the hose and drains out the fuel into a 5 gallon bucket. Then he puts the bucket on top of the oil drum and sucks on the hose again, syphoning the 5 gallons into your gas tank. He does this over again until your tank is full and he knows how much to charge you. A pretty simple operation - until - he says he's leaving for the Christmas/New Years holiday and will be gone for 2 weeks. Thus eliminating our last source of diesel for what will be a very busy time. So I fill up the van, then bring down a 10 gallon gas can and fill that too, hoping it will get me through 2010 and Phil's return. We'll come back to this one.

With Christmas falling on Friday it creates a four-day liturgical series. Thursday night we rejoiced with the Christmas Vigil Mass at the US Navy base, then drove to Cargill Creek for the Christmas Midnight Mass. We started with an hour of carols at 11, then the Eucharistic Service for our Midnight service, followed by the 40 minute drive home. It was 2:30AM when we hit the hay, only to leap out of bed at 7 to grab a bite to eat and prepare for the 8:30 Christmas Mass at Dawn here at St. John's, then drive back to Cargill Creek for the 11:15 Christmas Mass During the Day. We finally crashed at home after our 4th different Christmas liturgies, with 4 different sets of readings and 4 homilies (phew!)
BUT
With Friday's Christmas liturgies done, it was time for the Saturday/Sunday weekend liturgies so we hit the ground running and did it all over again for the weekend.

After our last Sunday service I talked to one of our members whose daughter had just had a baby. One of the things we see alot here is that there are alot of grandparents raising their grandchildren. Their children live on Nassau or Grand Bahama, for work, but when they have babies they return home and leave the babies with their parents so they can go back to work. Ginni and I had gotten to know this family and that this would be the 8th grand-child in their house and none of them have been baptized. With the mother still home with the newborn this was an ideal time to visit so we said we'd come visit on Tuesday (I'll finish that story in a minute).

We headed home, but first we stopped off in Man-O-War Sound and did the first of our sick calls. This first stop is with a sweetheart of a woman. She is in her 90's, blind, and while she can be confused sometimes, she was on top of her game this weekend. We talked a long time before we started to pray and, after she had recieved communion and our prayer was over she gave me a big hug. Feeling my belly she said, "O Faddah, you be da big mahn, Faddah", then turning to Ginni she says, "Sistah been feedin you, Faddah, O yes, Sistah been feedin you". Everyone just about fell on the floor laughing.

From this stop we went to our next, another elderly woman who we've been visiting for several months. In her 80's this woman had just lost her son to cancer and she wanted to talk a bit. During this conversation we found out she had 18 children, 11 girls and 7 boys. When her husband died she was left with quite a mob to raise on her own, but she did it. With the death of her son she has now lost 5 of her 18 children. She'll take the ferry to Nassau on Wednesday to attend the funeral, our prayers will be with her.

Leaving her we finally were headed home to crash - but that's when we had the flat tire. A flat should not be a big deal, but a flat in a 15 passenger Mitsubishi van does bring a level of excitement. For starters, I discovered the lug nuts were screwed on, and then secured with super glue (only kidding, but you get my point). To get them off I literally had to stand on the handle of the lug wrench and then jump up and down until it moved - for all five lug nuts. Once loose, the next step was to jack up the car. (Did I forget to say that Ginni stayed in the van during all this to pray). To jack up the car Mitsubishi, in its wisdom, gave us a teeny tiny hydraulic jack. To reach the axle I ended up lying on my back (still in my Sunday best by the way) and reach past the muffler to position the jack - then slowly - s l o w l y - the jack began to actually move upwards. Eventually the jack reached the axle and the van began to rise. I slid out from under the van, took off the tire, put on the spare, re-fastened the lug nuts - all was well. Except how do you make this jack go down? Things that make you go hmmmmmm.

I could see a little nob on the side of the jack that looked like it fit into the notch in the jack handle, so I reach under the car (after lying on my back once more), and twist the little nob. Instantly all the air in the jack is released and with a rather loud hissssssss, the car lowers to the ground. A bit too quickly for me since I was still lying on my back under the van. Now I know for next time.

So we get home and put our feet up and try to find out how the Patriots are doing. I needed the good news of their victory after BC's loss in the Emerald Bowl.

Today is Tuesday - remember the newborn baby? So after all the driving on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day the van has 1/4 tank of fuel so I carry my 10 gallon gas can from the garage to the van and drain half of it into the van. I sure hope I can stretch this out till Phil returns. Then Ginni and I drive back to Cargill Creek to meet the new baby. When we pull into the yard the other kids run out to meet us and lead us into the back yard. There is a small fire smoking up the yard to keep away the bugs. Its burning in an old tire rim and right now coconut husks are smoldering away.

I meet grandma, who is sitting on a bucket. "How have you been?" I ask "I've been very sick, I fell onto the rocks and hurt my shoulder - they took me to the Navy Base to get X-Rays but nothing is broken. I've been hurt for 4 weeks and nobody has come to see me." Well that wasn't the best way to start but we talked, and my VNA nurse-wife was simply wonderful with her. Meanwhile I met the cutest little 1 month old baby girl ever. The kids and mom all got a kick out of my picking her up and cradling her and rocking her - despite her very full diaper.

We talked about the delivery, her little tiny fingernails, her long eye lashes, the kids in a big circle all around Faddah. (Its funny, they call me Deacon and Faddah interchangably, and Ginni is either Sistah or Miss Ginni). Finally we asked the question and I was SO relieved that she decided that THIS baby would be baptized. Then I asked, "and what about all these?" gesturing to the other 7 kids. Here it was grampa's turn to speak "Yes, Deacon, we want all of them to be baptized". Alleluia!

So mommy eventually gets her baby back and takes her inside to clean her up and I pull out a pad and with the grandparents help we get the names, ages, grades, and parents of all 8 kids. Most parents were unmarried, some had several fathers, one set of 3 all had the same father who, we learn, was brutally murdered on Nassau. At one point Ginni said, "We should contact all their parents and get permission" and Grandpa takes control, "Dey left their chill'un wit us, we have no way to contact dem, WE are raising these chill'un, WE be de guardians, WE want dem baptized". It was powerful. It was a moment I'll remember for a long time.

All of the kids were bright-eyed, energetic, enthusiastic kids. I explained baptism to them, and to the grandparents and the eagerness with which they look forward to this was infectious. I am just so happy that this entire family will come forward at Mass in a few weeks and 8 kids from one family, from age 11 to 2 months, will be baptized. What an expression of faith, what a witness to the parish, what a Christmas present!

Enough for now - but there is more to tell - next time I hope to have a few pics of the manger scene outside of the church and the cross atop the church, now encircled with Christmas lights. The story of my climbing on the roof for that one is 'interesting'.

Movie Night!

2009-12-18T08:50:00.000-08:00

One of the things we are beginning to realize is that whenever there is a school vacation there is not too much to do on our island. Lots of our parishioners are planning to go to the US or Nassau for Christmas. (Chistmas on Nassau is dominated by Junkanoo - think Caribbean mardi-gras)

Well we decided to try something new and have movie night at Church.

We had brought a view DVDs with us and one of them was THE NATIVITY so we scheduled a movie night! Wed at St. John's and Thur at Christ the King.

I moved our TV from the rectory into the church, set up the DVD player, and we were ready to go. Ginni baked cupcakes and I picked up a case of soft drinks for 'intermission' and we were ready to go.

We had about 15-20 at St. John's and it seemed to be a hit, after the movie we talked about it a bit and for most of our parishioners seeing a movie like this was a real treat. Christ the King was a hit as well but the audience was dramatically different. We had 17 children and 20 adults - of the 17 children, 10 were there with no parents - and when I say children, I mean 5-10 year olds.

This is a PG movie because of some violent scenes (slaughter of the innocents for example) and I made a point of explaining things so it worked, but I was amazed at the number of unaccompanied children. Especially since for some of those in the more remote parts of the island we provided transportation.

Imagine pulling up to a house, honking, and have 5 little kids run out with no adults. When you ask "Are your parents coming?" the response is, "No Deacon, dey be off". Translation - no, they are off the island, meaning these kids are left alone without parents until they return, the oldest 11 year old being in charge.

Ginni sat with one crew of kids to make sure they stayed still and I was in the back with another crowd. All in all they were pretty well behaved.

Next time we do this we'll show NARNIA and have a more child-specific video for this audience.
Till next time.

Christ the King pic

2009-12-17T10:16:00.000-08:00

A few blog entries ago I described the celebration of the Feast of Christ the King that we had at our church of the same name. In that post I described the decorations inside the church and I have just recieved a pic from that event that I thought I would share.

The front of the altar is encircled with fresh fruit and veggies that were given to parishioners, plus a banner in front of the altar reading 'Feast of Christ the King'.

Those of you reading this from St. Timothy's in Norwood may recognize the Book of the Gospels on the altar. When St. Tim's 'upgraded' we were blessed to recieve this glorious gift and its been put to good use ever since.

Swimming with the hogs

2009-12-08T16:51:00.000-08:00

One of our parishioners told us a story on Sunday I thought you'd enjoy.
She was swimming in Fresh Creek, right in front of her home, when she heard something behind her. She turned and there was a hog, swimming along with the current, coming right at her.
She made a bee line for the shore and, beating the hog, ran into the house and called her husband.

By that point the hog had reached shore and had walked into their back yard. When it started rooting around in her flower beds she didn't know what to do. It was then that the wild dogs (known here at potcakes), who had been chasing the hog, also reached shore. Around and around the backyard they went until the hog dove back into the creek and headed back to the shore the chase had started on.

I should explain for the Bostonians reading this that Fresh Creek is not fresh, but salt water flowing in and out with the tides with a very strong current. It is just about as wide as the Merrimack River and wild hogs here pretty much never leave the bush, much less enter someones back yard.

Suffice it to say, when the hog (with dogs paddling in hot persuit), finally reached the distant shore, her husband arrived to chase the hog away. Together they watched the chase continue on the other side of the creek as the exhausted dogs gave up and porky won his freedom.

She told me the next time she was going swimming she was going to look both ways before jumping into the creek.

RCIA and Christ the King

2009-12-02T07:06:00.001-08:00

Those of you who know me from the States know that I taught RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) at St. Timothy's in Norwood. Over the years it has been a source of great joy to see people converting to Catholicism and being a part of that as they come closer to Jesus by coming closer to His Church.

When we first arrived on Andros there was one man here in Fresh Creek who had made the decision to join the church but had been waiting for several years for someone to be here and teach him. We also met someone on the AUTEC Base who had been considering converting and, after talking with him, he too decided to begin formation. Not to be outdone, a woman in Cargill Creek approached me and said her grandchildren had moved in with her and they had never been baptized - could I do it. Well the grandchildren are 17 and 18 and, rather than a simple infant baptism, at that age, RCIA is more appropriate as they make the journey to the adult decision to join the church.

So - over the past year and a half these 4 people have been learning about the church. The teens, as part of our Confirmation program; the adults meeting with Ginni and I weekly. As we get closer to Easter (when they will recieve the Sacraments) the RCIA program has a 'Rite of Welcoming or Rite of Acceptance' where the individual stands before the community and confirms their intent to go forward, and their sponsors, with the community, confirm their willingness to help them on their journey.

Well, a few weeks ago was the Feast of Christ the King and we did the Rite on that Sunday - in 3 different churches. At AUTEC, Kenny and his wife came forward and the community was all grins as Kenny, with his wife at his side as sponsor, affirmed his intention to continue formation towards reception of the Sacraments. At St. John Chrysostom it was Moses, with his wife by his side, who was welcomed with applause. Finally, at Christ the King, our two teenagers bravely came forward with their grandmother. Here too the church errupted in applause but this was especially powerful because it was also the Feast of Christ the King.

To celebrate their patron parishioners had decorated the church building with balloons from the rafters, a banner in front of the altar, and a huge pile of fruit and vegetables before the altar as well, symbolizing how God had blessed us over the past year.

After services were finished the fruit and vegetables were distributed among the people and we all marched to the end of the street where there are some tiki huts, benches and tables. The women of the parish had cooked up a storm and there was ham, chicken, peas and rice, macaroni salad, macaroni and cheese, soft drinks, punch, and the list goes on and on.

Everyone had a great time but the highlight for me was eating raw sugar cane for the first time in my life. The children were surprised to hear I had never eaten 'cane'. A little girl handed me what looked like a 4" piece of bamboo and all the children gathered round. One of the ladies came over with a knife and split it down the middle (not something offered to the kids who basically gnawed through to the middle). The technique as pretty simple, just take this piece of wood and bite out the sweet center piece. So I take bite - my front teeth digging into the wood (call it cane if you want, but basically its wood). I dig out a good-sized chunk and once I have it in my mouth I suck on it, then nibble on it to break it down a bit, then chew on it - and yes, its kind of sweet, but basically I now have a mouthful of splinters.

I smiled, handed my 4" piece of cane back, told everyone how good it was, but that I'd rather have a lollipop. I ended up spitting my splinters into a bush and rinced out my mouth with a Diet Coke to get rid of the fragments.

All in all the celebration was a great success and to bring 4 people closer to full communion with the Church was a joy.

Till next time.

CCD and the Hot Wire

2009-11-20T15:17:00.000-08:00

So Ginni is back in the US and I am teaching her CCD class of 4th graders. The lesson this week is about the beatitudes. The book we are using focuses on being happy, using the format of the beatitudes "Happy are the ... For they shall ..."

So, I ask the kids to write down three people they know who are happy - and why.
They all start writing away, except one. This is an 'active' boy who can't sit still, can't stop talking, and typically can't focus on the task at hand.

Eventually they get that first task done and I ask the next question, if you could have anything in the world that would make you happy what would you want? Again, they all start writing away, except one. As he acts up and distracts the others I'm getting a bit short on patience but finally they're all done and I have them read some of their ideas.

There are the obvious answers like, I wish I had a million dollars. Then there are the child-like ideas like, I wish I could fly. Then we get to the hyper-active trouble making kid. "I wish I wouldn't get beaten with the hot wire." Just like that - spoken with no excitement, no embarrasment, as if it was the most natural thing to be beaten with the hot wire and his wish was that he wouldn't get beat.

Coming from Boston, with all the child-abuse sensibilities filling me I begin wondering what child advocate group I need to call. When the class is over they all leave and I start setting up for the High School kids that come next. One of the volunteers that comes for that class is someone who is actually a teacher so I pull her aside and tell her about the hot wire. She shakes her head and looks at her feet and says, "You know Deacon, corporal punishment is allowed in the schools here. In fact its encouraged."

The public school teachers here are empowered to beat the children who act up. A paddle is something teachers have in the classroom. Clearly they don't use the hot wire, that's something he experiences at home. My volunteer told me that a few months ago a member of Parliament had written an editorial in one of the newspapers asking the question 'Should corporal punishment be eliminated in the schools?' He put forth his argument and for the next few days he was ripped up and down by just about everyone. 'Who do you think you are? Are you better than God? The bible says spare the rod and spoil the child - are you better than the bible?' It just went on and on for days and eventually he simply dropped the idea as being extremely unpopular.

I can recall during last year's CCD program I mentioned that the kids were difficult to control to a few parents and their immediate response was 'Well beat them, Deacon - if they don't behave beat them'.

Clearly we are not beating them - but equally clear is that beating the children who act up is part of the Bahamian culture. Eliminating the beating with a hot wire, however, is something I need to look into.

Till nex time.

Yet another murder

2009-11-16T07:22:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning at 6:30 the phone rings. Its someone from our church in Cargill Creek telling me that one of my parishioners sons was shot last night in Nassau. He tells me she will be trying to catch a morning flight and it might be good if I could be there.

I wash up, throw on some clothes and head to the Andros Town airport. The airport in the early morning is a busy place. The terminal is one 30'x30' building with several small airlines and a few charters who seem to all schedule thier morning flight to Nassau from 7-7:30.

I know the family car and, scanning the parking lot I know they haven't reached here yet so I wait in the van, hoping to catch them before they go inside. Eventually they arrive and she is clearly overcome with grief. We hug a long time as her husband unloads the luggage. Her mother is also with them for the trip to Nassau.

I should explain that her son is from a prior relationship. He is not the son of her current marriage. As her husband unloads the luggage and she and I hug, amid wails of grief, people begin to come over and gradually word spreads throughout the airport. Everyone knows her, everyone knows her son, and the shock of his being shot gives way to compassion.

People help her into the terminal, her husband buys the tickets, her cries and tears fill the small building. I wipe her tears, and gradually am able to lead her outside for some privacy. She is unable to talk but I begin to calm her down a bit reminding her how God has worked in her life in the past, how He has been with her in tough times before, and how He will be with her through this as well. All the time she is nodding, agreeing, but the tears will not stop and all we can do is hold on another.

Her husband and mother join us and he asks the mother for her money so he can buy her ticket too. Its then she tells him she has no money. In the midst of all the caos his face fills with disbelief. He looks at his hands and knows there isn't enough money for 3 tickets, and helplessly he looks at me. I open my wallet and have $30 - the ticket is $50. In the crowd surrounding us is a man who also lost a son to a shooting in Nassau not 4 months ago. "What do you need?" he asks, seeing me with my wallet open and the look of despair on the husbands face, and a $20 bill is added to the kitty.

Back to the counter goes the husband to buy the 3rd ticket, and knowing we have time I start steering her to the church van so she can have some privacy while we wait for the plane. Half way to the van people come streaming out of the terminal calling us. Rather than having them wait for the flight we had tickets for, the airline gave the money to one of the charter flights whose plane was loaded and ready to go. The charter was holding the plane so they could get off as soon as possible.

Ten minutes later they are on the plane, the door closes, and the plane starts moving - literally before they reach their seats I think.

That night the details appear on the news. An altercation in a Nassau night spot - words are said, and its over - but then he returns with a gun.

In the year we have been here 4 men from Andros have been killed on Nassau. This young man came from a family that doesn't have much. He served as an altar boy and as a youngster he was bright and one of his teachers noticed. With some effort she was able to work with him and helped him win a scholarship to a college in the US. When he returned to the Bahamas, he started work and his future looked bright.

There are no words for the mother of this man. Her grief and pain are real and it will take her quite some time to deal with the loss of her son.

Please keep her in your prayers, and mention Ginni and I in those prayers as we will be ministering to her long after the funeral and burial.

Veteran's Day Cheerleaders on Andros

2009-11-13T12:03:00.000-08:00

Hello Again - well we have been here over a year now - time flies!
Last year there was a different OIC (Officer in Charge) and the AUTEC Navy Base I support and the Veteran's Day ceremonies were really quite minimal. So - this year I made a point of offering to do a Non-denominational Veterans Day Service in the Chapel. From what I hear there were discussions about the offer at the base but, we have a new OIC now and they decided to do their own thing. It actually was wonderful.

At 7:30, during the Flag Raising, a color guard with sailors in dress whites was present. The chaplain of the base VFW post did an opening prayer, the OIC spoke, the bugle sounded, and the flags were raised with much solemnity while everyone stood at attention. All in all it was quite impressive.

What I didn't know was that, as part of the weekend-long celebration the cheerleaders for the Jacksonville Jaquars were on the base. The night before they performed at the baseball field (an event I missed), and they were there for the flag raising. The OIC made an interesting announcement during his remarks related to the cheerleaders. It seems that the night before one of them had confided to him that she had just joined the Navy and would be reporting for basic training at the end of the football season!

Well, after the flag raising this gave every sailor on the base a reason to talk to her and she was instantly the most popular cheerleader on their squad!

On a different note - one of the wives of a civil engineer on Base is also the Chapel Coordinator for the Base. She does a great job of coordinating the facility among all the various groups that us it. Well her hubby has taken a new job and they'll be leaving the Base at the end of the month. As she packs she needs to clean out her cupboards and asked if I would take some of the extra food she had in her cupboards. Well - there is no such thing as extra food for a Bahamian so I ended up collecting 3 good-sized boxes of food!

After sorting frozen stuff from dry goods, and sorting out the opened and unopened boxes, I was able to put together alot of things to give to the poorer members of our Churches. Boxes of grits, intant oatmeal packets, candy, pasta . . . One family of 8 living in a two-room shack was very thankful for what I could give them and they really need it.

Last year AUTEC donated a large food basket to me for Christmas that we pretty much gave away to families in need. With the economy the way it is I hope they repeat that generous offer. Its one thing to give a family money - its something else for them to get a food basket. Even staples like grits are very welcome, but seeing meat (like a can of tuna or a tin of corned beef) is very prized and they can't thank you enough.

With that said, Bahamians are very generous themselves. We have had women give us home made breads, and wonderful home made tarts (I love the coconut, Gin prefers the pineapple). One man even rides to the church on his bike with a plastic bag hanging from his handlebars - inside the bag will be two dinners, home made bahamian fish dinners with rice in a great sauce.

Anyway - charity here goes two ways - us to them and vise versa (See how they love one another is very real here).

Till next time.

Catching up on the news

2009-11-03T10:01:00.000-08:00

Well I am surprised to see my last post was in OCT - time flies!

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

Busy Busy Busy

2009-10-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

Well it seems like its been longer than it should since my last post so let me tell you what's been happening.

First, the Parish Council and I decided we needed a fundraiser. Both churches have termites ($2,000 is the low bid), both need rugs ($3,000), our driveway is getting almost impassable due to potholes and rain errosion, and . . . well you get the idea.

So we started a PARISH PLEDGE program where parishioners will pledge a certain amount and have until DEC to pay what they pledge - and to kick it off we would have a picnic. So I crank up the computer and generate a pledge letter, pledge envelopes, pledge forms - all using mailmerge so each letter, envelope, and form has the parishioners' name and address. Its great!

Next its the picnic, someone on the Parish Council offers to find a place that will let us use their beach, coordinate food, etc. and that is off and running. Great!

So Sunday comes and the pledge envelopes get picked up, people seem to understand the need and it looks like we're on our way with a sizable donation already submitted. The day of the picnic I take off with the van and pick up over 20 people, each carrying a pot for the potluck picnic. The day was great, I swam with the kids, the food was great and all in all a wonderful family day. "It was off da chain mahn!"

At the end of the picnic I bring Ginni home, planning to go back and pick up people for their rides home -but- (there's always a but) before I could head back I have a rather dramatic allergic reation to something that I either ate, or encountered while swimming, and ended up at the clinic needing an injection (Ginni's comfort level of the health-care system here took a nose-dive after this little adventure). Suffice it to say it was a poor end to a great day, but all in all it was a success. (Now to see if the pledges come in).

While all this was in the works - one of our parishioners dies after a long illness. She was someone we had brought communion to on Sunday afternoons for months, but her passing is being felt by many people. So - our first funeral.

Bahamian funerals are a BIG deal. The body is shipped to Nassau (there is no funeral home on our island). The body is then shipped back in the hearse which brings the body to the Church. It lies in state all day Friday, all night, and Saturday is the funeral. People come by all throughout the day to view the body and there can be much crying and shouting as people express their emotions freely.

Tomorrow is Saturday - the funeral day. The family has put together a 6 page glossy program for the funeral - and it is quite a program. Funerals begin with a pre-service, this is where eulogies are read and it can be the most emotional time. They have 3 with a solo between each one, followed by AS I KNEW HER, a recollection of the deceased life (I hope an hour will be enough time). After the funeral there is a walking procession from the church to the cemetery - often with a brass band. It should be interesting.

From the funeral we will go to the family's home for food and drinks, a gala event to be sure, but after my allergic reaction at the picnic I think it might be wise for me to skip this part. (Although Bahamian parties are a hoot).

Next week we go to Nassau for our monthly clergy meeting and I'm already booked with an allergy doctor to see if we can find out what it was that I'm allergic to. I'll let you know.

Till next time

2009-10-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

In prior posts I have told you about new families that have moved in to North Andros and have asked us to start coming up there. Needless to say we are going!

Mastic Point is at the far northern end of Andros, a good hours ride through mangrove swamps and pine forests. Adding this to our Sunday makes for a full Sunday. Usually, Sunday starts here at St. John Chrysostom in Fresh Creek with people arriving around 7:30 to open up the church, put up the hymn numbers, do one final sweeping of the rugs, etc. The first liturgy is at 8:30, then we clean up, pack up and leave by 10:00 to head south and starting picking up people for the 11:15 at Christ the King in Cargill Creek. After that liturgy the bus makes a run dropping off local folks, then we head back to Fresh Creek.

We usually get back around 2-2:30, grab a sandwich and then go out and do communion calls, but now adding Mastic Point communion calls wait till Monday and now we pack up the car and try to leave for Mastic Point. The church in Mastic Point was reclaimed by the bush long ago so we are meeting in the Primary School. This means when I say we pack up - I mean it. We pack everything from missalettes, candles, the Lectionary, Sacramentary, altar cloth, a crucifix and a large pix filled with consecrated hosts. Then we hit the road.

Roads on Andros come in various stages of pot-hole decay. You can go for miles with nothing then all of a sudden its an unexpected strip of 15 potholes within a 200 foot span of road. We have learned to weave our way around these obstacles, however this is particularly difficult in the rain. Rain creates puddles, puddles creates places for potholes to hide - just waiting to grab your car and rip off whatever wheel they happen to trap. Hitting one of these can actually jar your fillings right out of your head. So far we've been lucky.

During this past trip to Mastic Point however we (make that I) experienced something totally new. We are cruising down the road at about 50 mph, the windows down in the 90 degree heat as we enjoy the breeze. My elbow in on the window and my short-sleeve shirt is flapping in the wind. Suddenly I feel a small sharp sting around my shoulder, then another - I rub my shoulder, brush it off -sting-, I slide my hand up my shirt sleeve and feel nothing -sting-, I reach around my shoulder almost to my back and I feel a hard lump -sting-, so I squeeze it, feeling the crunchy sensation of an insect -sting-, an insect being crushes inside my shirt.

While driving, my shirtsleeve innocently flapping in the breeze had inadvertently trapped some sort of insect and, once inside my shirt, its defensive instincts kicked in and badda-boom-badda-bang, I am scratching away at God-knows what.

Now all this happens while Ginni is sitting there with her eyes closed, enjoying the breeze. We get to Mastic Point, people are waiting, we do the service, then spend some time reviewing the sacrament of reconciliation with a boy who has started home schooling with his mother preparing for 1st communion. We pack up and head back to Fresh Creek. Now for the first time I explain about the bug to Ginni and she says "So that's what the stain is on your shoulder!"

It turns out the bug was rather large and when I did finally kill it there was a blotch of goo absorbed by my shirt as a rather dark brown/yellow stain. The shoulder on the other hand had about 4-5 welts that have since passed.

Yet another part of our island life adventure.

CCD and Pigeon Hunting

2009-09-29T17:31:00.000-07:00

Well clearly I have let my blogging slip. This week is the beginning of another year of CCD so the last few weeks have been CCD-prep time.

To start with, the only books we have are 10 years old. So last year we did JAN - MAY without books, pretty much using what books we had as guides for the topics to be covered, and creating our own curriculum week by week.

It worked well but we came to the decision we needed to upgrade the books we have. So using the web and talking to publishers of CCD materials we finally ordered about $800 in CCD books for our 50+ kids. A bit of a risk since only a third of them have signed up (last year we went from 32 to 57 kids three weeks after we started classes).

The other innovation besides getting new books was getting parents to volunteer to help teach. The Navy base has had some turnover so the number of families on base has dwindled to the point that the parents have all offered to teach their own children in a 'home schooling' model. St. John's numbers are manageable with the same two mothers who have offered to help. It is in Cargill Creek we needed help, and praise God the parents have come out of the woodwork. Four different couples will host classes in their homes, with each couple taking 5-6 children. Ginni and I will still teach the Confirmation class and will meet with the parent-teachers once a month for support. So - all in all it seems under control with our first classes all kicking off this week.

While preparing for this was time consuming the day to day issues we encounter here kept popping up. For example, here's a typical afternoon:

Mrs C drops by unannounced with her daughter. Mrs C. is in her 70s and her daughter about 40. Mrs. C cannot read or write and lives in a remote part of Behring Point, the most southern tip of Central Andros. So they come in, sit with Ginni and I, then Mrs. C says, "Faddah, no lights!" pretty much just like that.

Ginni and I look at each other, then at Mrs. C, and Ginni says, "Did they shut your power off?" and both Mrs C and her daughter nod and say an emphatic "Yes, Faddah". Now I should explain a bit about the electric company here. In prior blog entries I explained how we lost power without warning for weeks as they instituted rolling blackouts for 4-5 hours a day in the heat of August. They had lost a generator and its all they could do to get some power to you. My frustration with this situation lasting for weeks was evident when I started calling the TV station in Nassau, the utilities commission in Parliament, the corporate offices of the electric company on Nassau, and anybody else who would listen. It was horrible.

Mrs C's situation was simpler - she hadn't paid her bill. Now the electric company billing system is even more frutstrating. First, there isn't a billing system. Everyone knows that on the first of the month you should go to the electric company office and they'll tell you what you owe and you pay it. The electric company office is in Fresh Creek. Mrs. C is in Cargill Creek about a 40 minute ride. She has no car, and even if she did, she couldn't read the bill anyway. So - after some time had gone by, they cut her off.

I look at Mrs. C and ask, "Are you here because you want me to pay your electric bill?" Instant smiles, "Yes, Faddah - no lights, the Church will help, you pay Faddah." I look at Ginni, she looks at me, we both look at Mrs. C - "How much is your bill?" Mrs. C looks at her daughter and her daughter says, "$600 Faddah".

I took a deep breath and explained that the Church doesn't have that kind of money, we barely have enough to get by ourselves (actually we don't have enough to get by - the Archdiocese sends us a quarterly stipend to cover the shortfall). Our weekly collection from Cargill Creek is about $180 (and it takes about $60 in diesel fuel to fill the van).

We talked about the bill, what the minimum was that the electric company might take to turn on the power, what the daughter might be able to do to help. We talked about how to avoid this in the future (Mrs. C does get a small pension from the Gov) but she needs to get from Cargill Creek to Fresh Creek to pay the bill. While all this was going on another parishioner arrived for an appointment we had made to discuss a personal problem in her life.

So Ginni goes outside to talk with her, while I try to wrap up Mrs. C, promising to see what I could do and come to the daughter's house later that day. (My plan was not to pay the whole $600, but to dip into some of the US donations I'd been given by friends, family, and parishioners of St. Timothy's to help in our ministry here. With a bit from us, & a bit from the daughter, we'd get the power back on).

We spent the next hour counselling and praying with a very nice lady with a difficult family situation that was now impacting her job.

Then it was off to the bank, then to Mrs. C's daughter's house. I explained that this should be private, she shouldn't tell other parishioners her private affairs, and that they really needed to be paying the bill on time because I couldn't do this again (last thing I wanted was to become their bank, we simply can't help everyone every time). With the groundrules agreed to they thanked me again and again - then it was back to CCD books.

If you remember - back in June was Crab season. We have land crabs here on Andros and June is when they crawl out of their holes to be scooped up by the burlap bag full. During evening the roads are line with cars and the bush is full of people with bags and flashlights as they try to find all the crabs they can. Crab-fest is a major event here on Andros and it makes a lot of money for those without any. If you missed the Crabfest blog entry go back to the entries in June and I am sure you'll find them - quite the event. However, today we experienced on better.

As we drove home from the first Confirmation Class in Cargill Creek, once again the road was lined with cars, just like during crab season - but this time everyone on the side of the road was carrying ---- a shotgun! Yes, a shotgun - car after car had men with shotguns, dogs, and little kids. It was the start of pigeon season and every now and then, as we drove by, someone would hoist their rifle to their shoulder - and blam - and the kids and the dogs would run into the bush to see who could get the downed bird first. Incredible.

So we survive this gauntlet and its late, we haven't taken anything out for supper, so Ginni says "Lets go to the Navy Base and see if we can get a pizza at the Lighthouse Pub". This is a burger and pizza place on the base that stays open after the Dining Hall has closed. So we go there and get the pizza and we start talking to a local who had just finished his shift and was there for the same reason we were. When we told him about the pigeon hunters out on the Queens Highway to Cargill Creek he said that last year they caused millions of dollars in damage because - when they shoot the pigeons, they shoot through the power lines, phone lines, and internet lines. So picture this, you're standing on one side of the road, a pigeon flies out of the tree on the other side and your birdshot brings it down - but when you shot it your birdshot also passed through the telephone wires hanging from phone pole to phone pole, taking out the phone and power service to Bowen Sound and all points north.

Ahhh Island life - ya gotta love it.

History - with a chuckle.

2009-09-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

Sunday, September 13 was the feast of St. John Chrysostom, the patron saint of our parish in Fresh Creek. So, after Mass on Sunday we had cake!

There is actually quite the connection between St. John Chrysostom and the Catholic Church in the Bahamas. St. John was known throughout the Church as an outstanding preacher. In fact, Chrysostom is not his last name, it means “Golden Mouth” in Greek and was a title given him for the quality of his preaching. He was born in Antioch (the city where followers of Jesus were first called ‘Christians’) about the year 349. After an extensive education he embraced an ascetic life and was ordained a priest, distinguishing himself by his preaching. He was elected bishop of Constantinople in 397 and proved himself a capable pastor. Twice he was forced into exile by the imperial court and the envy of his enemies. He died September 14, 407. His preaching and writing explained Catholic doctrine and presented the ideal Christian life.

Years later, a Benedictine priest who had taken Chrysostom as his religious name arrived in Nassau. Fr. Chrysostom Schreiner, OSB was the first priest permanently assigned to the Bahamas in 1893 and remained for 37 years. When a church was built in Fresh Creek Fr. Schreiner’s work was recognized in the naming of our church after his patron, St. John Chrysostom. Other Benedictine’s followed, including Fr. Gabriel Roerig OSB, who spent his entire priestly life serving the people of Andros. Arriving first at Behring Point he opened churhes from Behring Point all the way up north to Mastic Point during his ministry.

The church in Mastic Point was closed years ago and has been taken over by the bush, but is ironic that Catholics are moving back to Mastic Point and asking us to come up there and have services in the Elementary School. So this week we have a priest with us, Fr. Mel Taylor OSB. Fr. Mel is the last Benedictine in the Bahamas and was able to preach quite well about Fr. Chrysostom's life on Nassau and Fr. Gabriel's work on Andros.

After 3 masses we dropped Fr. Mel at the airport and Ginni and I headed off to Mastic Point. It had rained overnight and a bit more during the morning. The drainage on Andros is virtually nil since the whole island is nothing but rock and there is no sewer system for rainwater. Driving up north the road has pot holes and puddles so you really need to be careful.

As we headed out on the Queens Highway Ginni and I have our windows open to get the breeze and she begins to tie her kerchief over her hair to keep it in check in the wind. It was at that point that a car passed us coming towards us - and passed through a puddle right at that instant. This threw a wall of water onto the windshield (and a fine spray through Ginni's window). What made this comical was that it was at that moment she was tying the kerchief behind her head with her elbows pointing up in the air when the spray hit her and she let out a "Woooo!"

Now I thought the wall of water on the windshield was impressive, but not worth a "Woooo!" It was when I realized she'd also had cold water spayed onto her through the open window I understood what had happened. Laughing was probably not the best response at that time.

Well an hour later we arrive in Mastic Point and they were waiting for us. A few less than we expected but it turns out they had no power and the class rooms were stiffling. We ended up taking the chairs onto the lawn and we did the liturgy of the Word there. One of the children is well past 1st communion age so we had given that family some books. This was an opportunity for us to see what we learned so I asked a few questions, "What is original sin?" "What's the difference between a sin and an accident or mistake?" "What happens to the bread when the priest prays over it at Mass?" "Why do we need to go to a priest for confession?" It led to some discussion to help him understand more about Confession and the Mass. It turned out to be good info for some of the adults that listened in too - teachable moments.

We headed back to Fresh Creek and I would smile remembering Ginni's "Wooo!" and Ginni suggested that the next time we go to Mastic Point that she drive - especially if it rains.

Abandoned Churches Reborn - just maybe.

2009-09-08T08:18:00.000-07:00

I feel like we are living in the calm before the storm. Time is clicking away as we get closer and closer to the beginning of Religious Ed classes starting up again and I find myself procrastinating on pulling together lesson plans and getting myself organized.

This year we have several parents that will be teaching classes in their homes which will really help us in Cargill Creek. Fresh Creek has less students so Ginni and I will still be doing all the classes there (as well as Confirmation Classes in both places).

RCIA starts up again tomorrow night after taking a summer break. We have two people who will be welcomed into the church on Easter and a few more still considering whether they want to start the program or not.

One piece of news you may find interesting is that this week we will be going north again to have Sunday services with the Catholics in Mastic Point. There used to be a Catholic Church up north but years ago, when Grand Bahamas was being developed, there was an exodus of people from Andros who left Mastic Point for the work. Eventually the Catholic Church was closed down and it was reclaimed by termites and the bush. Lately, however, we have heard from several families that they've moved back and there are a group of people willing to meet again - so we have made arrangements to have services in the elementary school. If we can really grow a community up there - who knows what might happen. The Archdiocese still owns the land and I actually found it and plunged into the overgrown vines and branches to find the foundation. If we ever did build a church there it would be a brand new building from the ground up. That's a long way off, right now we'll be going north to do a 4PM Sunday afternoon service and see what kind of turn out we have.

One interesting component of this part of Andros is that it has become an area for undocumented Haitian families to settle. The word is that there are many people without visas or any documentation there and, coming from Haiti, they are Catholic. Being able to make the Church a reality in the lives of these people again has been gnawing at me for months so I am thrilled to actually be going up there again. It will be a challenge to find them, and an even bigger one for them to take the risk of coming to a meeting for church where they could be exposed. This is something that I've been praying about for some time and I ask you to bring it to prayer as well.

There are a few Catholic churches on Andros like the one in Mastic Point that have been abandoned over the years. This is St. Gabriel's churh in Calabash Bay, actually not too far from where we live in Fresh Creek. Several years ago its parishioners were merged into St. John Chrysostom where we live and the building boarded up. Occasionally I drive by and find the doors broken open again like in this pic and I pull over and re-secure the building.

A little over a year ago, before we moved here, a homeless man had broken in and took up residence, smashing all the windows and breaking in the doors. They are all boarded up now but I've been stopping by every now and then and cleaning it up a bit at a time. We are a long way from re-opening it but with some work it might be able to be used for classes or prayer services. If I could pull that off it would be a major sign to the locals that the Catholic church is back and instead of closing up churches and consolidating we are re-opening them and expanding.

Churches that have been closed down here tend to fall into disrepair quickly. Termites are present everywhere and an old building like this, with dry wood, not being maintained that well tend to collapse in upon themselves unless some maintenance is done.

I have a bit of an emotional attachment to St. Gabriel's as well. The first priest to serve on Andros was Fr. Gabriel Roerig, OSB. He spent his entire life serving the people of the island (before there were roads and electricity and running water - actually a very hard life). When a church was built in Calabash Bay I think the Bishop named it St. Gabriel to recognize the work he had done. I know the patron of this church is the Archangel Gabriel but the more I learn about Fr. Gabriel I think a case could be made for his canonization and I like to think he's looking out for this church. Who knows with his help one day this church may be back in business full time.

Speaking of restoring things that used to be here and now are not - last Sunday I led an Altar Server Commissioning. After a few weeks of training 4 boys, two from Fresh Creek and two from Cargill Creek, were commissioned as altar servers. When Ginni and I went to the States this summer we purchased some altar server vestments and all 4 boys seem to be really excited about this ministry. Usually their roles are pretty simple when I am leading Eucharistic Services for 6 weeks before a priest is sent. We will see how well they do when we have a priest and they serve at a full Mass. If this catches on - who knows, we might even have girls who want to join their ranks.

Enough for now, I really should sit down and look through CCD books and begin putting together lesson plans. Till next time:
Peace.

Power, Water & Money

2009-09-02T06:54:00.001-07:00

Well it was about two weeks but it looks like the power is back. Having electricity impacts us in the obvious ways, but the fact that the town's water supply is dependent upon electricity to run the pumps means when we lose power we lose water too.

We still wrestle with water and water pressure, but having electricity is a good thing. Just to give you some idea of the water pressure issue. Ginni has actually been able to count the number of holes in the shower head while taking a shower (36) and the number of holes with water leaking out (5).

When Ginni was a growing up her family never had a shower. She grew up with a tub and washing her hair in the kitchen sink - well she has gone back to that and is much happier than what she was trying to wash her hair in the shower.

I have figured out that its not only the pressure of pumping the water up hill to the church, but also the way the plumbing in the house was installed. Pipes here run above ground since everything here is rock. Once the pipe from the street reaches the top of our driveway it was sunk under the church parking lot and re-surfaces on the church lawn. It then splits, with one line going to the church and the priest's weekend residence, and the other line going to our house/rectory. The pipe runs along the foundation then, for some unknown reason it was run up the side of the house to the roofline, around the back of the house, and into the bathroom.

Clearly the pressure can get it up the hill, but then to get it up the wall to the roofline and then to the show is a challenge for this system. Fixing it would be an expense not in anybody's budget.

Speaking of budget -
The Archdiocese of Nassau has an Annual Archdiocesan Appeal much like any other Archdiocese to support programs and needs beyond what parishes can support. Last year, of our 3 churches, 18 people contributed and we beat our $1,500 goal bringing in $1800. They have beat their goal consistently for the last few years but I was surprised that only 18 people had contributed.

We just finished this year's appeal and over 40 people contributed and we brought in just over $5,000. With the current economic climate this is outstanding. I am both proud of our parishioners and humbled by their generosity. This really is one of the better charitable efforts for Bahamians to help Bahamians.

The next effort will be to try to do a fund raising effort to upgrade the interior of some of our churches. The rugs at St. John's look like the original rugs as do the pews, several of which have significant termite damage. Termites are everywhere here and they are incredibly destructive. Hardwood seems to be safe, but soft pine or other soft woods are a favorite so often you might see doors or windowframes riddled with termite damage. Christ the King in Cargill Creek will need to be treated this year - yet another special collection.

Dealing with all the infrastructure related expenses is something I'd like to have the Bahamians take pride in funding on their own. We'll see if that's realistic or too optimistic on my part over time. From the conversations I have had I do believe that if specific needs are identified they'll pitch in. The challenge may be to identify the priority of what needs to be fixed first. Some may say we need to deal with the leaking roof in the priest residence, then the rugs, then the pews. Others may say the termite riddled pews should be first - it will be interesting.

With the children back in school, CCD is on our horizon. Ginni and I have spoken with a few book publishers and they've sent us samples. Setting up the curriculum for this year is almost settled and registration is well under way. CCD is a major task here and it takes a sizeable chunk of our time - pray for us - we'll need it!

No Juice - and Skyjuice

2009-08-24T06:52:00.001-07:00

It has been a tough week here on Andros. The Bahama Electric Company here has a diesel generator providing electricity to the island. Well it broke. They are limping along with a backup but it can't provide enough for the island so - rolling blackouts.

Without warning you simply lose all power for 4-8 hours. It may come back anywhere in that range. Once you have power it can also go away anywhere in that range.

This creates issues when its 90 degrees every day and you suddenly have no AC, no fans, nothing - especially at bedtime. Add the fact that the water system here depends upon electricity to work the water pumps. So no showers.

What makes this frustrating is its been like this since last week Thursday. The parts that they need aren't on Andros, nor are they on Nassau - and the red tape to get it from the US takes a week or more - so everyone is a bit grumpy here right now.

One impact I hadn't thought of was fuel for the van. Saturday I usually fill up for all the weekend driving we do covering 3 church and then communion calls. The man I usually get diesel was shut down by customs officials since he wasn't collecting taxes on the diesel he was syphoning from the back of his van (at the time he was the only source of diesel). When he stopped providing diesel he connected me with a gas station in town that had started carrying diesel, but with no electricity, no way to operate the pumps.

Someone suggested I go see "Phil", "He got diesel Fodder". So I get directions and end up pulling into a backyard littered with auto parts, broken windows, tools, and oil drums. Phil comes out, as do 2 of his friends, and after we had a friendly chat he pulls out the garden hose, sticks one end into one of the oil drums and sucks on it a bit, then slips it into the gas tank and the diesel fuel starts trickling into my tank.

As its filling we talk a bit more about the heat, the electric problem, how hard it is to sleep and stay cool. He said he just liked to sit on his porch with a gin and tonic and watch the starts at night. I told him it was easy to find Gin on this island but almost impossible to find tonic water. Everyone laughed at the truthfulness of that and then he said, "Fodder, if you can't find tonic, try Skyjuice - you can get that everywhere and it's very good with Gin". The other guys all nod, and smile and say "Yes, Fodder, try Skyjuice". So I ask about Skyjuice - "What's Skyjuice, I haven't seen anything like that in the stores?"

Phil looks at me and smiles, then says, "Water, Fodder - Skyjuice be water!" and everyone laughed and laughed at they joke they'd set me up for.

I told them that my father, when he was a boy in the depression used to go to the soda fountain at the drug store and ask for a pine tree float - a glass of water with a toothpick floating in it - they all got a good laugh at that one too.

Well, with power at a premium I am going to shut down before the electric company does it for me. Keep us in your prayers
--- Frank and Ginni

Tropical Storm Anna

2009-08-19T10:34:00.001-07:00

I know all the news reports say that Tropical Storm Anna is no threat, it's 'dissipating', it will not hold together, etc. Well let me tell you - it passed between Cuba and Andros last night and it was holding together pretty well then.

Around 1 in the morning we were woken up by lightning. Incredible crashes were right on top of us it seemed. Every 5-10 seconds there would be another incredible crack and the rain was so strong it sounded like pebbles on our windows. Needless to say the power went out and Ginni got up to unplug our internet phone and the router (when power is restored it usually comes with a power surge that creates issues).

Around 2AM we got out of bed again and checked the house - all seemed well but the lightning show was nuts. At one point I actually felt the whole house quiver as the thunder crashed right over us. This lasted until about 4AM with the power going out and coming back on several times during the night.

When we got up this morning the back yard had one huge puddle under the clothes line, our screen porch had 2" of standing water in it, & one of the panes of glass in a window in the priest's residence had been blown out. The window in the Sacristy had been left open about a quarter inch and the rug in there is soaked, but the vestments and everything else seems OK.

I must say, if this is a storm that isn't a bad one - a storm that is only going to be a 'rain event', I am not looking forward to actually dealing with a hurricane. It was crazy for those few hours in the middle of the night - absolutely incredible.

When Peter came by to clean up the Church this morning I showed him the window and he was able to force the glass pane back into place, but we'll need to fix it later. Ginni suggested that since nobody is living in the priest's residence and we are in the hurricane season, why not put the hurricane shutters up on that set of windows with the loose pane of glass.

So we went into the garage and took out a few of the shutters. The shutters are made of corrigated aluminum. The ones we needed were small, about 4' long, and they fit into a groove on the top of the windows and a notch in the bottom and are held in place by a metal clamp that you hammer into place. It was good for me to see how they go in for this small job because when a hurricane really does bear down on Andros I will have to do the whole Church, and our residence as well - and in the midst of the pre-hurricane rush Peter may or may not be around to help. The Church shutters are a good 7' long and you need to climb up on ladders to reach them from the outside. Hopefully hurricanes stay far away and its a task I won't have to do.

Right now it is partly cloudy, a light breeze, high 80's and 80% humidity. A lovely day in the tropics - whew!

Dayshawn's Wheelchair

2009-08-13T08:39:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you have an experience here that you just KNOW is the Holy Spirit. I have told most of my family about this story - but since this has finally come full circle, let me share this with you too.

When we were signing children up for CCD last year one man signed up his son, Dayshawn, age 10. We'd never seen any boy named Dayshawn at church so we asked about him and was told he'd just had surgery and was at home. So we called the family, introduced ourselves and set up a time to meet them. When we did, we found Loretta at home with a severely handicapped Dayshawn. Dayshawn suffers from Cerebral Palsey and in addition to being severely physically handicapped he cannot speak. His diet is primarily farina cereal and Ensure, the dietary supplement, which he drinks from a bottle.

Now back at St. Tim's in Norwood I served as Chaplain to "Faith and Light" a group of mentally challenged people that have been meeting at St. Tim's for over 20 years now. My experience with these loving people seemed to prepare me for Dayshawn. At that first meeting I was able to hold him in my lap for about an hour as we visited with Loretta and heard her story and Dayshawn's. Loretta is Anglican, her husband Catholic.

Leonard, or Porky as he is more well known, came to church and the Sisters who preceeded us here began to drop in and visit Loretta and Dayshawn. She said, "it was the Catholics that helped us Faddah, they came and visited". And now here we are, unknowingly continuing where the Sisters left off. Usually Dayshawn spends the day in a recliner, they have no wheelchair, there is no visiting nurse, there is no physical therapy, all we have here is a clinic. It was clear during our visit that Dayshawn is much loved. His parents provide all they can and he is an important part of their family.

Here is a pic of Dayshawn and his mother in their kitchen.

Weeks later, on a weekend we had a visiting priest, I was purifying the chalice after Mass at our church in Cargill Creek. As I wiped the inside of the chalice I happened to notice, on the bottom of the chalice, an engraving. It said 'Order of Alhambra - Caravan No. 82 - Montreal - In Memory of James Murphy Sept 21, 1952' and there was an emblem - a red tower.

Now, I never heard of Alhambra before - and Lord knows how a chalice like this found its way from Montrel to Cargill Creek Andros. Later that afternoon I went online and discovered that Alhambra is a fraternal order of Catholic men with a ministry of serving the needs of disabled children. (Isn't God amazing!)

So I send an email to the contact person, telling them of the chalice I'd found. I told them that if the Murphy family was still around, they might enjoy knowing this chalice is still in service and that it had found its way to this mission church in Cargill Creek, Andros. A few weeks go by and I get a reply from Roger Reid, an officer of Alhambra who was very interested in the chalice and referred me to the Alhabra 'scribe', Andre Beauchamp in Canada expressing great interest in the chalice and promising to research the chalice, etc. So I reply to him, this time mentioning that I had noticed they have a ministry to disabled children and describing Dayshawn. This led to a series of emails, over a period of months, until he suggested that Alhambra might be able to provide a wheelchair!

By this time I had told Loretta about Alhambra but she wasn't too excited about the wheelchair. They had had other wheelchairs and they never worked. Dayshawn has no upper body control and he would always slump forward in them. He needed a wheelchair that could recline, one that was adjustable, and might be able to grow with him over the years.

Well, my lovely wife is a visiting nurse. Now it was her turn to jump on the internet and search for chairs that would work - naturally she found one, but it was over $2,000 - then on another site one for half that, with a contact at a Nassau distributor. After several phone calls she came up with a solution for under $900.

So I send this information along to my friend in Canada and I get a reply that Alhambra is having a convention in Detroit and he'll bring Dayshawn's case up at the meeting. Needless to say, Porky and Loretta are thrilled that this has gotten this far and we were on pins and needles waiting to hear what would happen at the convention.

Well - the email arrived - the money was approved and a check was in the mail! I called Loretta immediately and later that day ran into Porky at the local market and told him. Weeks later the check arrived on Andros, we deposited the money, called the Nassau distributor, and sent them the formal order with the payment. Now it was just a matter of time.

One of the mail boats that comes to Andros is the 'Lady Katrina' and Loretta works as the shipping agent for the Katrina. We told the shipping company to use that boat to get the wheelchair to Andros and arrive it did!

Loretta took it home that day, Porky put it together and now Loretta doesn't have to carry him wherever they go. Dayshawn can be taken outside and sit in the gazebo his father built on the front of their house and watch his Dad play dominoes. Loretta can actually take Dayshawn for a walk. Moving from one room of the house to another no longer requires Loretta pick him up and carry him.

What strikes me about this story is how the Holy Spirit works.

What ever prompted me to turn the chalice upside down and look at the bottom?

What ever prompted Porky to register Dayshawn for CCD?

How did that chalice migrate to Cargill Creek?

Imagine this from a chalice from 1952! God set this up 57 years ago!

Imagine the 'coincidence' of Alhambra, of all the charities it might support, have a ministry to disabled children - and Andre Beauchamp taking the ball and running with it, presenting Dayshawn's situation to Alhambra in Detroit - and them approving the purchase.

God is indeed a loving Father, and we are His childen. We thank Alhambra, we thank Roger Reid and Andre Beauchamp - and most importantly - we thank the Holy Spirit who was totally involved in this, not only from the beginning of our meeting Dayshawn, but 57 years ago when the Murphy family first commissioned this chalice. Glory to God in the Highest - Amen!

Here are pics of Dayshawn in his new wheelchair - and another of his mother, father and I posing with Dayshawn.

Elephantitis

2009-08-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

Hello again - well the latest news from here has to be the weather - it is HOT.
No breeze, no relief, just oppressive heat with high humidity. Every morning is the same, I leave the air conditioned bedroom and the trees are still, the house is already hot, I turn on the fans, start a pot of coffee, light my candle for morning prayer, then sit in front of the fan as I pray Morning Prayer. Every day is in the mid to high 90's with over 80% humidity - weather stations say the heat index (the 'feels like' temp) is always over 100.

While this is life on Andros - live goes on. If you remember, prior to our trip to the States we had a boy drown here. After we returned we stopped by to see the family and met the Grandfather. Everyone else in the house had gone to the creek to fish for supper so Ginni and I sat with him and talked for over an hour. It was a great conversation with him telling us much of the history of the Catholic church in the southern end of our part of Andros.

What was striking about this man were his legs. His wore shorts, no shoes, and right leg was incredibly swollen. All I could think of was the disease Elephantitis that you read about in Africa. The leg and foot were triple their normal size and the skin was tough and caloused. Ginni later told me it is 'peripheral vascular disease'. Meaning his circulation is so poor that the fluid in his legs stays there and the leg swells. Somehow to say it is swollen just doesn't describe it sufficiently as I type the words.

Anyway, we talked about is grandson's drowning, and the funeral we missed. We had heard it was a full church and very emotional. He said he didn't go because of his foot. In fact, he stopped going to Church years ago because he couldn't wear shoes anymore, and hasn't worn shoes for over 5 years.

When I asked why we hadn't seen his family in church he explained that when the permanent resident Sisters left, and the church was served by priests/deacons that just came for weekend visits they felt abandoned. They still consider themselves Catholic, but none of the grandchildren are baptized, his children haven't been to church for years and, after several years away, they are pretty much 'un-churched'.

Our conversation covered a wide range of topics and he was very well spoken. He told stories of Fr. Gabriel Roerig OSB, a Benedictine who spent over 30 years evangelizing Andros. He built the first church here, he served up and down the Andros coast before their were roads, using a boat when he could, and walking when he couldn't. The more I hear of this priest the more I wonder why he isn't up for canonization.

After a great conversation, and an assurance he'd try to get the grandchildren back to church on Sunday, Ginni asked if any of the Doctors he had seen had tried to get him stockings or support hose that might give some relief. They had not. Ginni's visiting nurse experience kicked in and she promised to try to see what she might find on the web. They have wrap-around boots for this disease that can be very comfortable, provide relief, and double as shoes for many people.

So we said our good-byes, promised we would bring him communion on Sunday, and left. Later that day Ginni had a print out of two different types of wrap around shoes - one was more of a slipper, the other not only wrapped around the foot, but the ankle and calf too. With velco straps the width was adjustable and it looked perfect.

On Sunday there was an entire row of new children we'd never seen before - his grandchildren. There were no adults, we assume they either walked or got dropped off, but he was true to his promise and they all were there, dressed in pretty party dresses. I talked to them after church and told them we'd be coming by with communion and some information for their grandfather.

After our van made the rounds of dropping off locals with no cars to their homes, we left and made our first stop to see him again. All the kids met us in the driveway - now back in shorts and t-shirts and shoeless once again. They led us to the back yard and we sat on buckets turned upside down under the same mango tree I had met with them a few weeks ago to talk about the upcoming funeral of the boy who had drowned.

Ginni showed him the pictures and the descriptions of the wrap around boot and he said no Doctor had ever shown him anything like this. After we read some of the information to him (all the time surrounded by all the children looking to see what 'Faddah' had brought grampie) he thought that it might actually work and we promised to see how we could order it on the internet.

Then I began the prayers for the communion service - and he still remembered the prayers. "I confess to Almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters that I have sinned ..." The children were wide-eyed as he and his wife together joined me and Ginni as we prayed through this little prayer service. I read the Ephesians reading from this Sunday liturgy and told him a recap of the homily. We prayed the Lord's Prayer and I gave him and his wife communion. Afterwards I explained to some of the children that, after they come to religion classes and they learn about the Eucharist, they can recieve their First Communion and recieve every Sunday. (At Church the young children recieve a blessing at communion, and they'd just had that experience at Church earlier).

We returned to the van (which, by the way, had people sitting and waiting for us for their ride home), and we were off. On the way home we dropped these folks off and then made another 3 communion calls. We have a 94 year-old blind woman who I've written about before, another 90+ year-old woman who has fallen and broken her arm, and a cancer patient who just returned from Nassau after chemo. A busy Sunday in 95 degree heat.

Several people back in the States have been very generous to us and it is that genosity that will be put to work now to buy this man's support-boot. If it works as well as we hope, he may actually be able to return to church with his grandchildren. Time will tell.

Enough for now, pray for us as we do for you.

We Are Back!

2009-08-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

Well after two weeks in the US we are back on ANDROS!
Suffice it to say our time at home was rushed. There were so many old friends and family to see and so much to do! From meeting with my bible study buds 7AM on Saturday, to baptizing new twin boys in Leominster, to preaching once again at the 9:30 at St. Timothy's it seemed every minute was a time to have dinner with friends, or breakfast, or lunch - or deal with the rental properties in MA and NH. We had a wonderful gathering with friends and it was great to enjoy each other's company once again.

On top of seeing everyone in MA again, we took a week and went to Long Island and for the first time in over a year all of our sons were together once more. Our oldest, who now lives in Singapore, joined us in Sag Harbor with his wife and Jack, our only grand-son. Our youngest son Joe and his wife Liza have opened 'Bay Burger', his restaraunt in the Hamptons - and our son Mike has joined him this past year - both are working very hard.

During this visit I helped Jack work on his cub scout fishing merit badge - teaching him how to use a spinning reel. We caught a blue fish together and then took on the challenge of actually cleaning it - not Jack's favorite part. My favorite part was frying up the filets and enjoying a great super - thank's Jack!

While on Long Island we took a trip into Manhatten and saw BLUE MAN GROUP and the off-broadway production of Mary Poppins. When we got back to MA we also took in a Red Sox game! Great family time but talk about squeezing every possible minute out of two weeks.

When we got back to Nassau our flight to Andros was a bit interesting. Since we arrived in Nassau after 4 there were no regularly scheduled flights to Andros so we went to the small Charter Flight airport where we thought we had reservations. While we had been told the predictable 'no problem faddah' when we set it up - there was no plane.

So we wait. I found a pilot who said he'd be going to Andros and just to sit and wait and he'd call us. Two hours later I find him again and 'no problem faddah - I'll call you shortly'. Talking to an Anglican priest we know who was waiting, we found he'd been waiting 3 hours. When I saw our luggage disappear I followed them and found the pilot stuffing them into a 7 seater plane and I knew departure was close. Six of us fit into the 7 seater plane (he needed to wait until he had at least 6 to make it worth the flight), and off we went. 15 minutes later we are on Andros.

The big news here is that Western Airlines, the main carrier that goes from Nassau to Andros, has stopped serving our Andros Town airport. This happened during our two week absence and was a major surprise to everyone. Competition from the charters was making it harder and harder to fill their planes so they stopped them. On the one hand, Western was never on time so that is why people use the charters - but the impact is major. Tourists now have no way to get here from Nassau unless they know about the charter flights - or they take the ferry - or they go to North Andros and incur an $80 cab fare to get here. Clearly this will be a major financial hit for our part of the island.

The other major impact this creates is that the Bahamian Post Office used Western Air to get mail from Nassau to Andros Town and all of Central Andros. Bottom line - our Post Office hasn't had mail for two weeks, and won't have mail until the Bahamian government gives one of the charter companies a contract to carry mail. So if you mail us anything - don't expect a response any time soon.

Finally, if you remember, we have been working on getting a wheelchair for a parishioner with a 10 year old boy with Cerebal Palsey via Alhambra, a fraternal order of Catholic men who adopted disabled children as their charity. It arrived while we were away! This is truely an act of the Holy Spirit and as soon as I can get some pics I will post them here.

Enough for now - its 94 degrees with 88% humidity and Ginni says I am not going to spend the whole day on the computer - we're going to the beach! I always do what Ginni says.

Till next time.