Catching up on the news

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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!