Camera is fixed!

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!

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!

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!

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

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

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

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.