Growing the Church

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pray for us, we certainly need it

Anniversary Pics (and Urine???)

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

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

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

It truely was a wonderful celebration.

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

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

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

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

Well, gotta run - till next time

Vacation?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is a pic of the recently poured foundation

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

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

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

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

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

                                   

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

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

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

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

Here are two Grans - great ladies showing off their carnations

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

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

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

Well, enough for now - till next time

Mea Culpa

Hello my friends - and I do apologize for being away from the blog for so long.  There is much to tell to try to catch up on life on Andros so here goes

The last time I wrote we were entering Lent and here we are thru Lent and Easter and coming up on the Ascension.  As I mentioned before, the priest shortage is a major problem here and we had no priest through Lent.  I found it challenging to preach about the need to repent without being able to offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  For me, there were two highlights in Lent this year.  The first was Ash Wed.

Prior to Lent beginning we ask everyone to return their palms from last year and we gather them up for a Pallm Burning to create the ashes.  In prior years I would just do this by myself to collect the ashes for our annual ecumenical Ash Wed service with the Anglicans.  This year I did something different.

We are having our Primary School children meet for CCD on a monthly basis this year.  Rather than a weekly one hour class after school in each of the townships, we collect all the kids and have a monthly class that lasts for about 3 hours on a Saturday morning -- basically we do 3 lessons in that one session.

For the class right before Ash Wed we gathered up our palms and brought them to class.  We explained the penitential use of ashes historically, sackcloth and ashes, etc.  Then we took the kids and our basket of palms out into the yard.  I had a broiling pan with a few palms and, once I got that aflame, each child took a handful of palms and dumped them into the fire - it was a rather well organized system of kids going from the fire to the basket and soon the flames were roaring.  Once it all died down we went back inside to let them cool while I did another lesson.  At the end of the session I poured the ashes (still rather warm) into a coffee can and we headed home.  THEY had made ashes for Ash Wed.

It occured to me that having to do an Ash Wed service at three parishes we started at 9AM, then 12, then 3PM, followed by the ecumenical service at 7PM at the Anglican church.  Kids who lived south would be in school and not able to attend the 9AM service.  So I called the principal, told him about having made ashes with the kids and would he mind if I stopped at the school around 10:30 to give the kids that helped make the ashes, ashes.  He said no problem, so we had a plan (but his and mine were a bit different)

So we do the 9AM, then head over to Behring Point Primary School for my six kids at that school who had helped make the ashes.  It was then that I learned the Principal had called a special assembly and all 81 kids were expecting to get ashes!  Ginni and I did a quick mental adjustment of what I was going to do and I pulled off a 10 minute spontaneous explanation of why we use ashes like this - used Job sitting in sackcloth and ashes as an example - then we all said the Lord's Prayer and Ginni led them in song as they each processed up to get ashes -- little pre-K kids, wide-eyed and innocent; and the older ones, and even the teachers and the principal!  As we left I shook my head and wondered what the mother of the 7th Day Adventist child was going to say when her child came home with ashes.  I also was a bit overwhelmed with the privelidge I have in being able to minister to these kids like this - it was an awesome experience.

The second highlight of Lent for me was also in CCD.  As a Deacon I cannot hear confession or forgive sin.  Yet without a priest I was struggling with the lack of a penitential service of some kind.  What I came up with is what I call a 'Signing Service'.  After a lesson about the sacrament of reconciliation and our need to forgive each other, and be sorry for our sins I brought out my broiling pan once again, but this time full of sand.  Next to it was a pile of vigil candles and a sheet of paper with the words I AM SORRY down the left column.  As we sang an appropriate song, each child came up, lit a candle and stuck it into the sand, then signed their name next to I AM SORRY.  After all the kids had come up the church was aglow with the candle light and I did a little 'from darkness to light' explanation of being reconciled to God because we are sorry for our sins.  It wasn't confession, but it did the job I think and I was kind of tickled that I pulled off a penitential service like this one.

As Lent came to an end I kept wondering about having a priest for Easter.  We hadn't had one for Christmas and I had an RCIA candidate that expected to recieve the sacraments.  Well I got the phone call, and there was nobody to send - no priest for Easter.  A bit miffed I asked if I could look for a priest and was told to go for it.  After a half dozen emails to Boston contacts one idea of my pastor in Norwood paid off.  He suggested I contact the Director of the Priest Personnel Board.  On occasion a priest may be between assignments, or be home from a St. James Society mission assignment, and I might just luck out.  Well it turns out that the Director himself was able to come.   I was thrilled he could join us and, he did a wonderful job.  He was with us for all of Holy Week, washing feet on Holy Thursday, venerating the cross on Good Friday, the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday.  All the while he was online with the Cardinal back in Boston working on an upcoming Boston Priest Pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  He was a busy man but it was great to have him with us. 

During his stay we were able to coordinate a conference call with Archbishop Pinder to talk about the feasibility of Boston loaning a priest to Nassau for a few years.  As Director of the Priest Personnel Board, he promised to carry a letter to the Cardinal with Archbishop Pinder's request.  Keep that one in your prayers, we sure could use the help.

The Easter season has been a joy - the 2nd week of Easter is our annual clergy retreat and it was great to spend the week with clergy from all the islands.  Ginni headed home to the US to get in some nursing and earn some much-needed money for us while I was on retreat.  On that point I should share that the VNA that Ginni does her hospice work for has changed their policy on nurses that work the way Ginni does, requiring more frequent work days.  This means that after 25 years, Gin has had to resign.  She will miss the nursing but not the admin part of the job.

On another front - while we minister here, we are also building our new chapel in North Andros.  I have written about this before but we are well on our way.  Thanks to Deacon Paul Rooney at St. Anthony in Cohasset and Deacon Fran Corbett at Immaculate Conception in Weymouth and all my friends at St. Timothy in Norwood, the mission appeals we have done have given us what we need to get this effort off the ground.  Bulldozers have cleared the land and we have just completed laying the foundation.  Phase two will be the construction of the walls and roof and that should start in a few weeks while we await materials.  Then the interior work will begin.  If all goes well we should be done late summer.  But lets not count our chickens just yet -- Murphy's Law is very real when it comes to construction.  Lets just praise God we've completed the foundation!

Much more to share but its time to head out for CCD.  Pray its not quite so long before my next post
Till then - Peace

Christmas to Lent

Hello my friends - well the last time I posted it was Christmas time, and here we are in the 3rd week of Lent.  Where to begin?

Well, lets talk first about the building projects we have going.  There are three.  Here in Fresh Creek we had to replace all the windows in the church.  They were the crank-out style and the salt air has finally gotten the best of them.  I had budgeted $5K for this and it went pretty much to plan - except the freight fee to transport the windows from the US, which added another $1K. But it is done and they look great.  I was amazed to see what had to be done to install them.  Once the old windows were out the cement frame needed to be cleared of the old cement debris to make the perfect square frame for the new window. Think jackhammer.   Yup - and you can only imagine the dust and cleanup effort that required.  But its over, almost.  Once installed and screwed in new cement was needed to fill in all the nooks and crannies left over from the jack hammer work -- so now there is a painted job that isn't in the budget.  I am not jumping on this one yet because 'the cement needs time to cure' (but the reality is there just isn't any money for that right now).

While this is going on the second project is also under way.  In Behring Point (the most southern point on the island) we are restoring a building on the site of the very first Catholic church in the family islands.  It is a 32'x9' building that had been a bakery but will now be our CCD schoolhouse and parish ctr for that end of the island.  Children there still meet in the church and kneel on the floor to use the pews as a desk to do their papers.  This will be a great resource once its done.  This too is a $5K project and should come in just about at the budget.  What I did not put in my plans, however was a toilet and electricity.  I can live without electric, but the kiddies will need a toilet - a toilet needs water (there's no running water here) and septic.  Well the best estimate for toilet and septic is an additional $2K - so that can't happen.  What I have uncovered is a 'composting toilet'.  The newest eco-friendly toilet designed for RVs and boats or cabins in the woods.  Using peat moss or coconut husks, the solid waste is mixed, becoming compost - while the liquid waste flows into its own receptacle.  All this for $800.  I have been struggling with this one for months but I think it is the way to go.  This will be a VERY new thing for the Bahamians but for the amount of use it will see, I am leaning this way.

Then, there is the 3rd project, building a church in North Andros.  The first church in 40 years.  The building permits are approved, the builder is ready - and then the Archbishop says, I'd really like to see the site. Everything Stop.  Protocol dictates the Archbishop really should bless the site and be at the ground breaking so I tell the developer to wait.  We wait a week, then another - the builder is on pins and needles, he has men and equipment ready.  So I call the Archbishop - and we come to the agreement that he has a full schedule and, while he intends to visit before Easter, the project should not be delayed.  So once again we are on and ready to go.  Exciting times, yet scary all the same.  Through the generosity of the people of North Andros, and parishes back in the US, friends and family - we have raised just over $18K for this $30K project - enough to start the foundation, septic, and put up walls.  Then we will watch the Holy Spirit kick in the rest.

With all this said, then there are the unplanned financial things - last summer the AC in both bedrooms died.  Clearly this is the time to fix them and we did.  BUT the estimate of $600 became $1200 because the estimate did not include shipping and import duty tacked on by the Bahamian government .  THEN there is this little gem.  It turns out that before we came to Andros there was a 3 or 4 year period where there was no resident clergy here AND the property insurance bill went unpaid for that time.  Now we are told the parish has an $11K debt to cover those bills.  Clearly we don't have $11K and with all the building projects there is no extra $$$$ this year.  After many emails and many phone calls the chancery has agreed to defer this until next year, but next year's budget will have to start chipping away at this bill .
Trust me, this kind of financial stuff is not why we came here - but it is what all Pastor's must deal with (and Administrators too I guess).

With the beginning of Lent we gathered up all the palms from last year and I had the bright idea to bring them to CCD and have the kids help be burn them to make Ash Wed ashes.  So we do - all the primary school kids now meet with us one Saturday/month for an all morning class that consists of 3 different lessons.  One of them was about Lent and Ash Wed so we go behind the church, the kids get in line next to a big box filled with palms.  Using a baking pan I get the first handful blazing away, then each child takes a handful, walks up to the fire and plops them in.  Then the next child,  then the next, and now we have a bon fire.  Gradually all the palms were burnt and the ashes were made.  On the way home, however I realized that while the kids made the ashes, the timing of the Ash Wed services in 3 different church meant that it was more likely that the children wouldn't get them.  So, being the ever resourceful deacon that I am, I called the principal at their school and asked if I could drop by and give the kids ashes and he says that would be great, no problem.  So on Wed I do my first service at 9 in Cargill Creek, then swing by the school before heading to AUTEC for the noon-time service so the employees can come during their lunch break.  I pull into the school expecting my 6 Catholic kids to be pulled out of school for a short explanation and distribution of ashes only to find the principal calls an assembly and all 81 kids in the school are herded into a larger room, set up as a chapel.  Quickly I send Ginni to the van to get my alb and stole and after vesting I do an impromptu lesson on why we use ashes and led them in prayer and the Our Father - then one by one, each child, from Pre-K to grade 6 all dutifully process up to get ashes.  It was amazing - yet I would love to have been a fly on the wall when the little Seventh Day Adventist child got home from school that day and mommy learns that the Catholic Deacon came to school today and put these ashes on my head.  :o)

Other interesting developments - the week before Lent began we had a visit from one of the priests of Nassau.  It was exactly 6 months since we had been blessed with a priest and a full Mass.  I don't expect to see another until Easter and really do hope we have one for Easter since I have someone in RCIA who should get the sacraments and our 1st communion class expects to receive on Easter as well.   We have had a priest every year, drawing from visiting priests, Florida, and Jesuits who have adopted the idea of spending the Easter break at college with us island folks.  I trust the tradition will continue.

With Lent, and the Year of Faith, we are trying to do two things - first the Archdiocese has published a list of recommended reading books for the Year of Faith - all good stuff but coincidentally Ginni has just read one of them 'Confessions of a Megachurch Pastor' about a Methodist minister who converts to Catholicism and why.  Luckily I found a website where I can order them for $2 a book, so I did and had them ship to AUTEC.  Our plan is the AUTEC will read them in March, St. John in April,  Christ the King in May.  The trick will be to get all the books back to use them again for the next parish. 

The second thing for the Year of Faith is the showing of the 10 DVD series 'Catholicism' by Fr. Robert Barron.  Coincidentally, the Archdiocese of Nassau is promoting this and asking each parish to present the series AND the Military Archdiocese had sent a set to the AUTEC Chapel.  So for zero dollars I have the material and have begun showing it at Christ the King.  My problem is that at AUTEC there is one individual who consistently installs himself as leader, and who now wants to lead this program and run it.  While it would be a great help I also have people there who don't want to attend if he leads.  We have butt heads before and it is never pleasant but this situation is one I need to resolve.  So with prayer, fasting, and my lovely wife cranking out rosary after rosary to support; me he and I are gradually putting a plan together on how we can work together.  Unfortunately it will delay the program until after Easter, but we are not on any deadline so we are hopeful we can get through this with minimal conflict.  Pray for this one please.

So - construction with its headaches, Lent and the crosses that come with it, AND the ever present hope of EASTER, we continue to grow the Kingdom of God.  Keep us in your prayers, without your help we would be no where.  With your help all things are possible.
Till next time

Christmas on Andros

Hello my friends - well once again I have been lax and there is much to share so let's go.
Every Christmas and New Years our two main Bahamian parishes alternate who gets midnight services.  This year it was Fresh Creeks turn for midnight at Christmas and Cargill Creek would host New Years.  The Bahamians feel it is important to be in Church at the start of these days, thus the tradition.

My problem has been that over the past few years the Christmas midnight service has drawn very poorly.  Being in church at the start of the New Year still seems of import and the church is full but no so much for Christmas.  So this year I bit the bullet and moved the Christmas Vigil service to 8PM.  (I still had the AUTEC Christmas Service at 6:30).  So with Christmas being on a Tuesday I had a four day schedule that looked a bit nuts.  Saturday at 6PM for the weekend liturgy at AUTEC, followed by the 830AM and 11:30AM Sunday liturgies (gratefully, with the Mastic Pt school closed for the holiday there was no Mastic Pt liturgy this weekend) - the Monday it was 6:30 Christmas Vigil at AUTEC followed by the 8:30 Vigil in Fresh Creek, and the 1130 Christmas Day service in Cargill.  Of course people who hadn't been in church didn't know about the Christmas schedule and sill showed up for the 8AM service in Fresh Creek, so I did that for them too.   Then - we repeated the whole thing for New Years with the exception that we DID have a midnight service, this year in Cargill Creek - which was actually well attended.

I should mention that we have setup for all these holidays that is a challenge.  Here is our altar in Fresh Creek, sans the Advent Wreath which had just been removed. 

I thought I had a pic of our outdoor manger but I guess not.  It is actually quite good.  We have a plastic Joseph and a plastic mary with a light bulb in each one and they are set up inside a manger that consists of 3 pallets we get from the dock.  These wooden pallets make up the walls of the 3 sided manger.  We then nail two boards to the front at an angle making a peak and lay palm branches across the top for a roof.

I should explain that Christmas and New Years are big here.  Christmas is the traditional Bahamian celebration of Junkanoo with a Carnival atmosphere, parades, bands, music, and to say its huge is not an exageration.  Each band has dancers in huge costumes and the instruments range from cow bells and whistles to wash board scrapers and drums.  There are trumpets and saxaphones and drums.  There are dancers and drums (there are alot of drums).  Drums range from bongos to huge oil drums with goatskins stretched across the top.  (actually the only musical instrument we have in Fresh Creek is 1 junkanoo drum made from a garbage can and goatskin).  Here's a typical Junkanoo dancer.

Throughout all of Christmas and New Years I was dealing with what I think is a pinched nerve in my neck causing shooting pain down my back and shoulder.  I self-medicated to get through it but fnally went to the clinic who gave me different meds and a referal to a hospital in Nassau.  If you remember, when I had that Angina attack back a few years ago and I was in Doctor's hospital they did an MRI and commented that my neck had arthritis and bone spurs on a few vertibrae - well I just have been dealing with the nuisance that it is but this last flare up was a pain (he he he).  Seriously, the drugs have it under control but I will probably have to have it looked at when I go to Nassau in January or February.

We were blessed by a visitor of this blog from Georgia actually coming to Andros to visit relatives for the holidays.  He is very enthused about the ministry and Joe brought two cases of blankets and some children's books for the Haitian community in North Andros.  In Dec and Jan the temps at night here dip into the low60's and sometimes 50's and since none of the houses here have heat (especially the Haitian plywood shanty town) the cold does a number on them. 

My shoulder was giving me fits at the time, and the stick shift in the bus was not a good thing.  But, after my trip to the clinic I was feeling better and gave Joe a call to see if he wanted to join me for a trip North to see the folks that would get his gift.  He was thrilled to come and we actually had a great conversation about the ministry here, the new projects we have going.

I've mentioned that there is no diesel gas station on our end of the island so, making this trip up north we also had a stop at the station up north and put $100 of diesel in my 3 gas cans.  Then I showed him the Mastic Point building site where, I am glad to say, our new sign has been erected for Our Lady of Hope.  (When Ginni returns from her US trip I will get the camera back and take a pic of that for you all).

Anyway, we drove into the Haitian shanty town and delivered our blankets to much thanks from them.  Most of the men still hadn't returned from working the fields yet but Keno, one of my good friends there did recieve them and promised to work with Jacque to get the blankets to those with most need.  I want to share that we did arrive without warning and we caught Keno bathing at the time.  Bathing is filling a 5 gal water bucket at the pump, then going behind the bushes, getting wet, soaping up, then rinsing off.  When the van pulled up he did shout a welcome but someone else came out to speak with us.  After a few minutes I caught a glimpse of Keno running from the bushes to his trailer with a towel wrapped round his waist so I then figured out what was going on.  Anyway - delivery made we headed out and met Jacque on his way in from the fields on his bike.  We explained where we left the cases and he said he'd take care of them with Keno.
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With the holidays past, my work now is to crank out the lesson plans for the next 5 months of CCD classes.  We are doing one set of lessons for the Primary School, that will include the first communion component, then another set for the Secondary School students.  Lots to plan and this 2 week Christmas break is when I have to keep my head down and put it all together.  A great help for me has been a web site Sermons4Kids.com that has wonderful ideas for presenting lessons as part of a homily, but it also works to help make CCD classes relavent  and a bit more fun.

While all this is in the works I do want to mention the three capital expense projects that are all going on at the same time.  Here at St. John's in Fresh Creek our crank out style windows in the church no longer work and alot of the window panes have broken.  So, in this years budget, one line item was $5000 to replace all the church windows - which was just finished.  Part of that money came out of church savings, and part from the reimbursement we got from the Archdiocese for exceeding our Annual Appeal goal.  So - again when Ginni returns with the camera I will post pics of our new church windows.

The second project is to restore one of the buildings in Behring Point - part of the first Catholic Church in the family islands.  Another $5000, also partially paid for from saviings and the Appeal refund.  THis will give us a building for CCD and parish meetings at that end of the island that we don't have now.  CCD is still in the church with kids kneeling on the floor and using the benches as desks to do their papers.  If all goes well we should be using that building in Feb.  A hiccup that is now a pain on this project is a toilet - or lack of one to be more correct.  We missed that in our original plan and our plumber wanted to add $2200 to the bill to add septic, a toilet and a sink - so we have no toilet.  I have been investigating composting toilets and have found one for $800.  It looks and acts like a toilet but what it does is separate the liquid waste from the solid, with the base of the toilet being the storage tanks.  Solid waste, when you 'flush' is actually mixed with peat moss or coconut husks and the combination, gradually becomes compost.  The liquid waste I can carry home once a month and flush, the solid compost will be added round our hybiscus plants.  Still investigating whether it will work but right now I think it will.

Finally, our third project is building Our Lady of Hope Chapel in N. Andros.  All the plans have been submitted to the inspector and I hope, once approved, to begin work next month.  If all goes well it won't be long before we can leave the school and start having church in Church.

Before I sign off I have to share Ebonique's story.  Niqua is a 3rd grader and last year she started coming to CCD.  Her father is Catholic, her mother not, and they'd decided to raise the son Catholic and the daughter in the mother's church.  Well the pastor of the mother's church retired and Niqua has been coming to church and really really really wants to recieve communion.  So - even though we don't accept kids until grade 3 (because they can't read), Niqua just showed up as a 2nd grader.  Now in 3rd, she is a First Communion candidate - except - there is this baptism thing.  We explained to her that she can come to class but until Dad finds Catholic God-parents and Mom says OK and we baptize her - we can't do First Communion.   Well, let me tell you, this is a girl on a mission.  She got Mom and Dad to agree she can become Catholic, she came up to me in church in November and said, "Deacon, you promised I could be batized in October, why didn't you do it?"  I explained that Dad still hadn't found God-parents and she said, "Come with me".  So I follow her to the back room where Dad is working as one of our money counters after services.  "Dad, Deacon says I can be baptized when you get God-parents - when are you going to do that?"  She is actually standing there with her arms crossed as she says it and Dad, looking at me is clearly embarrased.  Well, I gotta tell you, the following week he had God-parents lined up and on Saturday I am doing a Baptism prep class with parents and God-parents and Niqua, then Sunday - the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we will baptize her and, I fully expect her to recieve First Communion on Easter.  What a kid!

Speaking of the sacraments - the priest shortage is a killer here.  When we arrived 5 years ago we saw a visiting priest about every 4-6 weeks.  It has grown to 4 months since our last priest was here, and prior to that it was 3 months, and the priest was the Archbishop who joined us for Confirmation.  I am very concerned that my flock on Andros is really losing the import of the Eucharist.  They recieve it weekly and understand what it is, don't get me wrong.  But without seeing the consecration with any regularity they are losing the sense of our liturgy being any different than the protestant liturgies at the Baptist Anglican or Pentecostal churches.  Not to mention the absolute loss of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

To fix this I wrote up a suggestion that a priest from Nassau visit us every 4 weeks and, while they are here, I will go cover for them in Nassau.  The Archbishop thanked me, but said he wanted to think about it and he'd get back to me after the holidays.  Not the reaction I wanted, especially since we continued to be without a pries throughout the holidays.  I am not taking it personal, there were 3 islands without a priest for Christmas this year,  Cat, San Salvador, and Andros.  It just frustrates me to no end.

Well, this is really getting rather long (see what happens when I don't blog for a month).  Please keep us in your prayers.  Till next time.