Lent begins

Hello again my friends - as I write this we are in the 3rd week of Lent, how you doing?  Are you having a happy Lent?  Well you should!

That was actually the theme of my Ash Wednesday homily - in Lent we are called to repent, a call to prayer, fasting and almsgiving (not exactly the most uplifting of tasks).  Yet, it is through repentance that we are forgiven - and in forgiveness we have JOY!  Happy Lent!

Each Ash Wednesday our church and the Anglican community have an annual joint Ash Wednesday service.  We take turns hosting and whoever hosts keeps the collection - whoever is guest, preaches.  So this year it was the Anglican church's turn to host and I preached.  I always enjoy this and it seems they enjoyed my message.  The church was full and many of my parishioners were there.  The Anglican church, of course, has its roots in the Catholic Church so many parts of the service were identical, but there were many differences as well.  The bottom line however, is that the Word was proclaimed and we joined together as we began our Lenten Journey.

Ash Wednesday, however, did not begin with the ecumenical service.  That was actually the last of 5 services that day for me.  We started at 9AM with our Ash Wed liturgy in Cargill Creek.  That was followed by an 10:30AM drop-in at the Bowen Sound Primary School, then the 12:00 noon service at AUTEC.  I stayed at AUTEC until 1:00 so that those whose lunch break didn't allow them to be present at noon could still come by and be 'marked'.  At 1:00 I left AUTEC and drove the 90 minutes north to Mastic Point where, at Mastic Point Primary School over 60 received ashes, then back south to the ecumenical service with the Anglicans at their church in Calabash Bay (boy, was my thumb black).

Of all these services, by far, I had the most fun at Mastic Point Primary.  Just like last year the Principal had called an assembly and when I arrived they were all seated in the school auditorium.  This school has Pre-K, Kindergarten, and grades 1-6.  Different from the US, Kindergarten starts at 4 years old.  The little ones are so precious, I really enjoyed them.

This is a pic of the younger ones singing "This Little Light of Mine".  Its a great song for the kids because  I can make up different words that the kids sing, for example "Shine all over Mastic Point, I'm Gonna Let it Shine" - or - "Shine all over Mrs. Edgecombe", I'm Gonna Let it Shine" (Mrs Edgecombe liked that one).

Now, as we are singing I notice a teacher waving frantically to someone behind me.  I turns out this girl arrives late and she came in from the stage door, behind me.  The teacher was trying to tell her to go around, but when I realized it I hammed it up a bit.  "Who is this?"  All the kids shout her name.  "Shanika", I say, "come sing with us"

"Shine all over Shanika, I'm gonna let it shine", and the song went on with me holding her hands and clapping them as we sang - it was great and the kids loved it - even Shanika whose smile was literally from ear to ear.

After the song I began to explain why we put ashes on our heads.  To do this I told the story of Jonah and the whale - except I started with Jonah being swallowed by a Grouper "Nooo", the kids shouted.  OK he was swallowed by a shark, "Nooo Deacon", was he swallowed by a Lionfish? "Nooo, it was a whale".
As you can see I was a very animated preacher.
 

I had lots of fun with them, explaining that when the people of Nineveh repented they put ashes on their heads to show they were sorry for being bad - and today we are going to do the same thing.  We put ashes on our heads in the shape of a cross because, while we do bad things, it is through the cross that Jesus came and we get forgiven - and so the line of kids began, beginning with the youngest.

and it continued, and continued

 and continued and continued

 and even included the teachers!

When we were finished they all thanked me very much and I must say  it was a joy - which is what Lent is supposed to be - a time to experience the Joy of Repentance.

Once I finished here it was back on the road to get home for the 7PM ecumenical service and then, after a rather full day, get home, put my feet up, and begin to plan a homily for the 1st Sunday of Lent. 

How blessed am I do have the honor of being allowed to serve like THIS!
Till next time
Peace

February already!?

Well I must apologize - to go from DEC to FEB without a post - WOW, even for me.

As you remember, the Archbishop was with us in SEP for Confirmation and we went without a priest until the first week of DEC.  This week we have our first priest since then.  I actually went to Nassau to get more consecrated hosts a few weeks ago.  I must mention Fr. Glen Nixon, the Rector at the Cathedral in Nassau.  He is absolutely the most accommodating when it comes to this (He is a great friend too).  We have a standing invitation whenever we are low on consecrated hosts to come to the Cathedral and fill up a ciborium to help us through until we have priest visit.  It is great to have such a resource at our disposal.

When a priest comes he consecrates a full ciborium here at St. John Chrysostom in Fresh Creek, and also at the AUTEC chapel.  Both churches have a large tabernacle that can hold a large ciborium.  We dip into those two to provide hosts for Christ the King in Cargill Creek and Our Lady of Hope in Mastic Point.

Our visiting priest is the retired Vicar from Jacksonville, FL.  He was with us 2 Christmases ago for a month.  This time he is here for 2 weeks and then will go to another island for another 2 weeks.  It is a joy to have him here, he is very personable and our conversations are great.  His presence gives our people an opportunity for Confession and an opportunity to participate in the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass, which we skip when, as a Deacon, I provide Eucharist Services.

Fr. V. is also technically savy - he has an IPhone that can do amazing things with the apps he has on it and, as someone into Apple Technology, he was able to get a MAC that was given to us up and running.  He even transferred docs from my laptop onto the MAC.  Maybe now we can use that as the parish PC rather than my personal laptop.  After 6 years that would be good.

Advent and Christmas were great - we had the same issue with people leaving the island to visit friends and family on Nassau or the US so that Christmas attendance was low.  It always has been that way.  With so little to do on our island many of our parishioners go to Nassau or US for Christmas.  Especially since Christmas and Boxing Day are huge events on Nassau.  The Bahamas celebrates "Junkanoo" from Christmas thru New Years - think Carnival on steroids.  It is a fabulous time with parades and competition between groups with dancers, music, elaborate costumes, - - -  you get the idea.  With all that, why stay on Andros?  We watch it on TV, as well as the usual US parades on New Years.

This year Christmas and New Years were on a Thursday so we had services on the Wed night Vigil, then the 3 services on the Thursday feast day, then the Saturday weekend Vigil and the 3 Sunday liturgies - two weeks in a row - I think that's 16 liturgies over the holidays - with no priest.  A bit crazy but we did it.

Fr. V's visit will overlap with friends from VA who will be visiting us  Feb 10-17.  Frank and Ellen have been great friends for years and it will be good to see them.  It will be nice to have them meet Fr. V for the 4 days their visits overlap -- I know already they will be fast friends.

A benefit of Fr. V being here is not only do we have a Mass on the weekend, we have a Mass during the week.  A few days ago a stranger dropped in during the reading of the Gospel.  He was clearly uncomfortable and out of place so I went over to him.  He had a pillowcase with all his belongings and said he came by because a friend had told him when you were down on your luck you could come to the church and get a sandwich.  We left church and in a few minutes he had a peanut butter sandwich, a coke, and a few apples and he was on his way, thanking us profusely.  When I returned to church Fr. V said, St. Vincent de Paul said 'when you are at prayer and the poor man comes to your door, leave your prayer and provide for the poor man'  -- here we are living the Gospel - it happens more often than you can imagine.

As we enter our 7th year here we are beginning to notice the need to paint our churches is becoming obvious.  In Calabash Bay we have an old church we converted into a class room/parish hall.  I know a parishioner who does painting who can use the work so we struck a deal and he has started.  Last weekend he called and said he was done.  I had given him half the fee for supplies and the second half was now due since the work was done - until - he says, "Do you mind that I only did 3 walls?  Its OK if I leave the back undone, nobody sees that anyway."   Well I explained it is not OK and he really needed to finish the work before I'd considered it complete - his written estimate was not for 3/4 of the church but for all the church.  I have learned you can be friends,  but when it comes to money you gotta be firm.  Hopefully he'll finish the job this weekend.

Ash Wednesday is fast approaching.  Fr. V will be gone by then and if this is the same routine as last year we will have 4 parish services and 2 services in various public schools.  In Fresh Creek we usually do an Ecumenical Ash Wednesday service with the Anglicans - this year it is their turn to host, but I will preach.  It is a blessing to be able to share at least this one liturgy with them, the Priestess at the Anglican church is very welcoming.  This Sunday and next Sunday we are collecting palms for burning to make the ashes.  Last year I did the palm burning with our primary school students, I think this year I might do it with our secondary school students - it is a kick for them to see the actual making of the ashes we use on Ash Wed.

There is a man from our parish who has been in the Deacon Formation program for the last 4 years.  He will be ordained, God willing, in June.  The Director of the program as told me that what he really needs is time around the altar - he needs to get experience before ordination so that after ordination he will be more comfortable than he is now.  He was consecrated as Lector a few weeks ago so we have begun using him at our Sunday services and once a month we have him prepare a homily for the upcoming Sunday and present it to us on Tues.  This Tues Fr. V will be in attendance as well, we will see how that goes.  There is no greater teacher than experience and we'd really like him to succeed.

In closing I must tell you a funny experience Fr. V and I had together.  We had gone to the local clinic to pick up a prescription and were sitting in the waiting room.  Two kids were acting up and Grandma had just about had it - "Go sit over there  -- over there -- go sit -- will you just sit down!"  you get the image.
Well, "over there" was the seat next to me and Fr. V. and I decided to see if I could give her a break.  With my white beard and belly, as they sat I said, "You should be good over here because I am Santa".  They looked doubtful so I said, "I am Santa, I come to the Bahamas after Christmas to get a rest - right now in the North Pole my reindeer are out in the field playing but Rudolph has a cold and has to stay in the barn".  Well now their eyes widen and Grandma begins to giggle in the seat behind us.  So for the next few minutes I tell story after story about flying my sleigh and how Mrs. Clause keeps the naughty and nice book and go on and on until the nurse comes from the pharmacy with my pills.  By that time I have one kid on my knee, the other curled up on the seat next to me. Grandma is now laughing and Fr. V is shaking his head in disbelief.  We say goodbye and they promise to be good and head out to the car.  Fr. V says 'boy you had those kids eating out of your hand' and I said "Yes, and I'm hoping that now Grandma will come to church - I'm always fishing for new members"  It was a fun experience and good for a laugh - we shall see if we meet them again Sunday.

Till next time

Necessity is the mother of invention

Hello my friends - Happy Advent!

So much to share and tell you but this morning I had an experience that I would like to start with.

Every morning I go into the church and do Morning Prayer in front of the tablernacle and this morning was no exception.  Many of my friends up north have been experiencing the cold of winter and so have we.  Temps in the 60s are not uncommon in the Bahamas during winter but it throws us for a loop.  Ski parkas and knitted hats start showing up with regularity.  To get back to morning prayer - I am in the church, prayer is good, and then I hear a new noise - a racket actually.  It seems to be coming from right outside the church so I look and see nothing, but following the noise I end up in the east end of the church facing a neighbor's house.  Years ago he had done some construction and had left a 20' high pile of dirt between our two lots.  Children had discovered the pile and, like children up north, had decided to go sledding on the pile of dirt - but to do it Bahamian style.

Kids here don't have too much, but they make do with what they have.  If your bike's tires are flat - take them off and ride on the rims - it makes a racket but its kinda cool.  Well these kids had the cover to a broken cooler - one kid actually had an old door from an abandoned fridge - and they were using these as sleds.  They would climb to the top of the dirt pile, sit on the cooler cover, and then down the pile of dirt they'd slide.  Just like up north on snow - except we don't have snow - so a tall dirt pile works just as good.  The old saying 'necessity is the mother of invention' is a very real reality here.

Speaking of mother - my mother turned 90 last week and Ginni and I took Tues-Fri to fly to Vero Beach and celebrate with my sisters and all my parents friends.  It really was a hoot.  We put our father thru his paces as he tried to make sure every detail of our visit went well - and he did a great job.  The party was quite the event and we all had a great time.  Ginni and I were even able to take a side trip to the seminary in Boynton Beach. 

Here is a link to their website. It really is an amazing place.http://www.svdp.edu/portal/

If you recall, last Easter Fr. Mike joined us from Boynton Beach and we were very thankful to have him.  After his stay he was impressed with our ministry and the lack of priests here so he asked if he could come back!  It turns out that, since Easter, he has returned to the Bahamas 3 times and hopes to come back once a month.  Our Vicar General has been spreading him around the Archdiocese and we hope that one of these months he'll be sent to us.  When we went to FL for my mother's party we flew into Fr. Lauderdale and Boynton Beach was on the way to Vero where my mom lives.  We set it up to stop and see him for lunch and it was a wonderful visit.  St. Vincent's Seminary has over 100 seminarians and it is glorious!  No kidding, we got the grand tour and this place is top of the line.  Seeing Fr. Mike again was a joy and we were thrilled to see him and all the good work being done there.  What a great ministry he has.

Back on Andros we hit the ground running with RCIA and CCD.  Actually last week's CCD class was the last one until after the Christmas break.  This year, however, we have 6 people in RCIA, spread out over three churches, so coordinating classes is a huge task.  Inevitably one or two people can't make a scheduled class so each week we do the class, then one or two make up sessions for those that missed it.  We had a funny situation develop because of this. 

One candidate is a bus driver.  He has a bus and drives the route from AUTEC to North Andros - not an easy task with the horrible roads we have.  ANYWAY - he had missed a class in North Andros and we had a system set up that when he did, on his Tuesday route he would stop in Fresh Creek and we'd do a makeup at 8AM on Tues mornings.  This has worked fine and last week we expected him, and he showed up.  At the door, however, he was apologetic, saying that he was ready for class but he had 3 people in the bus who were going to wait and wanted to make sure it was OK with me that they sat in the bus for the hour we talked.  Now we could clearly do the makeup the next day - but he was totally willing to let his passengers sit in the bus for an hour AND they were totally willing to wait, knowing he was going to 'church school'.  Don't you just love Bahamians.  I told him that we should just do it tomorrow and he didn't have to let his passengers sit outside like that and he said, "Oh good, one of them is pregnant and on her way to the clinic".  Blew me away that the passengers, including the pregnant woman, were fine with waiting like that.

While RCIA can have moments like this - so can CCD.  In our last class we were talking about Christmas and the gold frankincense and myrhh that the wise men brought.  I have frankincense so we lit some charcoal and burned the incense as I explained about what the wise men brought and why it was important for the newborn Christ - gold for a king, frankincense for a priest, and myrhh for burial.   After all this talk I turn to the kids and say "so are you ready for Christmas - who comes on Christmas?"  Without missing a beat, the answer - SANTA!  I wanted to beat my head against the wall.

Speaking of gifts - as Christmas nears we occasionally receive gifts from the US and these checks are very helpful.  Our bank here, however, charges a fee to process US checks so out of a $100 check I might only get $95.  To get around this I send the check to the Archdiocese, who deposits it in their US Account, and then sends me $100 Bahamian.  Everybody gets 100% of the intended donor but it takes a few weeks since the Archdiocese has to wait for the US check to clear before they cut my Bahamian check.  Well it turns out that while the church account that we have here is in Bahamian money, Ginni and I have personal bank accounts as well.  One of these is in Bahamian money, one in US currency for when my family sends money for our personal use.  Last week we had a US visitor who donated $80 by check in the plate offering and I made the mistake of putting it in with all the other monies from that Sunday rather than the usual process of sending it to the Archdiocese.  The bank teller pointed it out and began to compute the fee when I light dawned on my dull brain.  I said, wait a minute, deposit that in my personal US Account - and she said, Oh, we can do that and she does -- 100% no deduction since its a US currency account.  Then when all is done I say - can we do one more transaction - can we transfer $80 from my personal US account into the church account?  No problem Deacon - and poof, I've invented a way to get US checks into the church account without sending it to Nassau or being charged a fee.  "Necessity is the mother of invention" Indeed!

One last story for you.  We had a tire with a leak that I needed to get fixed, except it wasn't a nail as you'd expect - the rim itself was so dented from hitting potholes that it was the source of the leak.  I bring it to our mechanic, certain I need a new rim and he says 'No problem Deac, I can fix dat" and he breaks out a sledge hammer and WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM he beats the rim back into shape, filled the tire with air, and we are good to go.  Ya gotta love it.

Till next time

Update 4 U all

Hello my friends - well once again too much time has passed, but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy.
In my last post we had just celebrated Confirmation - and it was on the feast day of our patron, St. John Chrysostom.  Our parish church in Fresh Creek is physically the largest and we had a combined service back in September on St. John Chrysostom's feast day for Confirmation.  Unfortunately, that is the last time we were able to celebrate the Eucharist since we've had no priest since then.  As we pass the mid-point of November and head into Thanksgiving we hope that will change shortly.

As you know, the Church held a Synod of Bishops, and our Archbishop was present in Rome for that event.  In fact, he has yet to return.  Archbishop Pinder was appointed to the 'Congregation for the Evangelization of Families' and, with several other Bishops and Cardinals, stayed behind to begin to work with them.  He is scheduled to return this weekend.

Here is a link to an interview Archbishop Pinder gave to Vatican Radio during the Synod.  Once you open the link you need to 'play' the radio button to hear it:

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/10/16/abp_pinder_on_synod_the_structure_of_the_family_is_key/1108699


On a different note, one of the Bahamian Deacons has died and I was blessed to be able to attend his funeral at the Cathedral.  It was quite an event.  The funeral was at 10AM on a Tuesday and the Cathedral was packed.  Deacon Rahming was one of the first Deacons in the Archdiocese of Nassau and was a wonderful man.  Here is a link to a Youtube video where I am part of the procession - singing away.  I was told I did a good job 'walking and singing at the same time'.  (I'm sure there's a way to get it to appear rather than have you click the link but its beyond me how to make that happen)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJqC3uyiwbY

After the funeral we processed to the cemetery and, when the casket was being lowered into the grave, discovered the casket was too wide for the concrete vault.  After getting it only halfway down, they had to haul it back up, take off the side handles with a screwdriver, then re-lower it.  All the while we just kept singing.  Only in the Bahamas.

Back on Andros we are in full swing with CCD and RCIA.  This year we have six candidates in RCIA, spread out over 3 different parishes.  This makes coordinating classes a challenge but we're doing it.  We have welcomed someone into the church ever Easter since we arrived and this year will be no different.  The expression "Growing the Kingdom of God" has a whole new meaning when you can put names and faces on how the church is growing!

Another exciting development has to do with our Deacon Candidate.  Four years ago the Archdiocese started the first Deacon class in 10 years and we were blessed to get one of our men accepted into the program.  This academic year is his 4th and final year in formation.  Praise God, if he can get through this final year he will be ordained in the Spring/Summer time frame and Andros will have a Bahamian Deacon.  Time will tell how these 10 men will impact the Archdiocese, but it will basically double the number of ordained Deacons here.

Getting back to CCD, when we first arrived we had over 50 kids in CCD and we were running like crazy to plan First Communion, Confirmation, and classes for the kids in between those sacraments.  Over 6 years the majority have passed through Confirmation and this year we have just 18 students - AND - we are blessed with an actual teacher who has volunteered to teach our Primary School students.  What a blessing!




Finally, I want to thank all of you who, over the years, helped us build Our Lady of Hope in North Andros.  Last week we celebrated our first anniversary in that building after 4 years of meeting in the 4th grade classroom.  A year flew bye in no time - remember this pic from the Dedication Service we had last year?

Along the same lines, this weekend we will celebrate the feast of Christ the King at our church in Cargill Creek - Christ the King.  To celebrate the feast of our patron we asked people to sign up to bring cakes and cookies for after church, but by the time we were done we had people offering chicken, mac&cheese, cole slaw, AND cakes and cookies - it will be quite the event and I'll do my best to get some pics for the next post.  Until then - pray for us and we will do the same for you - Peace.

Confirmation

Hello my friends - hope you are well.
In my last post I wrote about our summer vacation - well we are back at it.
Summer is winding down, school has started, and we are cranking up for CCD to begin once again.

I mentioned before that the Bahamas is a Christian nation.  Not like the US, here they put it into the Constitution that this is a Christian nation.  This makes a difference in how things are done, for example, at a town meeting the local Administrator will start the meeting with a prayer - or invite clergy to do so.  This is NOT something you'd ever see in the US anymore (although the founding fathers certainly did).

Anyway - we had a visitor to the church who asked if I would come to school to lead the opening.  It seems that the 1st week of school, each day is started with an assembly.  After the Pledge Allegiance and singing of the National Anthem, a member of the clergy is invited to do a 15-20 minute inspirational talk to start the day.  My day was Tuesday.  You can't imagine what its like to stand up before 200 kids, all in line by class, standing at attention, and preach.  It went over well and it really was an honor - but such a hoot compared to the US culture that I've come from.

When the school year ended last fall we were waiting for the Archbishop to visit us for Confirmation but his schedule got in the way.  As a solution we decided to defer his coming until the fall when school resumes since most of our kids leave Andros for the summer (it really is unbearably hot and there is nothing here for the kids to do over the summer so they go to the US or other islands to visit family.)

September 13 was the feast of St. John Chrysostom, our patron saint, so we made a plan for him to come that weekend - and he did.  He flew in Saturday night and we went out for a nice meal.  Then, after dinner we had our annual review - which was good.  We talked about our accomplishments and the challenges still ahead, the finances of the parishes and a wide range of issues impacting ministry here.  What we thought would be an hour was over two by the time we were done.

Sunday started with a trip to AUTEC for the 8:30 service.  AUTEC personnel have a difficult time getting off the NAVY Base due to work schedules and military life in general so keeping our regular Sunday schedule was good for them.  Then it was back to St. John Chrysostom for the 10AM Confirmation.  Since we had kids from all the parishes we decided to have a combined service of all the Bahamian parishes.

Parishioners drove up from Behring Point, Cargill Creek and Mastic Point to join us in Fresh Creek for Confirmation, and it was fantastic.  The church was filled to the brim and the song and prayers filled the rafters.  My biggest fear is that here we have "Bahamian Time".  A 10AM start time could mean people arrive at !0:30 - but they were on time so we began without a hitch

The service included our Confirmadi as lectors and they brought up the gifts for the Archbishop.  Here Jared reads the first reading.

and here I am proclaiming the gospel

followed by the Archbishop Preaching - another stressful point for me because he always asks the students a few questions to test them - they did fine and I could breath a sigh of relief.  I really was pleased at how well they did.

Next came the Renewal of Baptismal Promises.  Cameo did a great job holding the Archbishop's book perfectly still - not something that is that easy

After the renewal of Baptismal Promises the Archbishop lays hands on each and prays for the descent of the Holy Spirit

Finally came the anointing with Chrism, where each declares their patron saint.  This year it ranged from traditional like LUKE to those you don't usually hear, like VALENTINE.  What surprised me was how many girls picked PETER!

Having received the Sacrament it was time to continue with Mass.  Here I am after the gifts were brought up, setting the table.

One finished we did the mandatory 'posed pic' with the Archbishop.  We have a teenager from AUTEC who has become a rather good photographer who took all these pics.  She will get a kick out of seeing her name in Bahama Catholic (our Archdiocesan newspaper) getting credit for the pictures.

And FINALLY it was time to eat.  With a celebration like this you need a plate of chicken and rice and some cold water melon.  Here everyone is getting in line to fill their plates - it was quite the spread!

Well, enough for now
Till next time

Summer on Andros - with vaca

Hello again - and again its been too long.
Summer on Andros is a bit different than the rest of the year.  First, its hurricane season; Second its hot, really hot, my son calls it Africa hot; Third, because its so hot many of our local folks leave.  School is out and there really isn't anything for the kids to do.  Families leave for the US or Nassau or to visit families abroad.  Even some of our Haitian friends in North Andros go back to Haiti - its too hot for the crops to grow so there is no work, why stay?

With attendance down, so are donations, which makes it even more of a challenge.  The people who stay are the poor.  They cannot afford to leave and so they endure the heat with us.

A side effect of the heat is that the usual 'visiting clergy' from the US have no desire to take a vacation here during these months so we go for months without a priest.  This year we were blessed to have a priest from FL for Easter, but by the end of July we hadn't had a priest since.  

This year we had a family wedding so I went home the last week of July and first week of August.  Ginni had taken the whole month of July to help a friend pack up her house and move.  The result was I spent July here alone, then flew to Boston and met up with Ginni then.  While I was gone a priest flew in from Nassau to provide weekend coverage, not once, but TWICE.  In my six years here that is the first time we had a priest two weeks in a row.  Our next visit should be in September when the Archbishop is due to come for Confirmation.

Our trip to Boston was great, we met many old friends and family AND we went to northern VT for a wedding, which was a real vacation.  Usually a trip to the US is filled with meetings and lunches and fundraising and, while I love seeing old friends, fundraising is not vacation.  This trip I swore I'd take it easy and just be on vacation, but God is good and fundraising just sort of happened, without our planning it.

First, our parish in Norwood, MA has had a change.  Our pastor of many years was reassigned and for the first time was not at St. Timothy's.  Ginni and I went to a mid-week Mass and met the new priest.  I asked if he needed weekend help and he said if I wanted to be with Fr. G, that was fine with him.  Fr. G is a retired priest with some health issues so I called him and he was thrilled to have me serve with him and even asked if I would preach.  SUPER.  So Sunday comes and I serve at the 9:30 and the 11 with Fr. G.  He starts Mass by recognizing me and the whole church applauds - I was amazed, touched, and really felt welcome.

After each service I stood at the door, as usual, shaking hands and thanking people for coming.  Eventually some little old lady passed be a $20 (put this to work for me Deacon), then someone else did the same, and it happened over and over and over again.  By the end of Sunday I have over $300 in bills simply stuffed into my hand.  Then for the next few days we met with friends, who all wanted to go out to eat.  I think in the 2 week trip we ate at home 3 times.  During these meals, an envelope would appear, totally unrequested, simply because they love us.  It was really quite overwhelming.  At the end of the trip we had almost $2000.

Then, as part of this trip we had to check in with the Archdiocese of Boston.  As a Deacon, my status is "unassigned, with permission".  We do need to check in and do a sort of 'status' with them and we did.  The head of the Diaconate program spent about an hour with us and was very supportive and encouraging.  Then we met with the Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in the Archdiocese of Boston.  This is the group that promotes and supports missionary work.  I had hoped to get him to put me on the schedule of missionaries allowed to do missionary appeals in Boston.  Well, he really surprised me - not only did he know about us and our work in the Bahamas - he had discovered and read this blog!  Then he had gone onto the website for the Archdiocese of Nassau and confirmed I was working there.

Well he could not have been more affirming, or more welcoming.  After we met he took me around the office and introduced me to his entire staff.  He asked that the Archbishop of Nassau write him, confirming I am a Deacon in good standing and would represent the Bahamas missions (which Archbishop Pinder readily agreed to do).  After introducing me to his staff he asked, is there anything you need?  Then opened a closet with vestments, candlesticks, bells, chalices - "let's see what we have here you might use".  How great is that!

We found a set of red vestments (which we don't have in the new church in North Andros), an altar boy alb, an extra priest alb (which our Deacon candidate here actually needs), a white and green set of priest vestments, a red deacon stole - and a magnificent chalice and paten.  Now let me tell you about this.  In North Andros we have a ceramic chalice (we should be using gold), and a gold chalice that is really too small.  This chalice is perfect, but get this, its engraved "To Richard Cardinal Cushing, in memory of - - - "
IT WAS CARDINAL CUSHING'S CHALICE.  What a hoot!  I really think I may keep this gem in Fresh Creek and send my Fresh Creek chalice up north.

So - all in all it was a great trip -- then it was on to VT for the wedding.  My son Joe is married to Lily's sister Liza.  Lily and Pat have been together for several years and now it was time to tie the knot - and boy they did it big time.

Lily and Pat decided to not do a traditional church wedding and reception in a hall - they wanted country and they got it.  Way up north, quite close to Canada, they found a perfect spot.

The wedding was outside on a lovely lawn behind a grand old inn.  Here is John walking down the aisle to give Lily away.

and here is the happily married couple after the blessed event heading down the hill towards the reception.

The reception was held in a huge tent for the event and when I say huge, think big

The food was great and then, of course was the first dance

We all had a great time and, for us, it really was great to see all our friends and family and reconnect with New England.  Driving to VT was like being a tourist again -- nothing like driving through mountains after living on the flat flat land of Andros for six years.

Anyway, enough for now.  Our next job is to crank up for the school year and prepare the curriculum for CCD - not to mention the financial reports for the end of the fiscal year that we need to do as Administrator for the island churches.  Suffice it to say vaca is over, back to work.

Till next time

Just an update

Hello All - well once again I have left the blog for too long without a post and I feel guilty.  Suffice it to say we are just as busy as ever.  Since Easter we have finished our school year and our CCD classes, giving us a bit of a break.  We have had no priest with us since Easter, so we've been pretty much on our own.

Summer here is a much slower pace.  Its over 90 almost every day, some days (like today) we have torrential rain and monsoon-like conditions.  It is hurricane season after all.  So with hot, hot, hot weather, and hurricane season, its no wonder vacationing priests don't augment the number of priests we have to spread around.

With that said, there is good news and bad news on that front.  We have heard through the grape vine that one of the priests here will be returning to his home country.  No announcement from the Archdiocese but usually they don't publicize that type of info.  It will create an interesting dilemma for the Archbishop.  We pretty much are already at a 1 priest per parish staffing (for those parishes that have priests), losing one will not help.  On the flip side of that - the priest that was with us for Easter gave us a call.  He is from a Florida seminary and the professors have been discussing how they might go out from the Seminary to help with the priest shortage.  They were thinking Florida, but after spending time with us he suggested they consider a monthly trip to the Bahamas.  After all, its less than 100 miles off the coast, and clearly there is a need.  Well, he got permission and he called the Vicar, suggesting that once a month he come to Andros.  What a blessing!  The reality is, once a month he'll come to the Bahamas and the Archbishop will decide where he goes, but having mentioned us, we are hopeful that come September we might have a regular monthly visit.

A real-world example of this issue is our Confirmation class.  Every two years we have a class ready to be confirmed and this year is it.  Well we asked for a date in March, then again in April,  then again in May, and as May ended our students said, "Deacon, we go off island for the summer, when is Confirmation?"  I ended up writing the Archbishop, explaining that in June most of the kids would be leaving.  I suggested that maybe we should defer Confirmation until September, when they return for school and he readily agreed.  I think he was thankful for the suggestion.  September 13 is the feast of St. John Chrysostom, our patron, so maybe that will become Confirmation weekend.  Time will tell.

With CCD over Ginni took the opportunity to go help a good friend pack up her house and move.  She has been Ginni's friend since High School and, without an extended family to help, Ginni was a great help to pack everything up and help her move.  What that meant, however, is that for the last week of June and all of July I have been here alone.  We have a family wedding in VT in August so I will be joining her in the US for that and it will be good to reconnect with old friends - especially all those that have been supporting our ministry here, they have been God-sent.

Seriously, without the prayers and financial support of our friends in the US there is no way we could have done half of what we've accomplished here.  Thank you all very much.

Since my last post - in June we had CRABFEST - a country fair, island style.  Andros is home to land crabs the size of softballs and when the rainy season starts in May they come out and Bahamians catch them in burlap bags.  They end up in the pot and Crabfest features crab soup, crab and rice, crab and dough, baked stuffed crab, etc etc etc.  Boats and yachts from all over the Bahamas descend and the airport goes non-stop.  For parishioners, it is a chance to make some money and everyone works long hours both catching crab before the event, then event itself is 72 hours without rest.  (Church falls by the wayside when Crabfest is in full bloom).  I am always relieved when its over.  There have been years when its been a gala event, and years when a knife fight, or a mugging, or gunshots, or (you get the idea) have marred the event.  By all accounts, this year went pretty smooth.

In July Indepence Day took center stage - in the US it is July 4, here its July 10 and its been 41 years since the Bahamas became an independent nation.  What is funny about that is Ginni and I were married on June 10, 41 years ago as well.  We have 1 month on the nation of the Bahamas!

Each year the clergy are seated up on stage and we have an Ecumenical Evangelical Independence Day celebration with ministers and government officials proclaiming what a great day this is.  The Bahamas, unlike the USA, is explicitly Christian - its in the Constitution.  Consequently, government officials 'Praise Jesus' and give God glory for what He has done in giving us our freedom.  Coming from the US it really is quite different from anything you'd see in the US.

This year, as in past years, it always hits me that our freedom, our liberty, our independence is not something we get from our government - true freedom is only possible with Jesus.  Without freedom from sin we are slaves and only Jesus frees us, liberates us, from that slavery.  When I speak - that's the message.

As I write the monsoon seems to be getting worse.  Thunder and lightning are getting closer so I think I will log off and shut down for now.
Till next time -- keep us in your prayers.