The High School Choir Join Us

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

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

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

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

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

Ginni's broken, gotta run faster.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Poverty?

I gotta tell ya about my latest CCD experience.

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

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

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

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

What a lesson for me!

Here's the latest

So much to say and so little time to type.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Till next time

Busy Busy Busy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Frank and Ginni

Camera is fixed!

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.