In past blogs I commented on the fact that the quality of water here is pretty bad. In periods of drought it is worse (which is what we have now). We have a water filter outside the house that is connected to the water main that feeds the residence, but it still doesn't feel safe to drink.
Anyway - the way our water filter works is that it does its job just fine, but when it is clogged with goo it basically just stops letting water flow into the residence. So our cue that its time to change the filter is when you go to take a shower and the water starts strong, fades, and eventually stops. Last night it started as a fade so it was a bird-bath wash up in the sink using our reserve water bottles we keep under the bathroom sink.
This morning I walked down the hill to the street and turned off the water main, then came back up the hill and disconnected the water filter, pulled out the old one, slipped in the new one and hooked it up again. Then, back down the hill, turn on the main and back up the hill to make sure everything was screwed in tight and nothing was leaking.
You would think that at 8AM this was a pretty easy job, and it was, but at 8AM it was already in the mid 80s so when I came in and Ginni gave me a hug it was, "Oh my, your shirt is soaked, did the filter spray you?" I didn't have the heart to tell her it was soaked thru with sweat at 8AM.
Anyway, she was happy that she could now flush the tiolet and do a load of laundry (Ahhh, the simple things of life).
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Gosh its hot
We have had a day or two in the mid80's with a great sea breeze so it has been wonderful - then a front came thru yesterday morning with lightning and thunder and about 20 minutes of driving monsoon-like rain. It only lasted about 20 minutes, but when the sun came out all that water went right into the air so now its low 90's with 80% humidity - talk about oppressive!
Then, to add to the heat, one of the many abandoned homes we have here mysteriously came ablaze and burned to the ground. The AUTEC fire department sent their pumper but it was a woodframe house that had been sitting in the sun for several years so it went up like straw. Nobody was living in it so nobody was hurt, but now we have this smoldering source of smoke that is filling the air, and will continue to for another day or so.
With the heat, tempers get hot and we have more occurances of domestic violence here. I have been asked to intervene in two different family situations, which can be a bit dangerous. Most recently our local alcoholic friend who visits us daily for a drink and a sandwich appeared with a bandage on his arm. It seems he was helping a local man feed his pigs and, when they returned late, the man's wife asked him why they were so late. He told her they had to stop in a particular town for gas and she went balistic - it seems her hubby has a sweetheart in that town and she turned on her hubby with a vengence. It was then that that hubby started beating our alcoholic friend with a broom for telling his wife where they went. The wire wrapping of the straw at the end of the broom sliced his forearm open as he was defending himself - thus the bandage. I'll need to pay that family a visit later in the week too.
With the heat growing we know summer is near. I announced that our CCD classes will end at the end of the month, which will give us a bit of a break (Amen), but we will be working with a local conservation group this summer to teach some of the children conservation activities they can do to help preserve the pristine environment we have here. We did this last year and it was great fun for the kids, and for us. We also learned alot about the eco-system here and we look forward to learning more this year.
As we continue to reach out to new people we have had success with a few families who had been practicing Catholics, but haven't come for the last 4-5 years. What we are finding is a whole group of 2-3 year old children that have never been baptized. Speaking with these folks it is clear they all consider themselves Catholics and they want their children baptized - especially if the child is a handful. More than once I have heard the mother say, "Oh Faddah, des chillun need da water Faddah, dey be bahd Faddah", and the child is sitting there looking up at me with these big brown eyes, as cute and innocent as you can imagine. So we talk, they get to know me and we get to know them, and eventually they show up on a Sunday. We talk some more and eventually they come to me with God-parents who are Catholics that received Confirmation and we plan a little Baptism prep class. It doesn't sound like much, but this type of evanglistic outreach has resulted in quite a few baptisms.
One thing I am noticing is that unless we go to the home and seek out these 'unchurched Catholics', they would stay at home and we'd never know they were there. Once we know where they are, AND we go to them and sit on the porch and talk - THEN there's progress. One step at a time.
Finally, one last bit of news is that Saturday is our church picnic. A Pentecostal minister has a small fishing lodge that he is letting us use Saturday afternoon so we should have some fun in the sun, people showing up with food and drinks and, like scripture says "Everyone shared what they had in common". We did this a year ago and it was a big hit - hopefully this year will be the same.
Till next time.
Then, to add to the heat, one of the many abandoned homes we have here mysteriously came ablaze and burned to the ground. The AUTEC fire department sent their pumper but it was a woodframe house that had been sitting in the sun for several years so it went up like straw. Nobody was living in it so nobody was hurt, but now we have this smoldering source of smoke that is filling the air, and will continue to for another day or so.
With the heat, tempers get hot and we have more occurances of domestic violence here. I have been asked to intervene in two different family situations, which can be a bit dangerous. Most recently our local alcoholic friend who visits us daily for a drink and a sandwich appeared with a bandage on his arm. It seems he was helping a local man feed his pigs and, when they returned late, the man's wife asked him why they were so late. He told her they had to stop in a particular town for gas and she went balistic - it seems her hubby has a sweetheart in that town and she turned on her hubby with a vengence. It was then that that hubby started beating our alcoholic friend with a broom for telling his wife where they went. The wire wrapping of the straw at the end of the broom sliced his forearm open as he was defending himself - thus the bandage. I'll need to pay that family a visit later in the week too.
With the heat growing we know summer is near. I announced that our CCD classes will end at the end of the month, which will give us a bit of a break (Amen), but we will be working with a local conservation group this summer to teach some of the children conservation activities they can do to help preserve the pristine environment we have here. We did this last year and it was great fun for the kids, and for us. We also learned alot about the eco-system here and we look forward to learning more this year.
As we continue to reach out to new people we have had success with a few families who had been practicing Catholics, but haven't come for the last 4-5 years. What we are finding is a whole group of 2-3 year old children that have never been baptized. Speaking with these folks it is clear they all consider themselves Catholics and they want their children baptized - especially if the child is a handful. More than once I have heard the mother say, "Oh Faddah, des chillun need da water Faddah, dey be bahd Faddah", and the child is sitting there looking up at me with these big brown eyes, as cute and innocent as you can imagine. So we talk, they get to know me and we get to know them, and eventually they show up on a Sunday. We talk some more and eventually they come to me with God-parents who are Catholics that received Confirmation and we plan a little Baptism prep class. It doesn't sound like much, but this type of evanglistic outreach has resulted in quite a few baptisms.
One thing I am noticing is that unless we go to the home and seek out these 'unchurched Catholics', they would stay at home and we'd never know they were there. Once we know where they are, AND we go to them and sit on the porch and talk - THEN there's progress. One step at a time.
Finally, one last bit of news is that Saturday is our church picnic. A Pentecostal minister has a small fishing lodge that he is letting us use Saturday afternoon so we should have some fun in the sun, people showing up with food and drinks and, like scripture says "Everyone shared what they had in common". We did this a year ago and it was a big hit - hopefully this year will be the same.
Till next time.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Easter and beyond
Well I cannot believe I haven't posted since Palm Sunday.
Suffice it to say we had a very busy Holy Week and Easter. Last year, once Easter was finished, we didn't see a priest again for 4 months dramatically complicating our First Communion children who were looking forward to First Penance and First Communion. Consequently, this year we decided to do First Penance and First Communion during our Easter services, which were fantastic.
Fr. Bill Martin, once again, travelled from Vermont to be with us for Holy Week. Fr. Martin is a retired Air Force Chaplain who enjoys staying at the AUTEC base. He is also an avid fly fisherman so whenever he's not in church, he is wading in the surf looking for the elusive bonefish - and Andros is the bonefish capitol of the world!
We did 4 Palm Sunday services to kick things off, then I had a few days to prepare for Easter. This began with preparing for the footwashing on Holy Thursday (we only did one of those with all parishes coming together for that one). Then there were 3 Good Friday services (Fr. Martin did the one at AUTEC and did two, one at Cargill Creek and Fresh Creek. Then it was off to build the fire pit for the Vigil, prepare the candle that St. Timothy's in Norwood, MA had graciously donated, set up for an enlarged choir and prepare the oils for those who would be baptized and confirmed at the Easter Vigil. Oh, and don't let me forget that during the afternoon, we did a First Penance Service for the children.
When Fr. Martin saw the fire pit and the driftwood I had accumulated he commented that wood that has been saturated in salt water doesn't burn that well, creating a bit of anxiety for me, but when the fire was started it was the best we have had here. Literally, flames were 3'-4' high and it went off without a hitch. My singing the Exultet - not so much. Practicing that 5 minute solo was great, but real time my voice cracked once or twice, c'est la vis!
For me, the high point of the Vigil is conveying the sacraments on my RCIA candidates (yes I said MY RCIA candidates). We had 4 people in the program this year but 2 had missed so many classed due to the demands of their job we decided they should wait - but the other 2, a husband who was baptized and confirmed, and his wife, who was confirmed, were literally beaming! Then, 4 children joined them and all 6 recieved their first communion.
The Vigil took about 2 and a half hours and then on Sunday we were at AUTEC for an early morning Easter Day service, where another child recieved First Penance before the service, and then First Communion during Mass. 
After AUTEC we headed south to Cargill Creek for another Easter Day service where, yet another child recieved First Penance before the service, and then First Communion during Mass.
This particular service had another great event for me, one of the children from the community at the northern end of Andros in Mastic Point was baptized and recieved First Communion. I was so thrilled to see the fruit of all those hour-long drives up north bearing fruit in this way.
So - Easter was a hit! He is risen, yes He is truly risen!
After Easter the Archdiocese has its annual Clergy Retreat, so I packed up for a week in Nassau and Ginni headed back to the US to get in some nursing time (late rent from our US tenants is creating a financial challenge for us). She should be back mid-May.
I can honestly say this was the best of my retreats here in Nassau. It is my 3rd Easter retreat and this one was quite good, focusing on the role of Clergy, our ministry, our call, how we work together (or not) - very real-world practical material from a Fr. Ron Knott from St. Meinrad's Seminary in Indiana.
Now that I am back on Andros (sans Ginni) it is CCD prep all morning, and CCD all afternoon. I do have a few marriage prep/baptism prep/RCIA sessions to fill my evenings - and then there is the ever-present need for homily prep, writing up the parish bulletin, Sundays' Prayers of the Faithful, and the financial reports - all those behind the scenes things that need to get done to keep the place running.
Well, enough for now - please keep us in your prayers - till next time.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Happy Holy Week!
Well I just came in from going out with my machete to chop palm branches for Palm Sunday and it made me realize I hadn't posted here for a few weeks, so here we go -
These are actually old garbage cans, and oil drums that have been decorated with actual real goatskin stretched over the top. We have 2 in our church as part of the music ministry!
You cannot imagine the amount of time and energy it takes to make one of these. Put about 20 kids in home made costumes behind the float, with drums, horns, whistles, cowbells - all dancing up a storm and you begin to get an idea of what Jr Junkanoo can be. Add about 10 of these floats and the party can go on for hours.
First off, you cannot imagine how much I appreciate the support staff at St. Timothy's during Holy Week. Music issues and liturgical planning issues are all screaming through my head while, back in Norwood, a team of dedicated folks deal with all these details. Not so here on Andros, let me tell you. Cutting my own palms is just one of many details.
But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me try to catch up on a few things that have happened over the last few weeks. First is Jr. Junkanoo. I may have mentioned this before but we finally got our cable back that allows us to download pics from our camera so I wanted to share these with you. Junkanoo is usually a Christmas Mardi-gras like celebration and it is huge here. In the sping the children all over the family islands have Jr Junkanoo competition with costumes, bands, floats -the whole nine yards. Here, for example, are the junknaoo drums that have been set out in the sun so the goatskin can stretch and create a better sound.
These are actually old garbage cans, and oil drums that have been decorated with actual real goatskin stretched over the top. We have 2 in our church as part of the music ministry!Here is an example of one of the floats.
You cannot imagine the amount of time and energy it takes to make one of these. Put about 20 kids in home made costumes behind the float, with drums, horns, whistles, cowbells - all dancing up a storm and you begin to get an idea of what Jr Junkanoo can be. Add about 10 of these floats and the party can go on for hours.Leaving Jr Junkanoo for a moment - I have told you that CCD pretty much dominates our mid-week workload. All the support we got from home helped us to restore St. Gabriel's church in Calabash Bay and we have been using our new Fr. Gabriel Roerig Parish Center for classes.
Here is a pic of the building mid-construction
Here is a pic of our first Marriage Prep class that we held at the Parish Center. We've come a long way baby!
Most family island parishes send their engaged couples to Nassau for Pre-Cana. Its a real feather in our cap that we were able to do our own class locally. Having done marriage prep for several years at St. Timothy's in Norwood gave Ginni and I a wealth of experience that we were able to put to good use in this class.
Most recently, the Archdiocese of Nassau just held its CHRISM MASS. This is the liturgy where the Archbishop consecrates all the holy oils that will be used over the next year. Here is a pic of the consecration that gives you a nice view of the sanctuary and the crowd of priests and deacons around the altar.
Here is a pic of the recessional with your's truly in procession. 
What was a treat for me at this liturgy was that I was selected as one of the Deacons to bring up one of the oils and present them to the Archbishop for consecration. It was a honor to be asked and I was thrilled to be involved in such a way at such a sacred moment.
Well, enough for now, this will be a crazy week for sure. We will welcome new Christians with baptisms during the Easter Vigil, and bring others into full communion with the Church through Confirmation. This year we will also do First Penance and First Communion during Easter so it will be a joyfilled day. (We learned to do First Communion early when, last year, we didn't see a priest on Andros for 4 months after Easter!)
Pray for us - we certainly need it! Till next time
Monday, March 7, 2011
Beyond Busy
Well my friends you cannot imagine how many times I have said, "Oh I gotta put this in the blog" and yet I haven't had a minute to blog - literally.
Lets see, where to begin - well, ever since Ginni returned (and she is already planning her next trip to MA), we have been booked solid, with not a day to ourselves. This is primarily due to our scheduling our first pre-Cana program. We have two couples who want to get married. One is a Bahamian couple, the other a couple from the AUTEC base where he works, while she is still finishing college in the US (FL). This complicates life since, he cannot attend the 10 week series in FL and for her to attend it here, she needs to fly to Andros.
After talking to both couples it was decided that the best thing to do to cover all the material was for us to do two all-day Saturday sessions. It would be a challenge, but she committed to flying back to back weekends from FL to Andros - so we had a plan. Now all we needed to do was build a pre-Cana program.
We spoke with the Archdiocese of Nassau and got a clear understanding of their requirements, then we talked to the parish in Florida and got a list of what they needed to satisfy the requirements of their diocese. Using material we had brought with us from the Marriage Prep program at St. Timothy's, and a six CD set provided by the Archdiocese of Nassau, Ginni and I put together six presentations, and we folded in the six CD's, to come up with a pretty comprehensive program. We were able to get another Bahamian couple to join us for discussion groups and we were good to go. It went off without a hitch and we got a wonderful picture of us all but now we cannot find the cable that goes from the digital camera to the PC so showing you those pics will have to wait.
Now, while all that sounds nifty, you cannot imagine the amount of work putting all that together was, plus keep doing our regular 4 CCD classes, RCIA, and 4 weekend liturgies. To say we did not have a minute is no joke.
Bottom line - we pulled it off, but it meant two, very full, 7 day weeks with no break BUT IT GETS BETTER. In the midst of all that we had a death in the parish. So, while preparing and presenting, we were dealing with a family in mourning and the planning of the funeral.
In past blogs I have mentioned the grandparents raising 7 grandchildren. It is a difficult situation and we are trying our best to help this family in so many ways - everything from food packages to proctoring exams when we learned one girl had been kept home to do chores so often she missed final exams. Well - a year ago Grampa died and it was a very emotional funeral. The death that surprised us all now was Grammie, who died of a sudden stroke.
So our plate runneth over. The funeral was this past Saturday and, after planning it all out with the family, coordinating the vigil and the funeral with the mortician (all morticians here are in Nassau so we had to plan details like shipping the body back to Andros on the ferry). And the elephant in the room that nobody is discussing is willing to discuss right now is what will happen to the grandchildren. Will their mothers take them back? Will the adult children of Grammie and Grampa who are here (all unemployed) suddenly become responsible. Pray.
To describe a Bahamian funeral is not something I think I can do in this blog. Suffice it to say there is emotion. Family members were crying, wailing, falling on the floor, and more. I had 3 surprises during this funeral. First, our representative in Parliament showed up. I think he was there because this family was a major supporter of his party, not because he was particulary close to Grammie. Second, well after the service had begun, the Anglican priest comes walking down the center aisle of the church, in his vestments and comes into the sanctuary and takes a seat. I was blown away! Unannounced, he just arrives. Suffice it to say he did not have a speaking role during the funeral but I MUST talk to other Bahamian clergy to see if this is the norm here - do clergy just show up at funerals of other denominations here? It was not something I would ever have guessed was possible but I guess it is.
The third thing was the most scary. I said Bahamian funerals can be emotional - well we are at the cemetary, the pall bearers have the casket over the hole. It is supported by three straps that are connected to a mechanical gear that, when cranked, will lower the casket. There are 2 pall bearers on each side and one at the head of the casket. Well, the cranking begins, the casket begins to descend, and the pall bearer at the head of the casket, her son, yells "Oh no mama don't leave me" and dives onto the casket - yep, right on top of it, spread eagle! Well the straps at his end of the casket give way and thank God the other pall bearers were still holding on otherwise it would have come crashing down. It took a good 15 minutes to pry him off the casket, all the while screaming and crying. Not an experience I look forward to repeating.
So Ginni and I are going into our 4th week without a break and we're a bit tired, but now Lent is upon us and Ash Wednesday is looming. I will do 3 Ash Wednesday liturgies, one at each church and the final one will be an Ecumenical service at the Anglican church, with me preaching. Last year we hosted, now its their turn. I actually just had a phone call from the Anglican priest wondering what I was doing for ashes. It turns out that, although he is hosting the service, he has neglected to do anything about actually having ashes to distribute - so he wondered if I could provide them. Fortunately I had asked parishioners to return last years' palms for burning to make ashes and I have an impressive pile. He wondered if he could have them by tomorrow! So tomorrow morning I will be burning palms.
Did I mention Jr Junkanoo in all this? Junkanoo is a Christmas festival where local groups make floats and costumes and have bands and dancers and all march down Bay St. on Nassau and are judged. It is a MAJOR BIG DEAL here. Well, the local Minister of Youth and Culture pulled together Jr Junkanoo competition for the primary schools of Andros and, somewhere in the midst of everything else I described, we had a Jr Junkanoo competition here in Fresh Creek. Again I got some great pics that I will post the day we find the lost cable. It really was quite impressive. All the children, the teachers, and adult volunteers did a fantastic job. We saw the start of the competition and 3 of the 7 groups, but had to leave to get back to the rectory to teach our RCIA class (you can only double book yourself so far).
So, right now Ginni is leading choir practice and instead of writing an Ash Wednesday homily I decided to take time out and get something onto this blog for you all. If you can believe it, there is more, but enough for now.
Pray for us. PULEEZE Pray for us.
Lets see, where to begin - well, ever since Ginni returned (and she is already planning her next trip to MA), we have been booked solid, with not a day to ourselves. This is primarily due to our scheduling our first pre-Cana program. We have two couples who want to get married. One is a Bahamian couple, the other a couple from the AUTEC base where he works, while she is still finishing college in the US (FL). This complicates life since, he cannot attend the 10 week series in FL and for her to attend it here, she needs to fly to Andros.
After talking to both couples it was decided that the best thing to do to cover all the material was for us to do two all-day Saturday sessions. It would be a challenge, but she committed to flying back to back weekends from FL to Andros - so we had a plan. Now all we needed to do was build a pre-Cana program.
We spoke with the Archdiocese of Nassau and got a clear understanding of their requirements, then we talked to the parish in Florida and got a list of what they needed to satisfy the requirements of their diocese. Using material we had brought with us from the Marriage Prep program at St. Timothy's, and a six CD set provided by the Archdiocese of Nassau, Ginni and I put together six presentations, and we folded in the six CD's, to come up with a pretty comprehensive program. We were able to get another Bahamian couple to join us for discussion groups and we were good to go. It went off without a hitch and we got a wonderful picture of us all but now we cannot find the cable that goes from the digital camera to the PC so showing you those pics will have to wait.
Now, while all that sounds nifty, you cannot imagine the amount of work putting all that together was, plus keep doing our regular 4 CCD classes, RCIA, and 4 weekend liturgies. To say we did not have a minute is no joke.
Bottom line - we pulled it off, but it meant two, very full, 7 day weeks with no break BUT IT GETS BETTER. In the midst of all that we had a death in the parish. So, while preparing and presenting, we were dealing with a family in mourning and the planning of the funeral.
In past blogs I have mentioned the grandparents raising 7 grandchildren. It is a difficult situation and we are trying our best to help this family in so many ways - everything from food packages to proctoring exams when we learned one girl had been kept home to do chores so often she missed final exams. Well - a year ago Grampa died and it was a very emotional funeral. The death that surprised us all now was Grammie, who died of a sudden stroke.
So our plate runneth over. The funeral was this past Saturday and, after planning it all out with the family, coordinating the vigil and the funeral with the mortician (all morticians here are in Nassau so we had to plan details like shipping the body back to Andros on the ferry). And the elephant in the room that nobody is discussing is willing to discuss right now is what will happen to the grandchildren. Will their mothers take them back? Will the adult children of Grammie and Grampa who are here (all unemployed) suddenly become responsible. Pray.
To describe a Bahamian funeral is not something I think I can do in this blog. Suffice it to say there is emotion. Family members were crying, wailing, falling on the floor, and more. I had 3 surprises during this funeral. First, our representative in Parliament showed up. I think he was there because this family was a major supporter of his party, not because he was particulary close to Grammie. Second, well after the service had begun, the Anglican priest comes walking down the center aisle of the church, in his vestments and comes into the sanctuary and takes a seat. I was blown away! Unannounced, he just arrives. Suffice it to say he did not have a speaking role during the funeral but I MUST talk to other Bahamian clergy to see if this is the norm here - do clergy just show up at funerals of other denominations here? It was not something I would ever have guessed was possible but I guess it is.
The third thing was the most scary. I said Bahamian funerals can be emotional - well we are at the cemetary, the pall bearers have the casket over the hole. It is supported by three straps that are connected to a mechanical gear that, when cranked, will lower the casket. There are 2 pall bearers on each side and one at the head of the casket. Well, the cranking begins, the casket begins to descend, and the pall bearer at the head of the casket, her son, yells "Oh no mama don't leave me" and dives onto the casket - yep, right on top of it, spread eagle! Well the straps at his end of the casket give way and thank God the other pall bearers were still holding on otherwise it would have come crashing down. It took a good 15 minutes to pry him off the casket, all the while screaming and crying. Not an experience I look forward to repeating.
So Ginni and I are going into our 4th week without a break and we're a bit tired, but now Lent is upon us and Ash Wednesday is looming. I will do 3 Ash Wednesday liturgies, one at each church and the final one will be an Ecumenical service at the Anglican church, with me preaching. Last year we hosted, now its their turn. I actually just had a phone call from the Anglican priest wondering what I was doing for ashes. It turns out that, although he is hosting the service, he has neglected to do anything about actually having ashes to distribute - so he wondered if I could provide them. Fortunately I had asked parishioners to return last years' palms for burning to make ashes and I have an impressive pile. He wondered if he could have them by tomorrow! So tomorrow morning I will be burning palms.
Did I mention Jr Junkanoo in all this? Junkanoo is a Christmas festival where local groups make floats and costumes and have bands and dancers and all march down Bay St. on Nassau and are judged. It is a MAJOR BIG DEAL here. Well, the local Minister of Youth and Culture pulled together Jr Junkanoo competition for the primary schools of Andros and, somewhere in the midst of everything else I described, we had a Jr Junkanoo competition here in Fresh Creek. Again I got some great pics that I will post the day we find the lost cable. It really was quite impressive. All the children, the teachers, and adult volunteers did a fantastic job. We saw the start of the competition and 3 of the 7 groups, but had to leave to get back to the rectory to teach our RCIA class (you can only double book yourself so far).
So, right now Ginni is leading choir practice and instead of writing an Ash Wednesday homily I decided to take time out and get something onto this blog for you all. If you can believe it, there is more, but enough for now.
Pray for us. PULEEZE Pray for us.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Another death and our 1st Pre Cana Program
Hello All - well this week we flew to Nassau for our monthly clergy meeting and actually had a great time reconnecting with all the other Deacons and Priests in the Archdiocese.
Just prior to leaving we learned of the death of a parishioner. She had a stroke and was airlifted to Nassau, then later died in the hospital there. This ill be an emotional funeral with much wailing and crying but it will be awhile for this family to get themselves together. I'll share more about this in another post.
Right now Ginni and I are putting a ton of energy into putting a Pre-Cana program together for 2 couples preparing for marriage. Thank God we worked on the Marriage Prep program at St. Timothy's - without that experience we would be up a creek. We actually are creating a bit of a hybrid program combining alot of what we did at St. Tim's and using a 6 CD set recommended by the Archdiocese. It really is a very well done series of talks on human sexuality and marriage that, when combined with the practical components of marriage prep really results in a good program. So Ginni and I will deal with topics like Expectations, Adjustments, Communication, Finance, etc. and we'll let the DVD deal with sexuality then jump in to deal with all the questions that come up. We plan to fit all this into two very full Saturday's - starting the day after tomorrow!
While this is dominating our time right now we are still teaching 4 CCD classes and RCIA so it is run run run - hurry hurry hurry - Oh, did you look at the readings for Sunday yet? sigh.
We had a priest on New Years, but not since, so while we were in Nassau I picked up more consecrated hosts to hold us over until we know a priest is coming. Before you know it our kids will be ready for First Penance so we hope a priest will visit us within the next month or so.
Enough for now, I will stay in touch
Peace
F.
Just prior to leaving we learned of the death of a parishioner. She had a stroke and was airlifted to Nassau, then later died in the hospital there. This ill be an emotional funeral with much wailing and crying but it will be awhile for this family to get themselves together. I'll share more about this in another post.
Right now Ginni and I are putting a ton of energy into putting a Pre-Cana program together for 2 couples preparing for marriage. Thank God we worked on the Marriage Prep program at St. Timothy's - without that experience we would be up a creek. We actually are creating a bit of a hybrid program combining alot of what we did at St. Tim's and using a 6 CD set recommended by the Archdiocese. It really is a very well done series of talks on human sexuality and marriage that, when combined with the practical components of marriage prep really results in a good program. So Ginni and I will deal with topics like Expectations, Adjustments, Communication, Finance, etc. and we'll let the DVD deal with sexuality then jump in to deal with all the questions that come up. We plan to fit all this into two very full Saturday's - starting the day after tomorrow!
While this is dominating our time right now we are still teaching 4 CCD classes and RCIA so it is run run run - hurry hurry hurry - Oh, did you look at the readings for Sunday yet? sigh.
We had a priest on New Years, but not since, so while we were in Nassau I picked up more consecrated hosts to hold us over until we know a priest is coming. Before you know it our kids will be ready for First Penance so we hope a priest will visit us within the next month or so.
Enough for now, I will stay in touch
Peace
F.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Snow, sleet, freezing rain (and other storms)
Well as I watch CNN from the rectory here on Andros I can see that the snow up north just keeps coming and coming. I really feel for all my friends and family dealing with 10-15" of new snow, plus sleet and freezing rain with temps soon to drop into single digits. All the while here it is mid 70s during the day and 60s at night.
With that said, in the summer they will enjoy 80 degree temps while we melt with temps over 100 and are forced to scan the horizon for hurricanes. Look at it this way - when you have a storm up north you shovel it and life goes on -- if we have a storm down here, we may have to rebuild our house.
Anyway - while I bask in the lovely Bahamian weather I am dealing with a variety of other storms. The violent crime here continues to escalate with 12 murders in January to start off the new year. At this rate we will clearly set another record in 2011. It is a concern for me because I have a few family situations that are beginning to become potential sites of domestic violence.
One woman has asked me to help her get her son out of her home. He is a drug user and has become increasingly more violent in his outbursts. I dropped by unexpectedly and we were having a chat under a mango tree when he returned yesterday. Not knowing I was there he came around the corner, clearly irritated about something but backed off when he saw me. What gave me pause was the 2' machete he was carrying. His mother and siblings saw him, their eyes got big and he began to say something to one of the kids when I stood up, stopping him mid-sentence. Seeing me and just nodded in my direction saying, "Faddah", then turned and left. It is clear that I need to do more here but the level of social services and police support is minimal so it will be a challenge.
On another front, one of my CCD kids has shown up with what look like cigarette burns on his scalp. I spoke with a nurse in town and she said that there is a scalp fungus they are seeing in school children and she has a free shampoo to address it if I could get the boy to the clinic. It would also be a way to evaluate if it is the fungus or abuse. After speaking with the mother about the fungus and the free shampoo she promised to take the boy in. I learned later, however, that the mom showed up at the clinic to get the shampoo, but didn't bring the boy. So that is still something I'm concerned about.
Ginni remains in the US getting in some nursing time (between the snow storms). One of our tenants have left and, lacking that rental income, we need the extra money to pay mortgage, insurance, taxes and water bills on our home up north. Clearly it would be better to sell them but the real estate market is still pretty poor so we are stuck in the landlord-tenant mode in order to pay the bills. We are hopeful she will be able to return in another week.
This week includes the feast of the Presentation (when the infant Jesus was brought to the Temple in compliance with Mosaic Law) and a tradition in our church is that on that day all the candles to be used in church over the next year are blessed (Christ is the light of the world so we use this feast of His presentation in the Temple to bless our candles). Since our parishioners can be on boats fishing, or off island, or working - rather than having a special liturgy I did a short Candlemas service at the beginning of all our liturgies on Sunday. It seemed to be well recieved and I was glad I could do something to make the liturgy a bit special.
Thursday is the feast of St. Blase, so while I blessed the candles at the beginning of our service, at the end I invited all who wanted, to come forward and have their throats blessed. It was quite the liturgy (all four of them).
Speaking of 4 liturgies, last Sunday after our 4th liturgy, I was driving the Haitian man home who has been attending services with us in Mastic Point. I asked him about the return from exile of ex-president Baby Doc Duvalier to Haiti. I was shocked to find out that he, and just about all Haitian people are thrilled he has returned. They're very happy he has returned from exile and are confident he will not go to jail but will be eventually elected President of Haiti once more. His english is poor so I couldn't really get much more out of him as to why he was so well recieved - other than the fact that when he arrived, and his limo was driving to Port a Prince, Baby Doc was tossing money from the limo windows - I guess that is one way to get a political following in a country ravished by poverty. Nobody is asking where that money came from in the first place. Time will tell where that goes.
Enough for now - please keep us in your prayers - especially for those family situations I'll be dealing with.
Peace
With that said, in the summer they will enjoy 80 degree temps while we melt with temps over 100 and are forced to scan the horizon for hurricanes. Look at it this way - when you have a storm up north you shovel it and life goes on -- if we have a storm down here, we may have to rebuild our house.
Anyway - while I bask in the lovely Bahamian weather I am dealing with a variety of other storms. The violent crime here continues to escalate with 12 murders in January to start off the new year. At this rate we will clearly set another record in 2011. It is a concern for me because I have a few family situations that are beginning to become potential sites of domestic violence.
One woman has asked me to help her get her son out of her home. He is a drug user and has become increasingly more violent in his outbursts. I dropped by unexpectedly and we were having a chat under a mango tree when he returned yesterday. Not knowing I was there he came around the corner, clearly irritated about something but backed off when he saw me. What gave me pause was the 2' machete he was carrying. His mother and siblings saw him, their eyes got big and he began to say something to one of the kids when I stood up, stopping him mid-sentence. Seeing me and just nodded in my direction saying, "Faddah", then turned and left. It is clear that I need to do more here but the level of social services and police support is minimal so it will be a challenge.
On another front, one of my CCD kids has shown up with what look like cigarette burns on his scalp. I spoke with a nurse in town and she said that there is a scalp fungus they are seeing in school children and she has a free shampoo to address it if I could get the boy to the clinic. It would also be a way to evaluate if it is the fungus or abuse. After speaking with the mother about the fungus and the free shampoo she promised to take the boy in. I learned later, however, that the mom showed up at the clinic to get the shampoo, but didn't bring the boy. So that is still something I'm concerned about.
Ginni remains in the US getting in some nursing time (between the snow storms). One of our tenants have left and, lacking that rental income, we need the extra money to pay mortgage, insurance, taxes and water bills on our home up north. Clearly it would be better to sell them but the real estate market is still pretty poor so we are stuck in the landlord-tenant mode in order to pay the bills. We are hopeful she will be able to return in another week.
This week includes the feast of the Presentation (when the infant Jesus was brought to the Temple in compliance with Mosaic Law) and a tradition in our church is that on that day all the candles to be used in church over the next year are blessed (Christ is the light of the world so we use this feast of His presentation in the Temple to bless our candles). Since our parishioners can be on boats fishing, or off island, or working - rather than having a special liturgy I did a short Candlemas service at the beginning of all our liturgies on Sunday. It seemed to be well recieved and I was glad I could do something to make the liturgy a bit special.
Thursday is the feast of St. Blase, so while I blessed the candles at the beginning of our service, at the end I invited all who wanted, to come forward and have their throats blessed. It was quite the liturgy (all four of them).
Speaking of 4 liturgies, last Sunday after our 4th liturgy, I was driving the Haitian man home who has been attending services with us in Mastic Point. I asked him about the return from exile of ex-president Baby Doc Duvalier to Haiti. I was shocked to find out that he, and just about all Haitian people are thrilled he has returned. They're very happy he has returned from exile and are confident he will not go to jail but will be eventually elected President of Haiti once more. His english is poor so I couldn't really get much more out of him as to why he was so well recieved - other than the fact that when he arrived, and his limo was driving to Port a Prince, Baby Doc was tossing money from the limo windows - I guess that is one way to get a political following in a country ravished by poverty. Nobody is asking where that money came from in the first place. Time will tell where that goes.
Enough for now - please keep us in your prayers - especially for those family situations I'll be dealing with.
Peace
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