The promised photos

Finally I had time to upload the photos from the feast of Saint Isidore. They can be found here.

In other news, this weekend we had a gathering for the youth of our various parishes to celebrate the vigil of Pentecost. It is a bit of a tradition here in Uruguay that on the the vigil the youth gather in the various parishes to pray and enjoy themselves. We had a wonderful time last night with about 40 young people for adoration, Mass, and games. It is a wonderful opportunity to be with the youth and build community with them.

Coming up next week, I have first communion for five kids in my parish. If I can, I will post some pictures afterwards.

God bless.

Busy Times

I am back again after a few rather busy weeks. We of course celebrated Holy Week and Easter here, followed by intense preparations for the Feast of Divine Mercy. That was followed immediately buy a wonderful visit from my parents and brother down here in Uruguay, which was then followed by a very unexpected trip to the US. While my parents were here, we got the phone call that my paternal grandfather had died and so we immediately changed our plans and flights and the whole crew headed back to America for the funeral in Escanaba, Michigan.

I would love to elaborate on all of those events, but there was just too much there to write about at one time. Sorry. The one thing I will say is that I saw the first truly positive signs of life in my parish this Easter. I had hours of confessions over the course of Holy Week, and Masses were full the whole week especially at the Easter Vigil. That probably sounds normal for most of you, but when compared to the maybe fifteen confessions of last year and maybe thirty people who came for Easter Mass, this is a huge improvement. Those are the little things that give great encouragement.

This past weekend we celebrated the pseudo patron of almost the whole area around here, Saint Isidore the Farmer. I say pseudo because of course St. Therese of Liseux is the patron, yet the devotion to St. Isidore is noteworthy because of the agricultural nature of the economy in the area. So we again had a procession and Mass in his honor followed by horse games as last year and finally a small play by the kids of the school followed by some folk dancing. All in all it was a wonderful day, even if a bit chilly (remember we are working our way into winter now). If I have a chance I will post a few pictures today or tomorrow. I was not at the horse games this year, so for you equine fans, I have to apologize as there are no new photos of the all the pretty horses. Celebrating Mother’s Day with our ‘spiritual mothers’ (the sisters here) took precedence for me.

Greetings from the dead.

Greetings from the dead. Ok, not really dead, but I guess I have to admit that my blogging in the last half year has been anything but lively. Here is to trying to begin again.

Obviously quite a bit has been going on in the past months (which, while giving me ample material to write about has also been the reason I have not written a thing). I don’t even want to start to recap everything, so I guess I will start where I am today.

First off, the only reason that I even had time to write this today was that torrential rains canceled two different groups that I had scheduled for tonight. One because they did not want to brave the rains on foot, the other because where they live the waters have risen so much they cannot get out (or me in as the case may be). It is funny, but after a year and a half of being here, it still surprises me how dependant the people are on the weather. I guess that is in some small way an indicator of the difference between the 1^st and 3^rd world.

At the moment I find my time divided among a few significant challenges. The first is the reconstruction of the church. I am currently going through something of a crisis at the moment with the construction crew and came within inches of firing my architect last week. Needless to say, that is not an easy thing, especially since he is a good friend. That being said, there are some major problems to be resolved but we are on our way. In spite of the negative, I have to say that I am truly excited at the moment to see the progress that is being made. The most visible change is that they have finally begun plastering the outside. As soon as I get a chance I will post a few pictures.

At this point the church is entirely closed and we are using the school hall as our chapel. That means many little inconveniences, but still better that trying to use the church at this point. I knew the time would come, but I had hoped it would be brief; it will not be.

The school itself is my other major preoccupation (in addition to normal parish stuff and a little thing called Holy Week). I have begun taking a much more active role in the school, trying to give it a bit more structure, especially from a spiritual perspective. The reality is that this school is not, and never will be viable. From a pure business standpoint, it is a total loss. From a spiritual standpoint, it is worth it weight in gold. Unfortunately ever since one of the previous pastors left, it has been in a continual state of decline until the point where it is now. At this point, either I have to inject some new life into it in the form of serious energy, spirituality, staff, and major maintenance work, or I have to close it. It is only barely on life support. So it is that I have begun a reformation – only spiritual to begin with, but the financial will have to come at least partially very soon, or the doors won’t stay open. The good news is that the operating budget is quite small, around $600 a month. Of course, that only serves to keep it on life support. Right now I have to deal with the boys room being closed due to broken pipes and a leaky roof that is threatening to cause some real damage soon.

If anyone is asking how they could maybe help out, I am not quite sure where to start. Let me just paint a picture of conditions, but please start by lowering your expectations by quite a lot, this is after all a 3^rd world country and so relatively speaking things aren’t quite as bad as they sound.

In looking around the school, I did not find one single crucifix. Not one, anywhere, in a Catholic parochial school. The only religious things in it are a statue of St. Therese and a small picture of Our Lady in one of the back rooms. I did stumble across a picture of the Divine Mercy that our sisters must have used for a catechism class last year – it was folded up under the television. So much for the spiritual.

As for the academic, that is only moderately better. I have not seen a textbook yet. I was told they had some old ones from the public school, but I have not seen them. There is only one blackboard in the school, and it is not in good condition. There is not a map, a globe, or any other educationally useful teaching aid in the entire school, nothing. [Just a quick note, if anyone is thinking that a globe would be a good idea to send, please remember that if it is not is Spanish, it is not really useful. The kids have a hard enough time spelling as it is!] There are no books of any kind in the school, no form of a library, no encyclopedias, nothing. They have a computer, but it has been broken for the past two years, and they don’t really have any software for it anyway. The $600 budget goes to cover the dim lighting and the salaries of the three people now working there: one teacher, on kindergarten teacher, and the poor sister from a nearby town who I have conned into reviving the spiritual side. Yes, there is one teacher for 6 grades, and yes she teaches them simultaneously. Don’t ask me how, I just don’t know. Of course that was the norm even the in the US in a rural school in the 1800’s, so it is not so far fetched, but still, it is not an advantage for the kids at all.

I think I have written enough for one day, so I will spare you the physical condition of the school itself. It could use some real help, but the only urgent things are the bathrooms and a small part of the roof.

So, at the end of all of this, the only thing I can say is that it has kept me very busy. Most of all I have been working to again establish confidence in the school. After years left all alone, there is a great deal of distrust that has developed towards the teacher (because she has run everything, including the financial). It is because of this that all private donations in the area have completely stopped, even though there is a large group of proud alumni. I think that in a very short time, I will have to assume all control of the financial so that people trust the school enough again to help it out.

It is funny, but if I think of all the negative things I have written just now, it all seems such a waste or so desperate. Yet when I think of all the good that has already come from the contact it has given us with the families and kids, it is obvious that it is worth every Tums I have taken by a long shot. There is so much good to be done there and it is worth the effort.

Have a very blessed Holy Week and Easter!

Months of silence

Well, after months of silence I finally sit down to write again. I do apologize for the delay, but I guess life has gotten away from me. These last few months have been about as busy as any I can remember.

At the beginning of October I celebrated the patron saint of my parish in what is by far the largest and most important Mass of the year for my little parish with people coming from all over the country. We prepared with a nine day novena with Mass and confessions everyday. As part of the preparations we even went so far as to remove the temporary dividing wall so that we could have the whole church available again for the large numbers of people who come for this feast. Click here for some of the photos.

For the feast itself, there were 12 priests and the bishop as well as an above capacity crowd of around 300 or more. I know that probably doesn’t sound like much, but for this small village that is quite a bit.

Soon after the feast passed (and I started to regain a little bit of sleep) Fr. Juan went on vacation. Around here, when one is missing, everyone else picks up the slack. That has left me hopping from one town to the next, frequently having many different engagements per day.

To give you an idea, these were the last two days major events (which is to say not including all of the little things that fill a day). I had a 7:30 Mass on Saturday with the Claritians followed by a morning of administrative stuff. In the afternoon I had a Mass at 5:00 in one city, then drove 45 minutes to my parish for Mass at 7:00, and then on to a wedding in yet another city at 9:30. After driving home 45 minutes, I arrived at 11:30 and fell into bed dead (without dinner I might add!). This morning I was up again at 6:00 to head out to another parish for a special funeral mass for a 100-year-old woman who died. All other morning Masses were canceled due to the feast of the patroness of Uruguay (Our Lady of the 33) to be celebrated in the cathedral here. So after I finished the funeral, we rushed back to arrive just in time for the celebration with the entire bishop’s conference and around 70 priests and quite a few faithful. We then had lunch with all of the bishops. I had the honor sitting with our bishop and with the papal nuncio, a Polish bishop. As I am writing now, things are being prepared for the procession that is about to take place, but which I will not attend. My next stop is a birthday party for one of my parishioners followed by a Mass at 7:00 in my parish celebrating the anniversary of the “grandparents club”.

Before I sign off here, I have just one last little cultural note. That Mass that I had for the funeral this morning is the first one that I have had in Uruguay. Normally here they do not have Masses and then the burial, but rather hold an all night vigil and then a simple burial afterwards. Aside from reasons of lack of interest in religion, there is also a very practical reason for no Mass. By law, when someone dies in Uruguay, they must be buried within 24 hours. That means, that no matter when you die, what day it is, you will have the funeral that night or the following morning at the latest, by law. No exceptions. Therefore, I had to receive special permission from the bishop to be able to celebrate the Mass this morning despite a ban on all morning Masses (so that everyone would be able to attend the Mass in Florida). The same would hold true on Christmas or any other holiday. Just remember, third world country means no refrigeration for bodies and no embalming of any kind. Life is full of treats down here.

Life in a rural parish

Well, I am back in to the full swing of things here and continue to work on building up the mission here. I feel at times that I am starting a new parish rather than just having inherited one. Nevertheless things are going quite well and I am increasingly busier.

I just thought I would share a few little anecdotes this time on some of the more amusing things of life in the boondocks. First off is the road system. A few months before I got here, they redid the road that I take daily to my parish. It seems that budgets are tight so they cut corners where they can. On this road, the ‘corner’ was the entire foundation of the road. As such after some heavy rains, there essentially is no road anymore and so they came and filled a good part of it in with gravel.

That brings me to point number two. When the roads were good, I was often tempted to go faster than would normally have been permitted seeing as the road was good and the street was empty. The country of Uruguay, however, has a very good anti-speeding system for rural areas, and there is not a radar detector in the world that can fool it. It comes in the form of a rather large breed of grey fox that can be seen littering the roads. I don’t know how many I have seen since I have been here, but after hitting the first one, I learned to appreciate the value of obeying this speed trap. Some times mother nature just does things better. (If I ever have a chance, I will photograph one and put the picture up – they really are large.)

My last little story is at the same time one that baffles me and one that consoles me. We are in winter down here. Winter means cold and rainy and occasionally it even gets blow freezing (which is particularly uncomfortable since things are not constructed for cold here and no one has heating). When it rains here, it typically pours … hard. I already wrote once about flooded bridges (which we have again right now). That being said, you would expect people to adapt – after all, it is just water. Well, guess again. I showed up for Mass the other day with the students of the parochial school only to discover that not even 20% had come to school because it was raining too hard. I do understand for the kids who walk a mile or so from the farms to the nearest bus stop, but most of the kids who go to that school walk at most three blocks. This is not a big village… But that is just how things work here. I guess if they can’t have snow days, they might as well have rain days (self declared of course). I find this strange fact also consoling, because it helps to explain to me the times when almost no one comes to Mass on rainy days. At least it is not only Church that they ditch!

Anyway, I hope everyone has a nice week in the warm North. I’ll just continue wearing two sweaters and be thankful I don’t have the full summer heat yet! God bless.

To Europe and back

Well, at long last I again return to writing in this little blog. I apologize for such a long absence. For the past month of so I have been in Europe and that made things a bit difficult. Of course I am aware that a good number the people who actually read this were there with me, but I am sure there are also some who were not.

The reason for my trip, aside from a bit of badly needed R&R, was that two of our sisters were to make their consecration to enter formally into our community and receive their habit. It just so happens that one of the two is my little sister – OK, not biologically but I have known her since she was thirteen. Sr. Mary Nichole is also from Muscatine, IA and she and her family are about as good friends as anyone could ever hope for.

As such I headed off to Rome on an airplane that could never meet FAA standards in a lifetime, with an airline that was in the process of going bankrupt, and in the dark because none of the overhead lights were working. For all that, I arrived just fine and began a pleasant odyssey with the group of around thirty Americans who had also come for the occasion. I say odyssey because in spite of how wonderful a trip it was, we packed an ungodly amount of things into a very short span. I am not sure if there are record kept as to who has received the most indulgences in a given time span, but I am sure we could at least hold our own!

The vestiture itself was beautiful and very grace filled. We followed that by trips through Rome, a Papal audience, a trip to Assisi, Lanciano, Monte San Angelo, and San Giovanni Rotondo. When all was said and done, I could honestly say that it was a truly beautiful trip with some of the most wonderful people I know. That being said, I don’t think I could have made it much longer no matter how much fun it was.

After they left I headed up to Germany to stay with a wonderful family I know there and expand my waistline even further. It was in Donaueschingen, that same town where I filled in at the parish for six weeks a couple of years ago. I was somewhat surprised at how warm a welcome I still received. I guess it means I made some kind of an impression. At the very least, they still have adoration there every week on Friday as a result my being there. I can’t even begin to tell you how much that pleases me.

After a few days with them there I headed on to our annual retreat in Slovakia. I have to say that I was more than a little surprised at how happy and joyful I was to see everyone. I guess I hadn’t realized just how much I had missed the rest of my family. Don’t get me wrong, we have a wonder community life down here in Uruguay and I love them all dearly, but they don’t replace the rest of my brothers and sisters. It was so nice to see my fellow priests and my brothers having just finished the agony of exams. How well I could still relate! The retreat itself was truly beautiful and inspiring; the theme was “Jesus’ most loving homily, His last words on the Cross”. To say that I needed a retreat is an understatement. It is such a help to ‘fill up’ again before having to return to daily life of always giving spiritual food rather than getting it.

So it is that I am back again in Uruguay I have just finished a whole set of weekend Masses and am accordingly tired. But it is a good tired and I am truly happy to be back. I have many ideas of things I would like to do or to start and now, with renewed strength and spirit, I hope to get about it.

The feast of St. Isidore the worker

St. Isidore the worker is the patron saint of farmers and field hands. As such, he has a very special place in my rural parish. Even though he is not the patron of the parish, he nevertheless has the very highest dignities awarded him here and as such merits one of the two big celebrations the parish has each year. For that reason, his feast was celebrated here on Sunday, so that everyone could participate.

The feast is marked by a whole series of events throughout the day that comprise one of the two major fund raising events of the year for the parochial school. To start things off, there was a procession with his statue and accompanied by a “desfile” or parade of some of the local gauchos on horseback. It was actually a rather nice moment filled with prayer and short meditations on his life. After that were a Mass that was absolutely packed and then a barbecue lunch in typical Uruguayan style.

The afternoon was spent with a series of horse riding competitions and games including a version of musical chairs that was particularly fun. One of the events that did not quite work out as planned involves trying to stay on top of an entire cowhide while it is pulled behind a horse at high speed. Unfortunately the hide they had was overly dry and so it broke prematurely. I was really looking forward to getting photos of that! In the end they substituted with a large grain sack, but that had to be painful as it is not nearly as padded as a leather hide.

The day ended with an awards ceremony and a dance that went on until about 2 in the morning. Needless to say, I was gone long before the dance ever started so that I could get back to our house and finally celebrate Mother’s Day with our sisters. Our celebration consisted simply in a nice Uruguayan barbecue, since the grill itself was our gift to them. If I get a chance, I will take a picture tomorrow, because a grill here is not at all what you would imagine – it is a lot nicer and more fun than a little gas Weber! Grilling is an amusingly important part of the culture in rustic country, and they do it very well.

I’ve put up some of my pictures that I took that day. You can find them here:

http://frfrancesco.shutterfly.com/

A blessed Easter

I wish you all a very blessed Easter! I am aware that Easter has since come and gone, but we are still in the Easter season, so better late than never. Holy week turned out to be very beautiful, even if very simple in my parish. Unfortunately with everything going on I didn’t have many possibilities to take pictures, but I have a few…

This was the first Holy Week that I had to guide myself, and I have come to have a whole new appreciation for all the work my brothers did in Rome for us. The liturgy is intricate and detailed with so many little points to consider, especially when dealing with them for the first time. Another factor is, of course, inculturation the liturgy in my parish with all of its limited resources and handicaps. But, as I said, everything turned out very well and was truly beautiful.

The Sunday after Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, was especially nice here. Our founder, Fr. Paul Maria Sigl, was visiting along with Mother Agnes (the mother superior of the sisters). Here in the diocese, the feast has grown to be quite a celebration with busses coming from across the diocese. Fr. Paul gave the homily at mass as well a conference in the afternoon on Divine Mercy. All in all, it was a truly graceful day and everyone was quite touched.

I will try and write some more in a few days, but for now, here are some photos that Fr. Luis put in his site from the feast of Divine Mercy.

http://www.pluis.sk/web/milosrdenstvo/BM2006/index.htm

Palm Sunday in Chamizo

Yesterday was my first Palm Sunday in the missions and was a day of other firsts as well. Despite everything being new and a fair amount of chaos before the mass, in the end everything went very well. We started with the blessing of the palms in front of the school and then processed into the church. The Mass itself was simple, but profound and, in general, everyone was quite touched. It was an added pleasure to have a completely full church.

I mentioned that there were also a few firsts…

It was the first and second time that I had someone back out at the last minute on reading parts of the passion. I wanted to read it with five people to be able to divide up some of the other voices. The night before one man sprained his knee so badly he couldn’t walk, and so I found a last minute replacement. In a normal parish that should not be too hard, in mine it is. First of all, there are not that many men that attend regularly. In addition to that, not every person is suitable as a lector. Add to that the fact that a significant part of the population, though more or less literate, is not able to read out loud, and you find yourself with very few choices. Fine, I found someone at ten at night. Then, fifteen minutes before Mass, I find out that the other man can’t come either. His partner in the bakery was ill, and so he had to mind the store. Oh well, not all things are as we desire them…

There were also several first on the liturgical front. It was the first time that the altar boys had albs. It seems something simple that they have albs, but it added whole realms of complication. The one was too embarrassed to be seen in public with what he called a skirt and so didn’t want to leave the sacristy. Of course everyone else was absolutely thrilled to see altar boys vested again (it is anyway still a pleasant novelty for the parish just to have altar boys again). I think that I was the most pleased of all to have them. It adds so much to the liturgy to have servers who are properly attired. So in this, I really have to thank my brother. The albs were his Christmas gift to me, and really, to my whole parish.

It was also the first time we had a procession together. That went fairly smoothly all things considered. The only problem was to keep them from trotting along, but that is to be expected.

Finally, it was also the first time we used incense in the Mass. For altar boys who only barely have the hang of handing me the cruets with water and wine, the jump to incense (which they had never heard of) was rather significant. They performed marvelously. It was so nice to be able to add also that symbol to our liturgy.

Allow me to take just one last moment to thank so many of you who have helped out with this mission. I already mentioned my brother, but there are quite a few others who have made genuine sacrifices to help out, be it by sending me things for the liturgy or through financial help. I cannot thank you all enough. Seeing the reaction of the people of my parish shows me just how much these things mean, and so I say with all my heart, may God repay you all for the good you have done here!

For some photos of the Mass and practice with the altar boys, click here.

The mission grows...

Well, once again quite a bit of time has gone by since the last time I updated this page. For that I am sorry. Life has simply been very very busy. In a mission like mine, that is a very good thing. Rather than recount too much all at once, allow me to give more of a status report.

In the past few weeks school has started up again. This year the school is working in shifts, with grades 4-6 in the morning and 1-3 plus kindergarten in the afternoon. As such, I now have two masses a week with the kids, one in the mornings and one in the afternoons. We have also started up religion classes again. I reorganized the plan so that all the kids have religion classes in the school and separate classes outside of school in preparation for first communion. Before I add any other masses, I want to see how the parish responds to these two. If people begin to attend regularly, then I will add also other masses during the week.

I have also started to visit the sick of the parish. I think it has been a while since someone brought communion to the sick, but slowly people are finding out about my willingness to do and are beginning to ask. I now regularly visit 3 people on Fridays, and sporadically visit others. Now if they would just start calling me to come and visit the dying instead of telling me about a month later when they want an anniversary mass…

I have also now started a group for adults, with the idea being to prepare those who have yet to receive first communion or confirmation, but also to serve those adults who would like to deepen their knowledge of the faith. So far the numbers have continued to grow and interest has been good, but we are really only just getting started.

We have also started a group for confirmation kids. So far, it has been a fight. Sr. Maria de los Angeles has that group, and getting them to come has proven difficult. With their odd class schedules and the total neglect of that age group over the past years, it is difficult to make meaningful contact. Like all things, it will take time…

Right now I am swamped in preparation for my first Holy Week here in the parish. I am still working on figuring out local customs and traditions so that I can accommodate them. In general, though, everyone seems quite happy with everything that I have been trying to do in the parish, and the response to things is always positive.

Here are a few links to photos that I put up already weeks ago, but never got around to putting links in…

Uruguayan Rodeo

30th Birthday in the parish