Letters from Fr. Bill "Memo" Kraus, O.F.M.Cap.

These letters begin with Mid-America Capuchin Fr. Bill Kraus's arrival in northwestern Mexico as a new missionary in September of 1998. They are in chronological order to allow readers to discover Mexico along with Fr. Bill.

New letters will be added from time to time. The ones that are here are dated 1998: Sept. 28, Oct 21, Nov. 1, Dec. 14; 1999: Mar. 2, May 12, July 11, July 23, Sept. 7, Oct. 4, Nov. 22; 2000: Jan. 3, March 6, May 10, July 21, Sept 30, Oct. 3, Dec. 8.

Bill's address is:

Franciscanos Capuchinos
Mision Tres OPjitas
Apto Postal 12
31940 Cd. Madera, Chih., Mexico
phone 011-52 (158) 97041
e-mail: billkraus@compuserve.com

 

from Yecora, Mexico, Sept. 28, 1998:

Peace to all of you in the Lord. It's a quiet and pleasant Sunday evening in the mountains of Yecora. I just finished the evening Mass here, having celebrated the morning Mass and then attending the afternoon Mass in Juan Diego de los Pimas about a mile away across a small river and a beautiful valley. This evening I want to take a few minutes to write a little about the mission and my first few days here.

I just found out today that we may be getting our own phone line here in the parish and friary in the near future (relative term - 2-3 months?), so I may be able to send an e-mail directly in the future. Meanwhile, regular mail can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks between Yecora and the states, or longer in busy seasons. If we mail in Obregon or Hermosillo, it takes only 1-2 weeks, but we're a 4-5 hour drive from those cities, so we get to one of those cities only about once a month.

My first week has been full. After a smooth flight that got me and all my luggage here safely, two brothers met me in Ciudad Obregon where we stayed two days with the Christian Brothers who have a couple schools there. We had to get the truck repaired, do some shopping, visit the bishop and have a meeting at the chancery, then we went to visit one of the Mayo Indian parishes outside Obregon. We got here to Yecora Wednesday about midnight, so it was too dark to see most of the terrain; but what I have seen here is pretty, especially now after the rainy season, from June to September.

Yecora is named after a town in Spain, and Sonora is an Indian name meaning the "place of the corn." The city was founded in 1673 by the Jesuits who did most of the missonary work in Sonora. (There's a "Padre Kino" wine commemorating the most famous Jesuit who founded the missions in northern Sonora and southern Arizona.) They were expelled by the king of Spain about 1770, and the Yecora area has had no sustained missionary effort since. The last religious order to work in the area was the Augustinians, who left about ten years before the Capuchins arrived in 1985.

The town has about 4,000 people, sits at an altitude of 5,000 feet, and is primarily agricultural with crops of beans, potatoes, corn, and some wheat. There are also cattle, and some cheese is made in the area. The terrain is quite rugged and there are very few cars in town, mostly horses and trucks and pickups for work and transportation. The farm machinery likewise is either animal drawn or uses small tractors. During Mass one hears as many horses hooves as trucks on the stone streets outside the front; and dogs and cats are frequent worshippers inside.

The one and only church (Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe) and the plaza are in the center of the town. There are also a primary, secondary (like our junior high) and preparatory (like our senior high) school. The Adventists run the preparatory school, but that's the only Protestant establishment in the area that I know of. The rest of the non-residence buildings are stores for farm supplies, groceries and household items, several restaurants and small businesses, and of course bars and liquor stores. There's a huge "Tecate" beer sign outside our front gate, providing good light for our street all night long.

And you'll be happy to know, especially Mom, that there's a doctor in town just a couple blocks away from the friary. She's a friend of the friars and we had a home Mass and meal there last week.

Now to the most important: the friars and the work. We are a community of six, three lay brothers and three priests, and the five California friars are really good men, all unique and gifted for mission work. They have welcomed me warmly and made me feel a part of the community and mission. In fact they already offered me a 20-year contract!!

JAIME DOYLE, ca 75, has been here for ten years. He is as Irish as the day is long and does a variety of manual work (cooking, cleaning, carpentry, gardening, sacristan) as well as some visiting the sick.

GUILLERMO TRAUBA, ca 45, has the longest experience here in the mission, since 1986. He is associate pastor, works with a number of the "pueblitos" or outreach stations in the area, and is a botanist who catalogs the local flora in his free time. [Earlier, 1982-86, he served as a missonary at Burani and Kagua in Papua New Guinea.

DAVID BEAUMONT, ca 40 and here since 1990, is the pastor and guardian who also cares for a number of mission stations, mostly of indigenous people. He is quite charismatic and good with people, and loves especially to help the native people know and express their own culture and language.

ANSELMO AGUIRE, ca 35, here one year and originally from Guanajuato, Mexico, provides a great bridge between the local Mexicans and us northerners. He does a lot of work with music and catechesis, especially bible studies and sacramental preparations, and some fraternal service.

MARCOS NANCE, ca. 35, has been here about a month and is still learning the language and mission work. He is more urbane than the rest, but good both in manual work and interacting with the locals.

The other member of the community, now known as Padre "Memo" ("Bill") to distinguish myself from the other "Padre Guillermo," am still learning how I'll fit in best in the works of the fraternity and the labor of the parish and the mission stations.

We also, gracias a Dios, plan to accept 4-5 postulants at the end of October. Some of them have been waiting for several years, until the friars thought they/we were ready for a formation program. I have not met any of them, but I hear they're good fellows, from the states of Sonora and Chihuahua. Their coming will mean that Spanish will have to be the language of the fraternity, where now it is part English and part Spanish.

Short as my time has been here, I like the fraternal life. It seems both relaxed and accomodating of the ministry. We keep a Mexican-European schedule, with the main meal about 1:00 pm and a light evening meal after the work day about 7 or 7:30 in the evening. We pray Mass and Morning, Evening and Night Prayer together, and have two periods of meditation. The evening schedule works well with Evening Prayer at 8:00, followed by common meditation and then Compline at 9:00 with common recreation afterwards. Of course with the demands of long trips to the mission stations, sometimes overnight or for several days, the fraternity-ministry tension is present here too. Some things never change!

The living situation is simple but healthy. Probably the best way to discribe the physical compound is to think of rustic or mountain "camp" living, with separate buildings for sleeping, dining, recreation and chapel, rather than one integrated friary. Furnishings are mostly home made and simple, walls and floors are block and concrete, and vehicles are a truck, a pick-up and a motorcycle. We do have electricity and running water, but no heat in the buildings and only one hot water heater, in the kitchen. There are wood-burning heaters for showers and laundry, and winter nights will mean bundling up in sweats and warm blankets or sleeping bags.

Food and meals have been sufficient and healthy. We have a good mixture of local food (bean, rice, cheese, fruit, vegetables and of course tortillas) along with other fare (pasta, chicken, etc.). We have little meat, which doesn't seem to bother anyone. The air is clean - though it's very dusty due to unpaved roads, walks, etc. - and the climate is pleasant. We use purification pills in the water, because the city plumbing is bad and can absorb ground impurities, So far I've felt fine!

Remote as we are, there is no newspaper, but we can get international news over shortwave BBC and local news through a poor TV reception of Mexican news. It's just right for knowing that Kohl lost the election in Germany, not knowing any detail about the Clinton affair, and hearing that Mark McGuire won the home run derby. Actually, the location and absence of mail here means a real lack of good reading about current world and church news, and I'm not sure yet what if anything to do about that.

The people? Well, the townspeople and parishioners at Yecora are probably as much like the Indians and Mexican people of the US southwest as they are like those of central Mexico. They are more punctual than the stereotype, and the men wear cowboy hats rather than sombreros. Many of the parishioners are more light-skinned and tall than the people of Annunication Parish [a predominantly Hispanic inner-city parish which Bill Kraus pastored in Denver from 1990 till 1993], though the liturgies and parish life is very similar. There are perhaps more communions here, but fewer men in the pews.

The people in the 20 or so missions in the area, however, mostly indigenous, have retained more of their darker color along with their culture, traditions and native languages. There are four main Indian groups we work with: Mayos, Yaquis, Pimas, and Guarajillos. From the several missions I visited, it seems that their people are warmer, less influenced by the material culture, and more open to evangelization.

The 20 pueblitos are within a 2-3 hour driving radius of Yecora, and we try to have Mass at least once a month in each station. As I understand it, much of our future work is to evangelize/catechize the people of the missions, as well as build up the main parish here in Yecora. Our other objective, of course, is to live well our fraternal life, implant the Order in this part of Mexico, and make the Capuchin life available to the people.

By the way, the town is very quiet these days, since most people are in the "ranches" after the rainy season picking fruit, harvesting crops and vegetables, cutting hay and sorghum, making cheese, etc. I also heard that marijuana is one of the crops that a majority of the people are involved in...probably including many in the government! The friars here say that all the narcotic traffickers have a strong devotion to St. Jude, but I haven't figured out the connection yet.

Well, enough for now, and I'd better wrap this up with a few words about myself. These have been both hard days and exciting days. The difficulties are adjusting to a whole new reality. The cultural and

daily life changes are enormous, but the largest challenge and most frustrating experience for me is the language. It's really a struggle for me to converse freely and intelligently with a group of people when my Spanish is so limited, and I'm quite an introvert even when I can communicate well! One on one I do pretty well, but in a group I'm like a baby among adults, sometimes bumbling and making many mistakes, and that's humbling and hard for someone who needs to be successful and look good.

But I'm sure that this minority and poverty is precisely one of the things I need to learn and use for spiritual growth. I feel pretty sure that the language will come in time; I just need to have patience and be grateful for the opportunity of littleness. Pray for my perseverence!

On the exciting side, as I said above, I find the Capuchin life and fraternity to be strong and healthy, and we have all the important elements we need to begin the postulancy. I know too that the friars and the people will teach me a lot about what's most important in life: God, community, nature, family, fiesta, rich cultural traditions, and the blessings of a simple life.

Though the transition is hard, it really is what I hoped and prayed for. So please pray for me that I learn and receive graciously all that God has to teach and give me, and that I can use my gifts well in the fraternity and ministry.

Tomorrow we have a major community meeting to talk about the postulancy and what we have to do to prepare for it. (I just found out that the postulants will be coming October 19). Tuesday I'll go with David to the village of Maycoba, to the Pima Indians, for whom the feast of St. Michael the Archangel is a major feast! There'll be a Mass, fiesta late into the night, and we'll sleep under the stars before returning to Yecora on Wednesday.

from Yecora, Mexico, Oct. 21, 1998:

Peace to you all in the Lord, Francis and Clare. It is a month today since my arrival in Yecora, and I thought I’d fax you a letter to say hello and let you know I’m doing well. The language, especially daily conversation, is the biggest challenge and often a major frustration; but there’s only one way to learn, so I’m forcing myself to dive in and make mistakes and ask for help (God forbid!). I think I am taking two steps forward for every one backward.

The fraternity here is solid and rich in diversity, and we have just doubled in size! Five candidates arrived this past weekend, and we expect a sixth one on Saturday. Some of these men have known the friars for quite awhile, waiting until the guys here thought we were ready to begin formation. They will be candidates for a couple months, since distance and communication prevent our getting to know them well enough before their entry; then those who remain will become postulants Dec. 12, for a year-and-a-half postulancy.... They hit this place like a whirlwind, and we professed enjoyed our memories of energy and enthusiasm at the beginnings of formation programs. They seem rooted in a strong desire for prayer, poverty, and service to the poor. Needless to say, it’s quite a change for the fraternity, as we are officially now a "formation house."

I’m well, have been healthy, and have had sufficient time for adjustment, prayer, personal life, etc. I’m officially an assistant in the parish and assistant postulant director, but really a kind of an "assistant everything" while I learn the language better and get to know the parish and travel around to the (20 or so) pueblitos. There’s so much to learn in a situation where the pueblitos are a mix of mexican and indigenous, and each mission community and indian tribe has a distinct history and character. So I’ll visit each mission eventually, and meanwhile cover the main parish here and a small Pima village of Juan Diego nearby 2-3 weekends a month while the other two priests are out in the pueblitos.

from Yecora, Mexico, Nov. 1, 1998:

We had our first frost last night, 28 degrees, but it warmed up to 78 this afternoon. This wide range is the common pattern, so if you get cold during the night you can look forward to a pleasant daytime. We have plenty of blankets to curl up in at night; the greater skill is dressing in layers in the morning to be able to shed as the day heats up. We have had some rains as a result of hurricanes in the area and actually had the blessing of 5-6 days without dust last week.

The biggest news is the beginning of our postulancy program. Six young men joined us two weeks ago, and they're really a solid group of guys. One is 37, one 30, and the other four range from 22 to 25 years old. They came in like a whirlwind with lots of energy and enthusiasm and have settled in well. We oldies enjoyed remembering our first days in formation. The postulancy here is a bit more academic and less pastoral than ours, given the need for a little more education, and the prayer life is a bit more structured. But our programs would be basically compatible.

So I'm back in a "formation house" and am helping with classes, pastoral days, work assignments, etc. I'll end up teaching quite a bit, because DAVID [BEAUMONT], the postulant director, is also guardian and pastor and is away a lot in the various pueblos. So far, it's going well. The postulants are patient with me and help me with the language. I'm pleased with the community life and the positive way the friars have adapted to a formation fraternity that doubles our size.

This doesn't mean we'll have such a large group every year, because some of these have been waiting for several years until the friars here thought we were ready to begin formation. But we do have 1-4 serious candidates for next year already. These candidates (they'll become postulants Dec. 12) all come from northern Mexico, whose eight states the Order has given to the Yecora mission for recruitment. These states will form a future jurisdiction, and a vice-province once there are at least three houses, and God willing a province some day. The present plan is to set up a second house (house of studies) in Monterrey, and a third house (pastoral) in Durango. The Spanish Capuchin jurisdiction in central Mexico will become a vice-province in early December, and David will be attending and visiting with the friars there about collaboration in formation for the novitiate and post-novitiate year.

I have almost five weeks here, and am feeling more comfortable all the time with the language and the rhythm of life. The friars and parishioners have been good and kind teachers, My role here is kind of an "assistant everything," which is fine as I learn many things and can free the other guys to expand or reach out in new directions. I'll be staying home most of the time (in the local parish and helping with the postulants) while the other two priests go out on weekends in the various pueblos. But one weekend a month I'll also get out to the other areas so that I will eventually see and meet all the pueblos.

It has really been interesting to visit the pueblos that I have so far, to see and experience the unique history and culture and tradition of each one, especially the indigenous (indian) villages. I've been able to join in several Pima indian celebrations, dances, fiestas -- including sleeping out (and getting drenched with rain) as the dances and music go late into the night. Several of these fiestas have been in remote areas to which we have to walk the last mile, but through very scenic valleys. I sent a few pictures to the provincial house in Denver, and I'll have some for the provincial assembly in April.

As I mentioned last time, the life here is rural and rustic, so that many of the properties have farm animals in the back yard or adjacent small corrals. We too, within the adobe walls that enclose our property, have an assortment of dogs, cats, rabbits, ducks, and even a turtle that makes its home in the duck pond. We were offered some baby deer, but we felt we didn't have the space or grass/hay to keep and feed them. We'll have to build some more buildings in the near future, since we're full now, to house future postulants/friars as well as guests.

In addition to pastoral work, I also have a chance to help with a lot of manual work gardening and landscaping, building shelves and tables and other carpentry, cleaning and fixing up various things that need repairs. So the opportunities to work with my hands and in the dirt suit me just fine!

I've had a lot of opportunities to reflect on the different style and pace of life here, in the absence of many modern conveniences. One reflexion is about a surrender to the laws of nature: heat, cold, darkness, rain. Without heat and air conditioning, with limited electricity and water, the weather controls more when you work, study, eat, sleep, recreate...even when and if you have a meeting! This lack of control invites humility, rest, creativity, relaxation and finally peace. The world keeps going fine when our plans are changed by nature.

And one also see that the "lazy" Mexican under his sombrero is simply obeying the laws of the sun in the 120 degree heat of day in the Sonoran desert and that "manana" allows people to relax rather than suffer a heart attack in the face of weather or other events beyond their control. Like our having only one vehicle for several weeks because the wheel bearing went out on the other one. The closest new bearing is five hours away and will take a week or so to get here. You take a motorbike where you can, walk some places, thumb a ride other places, and simply not show up elsewhere...without a phone to let people know you can't make it. And everyone survives, maybe even more healthily.

Enough philosophizing. I'll keep this to two pages and close by saying thanks again for your love and prayers. I miss you and enjoy hearing from you. Know that I'm well and quite happy, and that I have you in my prayers. Much love, Bill.

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