from Yecora,
Mexico, July 11, 1999:
Peace to you in the Lord
Jesus, and
in Francis and Clare of Assisi. As I write this a heavy downpour of
rain is beating on the tin room of the parish house; but I don't have
to hear anything, only see the screen to send you a few lines for the
summer.
Yes, it started raining
about three
weeks ago and continues almost every day, sometimes giving us a
"gullywasher" and other days a "soaker." Since it's my first summer
here, it's fascinating to watch the cloud and weather patterns. The
rains are somewhat like those in the Rocky Mountains, but the seasons
are much more distinct and reversed from back home. The hot dry months
here are April, May and early June, and the wet season is mid-June to
mid-September.
It's amazing to see the
rapid
transformation of the earth, and people's spirits, almost overnight,
with a good rain. The rivers and streams run again, the cattle graze
contentedly, and the farmers can plant beans and corn and potatoes for
the fall.
It's been a good and full
summer so
far. I was alone almost three weeks while the California friars were in
their province for their chapter, for mission appeals and other
business. I missed the guys but it was good for awhile to have all the
work, activities, pastoral duties and decisions fall at my doorstep: it
gave me a good sense of the breadth of the ministry, especially at the
front door. Thanks be to God we have a secretary-receptionist now, for
the first time in the mission's history, who works half a day and takes
care of much of the porter and office work. She's very good and has a
lot of patience with my faltering Spanish.
Another first for us here
in the
parish is extraordinary ministers for communion, whom we're training to
begin in August. Since we'll be only three friars instead of six this
year, it will be particularly good to
have help in taking
communion to the
sick and homebound. We're finding that there are a lot of elderly
Catholic people in their homes not receiving communion, mostly because
they don't think about it. It has never been part of their history in
towns or rural areas where the Eucharist was not reserved in chapels
and they saw a priest once or twice a year.
Oh, there's so much
evangelizing and
catechizing to do here among people who have never had a regular
experience of the Mass, Blessed Sacrament, confession and other
sacraments of the church. This morning I celebrated confession with an
elderly lady in here home, a home full of statues and religious
symbols; but neither she nor her children, all Catholic, had any real
sense of what confession was all about. I had to explain to her adult
daughters why they should leave the room and allow their mother some
privacy for confession.
There's a strong faith and
devotion
among the people, and their lives are full of religious symbols and
celebrations; but most of the time there is very little reflection on
the meaning of their traditions and customs and practices. It's so
frustrating a times...but I have to keep telling myself that it's their
history! Have patience, Bill, and compassion for a people that haven't
had the riches of a strong Catholic education and the regular presence
of a priest and the sacraments!
On the other hand their
practice of
Gospel hospitality is unmatched, and the family served me homemade
empanadas and coffee this moring after confession and communion!
You knock at the door of a
house here
and the first words are "Come in," "Have a seat," and "Would you like a
cup of coffee?" Only then do they ask your name or the purpose of your
visit. I learn a lot from this unconditional welcome, and I have a long
way to go in practicing it...at MY front door. That's at least one of
the reasons the Lord allowed me to come here.
On July 21 we'll travel
from Yecora
to Tres Ojitos (near Ciudad Madera) in Chihuahua for the blessing of
the novitiate house and the investiture of the five novices. It's a
great grace for us and I'm looking forward to the visit and the
ceremony. And as we look to September here, we're hoping for 6-7
postulants again, though we won't know a number for sure until they get
here.
Meanwhile, I have a great
opportunity
that I said "yes" to: an invitation to teach a course to Capuchins in
Nigeria. Yes, that's Africa! I'll be offering a three-week course in
Franciscanism to their young friars in initial formation, and have a
week to visit the country a little. One extra delight will be to see
AKOSA EMODI again, who was in one of my novitiate classes in Victoria,
KS and was instrumental in getting the friars (from the Province of
Tuscany, Italy) to come to Nigeria. I also hope to visit a Great Bend
(KS) Domincan sister,who was a neighbor of ours in Grainfield, KS and
has been a missionary in Nigeria for 25 years.
I'll use this time as my
vacation
this year, in lieu of coming back to the States, since it was such a
great opportunity for me to visit the friars and country of Nigeria,
and since I had the chance for a short
visit home in April. So I
have my
visa and obedience and plane ticket for July 30 - Aug. 29. Now I just
have to get a few innoculations...and prepare my course! Wish me luck,
and say a prayer for me.
from Yecora,
Mexico, July 23, 1999:
God's peace be with you. I
just
returned from Chihuahua and I want to send you a short report on our
marvelous celebrations yesterday, blessing the new novitiate friary and
investing our four new novices.
The new house is St.
Fidelis Friary
in the little pueblo of Tres Ojitos (perhaps 150 inhabitants) about
five miles outside the city of Madera, Chihuahua. The 15-acre site,
with a lake and pine trees and lots of space to walk, makes for a great
novitiate setting. It was donated to us by the bishop of the diocese of
Madera-Chuatemoc, in exchange for our pastoral care of several
neighboring pueblos and our making the place and the friars available
for retreats, confessions, etc.
In the morning of the feast
of St.
Lawrence of Brindisi, we invested four novices - SERGIO, VALENTIN,
DAVID and PEDRO PABLO - in the Portiuncula-like chapel, which I think
is a wonderful place for prayer. In a touching ceremony RON TALBOTT,
the provincial of the California Province, gave thanks to God for this
historic moment of implanting the Order in Northern Mexico and invited
the novices to become good Capuchins.
In the afternoon Bishop
Juan
Guillermo presided at a Mass to bless and inaugurate the novitiate
friary. About 250 people came from Tres Ojitos, Madera, other
neighboring pueblos, and from Chihuahua three hours away. They included
six local priests, many Secular Franciscans, 14 Capuchin Poor Clares
(from both Madera and Chihuahua), and 15 friars from Tres Ojitos,
Yecora, California, and the vice-provincial of the (Spanish) Vice
Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe here in Mexico. The brothers in Tres
Ojitos have become known quickly and have great support already from
the Capuchin Sisters, the Secular Franciscans and the local clergy and
laity!
It was exciting to
inaugurate the
novitiate, and God has blessed us with a wonderful location and four
new brothers. Please pray for them and the formation community as we
take another important step in implanting the Order in this part of
Mexico.
from Yecora,
Mexico, Sept. 7, 1999:
September in Mexico is "el
mes de la
patria," the month of the fatherland, with the principal celebration
being Independence Day Sept. 16. So the next weeks will be filled with
fiestas and political observances, even in isolated Yecora. The natural
world peaks in beauty this month, after the rainy season, as we enjoy
emerald landscapes, late summer flowers and garden goodies. One has to
remember September in the cold of January and the dust of April!
In the Capuchin world we're
expecting
5-6 new postulants here this coming weekend, and the four novices and
the friars' community in Tres Ojitos are reported to be doing well.
I'll write more about the new postulants and other pastoral and
formation activities in the future. For now I want to tell you a little
about Nigeria, where I spent a very enjoyable and educational month in
August, teaching a course in Franciscan spirituality to the young
friars there.
First of all, for the
friars in
Mid-America, warmest greetings from AKOSA (CLEMENT) EMODI, whom many of
you will remember from the novitiate in Victoria, Kansas in 1981-1982.
Some of you recall that he wanted with all his heart to join our
province, but he also wanted to live as a Capuchin in Nigeria. His only
option, we told him then, was to return home and petition his bishop to
invite the Capuchins to Nigeria.
He did! The friars from
Tuscany,
Italy, arrived in 1984 to implant the Order, and now 15 years later
they are a custody of four Italian friars and about 40 Nigerian
Capuchins, ten of them priests (including Akosa), one a perpetually
professed lay brother, and the rest in initial formation. So after 17
years it was a particular joy for me, and something of dream-come-true,
to re-unite with a former novice and in my Franciscan teaching to
nurture the sprout of a Capuchin seed planted in Mid-America.
It was also beneficial for
me to
spend time teaching and reflecting with the Nigerian Capuchins as they
face the transition from an Italian-led community and formation system
to one that is fully Nigerian and African. We'll undergo the same
process here in Mexico in our mission and formation, and please God we
can implant and help inculturate a Capuchin life that is completely
Mexican.
The Capuchins are the only
community
of Franciscan men in Nigeria, so they have the "corner on the
(Franciscan) market." Like most seminaries and formation programs they
have plenty candidates and need to discern carefully among numerous
applicants. I heard from two different religious - the Capuchin
vice-provincial of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the novice
director of the Redemptorists - that they accept only twelve novices a
year from among 20-30 applicants, for the sake of space and so that
they don't grow too fast. Such a problem to have, right?!
The friars in Nigeria are
very
grateful for educational and formation resources donated by the US (I
saw books from several provinces, and a whole library from Garrison,
NY), and they still welcome any and all English works, especially in
philosophy and Franciscanism. They appreciate vocational resources too,
and in the early days found much success with the "Live the Dream, Make
the Difference" slogan and booklet. (Kudos, MIKE SCULLY!)
Africa is sometimes called
the
"forgotten continent," and I too knew little about Nigeria and her
neighbors. So I learned a lot about a country whose church is young and
alive, whose people are very expressive and colorful, and whose land is
rich in natural resources. They've had their problems with civil wars,
military rule and political corruption; but they're hopeful now with a
new democratic government since May of this year. The church too has
major challenges, and opportunities, in guiding a people and helping a
nation to realize their rich potential, especially in the service of
the poor and evangelization.
I especially loved the
music:
spirituals in workshops and markets, polyphonic praises in churches,
lullabies on the lips of mothers baking bread or rocking their
children. My first hour in Nigeria, en route from the airport in Lagos
to the friary in Enugu, was a spontaneous praise service on the public
bus; my last hour found me on the airplane next to a young woman softly
chanting an Igbo hymn. In between it was delightful to be in a country
where religion is public and week-long: biblical bumper-stickers on
buses and trucks, morning prayers in offices, confessions in hospital
waiting rooms, God-talk in the halls and debates of congress. The other
side of this thoroughly religious society is of course the Angelus
bells and Islamic call to prayer together in disharmony, and an
evangelical church on practically every block competing for the poor's
donations.
Well, enough for now. But
we'll be
hearing a lot more from the church and the Order in Nigeria and Africa
in years ahead, as they grow in numbers and contributions to ecclesial
life, and perhaps (re)evangelize the West.
As always, know of my love
and
prayers for all of you; and please remember me, the Yecora mission and
our formation program as you kneel before the Lord.
from Yecora,
Mexico, Oct. 4, 1999:
Happy Feast Day to you all.
How
blessed we are in the heritage of Francis and Clare, and my prayer for
all the Franciscan family is for our continual conversion and renewal
in the wonderful spirit of the Poverello.
It's been quiet in Yecora
today,
since many local folks are in the neighboring town of Maycoba, a
community we serve about an hour away, for the huge annual feast of St.
Francis Borgia. His feast was originally Oct. 10, then moved to Oct. 3,
and the Jesuits who evangelized this area established a popular shrine
of St. Francis Borgia in Maycoba. Thus for many years around here THE
St. Francis associated with October 3-4 is Borgia, not Assisi. So you
can imagine we have our work cut out for us to reclaim our day! But I'm
happy that we had a church half-full for the morning Mass, and a few
people joined us for a Holy Hour this afternoon too.
The other two friars are
away, David
in Maycoba and Anselmo at an all-Mexico Franciscan conference in
Monterrey. So the postulants and I are enjoying the feast on a lovely
fall day, with good prayer and meals. Our duck herd was getting too
large, so we had a couple for supper. But MARK (MANCE, who was here
last year), we didn't use the orange sauce recipe - we're waiting for
you to come back and prepare this delight for us! I cooked the ducks
and made a stuffing a la Mexico, using half bread and half tortillas
cause we had so many, and using nopal (the fleshy part of cactus)
instead of celery because there was no celery in town. Turned out
pretty good!
We have four postulants
this year, a
little smaller group than we expected but a solid and positive group,
thanks be to God. They come from various parts of the mission territoy,
which is good news for our vocation outreach, and one is Mayo indian,
our first indigenous vocation. It's quite evident with this group that
reading and study and silence are hard, so learning basic study
habits,. including reading and writing, will be a major goal for our
program. I'm directing the postulants this year, with the help of David
and Anselmo, and so far so good. With a smaller friars' community this
year it's a challenge to have adequate presence to the postulants, but
we're managing. I limit my work in the surrounding Pueblos to Saturday
and Sunday, so I can be here in the friary and local parish during the
week.
The reports from the
novitiate in
Tres Ojitos are positive, and I'm anxious to get over there for a
visit, probably in ealy December. Efraim, our vocation director who is
also on the novitiate staff, will be coming here later this month to
plan some vocation weekends and other activities with us.
I'll close for now, with a
special
note of thanks to the Mid-America Province for your financial
contribution to our work here, and a promise of prayers for those of
you who will be on retreat next week in Victoria next week. May love
and prayers to all who read this letter, and I ask you to remember me
also as you kneel before the Lord.
from Yecora,
Mexico, Nov. 22, 1999:
Peace to you all in the
Lord, and
Happy Thanksgiving! It's actually today "Cristo Rey" today, but I'll be
going to Obregon tomorrow so I can mail a letter for you all.
Today we formally received
the
postulants at the morning Mass. Because distance and communications
don't allow us to know the candidates very well before they arrive, we
have a two month "pre-postulancy" time prior to their official entrance
into formation. It see ms to work well, and these four guys are doing
well. They're pretty typical of the Mexican youth of today, raised on
the television like most of the Western world, not highly educated
especially in the faith but open to learn and generally docile, with
rough edges to work off. One of the novices, Sergio, left a couple
weeks ago. He has some health (heart) probems and decided to leave and
attend to them more thoroughly, and perhaps return later. He's a good
novice and I hope it might work out in the future. I look forward to a
visit to the novitiate in Tres Ojitos (Chihuahua), an "official" visit
in my capacity as coordinator (prefect) of formation for the mission.
The year is going well for
me, with
good health and good fraternal support. The work in the pueblos is a
lot (I visit 12 towns monthly, sometimes more often), especially since
it all has to be done on weekends. They're all from 1 to 2 hours away,
so the travel is extensive, though vocation work gave me a good
preparation for that. There's great variety among the towns in the
response of the people, from great enthusiasm to a big yawn, depending
on their history of evangelization and pastoral care. Last Saturday I
had a quinceañera in one town where practially everyone in
the
church was drunk, including dad, mom, and the quinceañera
herself! (They had the dinner and dance - and a few refreshments--in
the early afternoon, before the Mass). On the other hand yesterday in
one town a group of ten women, on their own initiative, asked one of
the sisters here to assist them in a Bible study, which went for over
two hours.
So there are many
opportunities, in
my ministry and all of yours, to identify with the ups and downs of
Jesus' ministry--and sometimes rejections - in the Gospels. One skill
I'm thinking and praying about, in the disappointments and frustrations
of ministry, is the ability to transform anger to sorrow. The way Jesus
wept over Jerusalem rather vent his wrath, the way Francis wept that
"Love is not loved" in his frustration and feelings of rejection. Any
ideas for me?
On the California side, we
all
enjoyed the visit of MIGUEL ORTIZ from the provincial house, along with
benefactors Paul and Nadine from Solvang. Thanks for your time with us
and all your work while you were here.
We'll all be in Ciudad
Obregon this
week for a diocesan assembly, and to catch up on shopping,
parish/diocesan business, e'mail (I haven't been able to connect from
Yecora for several weeks).
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