from Yecora,
Mexico, Jan. 3, 2000:
Peace to you in the Savior
Jesus, and
a most Holy New Year to you all. I celebrated the new year in two
states, with a morning Mass in Yecora (Sonora) then an afternoon Mass
in Bermudez, Chihuahua. Bermudez is not really in our parish, but is
right across the border and far from the nearest priest in Chihuahua,
so we visit it as a favor to the people.
It's an interesting
community since
it was founded about 100 years ago by three families who came down here
from North Carolina, and so the people have very white features. I'm
not sure why the families migrated here, sometimes it's better not to
ask, but they're a very warm group and one of the most faithful
communities we visit.
Christmas was good and
peaceful, a
time of many Masses in many pueblos and a popular time for baptisms and
weddings. We do as many adult baptisms as infant, since so many adults
in distant pueblos or ranches without priests in the past were never
baptized. Frequently at marriages, or sometimes when a person is near
death, we celebrate baptisms and confirmations and first communions. I
had a baptism the other day for a lady dying of cancer, and three
baptisms this past week with weddings, one a convalidation. We also
buried the oldest resident of Yecora, Francisco, who was 110.
We had a couple small snows
here in
Yecora--my first in Mexico!--one December 11 to honor Our Lady of
Guadalupe and the other December 22. The Christmas snow didn't last
till the 25th, but it was very lovely on the hills, among the pine
trees. In a few places in lower elevations the snowflakes resting on
the leaves of the "nochebuena" or Poinsettia provided a lovely
Christmas ambience.
The snow also gave me a
good
"missionary" experience the day after Christmas, when I went to
celebrate Mass in Campanero, several thousand feet higher than Yecora.
There was a lot of snow and ice on the steep incline, and our 1992
Chevy pickup couldn't make it. It has four-wheel drive, but doesn't
work, and it may not have been enough anyway. I tried another route but
it was equally slick, and I almost went off the edge; but thanks to my
Kansas mountain driving experience I got safely back on the path. After
several attempts on several different routes, I parked the truck, took
my Mass kit in hand and began to walk.
After 15-20 minutes I
reached the
level, where the driver of a pickup truck going the opposite direction
waved with a "Feliz Navidad." Next came a man on a horse, and when I
asked him for a ride he said he had to go to a nearby pasture and would
come back to pick me up "ratito" ("in a little while"), which down here
can mean five minutes or an hour or never. Next I met a lady walking
towards the main road where I came from, we exchanged some Christmas
conversations, and seeing her reminded me how many people have no
transportation and walk or beg rides all the time.
So I decided to forget the
clock and
take advantage of the walk. It was very enjoyable in the morning sun
and cool air and winter wonderland scenery of Campanero. I also thought
of you, Jerry (Wintz), in the various PNG treks you narrated in your
letter.
After about an hour's walk
I caught a
ride to the church, where we had a nice Holy Family celebration. After
Mass I helped push-start the truck of one of the parishoners who gave
me a ride back to the beginning of the decline. I walked back to the
truck and was able to make it to my other Mass in Santa Rosa an hour
away only a few minutes late.
The friars here are well,
and the
postulants too, away at their families until January 10. I delivered an
extra blanket to each of their rooms the other day, and they left
enough things behind that I think they'll all return! Two of the
novices left the novitiate, one at least temporarily for health
reasons, the other a vocational decision. So there are two left, with
the hope of the third coming back if his health improves. I had a nice
visit to Tres Ojitos in December, it's a good place for the novitiate,
in spite of the cold, and they've done a nice job in setting up the
house.
Please pray for me and the
mission
here, too, especially for more friars to join us in the parishes and in
the growing formation program. Blessings to all for a Jubilee Year full
of grace, peace, and a new generosity for preaching the Good News.
from Yecora,
Mexico, Mar. 6, 2000:
Peace and all good to you.
The noise
and excitement in most of the world today is for mardi gras, today in
Yecora the primary election is responsible for a larger crowd in the
plaza, and in Mass too! Almost everyone here belongs to PRI (Partido
Revolucionario Institucional, the same party that's been in power
nationally for 70 years), so there's really only one election. But the
6-7 candidates for PRI have had a spirited campaign so there's lots of
interest. I wandered around the plaza after Mass a little, joking with
some folks that I belonged to the PRD (Partido Revolucionario
Democrato) because PRD stands for the "Partido del Reino de Dios."
On the national level this
election-year campaign is similar to campaigns in the US, though I
think the contest is a little cleaner, with less personal attacks and a
better debating of the issues. We've gotten some news of the US
campaign and other events through "El Imparcial," a daily paper that
comes by bus from Hermosillo. It's a good paper with good news and
commentray, but it hasn't arrived for several weeks now.
We just finished our first
annual
"Semana Capuchina," a week-long gathering of all the friars and
students in the mission. The four friars and two novices from Tres
Ojitos in Chihuahua joined our three friars and four postulants here,
and it was a very good week with a positive and enthusiastic spirit. We
studied the Mattli plenary council document on "Our Missionary Life and
Activity," particularly with the theme of inculturating our life,
mission and formation in the reality of northern Mexico. Implantation
and inculturation is a delicate task an any event, made more difficult
because our mission and our candidates really represent many different
cultures: indigenous and mestizo, rural and mountain and urban, rich
and poor, educated and not. The history of evangelization and the life
of the church is also extremely varied north to south, east to west in
our territory.
We had good reflections
over our life
and especially our formation programs, which always force the issue of
life and mission: for what are we training and forming future
Capuchins? In my role of coordinator of initial formation, I wrote up a
draft of our "Plan de Formación, " though we still have a
lot of
work to do developing the post-novitiate part. I was grateful for our
plan in Mid-America, which provided an outline to work
from...inculturated, of course! The plan we discussed seems generally
acceptable to both friars and students as a working document.
As the two novices prepare
to profess
vows, we're making plans to open our post-novitiate formation program
and house of studies in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. It looks like we can get
some land adjacent to the diocesan seminary, which would be great for
philosophy and theology opportunities. The Franciscans (Observants)
have a fine theologate in Monterrey also, and have invited us to study
with them. The location is good for schools for non-priesthood studies
as well as other formation programs. Now we just need to get enough
friars (yes, that might mean YOU!) to have a fraternity and formation
team there.
We've had a warmer winter
than last
year, and just as dry. It looks like the dusty season will be longer,
since it hardly ever rains now between March and June. It's been a
healthy year for me, thanks be to God, with just one short bout with
some little creatures in the stomach. Last year after several weeks of
treating parasites with antibiotics I switched to a stong mixture of
garlic and milk twice a day; so this year I went natural right away and
had whatever I had for only three days.
After a year and a half
here I'm
feeling more comfortable all the time with the language. I still make a
lot of mistakes and constantly ask how to say things, but it's so good
to be able to preach more spontaneously and carry on a relatively
smooth conversation with people. Idioms, sayings, jokes, etc. are
another thing - that'll take years!
Christmas mail this year
was slow,
but abundant! (It helps when your mom puts your address on the church
bulletin board with a little note "Don't forget OUR son of the
parish!") Thanks to everyone who sent cards and greetings. Mission life
can be lonely at times, so I truly am touched and grateful for your
love and prayers. I don't know when I'll get back to the States,
probably the end of May or in June, depending on the assignments of
friars for next year and consequent moves. I won't be able to attend
the province's Easter assembly, but hope to take in the fraternal
retreat in June if possible.
You are all in my prayers,
especially
the sick and our friars in formation. Have a holy Lent, and pray for me
too and all the missionaries and our work here in Mexico.
from Yecora,
Mexico, May 10, 2000:
Peace to you all in the
Risen Lord
Jesus! I'm glad Easter lasts 50 days, gives me a
chance with
difficult email connections to send you greetings within the
season. Congratulations to all who celebrated in any
way
therebirth of Baptism and the Easter sacraments, and I pray that all of
you know personally new life in the Spirit of Jesus.
It's also Mother's Day here
in Mexico
(a fixed day, May 10), so I pray for all of you who are mothers both
today and this coming Sunday. This day a huge
religious,
civil and commercial holiday here, a free day from school and many
other employs.
This year was my first
"Semana Santa"
and Easter in Yecora and the surrounding towns, both a good and a
confounding experience. Holy Week in all of Mexico
is a
vacation week, and for students and many others Easter week is likewise
free. The background of this is religious, to allow
people
to celebrate fully the Paschal events, and where the faith is strong
it's very positive. Where evangelization has been
weak or
the church absent, this vacation time promotes many secular
celebrations with dances and drunkeness and outright debauchery, worst
of all in the name of religion. Here we have both,
with Holy
Week services going on in the church with dancing and drinking going on
in the plaza opposite the church. (The tradition of
having
the church in the central public square has many advantages, but many
disadvantages too.)
But we're making
progress! More people are observing Holy Week
religiously
each year, and fewer patronize the dances and
bars. This
year for the first time a number of the youth group leaders made a
commitment to not participate in any of the dances and secular
celebrations during the Triduum, and that was a powerful witness to the
other youth and parish in general.
For me personally it was a
good
Easter, especially pastorally, with many positive celebrations in 11
pueblos I visit regularly. The families like to
celebrate
all the sacraments at this time, when they're on vacation and many
relatives and padrinos come home, so the liturgies are full and a bit
complicated. The puebos get one Easter visit from
the
priest, so baptisms and confirmations and first communions and weddings
and sometimes quinceañeras in one liturgy present a pastoral
challenge!
May has been busy
fraternally. We had a wonderful visitation
here (and
in the novitiate in Tres Ojitos, Chihuahua) by Br. WILLIAM WIETHORN
from Rome, along with Brs. RONALD TALBOT and ANTONIO MARTI from
California, and Br. VINCENT FORTUNATO from New
Jersey. Bill
is our English-speaking general councilor (one of eight advisors to the
general minister), Ron and Vinnie are minister provincials of their
respective provinces, and Tony is a counselor to
Ron. It was
great to be able to share our life and concerns with them, especially
our personnel needs, and know of their fraternal support.
As some of you know, much
of our
discussion centered on formation programs and staff, particularly as we
set up the fraternity and house of studies for the
post-novitiate program in Monterrey, Nueo Leon, over this next year.
Monterrey is a large, relatively modern and very Catholic city, and
we'll be able to attend the diocesan seminary there for philosophy and
theology, and access many other education and formation programs in the
city. So pray with us for more friars needed for
Monterrey
and generally in these years of expanding formation programs and these
years before we have native friars ready to serve.
The Lord is blessing us
with future
friars. I think the two novices will profess
temporary vows
in July, the four postulants have been accepted for the novitiate, and
God willing we will have a nice group (5, 6, more?) of postulants again
here in Yecora.
My personal formation news
is that
I'm going back to the novitiate (my ministry many years ago in
Mid-America)! I'll be novice director beginning with
the new
class in July, in Tres Ojitos (literally, "three little eyes," so named
for three little lakes of water in the town area), a town of 20-25
families I think, about five miles from Ciudad Madera, a town of about
15,000 people. I'll tell you more about my new digs
in the
future, but for now here's the new address:
Franciscanos
Capuchinos
Misión
Tres
Ojitos
Apdo.
Postal 12
C.P.
31940, Cd. Madera,
Chih.
MEXICO
The friars' phone is (from the US) 011-52 (158) 97041, and the
phone/fax of the Capuchin Poor Clares in Madera, which you can use for
faxes, and phone messages when the friars' phone isn't working, is
011-52 (157) 20438.
I wasn´t looking
for a move
from Yécora, especially since I have only a year and half
here
and have just begun to feel comfortable in many
areas. But
I've learned lots here, and will continue to learn, and I think the
novitiate will suit me well. The friars and the
postulants,
future novices, seem to have confidence in me for the job, so I'm going
with it.
But how I´m ready
for a good
vacation! It´s been extremely busy with
the
combination of formation and parish ministry, and I need a break from
the postulants and they from me - especially since we'll soon be
together again for 365
days. Yikes! So I'm really
looking forward to a rest and seeing some of you at least the end of
this month and in June.
That's it for
now. My next
letter will come from Tres Ojitos...if I can find some connection
there. Blessings of joy and life in the Risen Christ
to all
of you.
from Tres
Ojitos, Mexico, July 21, 2000:
Greetings and peace from my
new home
in Misión Tres Ojitos, Cuidad Madera,
Chihuahua. "Tres Ojitos" ("three little eyes") is so
named
for three little reservoirs of water used by the town before they had a
tower. I've found two of them in my wanderings around this village of
about 50 houses; perhaps the third has been filled in for one of the
many small plots of corn or oats, or a cattle, sheep or horse corral.
This is a lovely
place! They tell me it gets colder here in the
winter than
in Yecora, with more snow, but for now I'm relishing the beauty of the
climate and landscape. It's a great place for the
novitiate,
20 acres of pine trees and wild grass and mountain flowers, surrounded
by a rural quiet and now-lush valleys and
mountains. The
altitude is about 7,000 feet, similar to the Colorado foothills, like
Estes Park, and the weather patterns are much the same too, though it's
pretty dry outside the months of June through September.
It's interesting that most
of the men
from this area who work in the United States are in Colorado, perhaps
for reasons of climate, or simply Colorado's booming economy?
Since we're on the mesa
between the
two Sierra Madre mountain ranges, east and west, there's a good bit of
flat and fertile farming area. The farmers couldn't
plant a
lot of corn or beans in May because of the drought, but there are a lot
of horses and tractors in the field now, planting oats in between
rains. In yards and gardens, they're seeding squash
and fall
flowers, as we are in the friary.
The convent ( St. Fidelis
Friary)
here has an interesting history, having been a combination butcher shop
and retreat house, in which the former pastor of this area raised and
butchered pigs and sheep, sold meat to build and run the retreat house,
and even had a Sunday restaurant for a time. We built on the retreat
concept and kept a couple hogs for pork for ourselves, but sold off the
sheep and converted the butcher house into friars' dorms. One friar now
lives in the former walk-in cooler!
We now have a central house
for the
novices, library, dining room and recreation room; a residence for the
friars and post-novices; a cabin for retreatants and guests; and a
Portiuncula-like chapel. We're still working on the
main
house, finishing bathrooms, adding rooms on the third floor, augmenting
the water supply, etc. The cabin needs some work too, but it's a great
place for YOU to come and visit or retreat. Madera
is only
about 6 hours from El Paso, TX, with blacktop all the
way. I'll even come and escort you across the
border.
Our friar family is ten:
BILL TRAUBA,
JIM DOYLE and myself in perpetual vows; PEDRO PABLO and ANGEL DAVID
(our first Mexican friars who made temporary profession July 12 and
will stay here for their first year of post-novitiate, until we have a
house and formation program ready in Monterrey), and five novices,
LUIS, SERGIO, RAMIRO, GUILLERMO, and GERARDO who received the habit
July 11. Bill is the pastor of five pueblos in this
area,
chaplain to the Capuchin Poor Clares, and post-novitiate director.
I'll help him in those
areas, and
he'll help me in my role as guardian and novice
director. Jim will continue in fraternity service,
and the
two newly professed will do a combination of study, pastoral work, and
fraternity service.
The ceremonies of
investiture and
profession went very well, with all the friars of the mission in
attendance except Jim who is in Ireland visiting his
family. It was especially gratifying to me to have
FRANCISCO
RAMIREZ here to get to know the friars and celebrate with us before
settling into the new friary and his studies in
Monterrey. Many family members of the novices joined
them
for the profession fiesta, as well as other priests, religious friends
and a couple hundred townspeople. The workers here
killed a
pig the day before , so we had fresh pork and chicarrones for meal.
As we begin the novitiate
year, the
mystery of vocation impresses me profoundly once again as five novices
freely leave all the other paths and possibilities of their lives and
take the habit of our Order. They bring rich gifts
of
individual talent and faith history, of personality and spirituality,
of nature and grace, and place them all at the service of
God. At the same time they affirm our life and
entrust their
formation to us. We are blessed, humbly, in our new
brothers. Lord, make us worthy of their trust and
blessing.
My experience of the local
folks and
their faith in the places I helped out is very positive and
warm. By comparison to Yecora, the people here are
more
traditional in their religiosity, more faithful in their Catholic
practice, more expressive of their devotions and
affections. That´s not to say we
don´t have a
lot of catechesis to do, and there are actually more towns scattered in
the mountains without pastoral visits than there are around
Yecora. But the parishoners here in Tres Ojitos are
very
responsive to and supportive of the friars, and the friars in the first
year here have done a great job cultivating friends and benefactors.
Another interesting point
of
comparison is the social milieu: in this little
village
there's very little trouble with drugs, alcohol, and
violence. The two deaths so far in my time in Tres
Ojitos
have come not from pistols but from lightning bolts, one rancher killed
along with his horse and another farmer along side his tractor while
sowing oats. I went to the field to bless the body
of the
second man, and it was the first time I'd seen the power of lightning
striking a human, burning his flesh, completely destroying his boots,
and shredding and scattering scraps of his cap in a radius of thirty
feet.
As tough as is such a
sudden death,
I'd much rather celebrate this funeral than one resulting from human
violence.
OK, OK, I know this is
getting long,
but it's my first missive from here. Just as it's important to take
your photos in the first couple months before it all grows old, so I
wanted to describe my new work and digs in some detail before it's old
hat to me. I promise the next ones will be shorter.
The communications good
news is that
while our phone service is worse than in Yecora and the jury is still
out on regular mail, the e-mail is better. I should be able to connect
regularly, usually weekly, through the Capuchin Sisters' phone in
Madera.
It was great seeing family
and most
of the friars in June, a much needed and enjoyed
vacation. Now please pray for me and all of us
here. We're off to a good start with the novitiate
year, and
God is blessing us with growth in the Capuchin life
here. Pray that we can be faithful to His blessings.
You're
all in my prayers, and I send un abrazo cariñoso a todos!
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