Continuing On With The Mission

Greetings to all on this 4th of July weekend. The celebration here is not the same as in the States but I will be going away for the weekend. A group of students from the Language School, some of the short term volunteers and myself will be visiting the Jesuit Missions this weekend. Those who have seen the film "The Mission" will have a sense of the visit. The film is set in Paraguay but similar missions were set at the same time in Bolivia and other countries. Several of the missions in Bolivia, near Santa Cruz, were restored in the 1980's and have become a place of pilgrimmage for many who want to have a sense of the history of the missions here in Bolivia. we leave Saturday morning and return on Monday night.
The mission continues to go well here. With the arrival of several short term volunteers here there has been a change of focus in my ministry and time here. Much more time in taken up in working with the volunteers and providing hospitality for our many guests. My culinary skills are growing by leaps and bounds. It is good to be able to show others what we do here and allows me to appreciate all that is going on here.
I had a meeting last night with the leaders of the barrio association of La Costanera, one of the barrios where I serve. We are trying to see what the needs of the various barrios are and how the chapel can serve them. I was very impressed by the 2 priorities that they have: the formation of a Mother's Club to work with the women of the area and also the need to provide health care for their children. The area we are working in now has about 1,000 people and will grown to about 2,000 over the next few years as the barrios continue to grow with the internal migration in the area. It looks as though we need to build a center of some sort for the barrios which is the one thing I did not want to do in my time here. However, we try to meet the needs that we encounter every day.
Please continue to keep us in prayer as we try to serve the poor and introduce others into mission.

Touching The Body of Christ

One of the great insights that Madre Teresa gave to the Church was the deep undertanding that she had of the Body of Christ. She saw and taught others to see the presence of Christ in others - especially in the poor. She saw that as she served others she was serving the Lord. She knew that she touched the Body of Christ every day.
It is my own spiritual insight as well here that I am privledged to touch the Body of Christ each day. In loving the abused children of our school, stunbling through a conversation in broken languages or being with the poorest of the poor I see the presence of the Lord. It is within the poor that the Lord reveals Himself in a truly profound but mysterious way. It reveals to us each day the power and the glory of the Incarnation.
Please pray that each day I am able to keep in mind the presence and the glory of the Lord in others. By being present to them may I see and recognize the presence of the Lord.

Full House in Bolivia

No, I am not in a poker tournament here, the full house refers to the fact that we have 3 short term missioners living with us in Nueva Vera Cruz. Last week Holly, Ryan and Rocio arrived to work and live with us in the barrio. Holly is a 19 year old student from Notre Dame who is here to learn about the formation of barrios and communities and to practice her Quechua here in our barrios. Ryan is taking a year off from the Coast Guard Academy and will be here for 6 months and will be working with the kids in the school and in the barrio. Rocio is a friend of Pancho's from Spain who will be reconnecting with old friends in Bolivia and working with our Mother's Clubs. It certainly changes the dynamics of the house and the chapel with so many people around. The young people give us a lot of life and I enjoy it very much. I have always enjoyed working with the young and having them here makes me appreciate all that is happening here in our barrios.
Yesterday, after Mass we stopped by at a community meeting at La Liberdad, a new barrio we are trying to get in contact with. Holly and I were talking to one of men at the meeting and he asked us if we were married. Holly was very quick to say that we were not. I guess I need to say that I am the local priest a little quicker in the conversation.
Thanks for all your support and prayers over these months. Work is going well as I get a bit more into the lives of the barrios. The next big project looks like the building of a chapel up the hill for our barrios there. It should be interesting getting the land, donations for the constructione etc..
Please continue to keep my sister-in-law Judy in your prayers. She has a cyberknife operation this week for the remainder of the tumor in her brain and will continue with chemotherapy next week.
I will be back up north the last 2 weeks of August and the 1st week in September and hope to catch up with people then.
Thanks again for all your love and support.

Typical Sunday in Bolivia

Greetings from Cochabamba.
We had the joy of hosting John Reis this weekend. He is a theology professor at Carroll College in Montana and was exploring the possibility of bringing down students for an immersion experience here in the barrio. Since we are a likely place for folks to come visit we invited him out for the weekend. He came out on Saturday afternoon and we took a tour of the barrio of C'ara C'ara with Maryknoll Fr. Ken Moody. It is a barrio built around the city garbage dump which has been a source of great controversry here in the area because of the conflict of what it does to the environment and the financial stability that it gives to the barrios. Afterwards we had a quick dinner and then went to Santa Vera Cruz for a Marian fiesta with live music and dancing.
This morning we went up the hill to the barrios of La Rivera and Costa Nera for Mass which was followed by an OTB meeting. The OTB is the local barrio association which is a combo of Town Hall meeting and Town Council meeting. We have been asked to build a chapel in the barrios and are trying to get land donated to build it and are working with the OTBs to facilitate the process. With the changes in the Constitution and other local issues this may be quite the challenge but we hope that it works out.
Afterwards we went over the mountain to a place that has a wonderful overlook of the barrio. There was another OTB meeting going on and we went behind them to get a few photos for John to show his students back home. As we were there several young men came over to ask us who we were and what we were doing there since it was a closed meeting. While not exactly threatening it was clear they did not want us there. I explained we were just there for a photo but they were not impressed. After I said I was the priest from the barrio their attitude changed quickly and they welcomed us and introduced us to the President who invited us from front and asked me to address the folks and let them know what was going on with the Church. Afterwards the leaders asked us about the possibility of catechism classes for the kids and they asked me to come to an OTB meeting next week where we will discuss other possibiliites for work in their barrio of El Liberdad.
Just another typical Sunday morning in Bolivia.
Thanks again for all your prayers and support for our work here in Bolivia.

Recent Events

Hello everyone. Sorry it has been such a long time since my last blog but I was in Guatemala for a week for Maryknoll's Latin American Region Assembly and then things have been very busy since I returned to Cochabamba. The meeting was held in Antigua, Guatemala, a colonial city with a rich history. I enjoyed the meeting for 2 main reasons: it was a chance to meet the other Maryknollers in the region that I did not know and it also gave me a deeper sense of the priorities and the issues that face Maryknoll in the future. The meeting was characterized by a wonderful spirit as we were able to look at the future with both realism and hope. Everyone went forth with a renewed spirit as they returned to their missions.
Since I arrived back home in Coch things have been very busy. I arrived home on Friday of the Feast of Santa Vera Cruz. That is the parish that our chapel is a part of as well as the feast of our own barrio of Nueva Vera Cruz. We had 5 guests for the weekend since we wanted to share the fullness of the fiesta with them. This serves as a major gathering of the indiginous in the area since there is a Pre Incan festival of the planting that precedes the arrivial of the first missioners here. Several thousands gathered at the Church for the fiesta which offered the opportunity of offering prayers for the success of the agricultural life here. It is also an opportunity to gather for fun, games and the occassional picking of pockets ( which I experienced Sunday afternoon).
It was a good time to see the inculturation of the gospel with the indiginous beliefs of the people here and to see the way people try to live their lives of faith.
Soon we will be hosting the summer rush of short term missioners and volunteers many of whom are coming for the summer (North American summer, it is winter here). Several will be working with us here in our barrio. I will update you soon on how they enjoy their time here.
Again thanks for all your prayers and support. It is always wonderful to hear news from home so please keep in touch.

Holy Thursday in Bolivia, Jueves Santo en Bolivia

Sorry it has been so long since the last post but things have been busy and I take off for the Maryknoll Latin America Assembly in Guatemala this morning. I want to take some time to share with you the experience of Holy Week here in Nueva Vera Cruz. I celebrated the Triduum at La Rivefra and Costanera, two small barrios I serve in. We held Holy Thursday in the house of one of the catechists. The night before we had shown a video of the life of Jesus to prepare people for the Triduum. I was able to celebrate most of the mass in Quechua which the language most common in that barrio. When it came time for the washing of the feet I was able to wash the feet of everyone present since we were a small gathering. I had my first experience of washing the feet of people who hadn't been prepared beforehand so it was the actual washing of feet that had seen the work of the day. What an honor it was to symbolically show my desire to serve the needs of the people. I explained that the washing was a simple rendering of where our hearts are supposed to be in the service of others. It was a wonderful continuation of the Holy Week which which is so different than what I am used to but also so in touch with the simple people that the Lord dealt with every day in his ministry.

Domingo de Ramos, Palm Sunday in Bolivia

I just celebrated my first Palm Sunday here in Cochabamba. We started with a procession from each of our centers and then continued with Mass at the chapel. We had a small but hearty crowd for the procession down the mountain from La Rivera. We also had a number of older people and mothers with newborns who had trouble keeping up. About 1/2 way through the procession I turned around and saw a good number of people missing. My question was answered a minute later when a number of truffis (taxis) past us by carrying half the procession!Processing at 9,000 feet isn't easy. We had a Penance Service for Holy Week last night and I told the people it was a wonderful opportunity for 2 reasons: it is an experince of God's love and if they went to Confession in Quechua I would have no idea what their sins were. I trust that they were satisfied although I hardly understood anything that they said. As I said, I don't understand them but God forgives them any way. May this Holy Week be a great blessing for all of us as we follow in the footsteps of the Lord.