Amapolas de sombra and Easter

When Easter arrives early:

In the higher elevations we have a special treat: the amapola de sombra trees are still blooming. There is something magical about this tree. During most of the year it is covered in green foliage without a hint of what it can bring forth at the start of spring. But after the coffee harvest the big trees start to let go of their leaves. Then the flowering begins...

The vastness of His Life beyond death:

The "god" of those who put Jesus to torture and death manifested himself as confined to narrow boundaries. This was no magnificent ruler of vast inter-galactic spaces. Small gods give birth to diminished people, with interests confined to strict rules of conduct that sanctioned prejudice in favor of one culture. The tomb with Jesus within it became a symbol (for a short while) of triumph for this fierce tribal god: "Beware all of you who cross my path. Look upon him who rejected me and see his fate: he is gone forever; wiped off the face of this Earth where I alone rule!" But then came the immensity of the Easter...

Easter immensity:

The apostles were unprepared for the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ to be real. It was too easy for them to unfavorably compare the solidity of the Temple to the fragility of one human life, handed over without a battle for self-preservation. But no matter, the super nova of Easter shattered their presumptions and opened up a new world where communion with the ever living One became their daily bread.

The amapola de sombra: sacramental of new life:

In the same week: a mighty US credit bank goes under while the light from a dying star half way across the Universe reaches our eyes after a journey of six billion years: a tiny "Temple" implodes, compared with the unfathomable vastness of Creation! How easy it was for us to be impressed by the work of our own hands: by yet another little temple dedicated to a lesser god... regardless of the messages of immensity which the Creator sends our way. Through it all, the amapola de sombra speaks of the Easter mystery: losing life (leaves) in order to flourish. Perhaps we are just slow learners, too entranced with what is close to hand... even as our spirit longs for the unfathomable breath of Easter joy.

Holy Week

Pascua Infantil:

On the first three mornings of Holy Week, the catechists in four communities celebrated "Pascua Infantil" ... remembering the major events in the final days of Our Lord Jesus Christ: his last supper, crucifixion and Resurrection. Pictured above are some of the children from Los Blancos, as they dramatized the memory of the torture inflicted upon Our Savior.

Slow agony:

With the breakdown of trade barriers and the swift movement of capital throughout the world, as with any economic or political system change, there are "winners" and "losers". It is next to impossible that the boys from Los Blancos will suffer the torture of being nailed to a cross. However they move towards adulthood in a blighted area, suffering from an increasing scarcity of adequate jobs.

The new nails:

The Dominican Republic abides people who nail their youth to the cross of unemployment. "Am I my brother´s keeper?" The crafty goats benefit from the corrupted system of justice and betray their own countrymen by weakening local agricultural production through excessive importations. How will these children deal with unemployment?

Thirty pieces of silver:

Dominican family members in New York send money back to the island and make decisions about how to spend some of that money: more often than not they chose the easy path... investment in a bar. Thus the young men grow up in an environment where the pain of unemployment is numbed by Presidente beer and Brugal rum. Others invest in lottery schemes to catch precious income from the low paying agricultural jobs.

Simon who helps to carry the cross:

Beside the chapel in Los Blancos there is a small industry: a furniture shop. The owner together with relatives in the states set up a business that makes beds, tables and chairs. Every week you can see a truck carrying the finished products towards the large market in Santo Domingo. Within the shop you can find young men learning a craft. Also you can observe Haitian women who instead of selling boot leg rum (cleren), prefer to bake home-made bread and sell it to the youth coming off the mountain farms.

It depends where you choose to look:

Just as that first Good Friday, it depends on where one looks... both those who nail and those who help carry the cross are present. May the children grow into people who know how to help others carry their crosses!

Catechist workshop

Aparecida:

Recently we celebrated the Eucharist on the beach in front of the chapel in Los Patos, with all the catechists of our parish. We met from 2 PM until 6 PM studying Aparecida, the document from the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean. We looked at how the bishops see the modern world and how they diagnose the problems confronting many cultures.

Andres:

The man in the background is Andres. He is the President of the Parish Council and a Confirmation catechist. Beside him is Carlos who is both a student for Confirmation and a teacher in one of our campos. Andres lives in Paraíso and is a public school teacher. His assignment requires him to travel back and forth across the River Riocito in order to reach the rural school. When the New Testament has Jesus speaking about Andrew as being a "true Israelite" and "not having any guile", the description aptly fits our "Andrew" (Andres).

Four teams of catechists:

In this group picture, the catechists from four communities come together. From South to North, the communities are: Los Blancos, Los Patos, Ojeda and Paraíso. Sister Yolanda has the gift of knowing how to share responsibility and challenge the catechist coordinator (one for each village) to animate and direct the members of her team. With people like this, the mission of caring for the parish moves along gracefully. How blessed is this environment, where the catechists encourage one another!

The outdoor Mass in Riocito

When the poor person believes in the poor person...

One of the songs we repeat in different liturgies has the theme of belief. But it centers upon the ability of poor people to believe in others who are also of modest means. This might seem to be unimportant, but for lack of this capacity, poor people too often throw their votes to the wind by trusting in wealthy candidates who have nothing in common with them. Local elections are only a few months away and people focus their attention on the presidential candidate, ignoring other levels of government such as the mayor and the deputy mayors in the countryside.

Riocito:

After months of living with a blocked road, the community of Riocito finally had the chance to ride into town. We came out to celebrate the newly opened road together with the dancing children of Ojeda. José is pictured speaking to the families. He commutes every day to the Riocito school, which is one of the rural Catholic schools. When he speaks the people tend to listen a little better than they do to one another. He made the effort to caution the parents to keep their children away from known centers of corruption.

The dance:

When the children from Ojeda danced in the outdoor Mass, they caught the attention of the local children, with the effect of planting new ideas and interest in participating in the liturgy. The moment they moved to the music, poor people believed in others who share the same limited resources. We all experienced the grace of that event, as the visitors together with the locals forgot for a moment the political propaganda and focused upon children who enjoy dancing for the Lord.

Los Toros School

Sister Beania´s choice:

The last time Sister Beania organized the building of a school, she worked with an engineer. He slowed the entire process by not purchasing materials, not supervising and taking money even when he did not work. That was the school in El Pley. Not this time around! Faced with the difficult goal of building a school in El Toro, sister Beania went with a master builder and his team from Ojeda. Since she is from Ojeda, and knew the family, this choice had strong elements to it. Now we see the results!

Speed:

As soon as the Spanish municipality handed over the initial funds for the school (8 thousand euros), Sister Beania went to work organizing the logistics of purchasing and then sending all of the materials up the mountains. It takes an hour and a half of careful, slow driving in a 4x4 to reach El Toro. When the materials for each phase were ready, the building team went up the mountain and stayed with the project overnight. They returned to town on the weekends. This way they advanced at a speed that is incredible for this area.

Crisis:

Every major intervention in a small community usually produces a crisis. This time the local farmers say the lack of support from the Haitian families in the school area has been the major setback. We have no one on hand who has interviewed the Haitian families to get their side of the story, so one can only guess as to what has happened: when the work dries up, the Haitian families have to move to another zone. They own no property and have no cash flow. They rarely own animals since that would require permission to grow them on someone else´s land. If the area around El Toro has little work for sustenance, then the Haitian families will be on the move. Another factor is the lack of birth certificates for higher education. The immigrant children can only attend a few grades without a birth certificate. But that document is very hard for them to obtain since proof of birth in the Dominican Republic and of legal residence continues to be a thorny problem.

School shelter:

This school will provide shelter in the face of strong storms and hurricanes. Other structures in the area offer little protection. The children in the pictures will learn to run for the school when a huge storm approaches. They will huddle inside its strong walls as the wind howls and the rains pound upon the cement roof. How beautiful is the gift of shelter.

Catechism in El Maniel

The mission:

As our youth prepare for confirmation, they are challenged to become members of the catechism team. They are then assigned to a specific community. For example, each Sunday we have four groups of catechists traveling out to different campos. Sister Yolanda stays with one group and the other group goes with the pickup truck driver (often the writer).

What´s beautiful about this mission:

Our catechists are mostly Dominican youth and the children receiving classes in the mountains are a majority of Haitian immigrants. Thus the children participate in a multi-cultural encounter where the center of interest is Jesus Christ.

The program coverage:

At present we can only visit a limited number of campos due to the lack of mature catechists who can coordinated the efforts of the younger people. Also we face logistical hurtles on Sunday afternoons, since we have different courses and meetings during that time frame. But the joy of witnessing young people extend their journey with the Church beyond the celebration of Confirmation gives us the energy to seek new ways of helping the program to grow. May the Lord of the harvest bless this work, begun in His name.