Updates from the New Building, April 27, 2010.
Work has been slow but is progressing, the workers are now building the upstairs part and hope to be finished at the end of May, all going well.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Our new chapel site (to start in April, 2010) and other views from the parish of Pastorcitos de Fátima, El Recreo, Guayaquil.
The site where we are building our new chapel, the community want to dedicate it to Saint Patrick, which is a nice recognition of where the funds come from.
A common sight from January to May... a flooded street.
A view from the driver's seat...
You wonder where all the water comes from, I know, I know, I did physical geography too, but sometimes you do wonder...
Holy Week 2010, El Recreo, Guayaquil.
Holy Thursday started with the very first celebration of the Chrism Mass in our new diocese. It was an historic occasion, alluded to many times during the ceremony. As the day progressed I had the pleasure, dubious or not, or washing the feet of 36 apostles, (3 masses) reenacting that wonderful gesture which Christ imparted to each one of us, that of love, care and service. After the last Mass we reenacted the Gethsemeni scene which set the tone beautifully for our time of adoration. We finished at 12 midnight and went happily to our "leabas".
Good Friday began at 10am with the Stations of the Cross. It was a truly penitential experience lasting 5 hours in the tropical sun. For the second year we organised the Stations throughout the entire parish hoping that more and more people may fell inclined to take part. Again everyone found it a fulfilling spiritual experience. We finished our Stations sharing "Fanesca" which is a custom here. It is a type of soup with everything in it, every imaginable cereal, beans, and fish. It is very wholesome and nutritious. We prepared gallons of the stuff to share with everyone who was present, a generous act hoping to reflect in some small wall, the generosity of Calvary.
Palm Sunday, 2010, El Recreo, Guayaquil.
Holy Week was as it always is in Latin America, at once life-giving and exhausting. If it is not graphic and penitential then it just isn't Semana Santa. It started with Palm Sunday. For the second year we processed down the main street of this part of Guayaquil, a good idea or a bad one, I'm not sure given the amount of swearing from motorists held up by our procession, anyway. It was a beautiful experience. We had Jesus mounted on his donkey and hundreds of palm-waving faithful and after our celebration of Mass, after which we shared a coffee and a little sweet. Here are some images...
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Sunset in the mountains of Ecuador
God in there somewhere.
A view of the famous "Salt Lake", the world's largest.
An active volcano on the Argentine border.
With the "Green Lake" in the foreground.
A typical home of the indigenous communities
This is the home of Carmen Saeteros. She has just turned ninty (she thinks). Very often they have difficulty remembering their date of birth. Her very simple house is typical of the indigenous community and made from clay and stray blocks (bloques de adobe) with the luxurious models having tin roofs, (many with stray). These homes are bitterly cold for a man from Belmullet used to the bit hearth full of good black turf. But these are a tougher people. Carmen sleeps on the floor on a large bag filled with animal coat. Inside it is just one room with a table at one end and her bag (bed) at the other. She survives on milk and eggs (dairy products in large quantities being bad and all that jazz, she must have missed that health supplement) With no shoes and no socks, the earthen floor can be well... Recently we have decided to "renovate" her local run-down chapel at a cost or between $2000-2500. She said it was the best New Year present she could have received. She (as the elder stateswoman), and the rest of the community of Rumiurco are very proud of their Christian Catholic faith. Say one for her, she is quite ill at this moment.
Our New Church at Cimientos
Ciemientos is a community in the wilds of the mountains of Ecuador, untouched until recently by the "outside" world. It is a community constituted entirely of indigenous peoples. They speak Kichwa and are intensely uncomfortable speaking in Spanish (as am I, so at least we have that in common). Thanks to the support of the people of my native Erris, Co Mayo, this chapel is nearing completion. Unfortunately because of the incredible effects of the "La Nina" and associated weather patterns, the inauguration will take place in the summer, probably September. But it is a beautiful chapel, built on the foundation of an old Inca structure. (Ciemientos means foundation) They do not rue the loss of the Inca relic because they are decendents of the Canari people who were subjugated by the Inca Empire in the thirteenth century. One back as it were, if not a little too late.
Here we are above the clouds at over 2800metres
