Trouble in "Menino Jesus" community. This is possibly the smallest and poorest community in the parish. Set up in land recently "occupied". They have few facilities. No church so we use the local school house {State School}. The trouble started when the local teacher, not a catholic, did not want us to use it for Mass. It turns out her evangelical Pastor urged her to run us from the school. Only a few days later at an evening Mass in another community a woman asked me if she could address the crowd after Mass. I gladly gave her permission and it turned out she was the director of education in the area and when we informed her of our problem, she gladly gave us permission to use the school house. Ecumenism between us and the American {USA} Evangelical Churches is very much lacking. Some of them are a little like Paisley's crowd - Little Theology other than anti-Catholic teaching and fundamentalism. {Often fundamentalism, is just a closed mind and a static-growth.}
The Local School House in a clearing - in fact it is so hidden we passed by it the last month we came out to visit.
Saying Mass in "Menino Jesus"
Three Families are regular {Monthly} Mass attenders. the guy in front is the community leader and Catechist. In the absence of religion in the state schools, each community has its own Catechist, whose job is to prepare its members to receive the Sacraments. it takes Three years of classes to receive Communion and another Three years for Confirmation. The leader of the community leads them on a religious service called a "Culto" on Sundays. {A "Culto" is escentially Mass without the Eucharistic Prayer and Holy Communion.}
The Road home through the forest.
