CARNEW IN BRAZIL: September 2007

Monday, September 17, 2007

Celebrating The Birth of "Patrick Denis Browne"

Since I am officially a minister of "Good News", I thought I would announce to the world, or The People of Castanheira at least, that I have become and uncle again, with the birth of a new "Wicklow Goat-Sucker". So I hung my Irish and Wicklow flag from the house balcony and toasted his arrival with a local juice called "Guaraná"

Dom Franco RIP Funeral Mass

Unusually for here the remains of Dom Franco were not buried until Sunday morning. The heat has a big influence on the speed of a funerals here. I think too the delay was to allow the Arch-bishop of Cuiabá and other bishops to attend the funeral. It also allowed people from the far away parishes to attend. I know a bus load from Juruena traveled by bus the day before and slept in the bus overnight. We in Castanheira are the nearest parish outside of Juina (1 hour), still we were late and I had to take my place on the altar after the funeral started. Having no seat on the altar, I was in a good position to photograph the funeral mass.

The "Empty" Cathedral Chair

Dom Milton, Arch-bishop of Cuiabá was the main celebrant of the funeral mass, and is now the Apostolic Administrator of the diocese, pending the appointment of a new bishop for Juina Diocese.

Eight bishops were able to attend, and Padre George, The Kitegan Superior in South America was able to attend from São Paulo. Considering the difficulty in travelling here, we were surprised so many were able to attend.

The Congregation (inside - there was twice as many outside) hands towards heaven as we prayed the Our Father.

The sadness of the woman as she looks at Dom Franco's remains captures the sadness of many people there that day.

After the Funeral Mass was over and before the Final Commendation, the people outside were allowed to enter and pay their last respects to Dom Franco.

The bishops gather around for the prayers of Final Commendation.

Dom Franco's Remains was carried by the priests outside of the church for the people outside to see and then back in again to his final resting place underneath the side altar.

The cortege coming back into the cathedral.

The priests place Dom Franco's remains under the side altar.

Bishops, priests and people and camera crews.

No standing on ceremony or sensitivities here, as soon as the prayers were said a work man wheeled in a barrow of cement and bricks and proceeded to seal up the grave.

"Francisco", son of our local dentist, looks on not understanding.

Some of the crowd in the Cathedral.

Dom Franco Dalla Valle R.I.P.

I took this picture of him (from a distance), last May at the Popes Mass in São Paulo.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

Dom Franco Dalla Valle RIP "Removals to The Cathedral"

When I returned from Ireland I had a lot of difficulty getting back to base, mostly because of the plane crash in Sao Paulo on the morning I arrived, which delayed flights for weeks. When I did eventually get a flight to Cuiaba, the capital of Mato Gross state, the buses to Juina broke down. Four buses and 30 hours later I arrived at Juina bus stop to be met by our bishop here, Dom Franco Dalla Valle. He gave me a lift to my car which was parked in The Curia. As I set out driving for Castanheira, this was to be the last time I saw Dom Franco. The next day he got a heart attack. A few days later he was transferred to a hospital in Cuiaba. He had two more heart attacks, the last one being fatal and he died on the day of his 62nd Birthday. He was the first bishop of this new diocese which is 9 years old. I have to say I never such grief among the people as I did at his funeral.

Here are some photos of his removal by airplane from Cuiaba to Juina Airfield and to the Cathedral. The distance and the heat would require a hasty funeral.

Most funerals here take place within 24 hours of the person dying. The family then would come to the church on the 7th day for a funeral mass. Often people are buried without the priest. In fact the last time I was in the cemetery here was on All Souls day, 2nd Nov last year. I had just arrived here and we celebrated an early morning mass in the cemetery. All Souls day is a bank holiday here in Brazil.

Preparing the Cathedral to receive the remains of its first bishop.

There are no hearses out here, so the Cathedral Jeep is prepared to carry the bishop's remains.

"Moto Parking" - Most people cannot afford a car so the motor bike rules here.

People and "Nuns" arriving by the bus load at the airfield. We waited nearly three hours for Dom Franco's remains to be flown in.

The Cathedral parish jeep - now a hearse - waits at the runway

Some of the crowd waiting outside the airfield fence

More waiting on the other side of the airfield building

The plane arrives eventually with a number of clergy on board who drove down to Cuiaba {14 hours away} to organise the flight up to Juina.

Despite the police's best effort the crowd surged forward on to the runway.

Cameras at the ready as Dom Franco's coffin is unloaded from the plane

Placing Dom Franco's remains on the back of the jeep. Everyone wanted to give a hand and it got a little dangerous for a few minutes.

The two youngest priest's of the diocese accompany the remains on top of the jeep. The priest on the right {in jeans} is now the Vicar General of the diocese after two years of ordination. In fact he is the only priest member of the diocese working here. The rest are volunteers like myself.

The funeral cortege leaves the airfield

The funeral cortege entering the town of Juina
The is a huge motorbike cortege up front not too unlike a police or army escort.

Waiting at the Cathedral. The car radio is giving a live coverage of the funeral cortege. The diocese owns its own radio and TV station. "Radio Nazareth" gave live coverage to the sad events.

Sheltering in the trees of the Cathedral grounds.

More sheltering in the trees to avoid the hot sun. some have been waiting 3 or 4 hours as I was myself.

The funeral arrives under police escort

The faithful pay their respects to their first bishop, Dom Franco Dalla Valle.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Sean & Pauline Tie-The-Knot

The big surprise this summer was that Sean and Pauline decided to tie-the-knot. So Covent Garden, London was turned into an Irish Wedding Scene for the day.