Worldwide Mission Sunday Greeting 21st October 2007

Horse and car to Mass.

Cumprimentos Amigos e Amigas {Greetings Friends}:
From Castanheira, Mato Grosso, Brazil. [The Backyard of The Amazon Forest].

On Mission Sunday of last year I set out on my own from São Paulo City for the five day drive to my parish here in Castanheira, Mato Grosso. Even though I arrived on that following Friday the journey still continues…..?!

All is going well here, thank God. The rain has at last arrived, and is damping down the dust. Thank God for that, as I seemed to have picked up some kind of skin allergy from the dust, nothing too serious, T.G. The trouble now is that the dusty roads are fast become muck tracks and mud holes. It doesn’t help that our 4-wheel drive Jeep is out of action and now we are reduced to using my little alcohol powered Fiat Uno for the long journeys.

The BR106 our N11 Main Road

At the moment here we are preparing for the celebrations of First Holy Communion and Confirmation. The school year ends here in December [Summer Holiday Time]. Many of the candidates for the Sacraments are also preparing for Baptism. It is not unusual for them to receive Baptism and First Holy Communion {and Confirmation} at the same time. Only the other day, in a little community named “São Paulo” {St. Paul} I baptised a number of teenagers during the monthly Mass. Those who were baptised on the day did not need to make their First Confession, as Baptism wipes away all our sins. However, the others who were already baptised made their First Confession to me before the Mass began. Since there are no confession boxes in the little churches here, we used a shed next door for the purpose!

Dom Franco Dall Valle 1945-2007

Our Bishop Dom Franco, the first bishop of this new diocese, died suddenly on the day of his 62nd birthday last August. Pope Benedict appointed an Apostolic Administrator of the diocese, Dom Milton, Archbishop of Cuiabá. He has delegated the Parish Priests to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation. So my parish Priest, Padre Derek Byrne, has a very busy month ahead of him. We have 28 church communities in our parish, but thankfully not all of them will have candidates for Confirmation.
Cuiabá is 14 hours away from the main town of Juina and we are the nearest parish to Juina, at about 1 to 1½ hours depending on the rain. The furthest away parish from Juina is about 14 hours. So it is no wonder Dom Milton has delegated the local clergy to celebrate the Confirmations.

Dom Milton, since he has his own archdiocese to run, has appointed the youngest priest of this diocese as the Vicar General {2nd in command}. Padre Raimundo was ordained for this new diocese about two years ago. He is one of only two priests belonging to this new diocese which is nine years old. The rest are volunteers like myself. Promotion it seems is very rapid here in The Amazon.

At the moment it looks like I won’t be in my parish again for Christmas Day as I must now apply for a permanent visa as my temporary one will be out of date on the 31st of December. So that will mean another journey to São Paulo City, and the Federal Police. It is all a money-racked if you ask me! For example, as I am not a permanent resident here, I must apply every six months for a temporary foreigners drivers license. The cost is exorbitant, as prices go here. I wonder do we treat our foreign residents the same in Ireland?

The language is still a struggle, but it is coming on. I have a teacher who comes in every week to help me with the verbs and grammar. Portuguese verbs are a whole other world!
For example, in English we say “I walk, you walk, she walks, we walk, ye walk, they walk.” Generally it is the same word “walk”.
However, in Portuguese I must learn a new word for each person, for example, EU {I} ando, TU {you} andas, ELA {she} anda, NÓS {we} andamos, VÓS {ye} andais, VOCÊS {they} andam. That is only one of several presence tenses. When speaking of the past or about the future, I have to learn a new set of different words.

The chaps on the street are doctors of the language compared to me. Sometimes at Mass I cause a whole lot of snickering with my words, and generally I don’t know what I have said. But the people are very patient!!!

The "Doctors of the Portuguese Language", always ready for a lift to or from Mass

The family news is I became an uncle again since arriving back. I have yet to meet my new nephew “Patrick Denis”. I was little sad to miss his baptism in Tomacork church last week and the family gathering. But that is the price we pay for working so far away from home, family and friends.

Our clocks went forward one hour here last weekend, so we are only 4 hours behind Ireland. The funny thing about changing the clocks here is that the people in the “Assentamentos” {Legal settlement areas} still go by the sun. So when we are organising the next monthly mass, they will ask is that “new time” or “old time”. Our pet-answer is, there is only one time, “the right time”! I heard someone calling it “the street time”. We live in the little town of Castanheira with its paved street. So the country people call the town, “the street”. If they are looking for a life into town, they will ask; “are you going to the street?” Hence, “street time”.

Nossa Senhora Aparecida

We had a big parish Festa {and fundraiser} last weekend. We celebrated the feast of “Nossa Senhora Aparecida” {Our Lady of the Apparition} [12th October]. Nossa Senhora Aparecida is the Patron of Brazil and the celebrations and bank holidays are very like St. Patrick’s Day for us. This year it was four days of celebrations. Friday was the feast day, with Masses in the one of the outlying communities and the main church. Saturday we had a “Baile” [pronounced “by-lee”] {a dance}. I worked in the bar until about 3am. The bar consisted of big chest freezers full of cans of beer, coke, fanta or guaraná {local fruit juice} and big blocks of ice. No electricity needed. The dance floor never was empty from the first dance to the last.
The next day was followed by a “Churrasco” {Barbecue} which went on all day and ended with yet another dance that night. We killed two cows to feed the people. I was a tired man by the time I hit the bed on Sunday night.
All in all I estimate we sold about 4000 cans of beer and minerals, the colder the better. Thank God, we had no trouble. Since the last parish barbecue in the town last April a man was stabbed to death by his neighbour if front of both families and two local Military Police men.
Monday was a school bank holiday and day of clean up for us but a chance also to get some rest.

The Church of São Laurenço and its People. Notice; the absence of men as they are out working. The roads are too dangerous to travel at night on when they are at home.

Now today “Mission Sunday” we have a huge youth gathering in the parish. We are hosting a gathering of Christian youth clubs from other parishes of the diocese, the furthest away being 14 hours away. We are expecting about three hundred young people. It starts with Mass and then it is followed by some talks on the environment. It is good to see the young people have such an interest in the environment as this whole area was once part of the Amazon Forest only 30 years ago.

A little church in what is left of the forest area here

It is 6 am as I write this and the music has already started in the parish hall. A number of the youth arrived yesterday and stayed overnight in the parish dormitories. So the music is a sign they are up and about. I must take my leave now as I have a funeral at 7.30 am in one of the local churches.

Such is life on the missions.

I invite you to take a look at the web site for some views of life on the missions. www.carnew.blogspot.com

God Bless.

Denis.

Some people give by going on the missions
Some people go on the missions by giving

Last Good Friday Passion Service

Vitalis' Birthday

We have a Clerical Student from Nigeria staying with us for some work experience. It was his birthday recently so I decided to throw a birthday party for him, being so far away from home and all that, and invited a few of the locals.

Vitalis cutting the cake.
Two young neighbours.
A mad crowd.
Padre Paudie came down from Juruena to pay a visit at the same time as the party.

A noisy intruder at Mass

At a community called Nossa Senhora das Dores {Our Lady of The Suffering} as I was celebrating Mass and during the homily I noticed the youngsters giggling. I knew it wasn't something I said, for I am not sure of how much of my poor Portuguese is understood. Then I noticed a youngster looking at the window. At the window was a new visitor to Mass, a parrot. Then everyone broke out in laughter, so that ended my homily so I took out the camera.

The noisy visitor in the window.
Some of the crowd after Mass.

It turns out the parrot was a pet who arrived to Mass on the handle bar of its owners motorbike.

All aboard. The parrot could say a few words, but the funny thing was, when the young man started the motorbike's engine, the parrot imitated the sound of the engine, just as a child would do running around playing as a car and making the engine noise.

Father's Day BBQ

A recent Sunday I was asked to go to the "Assentamentos" {Settlements} to celebrate a mass for "Dia dos Pais" {Father's Day}. After the Mass there was a "FESTA" {Parish Barbecue}. We only stayed a few hours as we had a long journey home but the locals were set for the day and the night. A second BBQ was to follow later in the evening and a dance.

The Long Walk to Mass

Some arrived to Mass in style in this home-made "Jerico" {Jeep}.

The wooden church of São Paulo {St. Paul}

The Worshipers gather.

A little reluctant to have their photo taken. It did not help that the mother was shouting at them from behind the camera.

The meat on the BBQ.

The women in the parish hall.Sister Ivone and a little parishioner.

Enjoying the meal.

The men sample the meat fresh off the BBQ. Everyone here carries their own knife and here we use oranges to flavour the meat. It is actually adds a very nice flavour.

Surprise Birthday Party for Sister Rose

The youth club threw a surprise Birthday Party for our Sister Rose. She has responsibility for the youth of the parish. The party was in the back yard of one of the youth club member's house.

Lights Out. Lights on! Surprise!!
Like the shirt?

A mad crowd!
More madness!
A dance in the back kitchen; all one needs is music.
Not shy anyway!

Friends for life!
Smile Jesus Loves You!
More smiles.
And even more smiles.
Cida {Youth Club Leader} Sister Rose and Sister Ivone.
Smile for the camera.

Goodbye to Joaquim & Ursula

My friends, and former class mates from the language school in Brasilia took their leave from Juruena in September, moving on to a new parish in the south of Brazil. Joachim is a Lutheran Pastor from Germany and Ursula, his wife is from South Africa. The have a two year old child called, Andrea. We three were in the same class and sent to the same part of Brazil. Paudie invited me back up to Juruena to a dinner in his house in their honour. "Bernardo", the local Prefect / Mayor of the town and county was also present and his Minister of Sport. {The Prefect of the Municipality here has a lot of power, he/she decides on the budgets for schools, hospitals, roads, etc.}

The Parish Priest on his Motor Bike arriving with the shopping.

While Paudie was away on his holidays in Ireland, some of his parishioners got a loan of the parish jeep and had an accident in it. They weren't hurt too bad but the jeep was badly damaged. So now Paudie is using a motor bike. Not the best type of transport on these bad roads.

Paudie with the hair and beard shaved off, he now looks years younger than my Parish Priest, Derek!!!!

The Lunch Party to say goodbye to Joachim and Ursula.

Forest Fires and No Sun

At the moment we are crying out for rain. It hasn't rained much here since last June. The dust gets every where, especially when a vehicle passes by on the dirt roads. When the wind picks up we have sand storms. But the worse thing we have to deal with at the moment is the smoke from all the forest fires. It even blocks out the sun. These fires are deliberately set to clear the forest and fields to encourage new growth for the cattle. Each of these pictures are taken from different communities over the last few weeks. It is hell for the wild life. The other day we came across a monkey sitting on the middle of the road, obviously overcome by the smoke and the fires. Even though we came up beside it, it took its time to amble off the road.

By the time I got my camera the monkey had ambled back into the forest, but you can just see him here.




One side of the road is still forest the other side has been cleared, by fire, to make a new field.

The Lights are on in São Jorge

The community of São Jorge {St. George} got very excited the other day. The electricity has arrived for the first time in their community. So now they have lights and electric fans in the local church and so they decided to celebrate with a celebration of Mass, after dark. They also took the opportunity to redecorate and paint the church. So I headed out with one of the sisters, and the parish secretary to lead the celebration. The beauty of a night Mass is that more of the men can come, since they are not out working, but the down side is we have to drive home in the dark on the bad roads {about and hour and a half}.

As always the Mass was followed by food and drinks and in this case also a dance. The community also bought a new portable sound system and this was rigged up after Mass in the dance floor across the road. Also after Mass I took a good look at the electricity pole outside the church and it seems to me, that the connection going into the church wasn't exactly the most "LEGAL" of connections!!

A newly painted {luminous green} church.

Arriving for Mass.

The Celebrant.

Some smiling faces.

A bigger crowd than normal.