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
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.
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I won’t be in my parish again for Christmas Day as I must now apply for a permanent visa as my temporary one will be out of date on the 31st of December.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 "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”.
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
