Re-Birth from the Pandemic Workshop
Taller Mi Pascua de Inmigración
Video Series: A Spirituality of Equality
In June 2020, during the pandemic quarantine in Chontal, I began to make a video series on location called A Spirituality of Equality. It’s in English, with plans for Spanish subtitles. In part a response to the racial situation that came to a head in the US during the pandemic, and also a long-overdue beginning of gathering social reflections that I’ve had over the years that form some of the basic human dimensions of my spirituality - and a spirituality of being brothers and sisters in God’s family, through the redemptive person of Jesus Christ. This videos series is addressed primarily to people of any or no faith tradition in the US, but also includes references for Christian meditation and reflection.
Accompanying Chontal in the Pandemic
On March 15, the country of Ecuador began to enter into lockdown in response to the novel coronavirus. I stayed for 4 months in a house in the community, living with a family in quarantine, visiting homes, facilitating financial resources for the most in need, and facilitating and preaching at the Sunday Mass in the pueblo.
Pastoral Ministry in Chontal
Coupled with, and as a fruit of, sharing life in Chontal, a variety of pastoral ministries naturally arise as seasons ebb and flow, that are at the core of the mission of turning barriers to bridges as brothers and sisters from the USA to Ecuador. These include:
Facilitating and preaching Celebrations of the Word
Spiritual accompaniment, personal and communal.
Visiting seniors, remote homes, and the poorest.
Facilitating the development of new groups and local movements, providing initial support and guidance and impulse, empowering sustainable local vision, leadership, community.
Facilitating new service-oriented projects and bridge-building.
Teaching and forming others for church ministries, including catechists, lectors, altar servers
Initiating and facilitating special faith-based celebrations, including Our Lady of Guadalupe, New Year's, local patrons, etc.
Formation in tools for advancement: language and technology. An emphasis on service to the human person and relationships.
Sharing of simple written materials, media, that are relevant to the local way of life and particular seasons. These include sharing my own book Luz en las Tinieblas, distributing foundational devotional literature, as well as showing of movies with quality themes.
Pandemic Funding in Chontal
From cash on hand, I was able to split $340 between 8 households most in need, as well as the parish priest, who receives no salary. $160 went to Maria and Jimmi, whose costs for traveling to receive medical care for her serious condition had increased tremendously because of the pandemic. $20 went to each of 7 households, and 1 extra internet router from the church was given to a family needing internet access for their children. (School classes had all been moved online, creating a need for households to order new internet access.) I also spend time supporting the arrangement of internet in some of the homes obtaining for the first time. More description can be found here in God Has a Plan and in Safe Passage.
Food in the Desert Workshop and Videos
In Lent of 2019, I began to share a workshop in Chontal called Food in the Desert, in which participants can learn how to find spiritual food in the Gospels for their life. The lock down due to the coronavirus pandemic stopped the workshop on the day it started! But while in lock down, I continued to create videos that I’ve posted online - on both Spanish and English - that cover the method and then a series of examples for finding food in the Gospels.
Workshop for Young Mothers
A workshop for young women under age 20 who had recently become mothers, where they had the opportunity to recall, share, and memorialize their experiences together of becoming a mother. The story of Mary becoming the mother of Jesus is included in Luke’s Gospel through her remembering, sharing, and memorializing the experience, and this is a stimulus for the faith dimension of the workshop.
Each mother had the opportunity to opens a gift bag stage by stage as they went through the 3-stage process. First, to receive a candle of their own, and have the opportunity to share their own story while everyone listens. They covered from the time of conception through pregnancy to the birth of their child. Each story is different, but you could see all that was in common, too, and how they were glad to share about it all. The next piece of the gift was a piece of jigsaw puzzle, that all put together to form a small poster that accompanies Mary's candle. It includes a Scripture passage which is the guide for the workshop: "And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." (Lk 2:19) The final piece of the gift included a large wooden heart, made by the pueblo carpenter. There were a lot of decorating materials for them to choose from and make a memorial of their own heart, with a spot for their candle.
It was really well liked, and a powerful experience, something very different for them. What made it more interesting was that the mothers all came with their kids for one reason or another! But each finished and decorated their hearts, of course with their child's name and the candle in the center. Afterwards, each got a chance to talk about their design, and share their thoughts on the experience of the day. I took about 2.5 hours total.
I hope to be able to grow this and offer it to more mothers.
Christmas Gifts for Kids, Seniors, and Most in Need 2019
In 2019, we raised money to provide Christmas gifts for the Christmas programs for children and seniors in both Chontal and Magdalena. I was also able to donate an extra $250 to different families in need, focusing on families with people with disabilities and sickness.
Update 12/31/2019
Since the last update, I was able to disburse the remaining $250 to different families in need, focusing on families with people with disabilities and sickness. Thanks again for the support! Here are the final financial details.
Additional Fundraiser outlays since the last update:
Total $250:
(see the page here for more details on these donations)
$100 to the Bosmediano family.
$30 to Juanito. I mentioned Juanito above.
$30 to Segundo Chiluisa.
$25 to Marta Ayala.
$25 to Pedro Andrade.
$20 to Agustin and Lola Reascos Mediavilla.
$20 to Jimmy and Maria Bastides.
Including the $300 previously donated to the Christmas programs, the total donated from the Fundraiser = $550.
Updated Final Accounting for Fundraiser Receipts:
$454.71 (before fees) Donated to Fundraiser through Campaign [NOTE: $52.07 (before fees) was also donated to the campaign late, in January, and was not used in the fundraiser. That's why the campaign total is $506.78 (before fees)]
+ $103.83 (before fees) Donated to Fundraiser outside of Campaign [NOTE: this is not reflected in the campaign total of $506.78]
= $558.54 (before fees)
= $539.64 Total received after fees
Plus, I added my own $10.36 for a total receipt from the Fundraiser = $550
UPDATE 12/27/2019
I have only a short opportunity with good internet access until early January, so this is the quick update.
We donated $200 to the Christmas program in Chontal and $100 to the Christmas program in Magdelana, the next village over. All went very well. Because of some later donations, I still have an extra $250 believe it or not, and so I'm in the process of finding a good use for that money. That may take a little time, as using donated money is a delicate activity that needs careful consideration of the effects on community and relationships, which are the end goal! I'll have more updates later when I start to get ideas.
Because of my internet limits, I can share links to collections of photos and videos. Here are some:
(1) me handing over the money to the queen of Magdalena, Abigail Reascos (who is responsible with the local leaders for organizing the Christmas program). This went to purchasing about 100 Christmas bags of candies for the kids and seniors. You can see the queen take off on the motorbike afterwards. :) Click here for photos/videos
(2) me handing over the $200 to the queen of Chontal, Kely Bosmediano. Her mother Ines is one of the church leaders. Click here for photos/videos
(3) the Christmas bags and the toys and prizes that were bought with the money the next day in Quito. Click here for photos/videos
(4) pictures and videos from the Chontal Christmas program. You might see me in those! You might also recognize Santa. Click here for photos/videos
Thank you again for sharing in this experience with me. I hope the photos and videos give you a sense of joining with me and being a part of the celebration and activities. Drop me a note anytime, I'll respond as I can. Many best Christmas season wishes, and a Happy new Year!
Advent & Christmas Novena in Chontal 2019
I accompanied the people and facilitated the Christmas activities in Chontal in 2019. For all the details, please visit the post Make Room. Enjoy the pictures!
Making the Christmas Manger in the Church
Pueblo Christmas Program for Seniors and Children
NOCHEBUENA AND PASE DEL NIÑo
CHRISTMAS WITH JUANITO
Accompanying Youth Group in East Boston
I’m accompanying the youth group JUAP (jovenes unidos para el amor al prójimo) in Most Holy Redeemer parish in East Boston, enjoying their hospitality and learning from them and sharing some spiritual wisdom along the way! The members are immigrants and youth of immigrants, largely from El Salvador.
Local Presentations About the Mission
I continue to share locally here in Boston about this mission, and am always open to new ideas for others' participation and for bridge-forming between families, groups, communities, and institutions such as parishes, schools, and others (seniors, children, people with disabilities, etc.)
If you're interested in hearing more, I'd love to hear from you - come on over to the contact page.
Advent & Christmas Novena in Chontal 2018
I accompanied the people and facilitated the Christmas activities in Chontal in 2018. For all the details, please visit the post Come and Eat. Enjoy the pictures!
Advent - Church Decorations
Christmas Eve and Novena - Pase del Niño
Christmas Day in the Parish
Christmas Pig for the Parish San José de los Manduriacos
The parish San José de los Manduriacos, in which Chontal is one of 13 communities, was only about 6 years old, and for the first time, it had a communal celebration on Christmas Day. There was a need for support for the celebration, which included a Mass, a program including Christmas performances, and food. Having about $200 extra from the fundraiser “Hit me over the wall!”, I offered to pay for one of the two pigs that were needed for the food. It helped to make the celebration worthwhile, as it freed up families to not have to prepare a meal at home, and so to come.
Pork is a principal food at fiestas, as the primary large animal meat. There wouldn’t be beef, as cattle are not used for beef in this region. (In fact, when cows and bulls are no longer useful, they are sold and packed into trucks to be taken to Quito, where they may be used for beef.)
I never got a picture of the actual “Christmas pig”, but I’m including some pig pictures here for your enjoyment.
Just an example of some pigs - it’s the pigs who pay the price for the fiestas!
Immigration Retreats in Boston Area
In April 2018, I and some friends initiated the first immigration retreat. I had been accompanying the Hispanic community at St. Anthony Shrine for several years until last year, and we had taken steps to organize the retreat before it ran out of support. But friends from the Shrine decided that we would do the retreat together in a small group format, which I think is the best way to do it. Accompaniment and sharing in the community life was the baseline for ministry. It opens the door for extending this retreat experience to other immigrants after an accompaniment period in a type of mission, as a grassroots, bottom-up retreat.
The retreat itself was supported equally financially by the participants, though I did most of the organizing, ideation, and procurement. It is a participatory retreat with a balance of listening, vulnerable sharing, teammwork, and personal arts and crafts. About 4 to 5 hours, the retreat environment allows Latino immigrants to identify, remember, unpack and recount their migration experience in the intimacy of small community of other immigrants. Afterwards, and each person can memorialize their story in a personal way by decorating a candle-holder/lantern that can be taken home and continually reused as a memorial of their migration experience and God's hand in it.
The retreat is placed in the context of the mystery of God's salvation as experienced by the Israelites' crossing the Red Sea. Retreatants are guided in relating their experience to that of the People of God, and a safe, trusting environment is established with sacred symbols, songs, interactive activities, and media.
Everyone who participated reported having a fantastic experience that had changed them to some degree and had changed our relationships. We all had a desire to continue with more meetings and workshops and activities that fed us spiritually and socially and communally. We have meetings planned to do this.
English & Technology Education in Chontal
Since 2014, I've been assisting with education in English and Computational Technology for children and youth. These have taken the form of parish English classes, assisting English teachers in school classrooms, private computer lessons, English homework tutoring, and remedial math tutoring. The emphasis is on the human and relationship-building dimension of these in both the way they are taught and the direction toward which they are aimed.
Social Outreach Ministry in Chontal / San José de los Manduriacos
A new social outreach ministry is being formed in the parish San José de los Manduriacos, which is the parish in which Chontal is located. The aim is to integrate folks who have or have the intention of reaching out to those in the local communities who have the greatest needs: spiritual, emotional, material. As an initial participator and strong supporter, I aim to continue as a participator and supporter.
Parish Support in Mocache
During a week's stay in Nuestra Señora del Carmen parish in Mocache, Ecuador, in January 2018, I provided pastoral and technical support during a crunch time in sacrament season.
Offering reflections to adult and youth groups
re-creating the ceremony guides / momentos for the First Communion and Confirmations that were coming up. Using Word and coordinating with local print-shops.
Transferring the parish calendar into Google Calendar using the parish's current Google account, and teaching the pastor how to use and get the most out of the calendar and cloud capabilities with his smartphone.
Christmas Gifts for Families in Chontal
In December 2017, I initiated a fundraiser to raise money to buy Christmas bags of candies for the children in Chontal on Christmas Eve. We raised more money than anticipated, and the extra money was used to become seed money for a new social outreach ministry for those in need in the parish to which Chontal belongs. Below are the updates included along the way, also included at the link here. Many thanks to everyone who offered the gifts - I hope this new project grows legs and continues!
UPDATE, 1/19/2017:
I've finally had some space with good internet to post the final update on the fundraiser. it went very well, and there's only a bit more to add since the last update after Christmas.
As noted before, we raised $325, and the spending at that time was
$200 - navidades for the kids of Chontal
$25 - navidades for prizes for the Christmas Carol presentation, plus supplies for the youth to decorate the church
We donated another $12.50 to the cost for the hot chocolate and bread after Christmas Mass.
That left $87.50 for seed money for the spiritual/social outreach program for those in most need. Doing something communally for people most in need was something I was looking for, to make part of the Christmas novena. Then I found out that the priest was interested in starting an outreach program, so one night a few of us hatched the idea of asking the community for non-perishable donations as part of the Christmas Eve Mass. We prepared leaflets and went door-to-door. We received a few donations, which are waiting to be distributed once the new ministry starts to organize and form:
I gave the seed money to Fr. Marcelo, and we met with 2 people in Chontal to start the ball rolling. It will take some time and a bit of resources. (Very often there are no resources for these things, and what may seem to us to be the simplest first steps stall out because of that. That initial money should be able to "grease the skids" so to speak, eliminate those first obstacles for the program to advance.)
The plan was, starting with Chontal, to join together certain people of faith who are interested in and/or have experience with spiritual and/or social outreach, and form a group ministry. Three people who have experience are willing to form and be a part of it. What I particularly like is that the priest is interested in coordinating both the spiritual and material: one of the woman is very good at visiting and praying with seniors (she has taken up the Divine Mercy devotion full-time), I like her approach to it; while another young woman has a great deal of social experience with seniors; I accompanied her into the mountains visiting seniors a few years ago, she is excellent with the social dimension. The goal is to be a parish program (Chontal is one of 13 communities in the parish), including people from other communities. At first, the focus is to organize and take a first step with the goods that were donated during the Christmas Mass... There is another dimension that is helpful, in that the neighboring parish, Garcia Moreno, has a very developed program that is similar. The reason is that, until 6 years ago, Chontal's parish, Los Manduriacus, was a part of Garcia Moreno. So its structures are just beginning, but it has a form of a model in Garcia Moreno.
So, there is the backing from the priest and me, the desire and capability of several people, an example in the neighboring parish, and some financing. It has potential.
So, thank you again for donating! This will be the last update that I post to the fundraiser. If I have any more news on the new outreach ministry, I will post it on the website here: www.barriers2bridges.org
Have a wonderful year, stay in touch and drop a note anytime, and check out the website where you can sign up at any time for automatic updates.
God bless,
Jerome
UPDATE, 12/27/2017:
We raised $325, after fees. Thanks for so much generosity!
The first $200 went to buy 200 Navidades, which were delivered already made several days before Christmas:
We handed out over half on Christmas Eve at the Mass, as it was delayed for over an hour (Mass began at 11pm, after the evening began at 6:30pm with the novena). The next day, Christmas Day, which is a low-key day here unlike in the States, I went and delivered more to others in the village, including some to the folks who had spent a lot of volunteer time during advent and coming up to Christmas. There are still a lot more to give away, and so the plan is to bring them to some of the kids up higher in the mountain who would not have received anything on Christmas - Chontal Alto and Magdalena Alto.
Of the remaining $125, we spent $25 on more smaller Navidades for prizes in the Christmas Caroling presentation (a number of families got up to sing carols and received a bag of goodies), plus supplies for the youth to decorate the church:
One of the families singing Christmas carols in the presentation before Mass. Each family who sang got a bag of goodies thanks to your donations. We had a packed house over 100 people!
The youth were working with Veronica, a talented mother who does a lot with arts and crafts, to prepare decorations for the church. It turned out great!
The balance of $100 is currently being worked on. Part of it covered bread and hot chocolate for after the Mass. Christmas bread and hot chocolate is traditionally served after Christmas Mass at the church in Ecuador. Part of it was funded by collections taken each night in the novena, but the accounting isn't done.
What remains afterwards will be contributed to support the new social works project that the priest is initiating. In a conversation with Veronica, who previously worked for the local government in service to remote seniors in the parish area, we decided to start a donation effort for non-perishable foods and personal care items for seniors. Some people brought their donations for the Christmas Mass. My idea was to take whatever money we have leftover and let it be "seed money" for that project, to get it going. Money is needed to travel and reach seniors, to start fundraisers, etc. I will let you know how that accounting works out financially hopefully before I leave Chontal after the New Year.
As you can see, I try to get good value from every donation you make, so that as many people as possible get a sense of being valued.
I hope you had a Merry Christmas, and thanks for being a part of making this Christmas - as some have told me afterwards - one of the best that Chontal has ever had!
Jerome
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Kids and adults alike in poorer rural places here like Chontal typically get one of these bags of candies & cookies - "Navidades" - from local institutions, like the public school or the local governments. It is a Christmas tradition throughout the country, that has lasted for many years. And for many families, those are the only gifts that they will pass hands for Christmas.
The church here rarely has resources to provide Navidades, and this year especially. I'm looking for people who want to be a part of providing these simple, inexpensive gifts to the local people at the end of the Christmas celebrations on Christmas Eve.
$200 should cover about 150 Navidades. (If expenses come in under $200, I'll use the extra money for other aspects of the Christmas celebrations.) A few of us will drive an hour and a half (each way!) to go and buy the candies, cookies, and bags. After we get back, a group of us will take about 3 or 4 hours to put the bags together to be ready to be handed out on Christmas Eve. It's something I did in collaboration last year in San Isidro, on the coast.
I'd love to have you involved, and thank you for considering being a "star" and shining a light for all us here!
