DONATION OF BOOKS FOR THE "MINI-LIBRARIES" IN THE AREA OF AZUA (Dominican Republic)

The project to have "mini-libraries" in La Sagrada Familia Parish in Sabana Yegua keeps growing. There are currently two small libraries, one with 500 members and the other with 75.  In 2013, five more mini-libraries will be established in different rural communities in the region in order to promote reading among the children through the lending of books.  We thank FUNDEBIDO, Editorial Santillana and Editorial SM for their recent donations of books to promote reading in this part of the Dominican Republic. 

SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY IN AZUA: "FOR A LAITY WITH ADULT FAITH"

On Saturday, August 10, theology classes for laity began in the Buen Pastor School in Azua.  Members of the Community of Saint Paul embarked in the initiative, which is new in the Diocese of San Juan de la Maguana, in collaboration with the Dominican Episcopal Conference.  They were able to coordinate the beginning of studies towards a Diploma in Theology for laity in the area of Azua (an ecclesiastic district made up of 14 parishes).  The diploma consists of 22 modules in total. The day began with two modules, and the response from various parishes was very good: there are 59 students with a desire to deepen in their faith through study.  Instructors and students have begun together a learning process that will fortify their faith and at the same time will give fruit to a group of formed and dedicated laymen and laywomen that will be able to accompany their parishes and ecclesial base communities.

COURSE END IN THE SAN JOSÉ CENTER IN JARDINES DE SAN JUAN, EL AJUSCO (MEXICO D.F.)

The San José Center closed the year’s course with a graduation ceremony for the children.  Each year, when a group’s time in the center has come to an end in order to be able to continue onto primary school, we realize that those children have overcome a challenge, they’ve reached a new step. And in the San José Center, the teachers are left with the sensation of “mission completed.”  They see generations of these little ones pass by, but that won’t be forgotten.  Generations of boys and girls full of joy, innocence and much imagination.  Some day they will think back on their childhood and on the San José Center, which we hope they will remember as a time full of joy and care on the part of their teachers.  As the Spanish psychiatrist and author Enrique Rojas says, “Almost all of that which is human is in the childhood.  When this stage has been happy, healthy, full of affection and well focused, one comes out strong for everything.” 

WALK AGAINST CHILD ABUSE IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Recently, the teachers and students of the San Agustín Nutritional Center in the San Francisco neighborhood of Sabana Yegua, took to the streets to protest against child abuse. It was a touching effort to call attention to this grave problem.  The children made the placards with which they walked thoughout the entire neighborhood, inviting especially their mothers and fathers to teaching them without violence. 

VATICAN II TALKS - No. 3

WOMEN IN THE CHURCH AFTER VATICAN II

The third talk in the Vatican II Talk Series in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Council, co-hosted by the Community of Saint Paul and Sacred Heart Parish in Racine took place on Friday, July 12, with over 70 people attending.  The talk titled Fifty Years Later: How Have the Promises of Vatican II to Women Made a Difference In our World and Church?” was given by Sister Frances Cunningham, OSF, the former Director of World Mission Ministries in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, who also served on the international leadership team of the School Sisters of St. Francis for twelve years.   In conversation with those present, Sister Cunningham discussed what steps had been taken in  Vatican II with regard to the advancementof women’s participation in the Church, and the promises that accompanied these changes.  She  analyzed how these promises changed Church, while also exploring how they were or were not kept.  To close, she provided some food for thought and encouragement as to how to these promises can be taken up at the level of the parish and local church.

VISIT OF YOUTH TO THE AGRICULTURAL CENTER IN COCHABAMBA

In the municipality of Vacas in Cochabamba, Bolivia, youth continue to be supported in their education in the Totorampampa Multifunctional Center. At the end of last month, 20 youth participating in the center participated in a trip to the city center in Cochabamba – a first for many of them.  They also visited the Agroforestal Combuyo Center where there is an ongoing investigation to create a sustainable agri-forestal system.  The youth enjoyed it very much, because they see these sort of efforts as something possible to implement in their own villages. Also, many of them are already participating in forestation work, thus they were fascinated to see spaces full of a variety of different trees.

REFLECTION

Dialogue: danger and benefit

Sincerely dialoguing with another person is an experience full of possibilities and risks. A dialogue that is really a dialogue (and not a monologue) always has the potential of changing the perspectives of those involved. Dialoguing transforms us. The moment that someone strikes up a conversation with the sincere intention of exchanging ideas and opinions, that person has implicitly declared that he or she is open to modifying his or her convictions.  For this reason, all those who hold dialogue in suspect, do not trust in it and avoid it, perhaps do so because they, without recognizing it, hide within themselves doubts and insecurities with regard to their beliefs and options.  These persons at most say they dialogue, but in reality they lecture and preach.  There are persons, in fact, who prepare their conversations as if it were a combat, with well thought out tactics and strategies, because for them the encounter consists in exactly that – something that has to be won.  They have convinced themselves beforehand that they precisely know what works, what is of value and what is not, and they have the duty of showing others what is the right path. That is not a dialogue. Only those who are aware of their own fragility truly dialogue, accepting the possibility of being wrong.

With this notion of dialogue we can understand the rejections of many in the Church of the proposal of the Council, which is essentially one of a willingness to dialogue. Those who then mistrusted this attitude are the same who later rejected and continue to reject today (more or less openly) the Conciliar documents or some of their aspects.  They sensed then and continue to sense now that the call to enter into dialogue with modern culture has the potential of changing the Church, and their rejection is based upon the fear that it would indeed happen. Naturally, what does happen then is that without dialogue there is no advancement: we end up with a repetition of the same concepts, that soon become incomprehensible to the ears of those with whom we did not want to enter into dialogue.  The Church, like other institutions and persons, has before it two options: it can close within itself, fortified in its positions, refusing to dialogue, and become paralyzed; or it can sit down without fears to converse with modern and postmodern culture, with non-believers and with dissenting believers, and with everyone it can, knowing that in this dialogue it may lose securities but gain depth. Knowing that this dialogue will change it.  The key is precisely in assuming that this transformation, instead of a disgrace, is a benefit.  When we let ourselves, as persons and institutions, be enriched by the perspectives and criticisms of others, we end up winning.

                                                                   Martí Colom