READING IS FUN! STORYTELLING IN THE LIBRARIES AROUND SABANA YEGUA (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC)

We have now launched three libraries in the La Sagrada Familia Parish territory around Sabana Yegua.  To promote reading with the children, this past month of August a sort of storytelling show was organized in the different libraries with the help of two volunteer youth from Barcelona.  In each library a story was told in a fun way with the help of drawings, and then was discussed together with the  children. Shortly after many of them who were not yet members hurried to sign up and get their library card in order to take one of the stories that they had heard home to read.  Thank you to Clara and Mar for their help!

CONSTRUCTION OF THREE EARTH-DAMS IN THE ALTIPLANO OF COCHABAMBA, BOLIVIA

The Community of Saint Paul has begun a new project in the Ayopaya Province in the department of Cochabamba, in Bolivia.  The project entails the construction of three earth-dams, each with a capacity of 300 cubic meters (79,251 gallons).  The water will be channeled through a distribution network ending in a sprinkler irrigation system that will cover an area of 70 hectares (173 acres) of cultivable lands.  40 families in the community of Totorani will benefit from the project.  The families are very eager and ready to work during the two months that are programmed to construct the necessary infrastructures.  Once the construction is finalized, they will be able to grow alternative products like vegetables, fruits and grains that will help to generate food stuffs and economic resources and thus lower their level of poverty, which is principally due the low productivity of their lands. 

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.