In the small villages of Ecuador, wherever there is a chapel or a church, there are always bells. They don’t ring them out in the day to indicate noontime or 6pm, like they do in the States. That’s what we use them for. But we’ve lost the real use for them: indicating the starts of…
I’m returning to Ecuador on October 31 for three months. I will mainly be in Chontal, and am aiming to visit a few more locations for ministry and bridge-building. There will be more to come as the departure gets closer and after landing as well …
Last December, I returned to a place called San Isidro in Ecuador, a place that was hit hard by the earthquake earlier in the year. After eight months, there were still over 40 families living in tents in schoolyard-turned-relief-shelter, guarded and managed by government and military personnel. I visited one day and went from tent…
When I arrived for my first year-long stay in Ecuador, I started in a parish participating in different ways, and at one point I was teaching the parish’s religious education teachers. My Spanish was still growing, but I realized that I didn’t need much language to teach the class. I would introduce the theme at…
You’re Invited! Come for an early-evening meeting of story-telling with multimedia and Q&A (and maybe even some singing), where I’ll share the history of my mission to Ecuador, what’s happening now, and how you can get involved. We’ll mix serious and fun, and there always seem to be surprises… What: A presentation and Q&A, plus…
The other day I was walking with a friend along a stretch in Boston called Castle Island, where you get up close with the ocean, and a sort of a step outside from the city. As we were walking you could see the city skyline. People are drawn to marvel at city skylines. We all…
The other day I was running late on a weeknight and I hadn’t eaten much for dinner. I stopped by the local market on my home after getting off the bus, and I decided I would pick up one of the rotisserie chickens that they sell there, to make a dinner with. When I approached…
Recently I was visiting a friend at a home for seniors, and as we were talking, a gentleman we recognized, Jack, came walking past us. I signaled hello, and that piqued his curiosity because he wasn’t quite sure who I was. He ended up approaching with his walker and sitting down with us. I recognized…
College. My family didn’t have all that much money, so I was happy when I got a good sized academic scholarship to go to a wealthy college in Pennsylvania. In the first days, while all the other kids had their parents driving them and moving them in, I arrived alone fresh out of tipping a…
The strikeout. The image of failure in baseball. You have 3 or more chances to put your bat onto good pitches and hit the ball into fair territory. You couldn’t do it. When you strikeout, you walk back slowly with your head down and return to the bench. You could have gotten a hit, even…
A while ago I was visiting a parish nearby that is largely Hispanic. They were having their parish fiestas, and so there was music, a variety of activities and celebrations, and of course, food. I stopped by the food stands with a friend and we loaded up our plates. Then we turned around and started…
When I entered a diocesan seminary some years ago, one of the first things you got was a poster. The poster has pictures of the seminarians, plus the bishop and vocation directors. These posters are given out to parishes and pastors put them up in parishes for everyone to see. Immediately, then, you become a…
