My new "family"

My hope, while here in México, is to find positive culture experiences. After 5 weeks with one family, I asked for a change. Though I do live further away (my walk time from school, since I ride to school with Rocí [pictured on left] is 35 "Fr Ben" minutes...which is a good clip in the streets), the environment is quite engaging. The family is a blast to be with...their attitudes about life and culture are great...Rocío (the woman in the middle...i.e. the mom) is a fantastic cook! Carlos (the father) is an ENT doctor and quite the runner...one day I'd love to run as much as he does...especially since he turns 70 this Novemeber and the son (Gabriel) who is great in conversation and loves fútbol. Not pictured are two other children of Rocío and Carlos and their families.

I live, now, about a 15 minutes from the mall "Las Americas" and the local cinema. The one theater is called the VIP cinema...apparently they have lounge chairs in the theater and the folks wait on you. You pay double for this "luxury"...which is about 90 pesos or about $9 American!

They are a great family...and I'm happy to be a part of their lives.

A trip to the old center of Michoacan

The local church...which the natives built (1530s) near Pátzcuaro
The local bishop (who at one time was the judge till the locals wanted a fair bishop so, at that time, the 82 year old man was ordained priest, then bishop...quick like Anselm! This bishop believed that there was an importance to preserving the culture of the people...and not "evangelizing"it away, as if the people's history was not important. After his death, the center of Michoacan...and the building of the Cathedral, happened in Morelia...some short distance away.

On the front of the doors, the natives carved small icons on the faith, then painted the icons...the paint is long gone, but he carvings still exist.

The inside of the church...beams cut from the forests (now all but extinct here...red cedar trees). The wood didn't have time to dry, so the posts began to twist. At the time, the locals didn't know how to build a large building with a stone roof, thus the red cedar ceiling.
An early confessional...Jackie in "the box"but no priest is present on the other side to hear her confession...however there was a priest taking the picture!Inside the monastery next to church. The rooms are built on the west side to make the most of the afternoon light so the monks could read or grade the students work...benches were built into the walls near the windows as seats for this purpose. The east side has the kitchen and classrooms for early morning light.

For a quick way to get people to attend Mass and because building churches took so long, the local priests built "open air" churches. The faithful would gather in the courtyards for Mass. Though you are not able to see in this photo, above the two center columns are a sun (on the left side) and a moon (on the right side). These were symbols of gods to the locals...this was an evangelization tool used for the locals as a way to say..."it's okay to worship and enter here...your past gods are present to adore the one God."

Visit to Mexico City...part 2

On the outside of the old basilica.
Inside of the new basilica.
A picture from behind the cathedra.
The view from my seat during the ordination at the basilica.
The Cardinal waiting for the ordinand to step forward for a promise of obedience.


Fr Antonio and I concelebrated the ordination Mass of 23 men to the permanent diaconate at the Bascilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I wasn't all that close, during the Mass, to the image of Our Lady, but after Mass, I walked up behind the cathedra (the bishop's chair) to take some time to pray close up with the image of Our Lady and take a few pictures (I figured I'd be escorted by the security guards after a few minutes...I was!) - but they just smiled and said "bueno padre. No más." The other picture of the church in the distance is the former basilica, but is now condemned, but the city and diocese are trying to save it.

Visit to Mexico City...part 1

In the above picture, Fr Antonio, our weekend chofer Nacho, and I are headed to the basilica...not exactly what I had pictured in my mind!
The last minute...literally, with Fr Antonio. My cabbie was waiting for me outside the walls.
This is the first Mass I ever was able to concelebrate with Fr Antonio, of course he was nice enough to ask if I would like to celebrate this Mass in English or Spanish - I said, whatever is easiest for you...so it was in Spanish!


What a great gift Fr Antonio has been in my life. A priest of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, he has to be one of the most hard working spiritual priests I know. I had the opportunity this past weekend to visit with him for 3 days. We had some great laughs, conversations, and time for prayer. We were able to celebrate three Masses together: one for the La Salle brothers, another with the Cardinal in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the last one in the mother house of the Missionaries. As you can see, Fr Antonio is quite a bit smaller than me, but he makes up for it in character and spirituality. Fr Antonio's principle work now, in Mexico, is to give retreats and spiritual direction to priests. He teaches in the local university and will be receiving his doctorate in Divinity this December. Thank you Fr Antonio for the gift you are to the world, to the Church and especially to us priests.

One more thing while I was in Boise

Well, Sam Anger, a parishioner of Risen Christ, has been trying ever so hard to get me to go biking with him - but I'm totally out of shape, he's like in amazing shape - no need to get embarrassed! At anyrate, I met he and his buddies coming up the hill while I was thanking God continuously that I was headed down the hill. We took a photo op, then Sam pushed his cronies on...way to go Sam! One more thing - you may notice I don't have my helmet...I forgot it in my pickup - I was politely reminded not to do that again! Thanks Sam! Until this Fall - keep up your biking, Sam!

Back to Mexico

Well, some have been wondering why I haven't been blogging...well, I needed to visit a friend back in Idaho for some time...as it turned out, that "time" was a month away from studies. Still, I managed to practice some Spanish and did as was asked of me while in Idaho, to keep a low profile. While I was up in Idaho, visiting my friend (who by the way is now doing super duper), I was able to take a trip to home with Monsignor Joseph daSilva. We hiked to the Lucile caves (see the picture with Msgr pulling himself up to the mouth of the cave). I returned to Mexico City to meet my former spiritual director from Mt Angel, Fr Antonio. More on him in my next blog - which will be interesting since I was about as close to the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe as anyone could get!

My classes resume tomorrow...