School's Back - Cassava River Inant & Primary

Cassava River Infant and Primary is the "grade school" associated with Holy Family Church in Cassava River, one of St. Mary's Mission churches. Each day begins with Devotional. The children gather for song, scripture and prayers. Amazingly from ages 4 through 12 they stand and listen as the principal, a teacher or one of the friars/sisters leads the Devotional. Here you will see the children press their lips as they quiet themselves before we say the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be...the principal is not Catholic, one of 14 teachers is Catholic and less than a dozen of the children are Catholic... but all know their prayers, and press their lips when told to by the leader.

Here's a shot of the Infant Section, the five year old children with teacher. Currently this section of the school is being refurbished... imagine a job started on 9 July is not yet complete, and probably won't be until mid-October... but that's how it goes in Jamaica - soon come, soon come!

Cupertino Program - St Mary's Literacy Program

Now in its second year, the Cupertino Program has taken on that new coat of paint and seen the construction of counter tops, the installation of ceiling fans and a dozen new computers!

The addition of computer stations has allowed us to make hooked on phonics and several other learning programs available to our kids. Again this year we have a morning session (9:30am - 11:30am) for our middle schoolers; and an afternoon session (12:30 - 2:30pm) for our primary schoolers. Tutoring, sustained silent reading, and homework assistance are the usual need each day. I am amazed at how many 1st and 2nd graders cannot correctly identify the 8 colors in a basic box of crayons; and that 8th and 9th graders are being started in a 2nd grade reader.

Through this program we are able to offer assistance to twenty children each day. Our thanks to the RCIA Group that visited in August, and had an extended stay due to the visit of Hurricane Dean. The the doors, counter tops and all things wood are thanks to Mike Stewart, our carpenter. And the computers are thanks to Archbishop Curley High School. Through Fr Mike Martin's assistance 18 computers were sent do for use in the program.

THANKS to all our stateside supporters!

Shoe Sale - - Road Side Vendors

Thanks to our friends at St. Louis Church in Batesville, IN, we had a good selection of shoes after our first sale...so we took our show on the road...literally on the road. Much like a Jamaican Vendor the friars, sisters and Church Council members set up shop just outside Sacred Hearts Church n Pinto. A large number of good shoes... but a small crowd with the threat of rain. All-in-all the two days of shoe sales brought in $64,000 Jamaican Dollars... just about $1,000 US. That money helps us keep the feeding program cook's salary funded. THANKS to all who donated shoes...boxed the shoes and made these available to the people of St. Mary's and Missions.

In addition to the shoes...a number of slightly used prom dresses where available. These dresses were donated through a contact at The Catholic High School of Baltimore are a hot item for Sunday Church. Here you can see Sr Naomi helping AvaGay try on a potential buy.

[The shipping of shoes, school supplies and any collections the folks in Batesville do for us, is courtesy of Hill-Rom (the hospital bed maker, also in Batesville, IN). We'd like to take this space to say thank you to our friends at Hill-Rom.]

Fr Michael - Missionary School

In late August Fr Michael Heine left for missionary school in Brussels. Fr Mike's time away will be with other Franciscans reflecting on how to bring our Franciscan charism to the missions we staff. Here's a look at his 'classmates' - five are Conventuals, five are Capuchins and five are Observants. All are gathered around our new Minister General, Fr Marco (in blue) in the middle of the picture. The participants hail from Europe, India, Africa, South America, Asia and the Caribbean (Jamaica). Fr Mike will return to St. Mary's and Missions on 15 December, until that time Fr Gary will cover his duties.

17 Days No Electric

Thanks be to God, and the intercession of Blessed Mother Theresa, at about 6:10pm the power was restored to the Above Rocks Area... more importantly, to the St. Mary's Church compound. For the past 17 days we have relied on the gas generator for 12 hours a day: to keep the perishables cold, and sometimes frozen... now the roof top water tanks can be filled... laundry done... and fans on at night to keep the mosquitoes away. The level of thanks when the power returned was palpable as we ate a Fr Joe Pasta Dinner. Thanks to Jamaica Public Service (JPS) and the employees who have been working round-the-clock since the hurricane.

General Election '07

Monday night's coverage was neck and neck until almost 10pm... Portia Simpson, the current Prime Minister, announced at that time that she would not concede. Two days into the official recount the JLP picked up two additional seats, and the Hon. Portia Simpson (right) concedes. Here's the lead story from the morning paper: The People's National Party (PNP) last night conceded defeat in Monday's general election, but maintained it would reserve its right to challenge the results of some seats once the final counts are made public.

At the same time, the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) said yesterday that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has picked up an additional seat, moving the preliminary count to JLP: 32, PNP: 28. The South St. James constituency first declared for the PNP's Derrick Kellier later went to the JLP's Noel Donaldson. Bruse Golding (left) will be installed as the next Prime Minister as early as Monday, 10 September 2007.

The Eve of National Elections

Tomorrow, September 3rd, there will be General Election. The People's National Party (PNP) has been in control of the government for the past 18 years. The opposition party, the Jamaica Labour Party is hoping for a change in leadership.

The association with a political party here in Jamaica is much more charged than being a democrat or a republican back in the States. The PNP uses red/orange as the colour/banner under which they unite; and tradition has it the PNP drinks Red Stripe. The JLP wears green, rings a bell and drinks Heineken.

Traditionally, election day can be violent. We have been directed to limit our activity off property and to stay in doors from noon until Tuesday to avoid any problems. This evening as we were going in to town we encountered groups of orange shirted PNP-ers on one corner, and green shirted JLP-ers just a few hundred feet away...and between the two the Jamaica Defense Force (JDF, the Jamaican Military) in full gear, machine guns drawn on ready. Then when returning from town we passed the Stony Hill Constabulary: much to our surprise they were distributing billy clubs to the poll workers. The fear of violence is so deep that even police on patrol tomorrow will not be wearing side arms, only special patrols will carry guns, all else wielding clubs.

Number 415 of the Jamaican Catholic Hymnal has been the meditation song sung at our churches this weekend: The Right Hand of God is Moving in our Land. We pray that the hand of God leads the good-people of the island through free, fair and peaceful elections tomorrow.