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Please click on the link to open and view the newest newsletter. After viewing the newsletter simple 'X' out of it and you will return to the Maui Rotary website.
May 2006 Appreciation to Maui Rotary For Donations of
New Computer Lab Books To Students
   SPECIAL NEWS:
5/20/06
A check in the amount of $1,230 to buy 150 Spanish Bibles and 150 Spanish Dictionaries for the students is being mailed to Fr. Richard L. Perozich. A Gift From The Maui Rotary Club *Service Above Self* In Action! **********
NEWSLETTER AND PICTURES THE SCHOOL IN HONDURAS
[click on link to see pictures - it will take a minute to load]
1) Repainting the church to match the school — out with the salmon, in with the cream; 2) building new catechetical kiosks to accommodate the children; 3) Francisco finally gets his plates, screws & drill bit to fix his fracture; 4) 15 children from poor area rideto school by pick up each day; 5) Mission banner at Sagrada Familia chapel; 6) Seminarians visiting the parishThe seminarians from San Pedro Sula do their philosophy and theological training at Our Lady of Suyapa(Mary’s title as the patroness of Honduras) in the capital city ofTegucigalpa. During Holy Week, some are sent back to thediocese to work in parishes. We have been fortunate to have theyoung men 3 years in a row.
The men stay with a family for a week. I was surprised to find that one young man was staying with a very poor family.
When I asked if he had a bed, pillow, sheets, etc, he said, “Yes, the family sleeps on the floor while I’m here!” When Idiscovered this, we relocated this seminarian with deepest thanksto the family who was hosting him, to help them keep theirdignity while regaining normality in their humble dwelling. The seminarians have lots of enthusiasm. Whilehelping in the liturgies, they also visit the sick, work on the mission project visiting houses to evangelize the people in theparish. They planned spiritual talks for the charity group, themarried couples, the youth, and the children, and are givinginstructions on preaching to the delegates of the Word. The semsare guiding the youth in the celebration of the living stations of the cross. We go throughout the entire parish with predeterminedhomes wherein we stop to celebrate one of the stations on GoodFriday. It takes about 3 hours. We begin with about 100 peopleat 7 AM to avoid the heat which can be oppressive since April isthe hottest month in Honduras. At the end we have about 250 aswe pick up people on the way.
Our mission phase of visiting homes to announce the mission is coming to a close. Over 100 parishioners have beenworking in this phase of the mission project from people in their70’s to teens. The fruits are starting to show already. Peoplewho I never have seen before are coming to the church for various needs: spiritual, medical, daily living supplies. When they come,they are welcomed and directed to one of the small faithcommunities which have regular weekly worship in homes inaddition to the Sunday Mass at the church. Those receiving foodassistance must join with the Caritas group where they who are needy learn to prepare provisions for others.
We have a new American missionary in our pastoral group here in San Pedro Sula. Fr. Dick Frank is returning frommission in Nicaragua. Fr. Frank fell off a horse there, and can nolonger continue to reach the rural communities. He is a hard hardworker. In his section of town when the priests gathered to hear confessions at the penance services, they were sparsely attendedbecause Fr. Frank hears confessions before and after Mass and ifanother priest is celebrating he goes to hear during Mass also.Fr. Dick Frank is 79 years old, and will NOT retire. God blesshim. He is an inspiration to me.
We had our Penance service on the Tuesday of HolyWeek. I invited 4 other priests, but only 2 showed up. The threeof us heard confessions for 2 hours. I guess I still haven’t wipedout sin in this section of San Pedro Sula. The people werefervent and contrite. It made my heart glad to bestow God’smercy without cost.
the Easter Vigil we baptized 15 people and completed the Christian initiation with Eucharist and onfirmation for 10others. Afterward many people stay around for fellowship,singing and more celebration.On Easter Sunday, we baptized 8 children.
People praise the work that I have done in the mission. While affirmations are always uplifting, the work I have beenable to do pales in comparison with some of the missionariesfrom Spain.To obtain some supplies for the mission, I had to go toa parish of one of the Spanish missionaries. He constructed abeautiful church, rectory, and school. The grounds wereimmaculate with tree lined walks. He constructed a day carecenter and an entire retreat center for the diocese. Fr. Jose who isin his late 60’s has health problems, and has had to spend quite abit of time in Spanish hospitals. He has 40 small chapels andcommunities he tends to without the help of an associate.
Despite all of this, his communities are well organized and faith filled. Like Fr. Dick Frank, Fr. Jose is an inspiration and atestimony to what can be done with the grace of Jesus.
A few newsletters ago, I lamented the Honduran medical, system in that a man with a fracture could not get the drill bit sothe doctor could drill the holes to put in the plates and the screws.He was released from the hospital with his still broken,unrepaired arm in a sling. I took some of your donations to buythe drill bit, screws and plates for $230.00, went with him to themedical supply house because they called finally to say they hadthe drill bit. After 30 minutes there, we left empty handedbecause now they did not have the plates which they claimed theydid have on an earlier visit! Can you imagine an American putting up with this? The average Hondurans do down here because this is the way things are; except for those who can afford private medicalservices, the people here don’t know the system of care thatexists in other parts of the world.We kept trying, and finally now that Francisco has theapparata needed, he will have to get a surgery date. Lately, thestate hospitals canceled lots of surgeries because there are noantibiotics or anesthesia. People here wait years for surgeries asthey do in England and Canada where medicine is socialized.
Another one for the God bless America column.
Holy Week is as big as or possibly bigger thanChristmas here, although not necessarily in the religious sense. The post office is closed all week. At noon on Tuesday of HolyWeek the supermarkets were packed. In these crowded settingspeople exhibit even less of the courtesy that normally is lacking here. Traffic was hectic. The banks were impossible since theywere only open on Monday and Tuesday. Since bills must bepaid at the bank and not at the agency, the lines were tremendous. I tried several branches. The drive through lines were into thestreet. The inside office marquis showed number 2 being servedwhen my ticket said number 65. I’ll try again on Monday!.
[end] COMPUTERS FOR THE SCHOOL
MARCH 2006
     
Dear Members Here is the March Newsletter from Paul Corarito and Rich Perozich regarding the school in Honduras which our club with the help of RI has purchased a computer lab etc for poor kids who would never have had this chance without the help of generous donors such as our club. I hope someone from our club will be able to visit the school soon and bring us back a report. Of course Rich Perozich is here every year. I will try to let him have the entire program next time he is here. aloha Your President for Life Mickey
________________________________________________________________________________ 3/15/2006 Newsletter From Honduarn School
Dear Members, Here is the March Newsletter from the new Honduran School that we have helped with a computer lab, etc. Feels good to help out those in need, doesn't it? Aloha Mickey
1) The tree in the concrete block is our version of orange cones at a work site; 2) The local Pepsi bottler donated the sign, marker boards and other items for the new school; 3) Second grade teacher Rocky, wife Jenny and new baby Patricia at 40 day presentation; 4) 1/2 of the school at Mass; 5) New phys ed shirts; 6) School dads at Father’s Day evening celebration in their honor.
Every two months, the priests of the diocese of San Pedro Sula gather for a day and a half of prayer and work at a local retreat center. The prayer is good. Once the work begins, it is intense. The diocese has many needs in forming our Catholic faithful to bring the gospel to so many people in this diocese where the population is exploding faster than our ability to respond with sufficient number of priests. During these discussions, our bishop and his pastoral agents in the various ministries have called us to develop people to minister in education and catechesis, the jail system not only to visit the imprisoned, but to minister to the families and find resources to help those without funds to seek legal aid. Our booming youth population is a concern as well, so that the young people find Christ and not a gang to be their guide through life. The church is involved in creating a mental health facility to meet the needs of those with psychological problems. All the things people in the U.S. take for granted that the state will provide do not happen here in Honduras. If the Church and other non governmental agencies do not provide charity, schools, hospitals, and other human services will be insufficient to meet the needs of the growing population of this country. Each day in the paper, I read the two pages dedicated to complaints, usually for lack of services or repairs in the city: where the pot holes are, lack of telephone service, street lights out, failure to pick up garbage, among others. When I saw our neighborhood listed today, I went right to that complaint. To my surprise, it was about our new parish school! A neighbor wrote in to complain that the church wrongly was sold the land and has been unfaithful to the agreement. The article said we failed to provide a park and that instead of a public school, we are charging an excessive amount when the school was to be for the poor. Our school board president told me he knows the man. The man lives two houses away from the parish. He has no children. He also informed me that the park in front of the school had been planted and developed by the church years ago in accord with the plan. The school is open to the public, but is not a state school, each of which has many charges for various activities if the students are to remain in class and receive credit. The state schools do not pay teachers, have strikes, don’t have desks, have broken down facilities. The only way we can provide a fair and adequate education is if the parents cooperate. We have over 20 children, 10%on full tuition assistance, thanks to you American Catholics, and families with multiple children offered some assistance for the second child and beyond. Our people here say this is typical of the culture, everyone wanting something for nothing. Our small parish of Santiago Apóstol has trained 100 visitors to go door to door to each home in the parish to announce the mission which will take place in August of this year. After this initial announcement and survey of interest, these same visitors will go out once again in a few months to encourage those who showed interest to attend the two week mission. The mission begins with a week of prayer in homes to form small Christian communities. It then moves to the actual church building where missionaries from Spain will be coming to preach the basic announcement and gospel of Jesus. From our survey and post visit meetings, we find that majority of those visited are unchurched, even though a majority claim evangelical protestantism as their faith. Almost all those visited were receptive of the bishop’s letter to invite them to mission and accepted the prayer card with image of Jesus. The missionaries are taking names of those interested, and will make a second visit to announce the mission to this group later in the spring. For our parish, August 17 - Sep 3 will have a week of home meetings and a week of basic catechesis at the parish by missionaries from Spain. Special sessions for the elderly, the married, the youth, and children, among others will be presented to animate the faith and bring people to Jesus. An elderly woman came to me for medical assistance for her son. She brought a prescription from her doctor which I could not read. Our own physician here, Dr. Guadalupe Escoto said it was for orthopedic appliances to set a fracture. I found this quite odd. The doctor said here the family goes to the medical supply house to buy the plate, pins and bits that the orthopedic surgeon places inside the patient. Because the family has no money, the elderly woman who is a regular church goer, asked the parish for help. The cost would be about 4,000 lempiras or $225, a whole month’s salary for an average worker in my neighborhood. Some people said I should not buy the device because the 36 year old man is a gang member. I just couldn’t see leaving someone in the hospital with a leg that would not heal properly without being set with these devices. I located the only medical supply house. They had 2 of the 3 pieces needed, but will not be getting the missing bits for about 2 weeks. Now when someone tells you 2 weeks here, it doesn’t really mean 2 weeks. It could be 2 months. I’ll keep checking until the parts come in. In the meantime, he remains in the government hospital. Telephone service was cut off at school when the directors arrived one morning. Of course this is not something that can be handled by calling from another number, but requires your time and a visit to investigate and solve the problem. Apparently the organization which had the school’s telephone number before the school acquired it did not pay a number of charges. These charges were applied to the number and not the organization. Since we contested and did not pay these charges, the service was cut off without Hondutel even contacting us. The director discovered all this on her visit. The charges will be reversed from our bill, and service will be established in a few days when the telephone company can free up an installer who must come in person to reconnect the line! The Hondurans endure these things all the time. God bless America! Fr. Rich Perozich’s Mission Newsletter Apartado Postal 899 • San Pedro Sula, Honduras • 011 504-559-5171 • rperozich@mac.com • http://richardperozich@tripod.com March 15, 2006 For the web page, click on the above link or paste into your browser CONVERSION MOMENTS MISSION LIFE To send donations for the mission, you can make the check to OLSH-Mission for tax deductible donations or non tax deductible to Fr. Richard L. Perozich for use at his discretion. Mailing address: Mission of Fr. Richard Perozich • c/o Our Lady of the Sacred Heart • 4177 Marlborough Ave • San Diego, CA 92105. [end] |
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