Our Team in Honduras, Summer 2011

A group of women from our parish returned to Honduras to host a spiritual retreat we call Christ Renews His Parish. The team is expected back today, June 28, 2011 and I’m sure they will have a great story to tell about their travels and the people they served there. Check out the presentation below to learn more about the mission.

Maybe One Day I’ll Go to Africa

I’ve never been to Africa and I know very little about it. Although I realize there are many wild places left on the planet, I always think of Africa as the wildest, with its sweeping vistas, open grasslands, tribal customs, and familiar wildlife. I have some African friends that have shared with me about government corruption, poverty, and widespread disease throughout many parts of the continent, especially in the rural areas. I’ve been doing a lot of reading trying to absorb the culture and the challenges facing people living there. And I’ve been listening to music from Africa – lots of music! The more I read and hear, the more drawn into the struggles of the underprivileged I become. There are so many problems: poverty, diseases such as HIV/AIDS, drought, violence, homeless families, orphans, unsanitary water and open sewage, lack of education for the kids – it is all so very overwhelming and sad.

 

Several months ago, I was asked to become involved with a non-profit organization that constructed and now supports a children’s home in a small village in Kenya. The Footprints of Faith Foundation (http://thefootprintsoffaith.org) recently opened their home in Rangala to 10 children who lost their parents for various reasons but now have a chance to live in a nice home with other children. They will go to school and help with a small farm on the grounds. The story about the founder of the foundation is amazing and from the first time I heard it, I became hooked. I began working on a song they could use however they wanted but primarily to raise awareness and funds for the upkeep of the home. This is why I started doing the research to learn more about Africa and quickly began to see and read about things I never knew and still honestly can’t believe. After several months of absorbing information and allowing the shock of these apparently hopeless situations to pass, I began to focus on the people and organizations that are trying to bring positive changes and assistance to those in need. 

 

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is one of the larger organizations in the mix. MSF is an international medical humanitarian organization working in more than 60 countries to assist people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe. Naturally, they are doing a lot of work in Africa and the video below illustrates just one of the ways they broadcast their message calling for action. Check out “A Vulnerable Existence: Migrants in South Africa.” I’ve watched this video a few times and each time, learn something more. Visit the MSF website at http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org and spend a few minutes looking around. Get involved. Read. Follow MSF on Facebook and Twitter and forward the information to your friends and followers. I believe most of us have no real grasp of the size and complexity of these problems.  Maybe we don’t want to know. But I do believe we are capable of stepping up in a big way when we choose to. I may never go to Africa but I can still contribute..and so can each of us.

 

A Health Care Exception–For the Amish

This is a few days behind the curve, but check it out – great thoughts from Raymond Arroyo:

January 12, 2010
A Health Care Exception–For the Amish
Posted by Raymond Arroyo

Both the Senate and House Health Care bills have one religious conscience clause. Unfortunately it only applies to the Amish and a few other religious sects. According to the Watertown Daily Times, the exception would allow the Amish to avoid the health insurance mandate and a fine should they refuse to carry health insurance. So get this straight: the Amish, Old Order Mennonites and possibly Christian Scientists can opt out of the health care plan, with no penalty, while Catholics and other Christians are bound to pay premiums that fund abortion. How is that fair? Hundreds of Christian, pro-life hospitals, doctors and nurses may soon be forced to violate their consciences and offer or perform procedures they consider morally objectionable. The Congress could care less. If the pro-life community fails to demand conscience clause protections, and loudly, they could find themselves morally compromised by this new health care regime. Even the leading voice for conscience clauses, the US Catholic bishops, have been muted in recent days, preferring to convey their desires via letters and statements issued by their Conference. Now is the time for a full throated, public discussion of this critical issue. The ethical future of health care is being negotiated now in the back rooms of Capitol Hill. Of course if everyone would rather focus on Harry Reid’s comments, I suppose there is the option of riding a horse and buggy to work. Though some Catholic doctors I know will look pretty silly in those straw hats. Let me know what you think at raymond@raymondarroyo.com

Promotion is a Full-time Job! (and I already have one of those…)

Motivating people to act – especially people that have never heard of you or your project – is by far the greatest challenge I’ve faced since the release of the CD, “Build the House.” Promotion is a full-time job! It’s easier after the release: your family, friends, church members, etc. all jump in to help and in our case, it was a huge jump. We sold about 1000 CD’s in the first few weeks of the release and after that, the hard work began. I turned my efforts to the web, creating online stores, blogging, joining user groups, and getting mp3’s of some of the songs to people who might help distribute and spread the word. Below is a list of a few of those that have helped and continue to support the mission.

Please take a minute and visit these sites. Some are radio shows or podcasts and others are listener sites that utilize hits/page to push your song up the charts. I’ve started to see some purchases from iTunes and CD Baby by people not in my immediate network, including several from the U.K., which is very exciting and encouraging. One church community in Florida contacted me to ask permission to use the title cut as their theme song for an upcoming capital campaign. Comments and reviews have been positive and almost everyone mentions the good work we are doing for the mission.

Grapevine Catholic Music Magazine– a great online music mag, complete with podcasts – check out the podcast page and go to Episode #74, January 20, 2008. Contact Susan Bailey, editor, for more information. Susan will review the CD in the February issue, so check it out!

Catholic Music Express– wonderful, up-to-date online radio program, featuring many Christian artists and their latest releases. Link to other sites, etc. Visit the podcast page to listen to or download the January 6th, 2008 program, featuring “Blessing Cup.” Contact Jim O’Meara, owner, for more information.

Soundclick.com – music artist resource. Great site to listen, network, comment. This site receives thousands of hits/day, so any input you can provide will encourage others to check out the music too.

The only way this approach to part-time promotion can work is to forward what you’ve learned to those individuals in your network. Thanks for your continued help to get the word out! Lastly, please pray for our mission team as they travel to Honduras next week – may God keep them safe in their travels!

Anxiety vs. Peace

Anxiety vs. Peace. Which of these wins the battle in your life most of the time? I know for me lately it’s been a real struggle. It is fall – school is back in session, vacations are over and work has picked up, people are returning to church – more singers, musicians, etc. – so the anxiety level seems to be up and rising. I couple of days this week I woke too early, walked around the house once or twice and then couldn’t go back to sleep because my brain was cranking so fast I didn’t know how to turn it off. I just sat there with a not-so-interesting song chorus doing loops in my head and feeling like I had to tire myself out before I could lie down again.

Almost everyone I know drops little hints that they have too much on their plates, or so they say. We all probably think we do anyway. Just listen the next time you are gathered around the water cooler with co-workers: too many commitments and not enough down time to relax and enjoy life; too many meetings, appointments, long days and restless nights. So it’s not a stretch to look out across the community landscape to see a lot of us suffering from a load of anxiety – real or imagined, but easy to see either way.

How do we find the peace that overcomes anxiety, the peace that comforts and calms us? I think the answer is we have to ask for it. We have to pray for it. It’s within our reach…but we may not see it.

In Luke 24, Jesus appeared to the disciples on the road to Emmaus but they didn’t recognize him, even after walking with him for the better part of the day. They were filled with anxiety after the crucifixion so they were not able to see clearly who Jesus was. Just imagine the pain and confusion after witnessing him dying on the cross! Later that evening, while they were eating with him, he took bread and broke it – and their eyes were opened once again! He appeared later, saying, “Peace be with you” and this gave them the strength and encouragement to return to their work with great joy!

Today, more than ever, we need peace in our lives. Things have a way of getting too busy for too many of us. Let’s open our eyes again, ask for peace, and focus on the important things that need to be done. When a quiet moment comes our way, accept it as the gift it is and cherish it. Hold on to it! The disciples wanted Jesus to stay so they could continue to experience the peace he gave them. They wanted to hold on to him forever – he was their peace! And, he’s still ours right now. We have to make ourselves slow down, see him, and return to our work with great joy. C’mon, Anxiety – take your best shot! I’ve got peace in my corner.