Christmas meal in Los Lanos

Every year the Knights of Columbus in Santo Domingo come to Los Lanos, a very poor community, to put on a Christmas meal for all the people there.

First Mass of the new school year in Don Juan

August 19th saw the opening of the school year in Don Juan at the school Santa Maria Josefa Rossello. The catholic students of the public school with their teachers were also invited to attend.

Sister Arileida Basarte

Sister Arileida Basarte renewed her simple vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty in a parish in Santo Domingo on April 19^th. 

 Her superior, Sr. Maria Rosa Galan was there to receive them, and I celebrated the Mass.

Ari is from the parish of San Juan Bautista, Don Juan.

Christmas and Catching Up

You have not heard much of anything from me because of a wedding and two deaths of family members. As a result, this fall and early winter I traveled back and forth from the Dominican Republic several times. I am just now able to play catch-up here on my blog.

Below are some of the Christmas pictures from the Portal de Belen, Hato Nuevo, and Don Juan Christmas children's celebrations.

The Census and angel at El Portal de Belen

The stable at Hato Nuevo

Children receive gifts at Don Juan 

A busy July in the DR

July has been a busy month for us here in the DR. First, we had two couples celebrating their marriage vows in the chapel of Triplici Ossama. 

Most couples in the DR live together for sometime before solemnizing their marriage in church, often their children and grandchildren are gathered around them.

Next, one of the seminarians, Rev. Mr. Neftali Brito, of the parish in Don Juan was ordained a deacon on July 20th in preparation for his soon-to-be ordination as a priest, sometime in the coming year.

On July 25^th, eleven parishioners from Sacred Heart Parish in Auburn, and St.Ann's in Owasco, arrived for a week-long visit. During their visit they renewed old friendships and formed new ones in Don Juan.

The group kept busy completing the first coat of paint on the new chapel in Bosque Arriba and doing projects with the children in some of the communities of the parish.

The container shipped from Auburn on the 20th of June arrived in Monte Plata on July 27^th. Some of the people who helped load it in Auburn, NY were on hand to unload in Monte Plata, DR. Quite an interesting happenstance.

 Saturday August the 4th was the first mass and blessing of the new chapel in Bosque Arriba (the monies for which were raised by the Cornell Hockey team under the leadership of their coach and good friend Mike Schafer).

Final touches of painting inside and out are yet to be done. The chapel also needs to be connected with electricity and water, and we will build an eco latrine. All in good time.

A very busy four weeks indeed!

Fr. Luciano Perez Rivera

Fr. Luciano Perez Rivera was ordained a priest on July 23rd.Fr. Luciano Perez Rivera is native of San Juan Bautista parish in Don Juan and is from the community of Bosque Abajo. Bosque Abajo is one of our campos, which is a what we call a very small rural village. The ordination of Fr. Luciano Perez Rivera is our third ordination to the priesthood in the last five years.

The happiness of a new priestFr. Luciano Perez Rivera is member of the Carmelite Order and a good friend of mine.
Please remember him in your prayers as he will you.

Fr. Ron's 50th Anniversary Celebration in Don Juan

Alter prepared with flowers

Cardinal preaching during the mass

Deacon proclaiming the gospel

Offertory preparations
My remarks at the end of mass

The Cardinal and I with my beautiful cake

Holy Thursday morning mass

People gathering for mass at the campo, Batuey Frias after rising at 4 am to do a penitential march for three hours
Betania reading the Scripture during mass
Washing of the feet during the mass of Holy Thursday
Holy Thursday morning mass at the cathedral of Santo Domingo during which priests renew their vows of their priesthood.
I went to the services because this year I am celebrating my 50th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood.

Golden Anniversaries

On March 18th the Cardinal of Santo Domingo, DR, His Eminence Nicolas de Jesus Cardinal Lopez Rodriquez, celebrated his golden anniversary as a priest.

His Eminence Nicolas de Jesus Cardinal Lopez RodriquezProgram for the celebration for His Eminence Nicolas de Jesus Cardinal Lopez Rodriquez

This year is also my golden anniversary as a priest. I will be celebrating it in the Dominican Republic on May 21st, and the Cardinal has graciously consented to preside at the mass of celebration in Don Juan.
I will be also celebrating my anniversary at the St. Catherine of Siena parish on June 12th. I was pastor at St. Catherine of Siena from 1987 until my retirement in 2003.

Summer travels

This summer has, as usual, seen me crisscross the USA and Latin America. During June I was in the USA and Argentina, July was spent in both the USA and Dominican Republic, and during August I spent time in the USA and Chile.
Now I am back in The Dominican Republic, I returned on the 3rd of September.

So far this week I have been involved in two funerals, and celebrated the arrival of Sr. Maria, the reason I was in Argentina.
Arrival of Sr. MariaShe is from the parish in Don Juan and recently made her first vows as a sister. Sr. Maria is home for a visit to renew her relations with her family and friends after an absence of three years in Argentina for her postulancy and novitiate.
Sr. Maria and I
During my visit to Chile I visited my close friend, Sr. Veronica, and I baptized her niece, Xaviera.
Family of Sr. Veronica and baptism of Xaviera
I also spent two day skiing in the Andes, Lo Nevado. Our Northern Hemisphere summer is their Southern Hemisphere winter.
Mountains in Chile
While in Santiago I again visited the tomb of Saint Alberto Hurtado, a Jesuit priest who died of cancer at the age of 50 on August 18th 1952.
Alter and tomb of Saint Alberto HurtadoI especially relate to Saint Alberto Hurtado because of his work with the orphans and abandoned children of Chile. He was declared a saint in 2005. His work lives on in the center he established in Santiago, for such children, women and men of the street, as well as many other projects for those abandoned and in need. It is always an inspiration to visit his tomb, especially this time because it was his feast day.
Statue of Saint Alberto Hurtado

Sr. Maria Minerva Santana

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, on my way home from Argentina, my camera was stolen in JFK Airport. Recently I received a few pictures of now Sr. Maria Minerva Santana, the young woman from my parish in DR who made her first vows as a nun on the 12 of June, and the reason I went to Argentina.
This is a picture of Sr. Mariar and Sr. Areleida, who also made her first vows this year.

Our parish of 12,000 is proud to be doing so well vocation wise, better than most dioceses.

Travels

Saturday June the 12th I was in Argentina to receive the first vows as a nun of Maria Minerva Santana Castro. She and her family are members of the parish of San Juan Bautista in the Dominican Republic. All went well and it was a very fine celebration and mass.
Unfortunately, during my return flight to the US someone stole my camera as I was in JFK Airport waiting for my connecting flight to Rochester, so I have no pictures yet of the event.
I have emailed one of the nuns who was at the ceremony and asked that she send me some pictures. When I receive them I will post them.
On Saturday the 19th of June I baptized my grand niece, Gabrielle Elizabeth Gaesser, in Church of the Assumption in Fairport, NY. Gabrielle is the newest member of the Gaesser clan. My brother and his wife, as you can see, are both ill and in wheelchairs. Amy is for the fourth time fighting for her life against breast and now bone cancer, and my brother Allan is trying to recover from multiple surgeries and a two-month stay in the hospital. Your prayers for both much appreciated.

Mother's Day in the DR

The last Sunday of May is always Mother's Day in the Dominican Republic. Mothers are the backbone of the family in the DR, so Mother's Day is a really big event. This, however, does not address the resulting difficulties of single parenthood. Unfortunately there are 1,400,000 single moms out of a total population of nine million people. I have no ready answers here. Our school in Don Juan has a fiesta on the preceding Friday to honor the moms of our school children. One photo is of the gathering and the other of children doing a folk dance.
The last Saturday of May we celebrated the closing of the Year of the Priesthood in the DR with a large mass in the Palace of Sports in Santo Domingo. All the nation's bishops, the Cardinal, and many priests, myself included, came together for this event which also involved nine ordinations from different dioceses of the DR.