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St. Fidelis Day

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On April 26th, the seminary had its annual St. Fidelis Day Celebration.  Not only did the students have the day off from classes, but they got to sleep in, spend the morning playing sports, celebrate the memorial of this first of Capuchin martyrs with all the Capuchins in the Madang area, and wow us with their “mumu” prowess.

What’s a mumu?  It’s the PNG version of what you might call a luau in Hawaii.  Basically, a whole pig, along with fruits and vegetables is steamed in a pit of heated rocks in a banana leaf lined pit.   It is an important cultural experience that often accompanies important events – weddings and such.

The Highland and Coastal versions of mumus vary somewhat and the various groups take great care and pride in their particular form of mumu.

Read more about St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen here and here, an important martyr in the Counter-Reformation and patron of our seminary.

Here’s a gallery of photos from our celebration.  (Note:  There are some photos of the butchered pig which you might find disturbing, so don’t look at those too closely  😉

We were very fortunate to have Archbishop Stephen Reichert, OFM Cap., along several other Madang area Capuchin priests, celebrate Mass for us while the mumu was cooking.  Also attending were all of the Capuchins from the Padre Pio Formation House which is just down the road from St. Fidelis Seminary.

Work Parade

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Here’s another short video, called “St. Fidelis Work Parade.”

Several times each week, the students divide themselves into various work groups and help with the care and maintenance of the school campus.

Groups include housekeeping, chapel crew, library crew, grass cutting, flower gardens, fruit gardens, vegetable gardens. (Word has it that the vegetable crew is the most popular since they get to eat the fruits of their labor.)

“Work Parade” seems to be a term used in many schools where the students are expected/asked to help with upkeep.

For the most part, I think the guys look forward to these work periods (even though some days are very hot).  It gets them out of the classroom and gives them time for one of their favorite activities – telling stories to each other.

 

Fidelis Work Parade from Steve Nelson on Vimeo.

Facts and Features

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With four months in Papua New Guinea under my belt, I thought I would offer up some facts and features about life at St. Fidelis Seminary and some of the things that I’ve encountered here on the campus.  So here is St. Fidelis, by the numbers and such.

Staff

  • 3 Capuchin Friars:  Fr. Cyril, Br. Jim and Br. Alois
  • 2 Franciscan Sisters:  Sr. Ofelia and Sr. Helen (who hasn’t actually arrived yet, should be here in May)
  • 2 CapCorps Lay Missionary Teachers:  Nate and Steve
  • 1 PNG National Teacher:  Michael
  • 2 Cooks:  Marcus (friary) and Victor (students)
  • 1 Carpenter:  John
  • Family members of the staff:  12 (approximately)
  • Propaedeutic Seminarians: 23
  • Spiritual Year Seminarians: 10

Major Facilities

  • 1 Friary
  • 1 Convent
  • 1 Campus Chapel
  • 1 Student Dining Hall
  • 1 Student Kitchen
  • 2 Student Dormitories which also house the school offices, infirmary, assembly hall, computer lab, class rooms, library, and storerooms.
  • 2 Ablution Blocks (showers, toilets, sinks for the students)
  • 2 Classroom Buildings
  • 3 Workshop/Maintenance Buildings
  • 4 Staff Houses
  • 1 Basketball Court
  • 1 Volleyball Court
  • 1 Tennis Court
  • 1 Soccer/Rugby Field
  • Several vegetable and fruit gardens

Miscellaneous Campus Features

  • 3 Japanese anti-aircraft guns (WWII relics)
  • 14 Stations of the Cross made from WWII-era boat propellers. (Sadly, they are very neglected)
  • Several cisterns and tanks which collect rain water from the buildings – our main source of water.
  • 1 Marian shrine (Mary’s Point)
  • 1 St. Fidelis shrine (campus patron saint)
  • 1 wooden jetty along the seashore
  • 1 car, 1 pickup truck and 1 Dyna (a large flatbed truck with a canvas enclosure – used for hauling and carrying students)
  • 1 large farm tractor – used mainly for mowing
  • 4 lawn mowers of the usual type

Flora and Fauna

Since this is a tropical environment, there are many different types of plants and animals here.  I can’t identify too many of them, but here’s what I have seen on campus:

Trees:  coconut, betelnut, banana, papaya, mango, frangipani, and enormous rain trees.

Edible Plants:  bananas, pineapples, papaya, mango, cabbage, peppers, kaukau (local sweet potato), green beans, carrots, brocoli, tomatoes (some of these have been planted but not harvested yet).  There are also several different kinds of local fruits and vegetables that I just don’t know the names of.

There are also lots of flowering plants and bushes, including orchids.

Creatures:   Last week we saw a 7-foot snake, a brown constrictor of some type.  Other snakes include a black snake that got stuck chasing a mouse into the wall of a dormitory a few months ago, and a “lazy snake” that hides in the bushes looking like a stick.  None of these are poisonous.  I still don’t like them.

Other creatures include millions of red ants (they are very aggressive and bite), and several other small types of ants that invade the food pantry;  wasps, termites, spiders,  daytime mosquitos, night-time mosquitos (the malarial kinds), tree frogs, toads, wild pigs, random 3rd world dogs, small bats, large “flying fox” bats, sand crabs, brown eagles, willy wag tails (a black and white bird that has several really annoying sounds), and a wide assortment of barking geckos.   There are numerous types of birds around that we can always hear but never see.  They hide in the trees and brush and call loudly to each other.

Estimated # of Clergy That I’ve Met in PNG

  • Number of archbishops & bishops that I’ve met:  7
  • Number of Polish bishops/priests that I’ve met:  6
  • Number of American bishops/priests that I’ve met:  8
  • Number of American priests that I’ve met who have been in PNG for more than 30 years:  6
  • Number of Australian bishops/priests: 2
  • Number of PNG National bishops/priests:  5
  • Number of bishops/priests of other nationalities:  4

Estimated # of Religious That I’ve Met in PNG

  • Number of religious men (mostly Capuchins, but also SVDs and 1 Dominican): approx. 20
  • Number of religious women (various orders): 8  (there are quite a few here, but I have not met too many yet)

Miscellaneous Other Stuff

  • Average High Temperature:  96 degrees F
  • Average Low Temperature: 80 degrees F
  • Average High Temperature in My Room: 90 degrees F
  • Most Important Feature of My Room:  1 Ceiling Fan
  • Average number of rainfalls per week:  6
  • Average number of power outages per week: 4
  • Average number of hours of TV watched per week:  3
  • Number of TV channels available: 4  (2 from Australia Network, 1 BBC World News, 1 EWTN)
  • Total number of restaurant meals since arriving in PNG: 3 (BBC news and EWTN)
  • Total number of fast food meals since arriving in PNG:  0
  • Approximate number of mosquito or ant bites:  75
  • Approximate number of Masses attended:  117
  • Usual number of Digicel bars on my phone: 2 on a sunny day
  • Weight lost:  >25 lbs (if the scale here is to be believed, which I don’t)
  • Number of notches lower on my belt:  3
  • Number of times we’ve been swimming in the ocean: 4
  • Number of new popes since arriving in PNG: 1
  • Number of American football games watched: 1 (ND / Alabama)
  • Number of Aussie Rules football games watched: 1
  • Approximate Number of Books I’ve Read (Hardcover or Paperback): 3
  • Approximate Number of Books I’ve Read (Kindle iPad app): 14
  • Approximate Number of Books I’ve Read (iBooks iPad app): 22
  • Most read genre: Science Fiction
  • Best beer I’ve had in PNG:  SP (South Pacific).   It’s also the only beer I’ve had here.
  • Local name for Kellogg’s Rice Krispies (made in Australia):  Rice Bubbles  (that makes me laugh)
  • Local name for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes (also made in Australia):  Corn Flakes  (was that so hard?)
  • Best thing that our cook Marcus makes:  homemade bread  (It’s really good – much better than I make)
  • Biggest danger on campus:  Falling coconuts – seriously!  Once one lands near you and you realize it could have hit you in the head, you take notice where you stand.

 

Holy Week at St. Fidelis

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Holy Week at St. Fidelis was a wonderful time to share with the students.  I wasn’t able to upload any of the video I have due to the slowness of the internet at the archdiocesan office, but here is a selection of photos that will give you some hints about our celebrations.

Included here are some shots from our Palm Sunday procession, the Chrism Mass at the cathedral in Madang, Holy Thursday Mass, the student’s Good Friday Procession, a our Easter Vigil.

The Easter Vigil was really memorable.  The bonfire was spectacular, but you’ll have to see the video to appreciate it.  We had also been without electricity for two days by that evening, so imagine our small chapel, crammed with 200 people with lighted candles and no ventilation or ceiling fans.  It was well over 100 degF that evening!  But, there was something special about celebrating Mass via candlelight.

We had plans for a sunrise Mass on Easter morning along the seashore, but a heavy rainfall caused it to be moved inside.

Nonetheless, Holy Week was a prayerful and joyous time with the students and many of the local villagers.

“Here is some sky for you!”

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A special shoutout to my great friend Matthew.   Not only is he at the top of the Mail of Fame leader board, having sent me THREE separate pieces of mail, but one of them included a gift that anyone from the American Southwest would appreciate.

Matthew noted my lamentations in an earlier post where I complained about the lack of open vistas and views of the horizon here at St. Fidelis.

Matthew sent me The Sky.  Or something almost as good, actually.

In the mail, I received  the January 2013 edition of New Mexico Magazine, a fine magazine that extolls the virtues of his and my native state.

Matthew tagged a two-page spread showing a wide open panorama of the Los Piños Mountains in New Mexico’s Socorro County.  The note reads, “Here is some sky for you.”

Thank you Matthew!  I can almost see the jackrabbits and the rolling clouds and smell the piñon wood smoke in the winter air.

 

 

Problems with Doors

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One thing here in Papua New Guinea that always catches me by surprise is the trouble some people have with doors.   The Sunday Mass at St. Fidelis is often attended by people from the nearby villages and quite frequently, a first time visitor from one of these villages will have trouble identifying the entrance doors to the chapel.  If you look at the photo attached to this post, you will see the outside doors to the chapel.  The solid brown door on the right leads into the chapel’s sacristy.  This door is locked during Mass to avoid any problems with theft.  The double doors on the left, with louvered windows, lead directly into the chapel.

Villagers will most often try the sacristy door and when they find it locked some will become confused and stand outside the chapel not realizing that the double doors are actually doors and not windows.

I am not being disparaging when I write this.  It is simply a problem of experience.  Living in the primitive villages of Papua New Guinea doesn’t give one much experience with all the different types of doors that one usually encounters growing up in America.  At some point in my life I had to learn to distinguish different types of doors and how to use them.

Seeing this confusion as an educational issue has lead me to a new perspective on many things, including how we approach evangelization.  There is much talk of a “new evangelization” in the Church, but I know from the work I’ve done in Catholic new media that I’ve made assumptions about what people know about God and know about the Church.  Are we approaching people from the right starting place?  I know it hasn’t occurred to me that some people would have no knowledge or experience of God at all.

When we approach people, are we saying, “Open this door and come in!” without first asking “Can you recognize this as a door?”

As each generation becomes more and more secular, and their family’s experience of faith becomes more and more remote, are we saying, “Come experience God!”, before asking, “Do you know what we mean when we say ‘God’?”

It’s something I’m thinking about, but I’m sure those with real theological and philosophical education are probably laughing at my naiveté.

What do you think?  Have you thought about the assumptions you’ve made when sharing your faith with others?

Test Time

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Like most schools, the time for exams eventually comes around. So it is at St. Fidelis Seminary where the first round of exams for the Propaedeutic seminarians began last week.

I gave my first test in the “Call to Faith” religious education course this Tuesday morning, March 12th.  It was originally scheduled for last Thursday, but due to a power outage that lasted about 15 hours, I was unable to make copies of the test.

Such is life in a developing country.  The power outage not only plunged the school into darkness, but some sort of a surge also took out the large diesel generator that we use as a backup.  It is down for repairs which may take a month or more.  We all carry flashlights (I can’t call them torches) with us now during the dark hours.

The same power surge also seems to have destroyed the motherboard in the school’s DUPLO machine, which we use to make copies.  The DUPLO is a hybrid type copy machine, somewhere between a photocopier and one of those old fashioned duplicators that we used when I was in high school.  (I know some of you remember those and are fondly remembering sniffing the pages.)

So, even though the main power is back on, we are quite limited in our ability to make copies for the students.  I managed by using our old FAX machine, much to the dismay of the students who were hoping for another postponement of the test.

Here are some photos of the students laboring over their exam. I haven’t begun grading them yet, but I have high hopes that most will pass with 80% or higher scores.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some Thoughts on Teaching

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I’m teaching seminarians!  Me! (Gulp!)

What an enormous responsibility this is.  I don’t know if any of these men will ultimately be ordained to the priesthood but if some are, I will have had a tiny part in their journey.  It seems so weird to be called to this after all the other things that I’ve done, but here I am.

I’m sure most of them will little remember me when they reach the point of ordination, many more important instructors will have come their way by then, but still, to know that I had a part is incredible to think about.

These men have a very long way to go.  Right now, they all have a basic Grade 12 education, which in PNG, can vary  quite widely in quality and content.  For most, English is a third language and not the one that they prefer to use.  All will have learned their village language first, along with Tok Pisin (Pidgin).    English would have come into their school curriculum about the 4th grade.

Neither Pidgin nor their village language is suitable for their future studies in philosophy or theology, so they must build their English reading, writing and comprehension skills to a workable level if they have any hope of progressing in the seminary program.

This is where St. Fidelis comes into the picture.

The 2-year Propaedeutic Program is designed with two main goals:  building up their English skills enough to move along in seminary program, and to catechize them more properly in the faith of the Church.

The students arrive at St. Fidelis from really varied backgrounds.  Some of them are exploring their vocations to the priesthood with very little actual knowledge of the faith to work from.  In some cases, knowledge of the faith is almost non-existent or downright wrong.

If you read my previous post “Classes Begin,” you may have noted the rigorous daily schedule that the students follow. The curriculum of classes that goes with that schedule is also pretty strenuous given the situation.

Each week, the Propaedeutic students attend the following:

  • 13 hours of English grammar, writing and reading
  • 2 hours of Bible Instruction
  • 2 hours of Church History
  • 2 hours of religious education using a Melanesian Catechism
  • 2 hours of religious education using the Baltimore Catechism
  • 2 hours of religious education using “I Believe – A Shorter Catholic Catechism”, by Aid To The Church In  Need
  • 2 hours of religious education using the YouCat Catechism
  • 2 hours of general religious education using a series of books entitled “Call to Faith”

I teach the last two classes on that list and help guide some of the reading exercises.

A great deal of English and a great deal of Catechism.  This is specifically what the bishops of PNG asked for, to prepare their seminarians for the next phase of their education, philosophy.

Why so many different catechisms you ask?  Repetition of the same concepts and information, but from different types of catechisms, one designed for their culture, one designed for young adults, an old-school yet proven one, etc., is desired so they can quickly learn what they’ve missed, fill in the gaps, correct any misconceptions and gain some skills for processing a lot of information.

Tenets of the faith are bound to stick, one way or another.

It makes teaching interesting because when you ask a question, you may not get the answer back the same way you taught it.   Hopefully, we won’t confuse or contradict each other.

What I struggle with is finding the right level at which to teach.  Ideally, I would like to teach at a college freshman level. However, at least for the guys in this first year of the Propaedeutic Program, I have to aim at something that’s more like a junior in high school.

This is a good lesson for me too.  I have to reflect seriously on each lesson I give and try to strike just the right level.  Some of the men are really trying their best to do well and to learn all the information that’s coming from the fire hose pointed at them.  Some are struggling, not at all accustomed to the lifestyle or what is expected of them academically.

The second year of the Propaedeutic Program, which we hope all will progress to next year, will have even tougher classes including more English, Salvation History, Apologetics, more Church History, more Catechism, a priesthood class, and other classes still to be determined.

We’ve just finished the first three weeks of teaching, so the first round of tests is coming up soon.  I guess we’ll see how successful we’ve been when those are graded.

The school operates on a trimester schedule.  The first term will end on April 27th with a two week break following.  We’re all going to need it.

 

The Sky! The Sky!

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I was expecting this to happen.  I knew that sooner or later I would get a little homesick and I would start to crave something.

When I was in Guatemala for a long time, I would crave Southern biscuits and honey.  While walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain it was an old-fashioned American hamburger.   Dr Pepper is another favorite  thing on my wish list when I know it can’t be found.

Here in PNG, I knew I was missing something but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.  At first I thought it was the wind we have at home, you know “where the wind comes sweeping down the plains.”  It’s never windy here, only managing a breeze every now and then, at least where we are.

Then I thought it was sunsets.  If you follow me on Twitter or have read some of my pre-PNG blog posts, you know that I love to take HDR photos of sunsets, especially the ones with a wide spectrum of colors, blues, purples, reds, etc.  The sunsets here at St. Fidelis are blocked by hills and the lush overgrowth of trees and I have yet to see a single one.

The last couple of days I’ve been reading “Death Comes For The Archbishop”, a truly great novel by Willa Cather.  Published in 1927, it seems to deftly captures the essence of the Church in mid-19th century New Mexico.  If you like historical fiction about the American Southwest, you should definitely pick this up.

Even though I feel very patriotically for Oklahoma, I was born in New Mexico and spent some years there during high school and college.   I knew what I was missing when I read this in Cather’s novel:

 

“The ride back to Santa Fé was something under four hundred miles. The weather alternated between blinding sand-storms and brilliant sunlight. The sky was as full of motion and change as the desert beneath it was monotonous and still, — and there was so much sky, more than at sea, more than anywhere else in the world. The plain was there, under one’s feet, but what one saw when one looked about was that brilliant blue world of stinging air and moving cloud. Even the mountains were mere ant-hills under it. Elsewhere the sky is the roof of the world; but here the earth was the floor of the sky. The landscape one longed for when one was far away, the thing all about one, the world one actually lived in, was the sky, the sky!”

 

This coastal area of PNG is lush and beautiful.  Most people would call it a paradise, or at least one of the most beautiful parts of the South Pacific.  For me though, it just hasn’t touched me yet.  This is not what I long for.

Long ago I was captivated by the wide open plains of New Mexico and West Texas, full of places where one can see 30 miles in every direction.  Horizon to horizon in a full circumference.  What I’m craving are the open sky and the grand vistas with colorful sunrises, sunsets and fleets of clouds that go with them.

I’m sure I’ll find something like that here in PNG at some point, but for now I’m left wanting and I have to satisfy myself with some of the photos I have  here on my computer, and now share with you.    I hope you enjoy these, taken  in Oklahoma, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Ireland, Guatemala and Haiti.

Of Flowers and Spiders

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I had a bit of free time this Sunday afternoon, so I thought I would wander around the school grounds with my camera and see if I could capture some decent shots of flowers.    I’ve always struggled with getting them focused the way they should, so I thought the practice would do me good.

Here’s what I came up with, including a couple of the scary creatures keeping watch near the orchid gardens.  (Sorry, they’re not blooming at the moment)

I hope you enjoy them!  They came at the cost of being relentlessly hounded by some really annoying bugs.

Divine Office

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I first learned the basics of saying the Divine Office (or Liturgy of the Hours) when I was an undergrad at Oklahoma State University.  My friend Dan Mueggenborg (now Msgr. Mueggenborg!) and I would make the short trip from campus to Stillwater’s St. Francis Xavier Parish for evening prayer, a few times during one of our semesters.

I didn’t learn it well then and I wasn’t all that committed in those days, but I guess a small seed was planted.   I don’t recall ever doing it again until we started offering it for students of the St. Philip Neri Newman Center, while I was campus minister there.

Some of the students would meet for Morning Prayer, but I was present more for Evening Prayer as students ended their classes in the late afternoon and were on their way home for dinner.

Here at St. Fidelis, I’m learning much more discipline in this than I’ve ever had before.    Although I’m a lay volunteer, the friars have invited me to participate in their daily prayers, meditations and Mass.  I have to say the regularity and consistency of this has helped with my transition into this foreign environment.  There’s nothing like the universality of the Church to make you feel at home anywhere in the world.

Here’s the daily schedule:

6am:   Morning Meditation
6:30 am:  Morning Prayer
6:45 am:  Mass
Breakfast follows

12:15pm: Lunch

5:00 pm:  Meditation
5:30 pm:  Evening Prayer
6:15 pm:  Dinner

The schedule will change somewhat when school starts.  Right now, we do prayers and Mass in the friary chapel.  When the students arrive, we’ll move down to the campus chapel with some slightly different times.

I’m still getting the hang of the meditation parts.  For now, I usually do some reading in the morning, and say a rosary in the afternoon.

BTW, here they use the British/Australian version of the breviary.  It’s quite a bit different from the one used in the US and I’m of the opinion so far that this one is much better organized.

What about you?  Have you ever prayer Liturgy of the Hours on a consistent basis?  Any tips on how to be more disciplined with it or to appreciate it better?

(I know my SQPN friends are laughing because of the early schedule I keep every day now, and how I used to complain about our “early” board meetings at 7am.)

Fr. Joseph

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By happenstance, I had lunch with Fr. Joseph, a priest of the Archdiocese of Madang.  It was a chance encounter, but I’m glad I had this opportunity.

When Fr. Joseph learned that I was new to PNG, he made the effort to tell me what it’s like being a priest with responsibilities for far-flung mission stations.

In particular, he told me about a group of parishes and mission stations that he’s only able to visit once every 3 months.  It requires taking a boat down the coast, being let off on the shoreline, and walking 8-9 hours to the farthest station, and then taking several days to work his way back.  He visits the faithful at the various stations, bringing them the Sacraments and performing numerous baptisms and weddings along the way.

It’s starting to dawn on me that almost every priest here has similar responsibilities and similar stories to tell.  Long treks into the backcountry, many different cultures and tribal situations to negotiate, being the true faces of the modern missionary priest.

As I ponder the rather cushy nature of my previous parish experiences, I wonder if I’m brave enough to go and visit some of these mission stations.  I wonder if I’ll have that opportunity sometime while I’m here….

 

(PS:  I borrowed the photo attached from this post from the Capuchin website.  It’s Bishop Don Lippert, OFM Cap.  of the Diocese of Mendi, but it should give you a bit of a hint of what priests like he and Fr. Joseph are tasked with.)

Rain

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I’m having trouble getting used to the rain here.  It’s not that it’s particularly bothersome, it’s just that it’s different.

At home in Oklahoma, we rarely just have rain.  We most often have storms that come with rain, and wind, and lightning, and thunder.    We like those quiet rainy days that come every now and then, but it’s not the norm.  We’re trained to look at the sky, chart the path of fast moving fronts, and calculate the severity of what’s coming up the turnpike from Oklahoma City.  It’s just part of how we plan our day during the spring and early summer.

Here in Madang, we’ve have had quite a bit of rain the last 2 weeks, at least by my reckoning.  No storms and only a little bit of lightning and thunder.  With little notice, the faucet is turned on, it rains several inches, and then it just stops.  No fast moving clouds, no enormous lightning or thunder shows (it does lightning and thunder some, but not like on the great plains), just a lot of water falling straight down.

And the water just disappears.

The ground is very porous, mostly sand and coral, so the water doesn’t really puddle up anywhere.  If we had the same amount of rain in Tulsa, we’d all be using boats by now.

It never occurred to me that I would miss Oklahoma storms and their awesome exhibits of natural energy.

I’m sure that PNG has its own such displays of nature, but I’m not sure I’m going to like them as much.

All this doesn’t mean I’m not grateful for the rain.  Fresh water anywhere is vital and that goes for St. Fidelis.  Rain water is the primary source of water at the school, collected in large cisterns from the roofs of most of the buildings.   They tell me that during dry seasons a well must sometimes be used but it’s often brackish and salty tasting.

I have admit that I was a bit leery of drinking the water from the cisterns when I first arrived.  I’ve had too many bad experiences in Central America with the local water to not at least give it a thought and a prayer before imbibing.

Happily and thankfully, I’ve had no problems, it tastes pretty good, and is abundant as long as it continues to rain.

 

 

 

“What are you looking for?”

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The Gospel reading and homily from today’s Mass (Jan 4 here in PNG) has been rattling around in my head this morning and I thought I would write about it while I still have a few minutes of internet time left.

The reading is Jn 1:35-42 and in it, Jesus asks, “What are you looking for?”, when he sees some disciples following him.  It also tells how Andrew, after spending the day listening to Jesus, goes and finds his brother Simon and tells him that they’ve found the Messiah and he needs to go meet him.  Of course Simon becomes known as Peter.  Andrew always seems to be bringing people to meet Jesus.

Fr. Cyril, the priest at St. Fidelis,  spoke of this Gospel reading in terms of vocations.  St. Fidelis is in the “business” of vocations. Our job is to help the young seminarians who arrive here to give birth to, nurture, define, and learn to care for their own vocations.  An awesome responsibility.

I wouldn’t be here in PNG if I didn’t feel a vocation for working with young adults.  That’s why I was in campus ministry for so long and it’s a big part of why I’m here now.

I hope I’m up to the tasks ahead and pray that I’m where God wants me to be and not too dull a tool for his work.

St. Fidelis Seminary – A First Look

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After my last post recalling my long and frustrating travel adventure to Papua New Guinea, I thought I owed you something more pleasing about being here.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t expecting this particular trip to Catholic HQ (Offices of the Archdiocese of Madang) and the use of the internet here.  I’ll be better prepared for a full report next time.

In the meantime, the slideshow above of random photos that I’ve taken this first week should give you some hints about the lush tropical environment and the environs of the St. Fidelis Seminary.

It’s pretty quiet these days with more than a month until the students arrive for the next school year.  I expect some more lively reports to come.

Four Days to Madang

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I have flown hundreds of times, more than I could count; across the country, to Central and South America, and to Europe. I’ve learned see airline travel as sort of a pipe that you enter at one end and have to just wait and endure what comes along until it spits you out at the other end.

There’s always a measure of frustration of some sort, either with security checks, bag fees, bad food, weather delays, crying children, or … something.

All previous experiences pale in comparison to my trip to Madang. The actual flying itself went off as best could be expected under the circumstances. It was the experiences on the ground at most of the airports that became an unforeseen type of torture for me.

I left Tulsa at about noon on December 18th and finally touched down in Madang, Papua New Guinea just after noon on December 22nd. Four days of traveling that felt more like six. I was never so happy as when I was finally spat out of the pipe in Madang, only 24 hours later than planned.

You might not find this interesting, but for my own recollection, here’s a rundown of my journey.

  • Tulsa Airport – after my farewell to Alex, I passed through security, and walked down the concourse like I’ve done so many times before. Weirdly, this didn’t feel all that different from all the others.
  • Boarded a United Express Embraer RJ135 for a 90 minute flight to Houston. This is one of those small jets with very limited storage space. I’m already questioning the size and weight of my carryon bag and backpack. Nonetheless, the flight goes off as scheduled. As I watched Tulsa recede into the distance, I was already praying for a safe return to my home city at some date in the future.
  • Arriving at Houston IAH airport, I had to pass through the infamous Terminal C, the one that I had to spend 48 hours in during a tropical storm in 2000. My previous worse travel experience, this was a premonition of things to come.
  • Boarded a brand new and pristine United Boeing 787 for the next leg of my journey, Houston to Los Angeles. This plane is awesome! So comfortable and has a terrific AV system and a large selection of programs to watch. These were the best 3 ½ hours of my trip. The only downside was that there was no food served unless bought for an extravagant price. Luckily, I had some snacks to tie me over.
  • Landing at LAX, I entered a land of confusion, delays, and disbelief that things could possibly be this unorganized.
  • My next flight was on Air Pacific from LAX to Nadi Fiji. A recent typhoon near Fiji had thrown Air Pacific into utter chaos. My flight #911 was listed on the departure monitors twice. I finally figured out that the 911 leaving about the time I was scheduled to leave, was actually the flight for December 17th, which had been delayed 24 hours because of the typhoon. My flight 911 had been postponed until the morning of the 19th.
  • I made my first mistake here by not taking the free hotel room being offered, opting instead to stand in line at Air Pacific to see if I could get on a different flight to Fiji.
  • After 2 hours in line, I was booked on another Air Pacific flight to Nadi, a charter that they had arranged to help with the backlog of passengers. I was told that it was leaving soon and that I should get to the gate as soon as possible.
  • Have you ever seen the security line at the international terminal at LAX? Horribly in need of a renovation and modernization. Another frustrating 1 ½ hours in line, anxious to know if I would make the flight.
  • Eventually, I make it through security and discovered that there was been a gate change, just around the corner from the original gate. And therefore, another hour delay for the charter flight to leave. So, really no need to rush at all.
  • The charter was handled by Ajax Air, a company that doesn’t fly it’s own flights, but flies charters for other airlines in situations such as these.
  • Our plane was an ancient Boeing 747 that looked to be 1980’s original. Everything was a dingy tan color, all very well used and with a minimal AV system. It was going to be a very long and uncomfortable flight to Fiji.
  • By this time I was so completely exhausted that I think I slept about 5 hours and I have to say the food was OK for what it was.
  • We arrived in Fiji after about 10 ½ hours from LAX. As the 747 bounced down the runway during a pretty hard landing, I seriously wondered if this plane had seen it’s last flight.
  • Air Pacific doubled-down on the LAX experience with the situation we found in Nadi.

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  • I can only guess that this chartered flight, added at the last minute, took their staff in Nadi by surprise.  None of the passengers transiting to other international flights, including me, had boarding passengers for their next flights.
  • The International Transit desk, with just two agents, was tasked with rebooking several hundred passengers.
  • Three hours stuck in the “no man’s land” of the arrival area, neither in Fiji nor in the departure terminal, there was no food, drink or bathrooms available. This was the first time that I thought passengers might riot.
  • The agents tried to organize the passengers by the next departing flights with only minimal success.  My ticket was for Brisbane, Australia.  Most of the passengers were trying to get to either Syndey or Melbourne.  Thus, I was of a lower priority.
  • I finally made it to the Transit Desk, one of the last passengers to be served.  It was then when the frazzled but apologetic agent informed me that I had no Australian ETA visa.  Since my arrangements were to fly to Brisbane, spend the night at a local hotel, and then fly from Brisbane to Port Moresby the next day, I had to enter Australia as a tourist.  This requires a tourist visa (aka ETA).
  • I could file for the visa online very quickly.  Unfortunately, wireless internet was only available in the departure terminal, which I wasn’t allowed to enter without a boarding pass.  Of course I couldn’t get the boarding pass until I had the ETA.
  • Luckily, I was able to get Margaret McIntyre, the CapCorps volunteer coordinator on the phone and she was able to get someone in the US to file for the ETA.  About 30 minutes later, all was well and I was given my boarding pass.  I still don’t know if I called Margaret in the middle of the night or not.  Either way, she was a trooper in helping me get this done.
  • By this time, I had missed my original flight from Nadi to Brisbane, so I was booked on an Air Pacific flight to Sydney, with a Qantas connection to Brisbane.  Sydney would then become the furthest south on the planet that I’ve every traveled.
  • I think I made a comment to the transit agent about being really hungry, which I was, so she happily gifted me a $20 voucher for food in the departure terminal.
  • With only about 45 minutes until boarding the flight to Sydney, I made a dash to a food kiosk and ordered a piece of grilled chicken, French fries, and an orange soda called Sprint.  Of course it arrived just as boarding was beginning, so I was forced to wolf it down quickly.  Still, it was rather wonderful at this point.
  • Oddly, I don’t remember much about the flight to Sydney.  I know it was a large plane, probably a modern 747.  I was so dazed at this point that I barely remember seeing glimpses of Sydney Harbor and it’s famous bridge as we landed.
  • The transit agent in Nadi told me that they would “try to find my luggage and have it transferred to the Sydney flight.”  So, I wasn’t surprised to find it missing when I tried to pick it up for Australian Customs.
  • I have never learned to plan for this possibility.  While my carryon bag had toiletries, I had not packed any fresh clothes, an oversight that would be important in the next few days.
  • Looking rather lost in baggage claim, I found an Aussie baggage agent who was absolutely great in helping me file a report on my lost bags.  Although it made going through customs quite easy, I was convinced that I wouldn’t see my bags or all my clothing again.
  • After a short wait, I boarded my flight to Brisbane.  So uneventful at this point that I really don’t remember much about it.
  • Arriving in Brisbane, my plan was to take a taxi to the nearby Comfort Inn, where a reservation has been made for me.
  • I remembered to get some Australian dollars for this, so I was off relatively concern free.  I’ve always had concerns about taxi rides in unfamiliar cities.  Nothing bad has happened yet, but you hear stories.
  • Arriving at the hotel, dead on my feet and having trouble putting words together, I learned that the hotel had no record of my reservation.
  • The hotel had never confirmed the reservation, made through Hotels.com, as they were fully booked.  Hotels.com dropped ball by not making other arrangements for me and passing that information along to the Comfort Inn.
  • As I staggered about the lobby of the hotel, the desk clerk attempted to get things straightened out.  Ultimately, the clerk heroically gave up the room she had set aside for her use so I could have a place to sleep.  She volunteered to sleep on a couch in the back office.  This was the second time today that an Aussie had come to my rescue.  When I can figure out how, I’m going to send a message to Choice Hotels in Australia and tell them about the great service of their clerk Johanna in Brisbane.
  • After a hot shower, a little TV, and a few hours sleep, I was ready to tackle the final legs of my trip.  Or so I thought.
  • I arrived at the Brisbane airport, hungry and jet lagged.  Breakfast was a lemon chicken sandwich, with salt and vinegar “crisps” from Subway, and a mocha coffee from the barista next door.  That pretty much used up the remaining Australian money that I had, but it was enough.
  • The free internet at the airport was a nice find.  It may have been the last time I was online, up to the time of this writing, or about a week ago.

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  • The next flight was Air Niugini from Brisbane to Port Moresby, just a few hours away, with a 1 hour flight from Port Moresby to Madang as the last step.
  • Oh, it should have been easy, but it wasn’t.  A cruel introduction and a reminder of what third world travel is all about.  I should have steeled myself better for this, but I was naïve.
  • The flight to Port Moresby really wasn’t that bad.  Some decent food and a movie, as I recall.  Sitting on an aisle, I didn’t get to see much of PNG as we approached, but the flight was relatively comfortable.
  • We arrived at the terminal, passed through immigration and customs, and found myself in the terminal with absolutely no idea what to do next.
  • I had a couple of hours to wait for my flight to Madang but I had to ask around to find out where the gate was.  I discovered that the international terminal only has information about international flights.  It does not have any information about domestic flights, or the fact that domestic flights fly out of an adjacent terminal.
  • “Go outside, turn right and follow the sidewalk to the next building, where you’ll find the domestic terminal.”  Right, that’s just what I’ll do.
  • Except, I have to fight my way through an unruly crowd trying to enter the terminal, through a cordon of heavily armed security guards, through a line of people waiting to go through metal detectors, and finally into the terminal.
  • Since I have a boarding pass, I bypass all the check-in counters, another security checkpoint, another set of scanners and finally find myself in the single departure area for all Air Niugini domestic flights.
  • This place was chaos!  Full of people waiting for flights, rows upon rows of dirty and dingy furniture, unintelligible announcements screamed through over modulated microphones, and very little accurate information being supplied to passengers.
  • I arrived in Port Moresby around 12:30pm.  My flight to Madang was scheduled for 3:30 pm.   I probably arrived in the departure area around 1:15 or so.
  • And the waiting began.  I struck up conversations with some ex-pats waiting to go to Madang.  A great conversation with a Chinese Australian college student.   But then flights started to get cancelled.  Not a good thing for a small airline with limited numbers of aircraft.
  • It doesn’t look good for our hero when the flight to Madang is cancelled.  We are advised to go to Customer Service where we will be given a voucher for a hotel and meals for the night.  We will be rebooked on the  next day’s morning flight to Madang.
  • So, off we all rush to Customer Service.  Another totally unorganized and overwhelmed operation.  After several hours of waiting, we were told that they were going to put on another flight that afternoon, leaving at 6pm for Madang.  So we all left the line, headed over to one of the ticket counters where they were rebooking passengers.  Things looked good.

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  • After making it through ticketing, back through security and scanners, and into the departure area, we shortly learned that our flight to Madang had actually been cancelled again.

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  • So, we all headed back to Customer Service, our little band of ex-pats now bonding quite well with this shared experience.
  • Finally, with vouchers in hand, I boarded a hotel shuttle for the Gateway Hotel for free food and an overnight stay.  I checked into the hotel about 8pm after being at the airport for the best part of 8 hours.
  • The Gateway was a nice respite from a hard day.  The restaurant had a Chinese buffet with some decent food on it.  I thought about staying in the bar for a little while for a beer, but gave that up when I realized that I dozed off while I was deciding what to do!
  • So off to bed for a fitful night’s rest.  Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11:55am, with check-in at 9am. None of us thought we should wait until 9 to arrive at the airport.
  • I got up early, had a decent buffet breakfast at the hotel, and took the 7am shuttle to the airport.
  • The chaos at the airport was tripled from before.  Somehow, by flashing my boarding pass and US passport, I made it back through the cordon of guards, the entry scanners and into the departure terminal ticketing area.
  • I have never seen anything like this before.  The check-in counters are flight specific.  That is, everyone for a particular flight checks in at one counter.  However, there is very little rhyme or reason to how they organize this, inform the people, or control the crowds.
  • There were easily 1500 people all crowded up to a security line, most with a luggage cart piled high with bundles.  People were crammed in shoulder to shoulder.
  • Not knowing which counter would handle the Madang flight, I took a best guess and headed for the middle of the crowd, slowly inching my way forward little by little.
  • 8am passes, 9am passes, 10 am passes.  Word passes through the crowd that Madang, with connection to Wewak would be handled at counter 6.  Luckily, I was close to counter 6.
  • Then the crowd begins to move with something like tidal forces as one group or another convinces a security guard that they need to go to one counter or another.
  • By this time, I have hopes of making my flight if I just bide my time.
  • At 11:15, I realize that this tactic won’t work.  I see some of my fellow ex-pats having some success at counter 2, so I manage to get a security guards attention and convince him that I need to go to that counter.
  • Some of those packed in around me are helpful in letting me through to the barrier so I can cross over to counter 2. Others are grumbling and upset that I’ve managed to cross over, but at this point I just keep going.
  • A different, larger security guard stops me to ask what I’m doing but let me pass, thankfully.
  • At counter 2, I slowly inch my way forward as a few people are served up valuable boarding passes.   It’s now well past 11:30 when I finally get to speak to an agent.  Since I have a boarding pass, she checks in one of my bags and tells me to go to the departure desk to get a seat assignment.
  • Fine.  I pass through security and scanners for the 3rd time and go to the departure desk.
  • They cannot give me a seat assignment because their computer has crashed.  So, I waited to see what would happen.
  • Finally, they told me to board the plane and have the flight attendant give me any open seat.
  • With immense gratitude, I climb aboard the very nice, air-conditioned plane, grab a seat and try to find some peace.
  • A short, 60 minute flight later, I land in Madang.    I spent 24 hours in Port Moresby.  Twelve of those hours were spent waiting in one line or another  at the airport. I pray I never have to go through that grinder ever again.
  • Arriving at Madang, I am finally (mostly) spit out of the pipe and met by Br. Jim Mungovan, Rector of St. Fidelis Seminary.  I had been texting him while in Port Moresby to keep him up to date on my flights.  A friendly face at last!
  • But no luggage.  I was still wearing the same clothes that I left Tulsa in.  Air Pacific had called me to let me know that they had found my luggage in Fiji, were forwarding it to Brisbane and would put it on the next available flight to Port Moresby and Madang.
  • I last saw my luggage in Tulsa on December 18th.  I arrived in Madang on December 22nd.
  • For the next several days, Br. Jim and I were assured that the bags would be on the next flight, each time to be disappointed.
  • Finally on December 24th, Christmas Eve, one bag arrived.  I finally had some clean clothes and my own toothbrush (I had a tiny temporary one)  after 6 days.  The second bag arrived on December 26th, 8 days after leaving Tulsa.  Miraculously, nothing was broken or missing.

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Looking positively at this, I am happy to be in Madang, happy to have traveled safely even though piled high with anxiety and frustration, and happy to have received all of my luggage.

I have a new-found aversion to any airline called “Air” – something.  But I’m sure I’ll have opportunity to let them redeem themselves in the future.

And I’ve learned a few new lessons on what to pack in my carryon bags.   I will never assume that things will go as planned, again.

 

(PS:  Many thanks to the Archbishop of Madang, Steven Reichert, for allowing me the use of his satellite internet.  )

Prelude to PNG

/ esteban / 5 Comments

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As I write this, it has been 13 days since I left my home in Tulsa for Papua New Guinea. So far, the internet has been a very elusive animal, creeping about, giving the briefest of glimpses but never making itself useful for any length of time.

So, I’ve decided to write blog posts as simple documents, waiting the time when I can cut and paste them into my blog.

If you’re reading this, I guess I finally managed to tame the beast for at least a short while.

The two weeks leading up to my departure were two of the roughest I’ve face in a very, very, long time. My level of anxiety was off the charts as I tried to make arrangements, pack my house into storage units, figure out what I would take with me, and most importantly, try to take leave of my family and friends, at least for a little while. I’m usually a good planner but I was not really prepared for this.

I could not have done it without the support of my friends, particularly those in Tulsa but also those from around the country and the world. Even though I told some of you very late of my plans to come to PNG, your advice and encouragement has been wonderful.

Three guys, in particular, really stepped up and went beyond what I should have asked them to do. Jim Fox, Brandon Pollet and Alex Carroll, each in their own way, assisted me by helping to move my house into storage, cleaned it to ready it for renters, helped me find solutions to unforeseen problems, assisted with repairs at my family’s lake property, and then they asked to do more. I don’t know how I’ll ever make it up to them!

Tuesday, December 18th, was my day of departure. With only 2 ½ hours of sleep, it was full of last minute things to be done before leaving for the airport. A quick breakfast at Village Inn with Alex, a haircut, a last trip to Goodwill and one more look at my luggage.

I knew there wouldn’t be much of a send off, it being a work day and all. Thankfully, Alex wasn’t working that morning so he drove out to the airport to see me off.

Nonetheless, I was grateful for a warm December day, clear skies and time to see some last views of Oklahoma as I winged south to Houston, the first leg of what was to be a remarkably tough trip to PNG.

So this is happening …

/ esteban / 15 Comments

View Full Size Travel Map at Travellerspoint

In about a week, I’ll be leaving my homeland of Oklahoma for a volunteer teaching gig at St. Fidelis College in Madang, Papua New Guinea.  At the invitation of the Capuchin Franciscan Volunteer Corps (CapCorps, part of the Capuchin Friars of the Province of St. Augustine), I will be teaching primarily English, but other subjects too, as needed.

St. Fidelis College is part of the diocesan seminary program operated by the Capuchins in PNG.  As I understand it, it’s the entry-level program for seminarians and is intended to bolster their education level, post-high school, so that they can go on to further study at the other seminaries in PNG.

Doing something like this has been on my mind for some time, essentially since December, 1999.  Some of the students at the St. Philip Neri Newman Center at the University of Tulsa, where I was volunteering at the time, were planning their own volunteer assignments after graduation when I became interested in it.  I submitted an application to the Jesuit Volunteers International and was offered a teaching position in Tanzania.   I ultimately turned down that opportunity and pursued campus ministry at TU for the next eight years.  The opportunities I had to visit those students who had volunteered in Nicaragua, Peru and other places kept the bug in the back of my mind.  As did the many student trips that we took to the Lake Atitlan region of Guatemala, Mexico City, and all over Europe.

Several years ago, before I began working for SQPN, I created a profile on the website of the Catholic Volunteer Network, a clearing house of Catholic volunteer programs.  Since most applicants are young adults finishing up their college careers, I didn’t really expect anything to come from it.

Surprisingly, about two years ago, I was contacted by CapCorps with this opportunity in PNG. Since my skills and experiences over the years seemed to be tailor-made for what they were looking for, I decided that I would enter into discussion with them, follow their application process and see where it might lead.

Every step of the way, the right doors seemed to open, the people I spoke to had nothing but good things to say about the school and the work of the Capuchins in PNG.

We finally reached the go/no go point and I made the decision to go on a 2 year commitment.

I realize that this is a very idealistic decision, especially at my age.  It was hard to ignore this opportunity as a person of faith and knowing the call to service and evangelization that we Catholics have.  Working in Catholic New Media as I have, it was also hard not to put “my money where my mouth is.”

This decision hasn’t come without cost, though.  Giving up my job with SQPN, renting out my house, and leaving my friends and family are just the tip of the iceberg.  My decision is placing burdens on my family, friends, and co-workers as they assume some of my responsibilities and support me with their friendship while I’m away.

I decided when I entered into this process that I wouldn’t make a decision based solely on fear, but to try to discern God’s call in this decision.  There’s a great deal of fear in this, to be honest.  A little voice in the back of my head, chattering away “You’re ruining everything!”  I hope not.

Here’s where I can sling more clichés about the road less traveled, nothing ventured nothing gained, no pain no gain, etc.

I think I’ll just close with the one that’s most often come to me when I need it.

Be not afraid.

I am!

/ esteban

 

I have not been a follower of Ron Paul, described by ABC News as “the iconic libertarian congressman from Texas”, but reports of his farewell address to Congress caught my attention.

Nearly an hour long, his speech enumerated many of the problems facing our country and reinforced the grave feelings that I have for our future.

“Our Constitution, which was intended to limit government power and abuse, has failed,” Paul said. “The Founders warned that a free society depends on a virtuous and moral people. The current crisis reflects that their concerns were justified.”

 The need for a “virtuous and moral people” is definitely at the core of our problems.  Anyone who reflects on the changes in our country over the past 50 years can see that our people are inexorably losing these qualities.

Quoting the ABC News article that I read (emphasis is mine),

Paul left the podium, for the last time, offering an “answer” to all of these problems: that people should choose liberty and limit government, and seek change within themselves. 

“The number one responsibility for each of us is to change ourselves with hope that others will follow,” Paul said, urging an end to two motives that have hindered U.S. society: envy and intolerance.

 

These last statements particularly caught my attention because earlier in the week I had the privilege of hearing Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s presidential speech to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops fall meeting in Baltimore.

In his speech, Cardinal Dolan recalled part of the closing message from the recent Synod of Bishops.  That message reminds everyone, beginning with the bishops themselves, that the New Evangelization must begin with personal conversion.

“The New Evangelization reminds us that the very agents of evangelization – you and me – will never achieve that abundant harvest Blessed John XXIII described unless they are willing and eager to first be evangelized themselves,” said Cardinal Dolan, “Only those themselves first evangelized can then evangelize.”

Cardinal Dolan later said,

“The premier answer to the question “What’s wrong with the world?” is not politics, the economy, secularism, sectarianism, globalization or global warming … none of these, as significant as they  are.  As Chesteron wrote, “The answer to the question ‘What’s wrong with the world?’ is just two words: ‘I am.'”

 

There is so much more to be taken from Cardinal Dolan’s speech, which you can read here, especially concerning the central importance of the Sacrament of Penance, but I was struck by how two very different men, with two very different roles in our country, and two very different perspectives and belief systems, could both hit on the same central solution to our ills.

Our hope as one sharing the New Evangelization, or our hope as a citizen of a free nation, depends on a virtuous and moral personal conversion.

So say we all.