"Mad dogs and Englishmen, ..."
I went out in the midafternoon sun yesterday for about a half-hour. It was enough to convince me of the wisdom of the old, supposedly colonial saying, "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun." I felt exhausted afterwards, arriving at our relatively cooler, dark house, and debilitated.
I chalk it up a lesson, one of many, to learn about life on in the Borderland: watch the heat, especially after 50 years old. Every society has its cultural norms, influenced by the environment, and the presence of cowboy or Mexican hats, white shirts, activities reserved for the cool mornings and closed stores in the hot afternoons give evidence of the culture here.
I donned a short-sleeved, light-colored clerical shirt for my meeting with the bishop this morning, accompanied by Fr. Bill. Fr. Bill is the first Columban priest to ever arrive in El Paso, or one of the first, and not only has his authority among us established by longevity of presence here, but is also the vice-director of the Columbans in the U.S., and our director, Fr. Arturo, is out of the country these days. He is the obvious guy I'd want to accompany me, to introduce me to the bishop of El Paso, Most Rev. Armando Ochoa and to the Vicar of the diocese, Fr. Tony.
The bishop's offices are part of a spacious campus with a dozen one-story orange-brick buildings built like houses--the complex was once an orphanage and, later, a center for special-needs children--with trees among them, connected by a meandering network of sidewalks. A large stone carving of Our Lady of Guadalupe helped anchor the setting in a single, symbolic focal point, set in the center of the campus.
Bishop Ochoa received us in his office along with his vicar, and welcomed me cordially to the diocese, explaining to me some of the features of the life of this city of some 800,000 people, the vast majority members of the Catholic Church. It is a deeply Catholic area, loyal to the Church, he said--even after his time, some 15 years previously, as auxiliary bishop of the Los Angeles, California archdiocese, he had never seen the level of commitment to the Church that he had seen here. It is a solidly Catholic membership here, not likely to walk away even after the scandals of clergy abuse of children that have rocked the U.S. Catholic Church, according to the prelate.
After the meeting, Fr. Bill and I stopped in to one of the other "cottages" of the setting to visit his friend Sr. Janet, head of an effective and growing program for young adults in the diocese. She and her team try to keep the events and courses offered to a target group between the ages of 18 and 40, and she shared with us some of her experiences with people over 40 who have shown up to talks. After 40, people tend to be more cynical and world-weary about life in general, and their concerns and interests are markedly different from those who are starting out in life as adults. Their presence can have a negative effect on gatherings.
Fr. Bill had me drive through the center of town so that we could briefly observe the regular Friday noon protest that a group of peace proponents, including Fr. Dennis, my housemate, observe in front of the federal courthouse of the city. The protests are against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and can count on, from what I could see, some 20 to 30 participants. I would have joined them myself, but the hour-long demonstration was winding down. It is obviously the place for a committed Christian to be. Fr. Dennis later showed me one of the signs from the protest, which specifically called for an end to drone strikes, which have killed so many innocent people in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Those who know me know that the use of drones has been a particular concern of mine over the past couple of years, principally because civilian casualties cannot be avoided in many cases.
The larger issue, though, is the recourse to war to resolve issues of dispute between peoples and nations in the first place. Although an internationally-approved military invasion of Afghanistan to remove from power a group of people proven to be a threat to the world's security can be justified, and to bring to justice those who have committed crimes, as is the case of Osama bin Laden and others, we seem to have overstepped those justifications long ago. Iraq, on the other hand, was never a justifiable military exercise, in my opinion. It is a good time to participate in such protests, and promote positively a culture of peacemongering--rather than wait for the next war, as though inevitable, to continue to make war unthinkable as a recourse in the future, helping to establish just relations among nations and a fair distribution of the world's resources through international cooperation and law.
The weekend is coming up, now. I'll probably accompany Fr. Bill to the parish he is visiting as a special mission this weekend, to ask for support for our mission activities throughout the world, at all the Masses. Fr. Kevin and Fr. Augustine, over on the Mexican side of the border, have a guest visiting this weekend, and wouldn't be able to put me up at their house. I'll probably get over there next weekend.
The thunderstorms last night brought some relief, rain and cooler temperatures, about 72 degrees Fahreinheit this morning! May we experience relief, as well, after the storms of our inner conflicts as we try to do as our conscience urges us.
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