Thursday

 

Reading: In between novels – I had checked one out of the library from the new stacks, only to read Goodreads and Amazon reviews when I got home, reviews which indicated I’d be wasting my time in taking on this book, so – so much for that. I then remembered another I’d grabbed from another new book stack at another library – it had considerably better reviews, so I started it. I like it – it’s a different type of narrative style that’s entertaining and also helpful for me to engage with: The House of Broken Angels. I’ll hopefully finish it tonight.

I filled in the reading gap with a journal article: “African-American Missionaries in Central America: The Sisters of the Holy Family of Belize”

Exciting stuff, eh?

Well, actually…it’s the “stuff” I like to read about. First – how and why do I pull out articles like this? JSTOR is an online academic library to which you probably have access if you’re associated with an academic institution. I’m not, so I look for free articles – and JSTOR has a deal wherein you can view a very limited number of articles over set periods of time. They do have some open access material as well.

So..I just go to journals focused on subjects that interest me: mostly religious history – and dip and dive and search – just as you do at the library. This one caught my eye because of the Belize connection.

There was nothing earth-shattering about the material in this article (which has also been covered in a book – here) – it’s just a brief survey of the origins of the missionary activity of this religious order – the Holy Family Sisters, founded by Henriette DeLille in New Orleans. The order was originally for women of Creole background, but after Emancipation and the Civil War, African-American women women were welcomed, too. Because – remember – women of color were not accepted into other religious orders in the United States up until the 1950’s.

The bishop of British Honduras – now Belize –  had reached out to the Sisters of Mercy, who already ran a high school in the capital – to start a school in another, smaller, city, a school that would specifically serve the Garifuna people: a mixed-race descended from African, Carib and European stock.  They declined, and so he contacted the Holy Family Sisters, who sent five professed sisters and a postulant down – and, even with the normal set of problems (disease, financial issues) and conflicts (with episcopal authorities – mostly over the financial issues), served for over a hundred years in Belize. The order’s current website doesn’t indicate any Belize presence, but the schools they ran were very successful – by 1955, the main school had 1100 students. The sisters instituted a teacher-training program for their school students, which served as the only post-elementary educational system in the area for many years.

It’s good to get out of the present moment and consider the good fruit – and problems – of the past. Not only good – but, I’d argue – necessary.

Watching/Listening/Praying:  Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul yesterday. If I’d gone last night, I would have heard and prayed along with some fine schola music, but I decided to go at noon instead. A cantor, but with some fine music nonetheless – as always. In his homily, the bishop alluded to the scandals of the present moment in the church, but primarily as a crisis of faith. Our rector had addressed them more directly a couple of weeks ago – his homily is here. 

Eating/Cooking: Made a pot of this Mexican Braised Beef, which is so fantastic. For the record, I don’t own a slow cooker (or an InstaPot or any dedicated cooking thing except a rice cooker) and do all this kind of thing on combined stovetop/oven. If I worked away from home all day, I’d probably do it differently, but I’m around, so I just stick with big pots and ovens.

Writing: Broke out that short story and looked at it. Wrote blog posts – am about to write another tech-related post. I just have to get all of this out of my head – that’s all.

This digest post won’t be appearing tomorrow – look for 7 Quick Takes instead.