Theology 2 in Venezuela #11

(By Alan Paul Eilen)

Day 6 (July 21, 2007)

Saturday is the day of the big Confirmation Mass for this parish. True to form Mass started about 9:45 AM, which was only 45 minutes later than it was scheduled. No big deal; one just goes with the flow. It was a very nice celebration; the bishop confirmed something like 70 teens. Afterwards, we headed over to the Rectory for lunch with Bishop Mariano. Guess what we had? OK, you don’t have to guess; it was chicken and it was very good. We had a nice visit and conversation with the good Bishop. He talked fairly openly about the Church in Venezuela and its relationship with President Chavez and the problems facing the local church in general (unemployment, poverty, healthcare, malnutrition, violence, etc.).

Later, in the afternoon, we went to the local zoo-park and saw some monkeys, no not, Michael, Stephen, Gregory, and Jonathan, but the real kind. Don’t ask me the kind of monkey – don’t know. In addition, we saw some parrots (Amazons and Macaws), some Crocodiles, Vultures, and a series of small waterfalls. In the evening we went to Mass with Fr. Tim in one of the barrios. Well, have a good day, bye for now.