Day 61, Oct. 10


The day began with a party. It was the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Sisters of St. Anne. It started with a Pontifical Mass (the bishop/diocesan administrator was kindly, simple and to the point). Then the sisters, priests, guests and our American contingent went over for a gala breakfast. There was lots of laughter. The priests and nuns get along well together (although the sisters act and are treated as subservient. I don’t think either group realizes that).
After the joy of the happy gathering, the American group (consisting of three from the Philippines, one from Panama and me) met with diocesan officials to revisit and amend, if necessary. They were also going over their action plan to see how well it was followed. This is what I came to witness.
What I saw and heard was worth the time and effort. The discussion may have proved boring to any other onlooker; but I saw the nitty-gritty detail-oriented work that had to take place that makes both parties know the other cares and will find and fix all the problems no matter how minor. Everyone in the room became weary but never annoyed by the nitpicking. At the end all were satisfied with the results. In some cases, failure to report meant not receive payment. It everything was resolved in a professional manner. We also worked out the visits we would make to each of the projects making sure to inform them of the problem areas.
We had lunch together in the Bishop’s House and prepared next for the first of the visits. It was to a school with a hostel. The word ‘hostel’ is what we call a dormitory. It would house the children who could not otherwise get to school or whose parents may not be alive. There ae many stories of either child abuse, deaths of parents, and other situations rendering the child needing to be housed at the school. Uniformly, the children are happy where they are. This afternoon, we visited a school far from the town. The distinguishing feature here was the priest’s pet monkey. We were royally received and had a goo time with the students.
We returned to our headquarters where refreshments were served and hearty discussion continued into the night.