The other side of Lima

Lima is home to 10 million people, one third of Peru's population. Its unemployment rate is the lowest it's been in years at 20 percent, insulated from global financial troubles with its resource based economy. 

Lima is a beautiful city, but not one that has been without troubles. Even in the heart of the city centre, beautiful colonial buildings sit empty and dilapidated. Military governments, Marxist guerrillas and corruption crushed the economy and stability of Peru. 

For every person that lives in Lima, there are 3 or 4 people who live in the poorer areas and the slums. 

Today we went to Pamplona, a distinctly poorer area of Lima, but not the worst area. We traveled by bus south to Pamplona and watched the gradual change. Like I said, this wasn't the poorest areas of Lima and had a surprise vibe to it. The streets were dusty and pothole ridden, but clean and generally rubbish free. Construction was going on everywhere and people were bustling in and out of shops. There was a distinct vibe of a place that was halfway through being developed, got stopped and was starting to crank up again. 

We arrived at the school. For the life of me I cannot spell its name or even say it! But it is a public school that covers primary and secondary. The principal is an incredibly dedicated and intelligent woman who has fostered overseas relationships to help fund and build the school. 

All up there are about 600 kids which are divided into morning and evening sessions. These kids only get half a day's school to accommodate the kids who have to work and because they don't have enough room to accommodate all of them at once. 

We got a tour of the school by the principal and a couple of the kids from the Representative council. One of them was named Felix and he got one ofthe guitars  and started rocking Nirvana. 

We then had a de brief as to what we were doing which was giving a catechesis to the classes (the public school has no funding for religious instruction) and then take them through a dental hygiene program. We split into two groups and went to our first classroom. There were about 30 in the class and they were year 1. The catechesis started with songs as ice breakers and then we acted out the parable of the talents as Jimena (the regular volunteer) read out the story. We then taught them the Hail Mary in English and did some colouring in with them. I made a new friend! 

Her name was Bianca, she's a Hannah Montana fan, her favourite colour is pink and she has a twin sister. 

We then bought them up to the Art Room for the dental hygiene program. 

We showed them how to brush their teeth, gave them a tooth brush and then we put fluoride on the teeth that didn't have cavities and sent them to learn how to wash their hands properly and get a tube of toothpaste. 

We did three classes each. The second was a kindergarten class with several bouncing kids. One of the girls drew me a picture! 

We then had a late lunch and a break whilst the afternoon session kids came in. Little Bianca came and sat with me and Jamie for a while and learned to use the camera.

The evening class were 4th Graders and quite articulate! I made friends with Ana Maria and Rosmarie

We were then thanked by the teachers and the principal. Apparently groups don't stay for the evening session and we were the first. I didn't want to leave! They were such beautiful children despite how rough many of them had it. A large proportion of them were orphaned or abandoned and most would not get breakfast if the school didn't provide it.

This school was doing wonderful work, the teachers were passionate and loved the children as if they were their own and the kids took great pride in their school and education achievements. They were confident, respectful, quite articulate and very bright.

I felt at home and energised by these kids. I couldn't give them much, just some fluoride and some broken Spanish/Italian mish mash. If someone offered me a job there I would have taken it in a second. So now we have to leave for Iguazu Falls. Well be staying on the Argentinian side so more forms! I am so going back to Peru. After I go to Mexico. 

The Extraordinary City of Lima

So our first full day here in Peru. We spent the day sight seeing around the main part downtown Lima. I was blown away. Everyone assumes Peru = poverty but that is not all there is too it. It has an incredible history and vibe to it. And we saw it on a quiet Sunday!

This is a typical example of the architecture that effectively has made the whole city a world heritage site. 

Fun fact: did you know Lima gets about 10mm or rain annually? Instead of rain there is a constant cloud and light drizzle almost all day. It keeps everything green and comfortably moist.

Peru was founded to be the capital of Francisco Pizarro's new colony of Peru. It a neatly planned and sprawling city much like that of any spanish City. It grew to be incredibly wealthy and powerful quite quickly. It was the most elegant and cosmopolitan city in its colonial and republic heyday in South America. To this day, it's economy is in 50% minerals, particularly silver and copper with the rest being spread across agriculture, textiles and tourism. 

It has an incredible spiritual history as well with 5 major Peruvian saints coming from the colonial era. St Rose of Lima and St Martin de Porres, contemporaries, and good friends despite their different social status. St Francisco Saldano, a major figure in Missonary outreach, St Turibio de Morojeveo, the second bishop of Lima and a good, holy shepherd to every Peruvian. The last one I can't remember off the top of my head but I will correct this later.

We spent the day visiting the major churches and places that St Rose and St Martin lived in. First stop however, was to the Franciscan monastery and San Antonio church. 

It's colours were incredible and the side altars were astounding. That was just the beginning. 

This side altar is one of the more simple ones. It is typical colonial Spanish, hand carved from jungle hardwoods like mahogany in this case which is imported from Central America. 

We then spent some solid time in San Domingo monastery and Church where St Martin De Porres lived and worked.

This little cupboard under the stairs was where St Martin spent a lot of time in prayer and arguing with the devil. Casually. He was an incredibly humble and gifted healer. Her was the illegitimate child of an African slave and Spanish Father. He spent his life in prayer and serving the Dominican order as a cleaner, cook and infirmary attendant. They eventually accepted him as a brother. Lots of great stories that I don't have time to go into at the moment. 

These Dominicans founded the oldest university in the Americas, San Marco and I am moving in. 

Look at their library!!!!

This room was the meeting room of the order where they founded the university. From that pulpit, a PhD candidate would present their thesis to a panel of three jurors. You can't quite see it, but there was a little bench under the pulpit where the examiner would sit and ask questions. I'm defending my Thesis here. No arguments. 

St Roses' body is also in the crypt here. Her skull is over at the Church built next to her house which is now a convent. But before we got there, we went to this insanely  beautiful Baroque Jesuit church of San Pedro. 

Impressive no? Wait for it...

This is a side altar dedicated to St Ignatius, it is solid mahogany and festooned with Peruvian gold leaf. When the Jesuits were suppressed in the 18th Century, the church was closed for about  a century. By some miracle people forgot just how much gold was in here and did not loot the place. But my favourite was this side altar...

It's a Marian altar and it a bit younger than the rest of the church, making Rococo which is Baroque but on steroids.

So we then headed over to St Rose's Church. She came from a wealthy family and wanted to join the Dominicans but her family wouldn't hear of it. She practiced increasingly harsher penitence and self-mortification. She built herself a tiny anchorite cell...

And spent her days when she was not praying working in the infirmary. She fasted severely and physically pushed herself beyond any human tolerance dying at age 31 from turburculosis.

This is her skull in the Church:

We then had lunch which was awesome and then made our way to the cathedral for our last stop. The cathedral has been flattened by earthquakes and rebuilt about 3 times since Pizarro first built it at the insistence of the king. 

The cathedral has a museum displaying about 200 artefacts from people's homes donated to the Church, things like...

This nativity set.

Then we headed back to the retreat house absolutely dead, had mass and fought hard to stay awake and then dinner and bed. 

Tomorrow we see Lima's other side. 

Day 1: Transit

So, after being awake for 24 hours, I looked something like this lovely mess...

 

But, we've landed in Lima safe and sound. Apart from my inability to sleep, the flight was really comfortable. We had a newly kitted plane and the food was really good. The entirety of it was edible! I watched movies! And 6 episodes of Elementary. Highly recommend Lincoln and made the rookie error of watching a really moving Dead Man Walking whilst extremely overtired. 

Anyway, by the time that photo was taken outside the airport at Lima, I have never been more glad to settle in to a good dinner and spartan, but comfy rooms. 

In our prayer time as a group, we meditated on what grace Jesus wants to

give us and the graces we think we need this trip.

I sat there. My mind was all over the shop (my daily prayer routine got a bit lost the last week. Sorry Jay!) but I had this sense that the grace that I needed and Jesus wanted to give me is trust. 

Stumbling across these words from the little flower sealed the deal:

"Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be and becoming that person."

So Day 1 is done. Now for some much needed sleep! Goodnight! 

One Week till D-Day

Departure Day that is...

Packing is not occurring. It's not real. Why pack when there is season two of the X-Files I could be watching for old times sake! And be reading about courtroom idiot lawyers on the internet... (seriously they are hysterical read them here). It feels like such a freaking normal week that I cannot believe that I am about to leave for so long. I am saying goodbye and it is completely surreal.

So I am nearly ready... nearly. Tomorrow I am getting my crap together.

Sticking it to Fear

So after a good chat with the Mercy Sisters, I realised that annoying prideful instinct of mine to say, 'this stuff is easy! I don't need anyone else's help!' was the single thing that was blocking me from a deep and fulfilling spiritual life. Not only that, it absolutely had to be dealt with to move forward. It was a humbling thing for me to ask someone to hold me to account in my spiritual life. I asked a good friend of mine from uni to harass me regularly about the spiritual commitments I made.

I made a commitment to take 5 minutes every day, to sit in a blank corner and be still and to make more of an effort to be present at Sunday Mass. I explained all this to her, including my previous patterns of making a good commitment and then being unable to stick to it for more than a week. I also gave her permission to use all necessary force if the situation required. I'll admit, I was a little worried she would laugh. But my fears were unfounded, with a smile I was told it would be a delight and a privilege to do this for me. 

The next morning, that old fear kicked in.. 'What have I done? Now you're really going to look like an idiot and in front of people too!' But then, my rational self took the reins with a gentle challenge, 'So what?' The surest thing apart from death, taxes and weirdly dressed people on university campuses is that I will make mistakes and make a fool of myself. Especially in my spiritual life. Is that such a bad thing? Why am I so afraid of trying to establish a simple prayer habit? 

It has been two weeks since I asked my prayer buddy. I must say, I have been floored at the difference. Sure, ok, I've messed up on a couple of days. But this time I got right back on the horse. The first few days, my mind was like an ADHD kid on red cordial. None-the-less I am steadily getting better at this mental prayer thing. 

The space has finally allowed brought into sharp relief just how much I had let fear take control of my life and my discernment process. I had allowed it to paralyse my spiritual growth. Truly I was terrified of the answer that God might reveal to me over the coming months. Is this normal? It turns out yes. Am I still scared? Yes. The road ahead is very much into the unknown but I know that it promises to take me waaaay beyond my comfort zone and it is not going to be easy. But hey, I learned a lot from this insightful chicken.

In sum, it has been a good two weeks. Not perfect but things are moving. Tomorrow I go and pick up my Brazilian visa and then go strait to the US embassy for my US visa. I've locked in dates to see the Sisters of Life and I am going to be locking in dates for the Mercies and the Dominicans. Whether I like it or not... I'm going. 

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want;

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters;

He restores my soul.

He leads me in the path of righteousness 

For his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil;

For you are with me.

That 'Punched in the Gut' Feeling

So this morning, I got up at an ungodly hour of 6 am. Ok, 6 am is not that bad... and I was treated to this stunning sight...

Sunrise out the backyard.

So I was up at 6 am to take a call from the Vocations Director of the Religious Sisters of Mercy originally from Alma, Michigan. It was a kind of getting to know you conversation and a where I'm at conversation.

For someone who had spoken to me only once before, and this was our first 'face-to-face' conversation over skype, Sister was remarkably perceptive! I shared with her the struggle I have always had with my spiritual life, and that is my inability to have discipline in my prayer life.

Now what I mean by 'disciplined' I define it as being able to stick to a commitment, no matter how small for a reasonable amount of time. Now let's give a scenario, I resolve to commit to saying a Joey Rosary (An Our Father, three Hail Marys and a Glory Be) every night before I go to sleep. It follows all the rules of such commitments, small, specific and achievable.

So first night... yep, I say my Joey Rosary and go to sleep! Second, third and fourth nights, same thing... great! Get to Friday night, I go out and come home a bit tipsy and dog-tired at 1 or 2am. Crash straight into bed. Wake up the next morning with the first thought being "Dammnit! I forgot to pray!" and I can't seem to get the groove back and I give up. It is so predictable it is a bit ridiculous.

I explained this to Sister who patiently listened. She gave me some good advice. Firstly to remove distractions visually. Even if you have to sit and face a corner... you need to de-clutter yourself visually to give your mind space to reflect. Bang. First issue I have since I am a madly visual person (Why I love studying art history).

Second, and here is the 'Punched in the Gut' part. "I'm going to give you a challenge," she said, "and you have a couple of days to think about it. I don't know you all that well, but it sounds to me like what you really need is accountability. Someone who can check in with you and ask how you're going."

Bang.

If it is one thing I have learned, it is never, ever to ignore those gut feelings, especially if it feels like you've been king-hit. That is really my problem. I have a very persistent independent streak and that is why I have never even considered the accountability person. "pssh! I don't need that! I can do this by myself!" Yeah... No I can't it turns out.

So what I am going to seek obtaining an accountability prayer partner and I am going to do it tomorrow!

What you will not find on this blog...

Hello all unfortunate souls who has stumbled upon this corner of the internet!

 Welcome to my Domain!

As you can see this blog is called 'Rebel Catholic'. Now what does 'Catholic' Bring to mind?

Something like this....

Or maybe this...

Now what does 'rebel' call to mind? Perhaps something like this...

These dudes are the Sex Pistols by the way... google it!

So put them both together and 'Rebel Catholic' may conjure images such as these lovely ladies...

Or maybe this guy, Fr Peter Kennedy, the rebel priest from Queensland

However... if the above is what you think you will find here, you need to keep looking I'm afraid. 

See, the rather unfortunate thing about today's world is that rebelling against backwards, dinosauric, ancient dusty, musty, out-of-touch [insert own cliched adjective] Catholic Church is actually rather fashionable. Everybody seems to be doing it and on top of that, they go out into the world loudly proclaiming their noble rebellion seeking pats on the back from the media establishment who praise for their virtuous trumpeting against the tyranny of that of old, celibate man who wants to oppress women, shove them in the kitchen and pop out catholic babies, make sure everybody dies of HIV, ban sex, and generally make sure there is such a massive list of rules-you-have-to-follow-or-else-you-go-to-hell and therefore make your life as miserable as possible. 

*yawn* I have to say, I am rather bored by it all. Bored and irked that these people who don't take the time to actually know the Church have the audacity to spout reams and reams vacuous material about its evils and apparent contradictions (and then proudly brand themselves as 'liberal' or 'rebel' Catholics) basically making my life much more annoying in normal conversations with normal people. 

Well I say to you... get off your damn high horse! And go and look up the definition of 'rebel' and then do us a favour and read the damn Catechism. You are not a rebel. You are a narcissistic people-pleaser.

You want to see a real rebel? 

The Sisters of Life. Check them out. They are amazing and they are life savers.

BOOM. There you have it. Celibate women in habits. Women who choose to make themselves gifts of love to the world. Women who have the world as their oyster, but choose to say "no, I want something different." These ladies, won't go on the airwaves and interwebs touting their virtue and rebel status. They go and serve people. 

These women won't be praised for their stand. At best they will get quizzical looks at worst, people wills spit on them and accuse them of various sexual deviance masquerading as righteousness. But you know what... they don't give a damn because their self-esteem doesn't rely on backscratching internet commentary. They know their worth lies in the fact that Jesus loves them and he liked he put a ring on it! 

I can't even come close to the level these women are at. Firstly because I am writing a blog and touting my rebels status for the world to see. (Hey I'm still working on the virtue of humility here!) Secondly because I am a rather pathetic excuse for a Catholic. I struggle to get off my backside to go to Mass on Sunday, I suck at praying regularly, and I am known to a prideful arrogant brat. My only redeeming feature, my shameless nerdiness for all things Catholic, historical, artistic and Tolkein and insatiable appetite to learn and go deeper.

So in summary... I am Catholic. I don't do what society expects of a Gen-Y university graduate. Ergo, I am a rebel. Not perfect, but trying my darned hardest to be the person I was created to be. This blog will not find cries for women priests, the Church to approve contraception and abortion and gay 'marriage' or for the Church to stop telling people what to do (which she doesn't by the way). You will find a document of one poor broken sod trying to walk the road less traveled.

So I sign off in the words of Truman Burbank:

Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening and good night!