01 December 2016

Coralis and Susan

                                                                                                                                   

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Dear Family and Friends,   

     Greetings to you as I write this letter from Urbana, Illinois.  This has been a year of saying goodbye.  My father passed on to be with God on November 6^th and I have been with my family to celebrate his life and place his remains in the cemetery near the farm where he grew up.

 

     There were other goodbyes this year as well. Judy Walter, who was my house mate for five years, moved on to Tanzania in April to help begin a House of Prayer in Mwanza with Maryknoll.  In August Russ Brine, a Maryknoll Lay Missioner who lived and worked in Kitale Kenya for the past 15 years moved to Cambodia to continue serving as a Maryknoll Lay Missioner.  In September, Teresa Villaruz, my last house mate moved to Bolivia to continue serving as a Maryknoll lay missioner and teacher.  So Coralis Salvador and I continue to serve in Mombasa...the remnant!

     It has been difficult to recruit new missioners to come to Kenya due to insecurity.  Recently there was an attack at the Central Police Station in our neighborhood where three women attacked police officers with knives and one blew herself up.  Some say that the so-called Islamic State was behind this but others are uncertain.  We are routinely checked by security guards when we enter the Cathedral, post office or grocery store.  They look in our purses and pass a wand around our bodies.  The Sunday before I left for the US for my father's funeral they found a man trying to enter the Mass I was attending who was carrying a knife.  He refused to hand it over and didn’t enter.  I don’t go out at night and don’t frequent big shopping malls or fancy restaurants.  I’m quite content to live a simple life with our local neighbors.  My work takes me to the villages and the only concern on those trips is dangerous drivers.  They go too fast and don’t follow the rules of the road!

     Our Maryknoll Association has been commended by Archbishop Dolan of New York.  He is the authority who oversees our ministry and I have a letter from him if anyone is interested.  We are always looking for new members and I’d be very happy to be in contact with anyone who is interested and has questions.

     Happily I continue on with our health care ministry in Mombasa and will return to Mombasa on Dec 6th.  I am very disturbed by the increasing violence and hateful actions here in the US since the elections.  It is obvious that many people are afraid and hurting deeply on all sides.  I hope and pray that our Advent reflections on the coming of the Christ child will help us to see ourselves as members of one family who need to listen to each other, love and care for one another.                                                                  

                                                                           

 WORLD AIDS DAY

01 DECEMBER 2016

ACCESS EQUITY RIGHTS NOW

PEACE OF THESE JOYFUL 
SMILES BE WITH YOU
MAY THEY BRING YOU THE 
LOVE OF THE CHRIST CHILD
THIS ADVENT SEASON