Dear Parishioners,
Each year around this cold,
wintery time I try to take my mom on a brief vacation. As she gets older (82), I realize that it is
a gift to me to be able to spend some extended time with her. Dad has been gone over two decades now. Since I am the only “unmarried” child in the
family, I usually arrange for mom to go with me somewhere manageable. I worry about her health and mobility issues,
as she does. A cruise to the Caribbean
usually seems to fit our current situation as these ships generally accommodate
seniors very well.
I served as the chaplain for
the trip. My responsibility was daily Mass
for the passengers with an additional Mass on Sunday for the crew. I was also personally requested to hear the confessions
of both passengers and crew members alike.
What made the trip somewhat awkward initially, however, was the fact
that we were going away at the beginning of Lent—not really a time for feasting
and festivities. Lent came very quickly
after the Christmas season this year. To
top it off was the Gospel for the 1st Sunday of Lent (which I had to
preach on) concerning Jesus going into the desert to fast for 40 days and 40
nights. Fasting is not something
that you usually attempt with endless buffets, flowing alcohol and elaborate
dinners each day.
I recalled a story that a Trappist
monk had told me on retreat some years ago about his being assigned to be in
charge of the bakery after he had entered the monastery. He protested to the abbot that this was not
what he expected when he became a monk.
The abbot’s response to him was simply:
Find God in the bakery! Taking this approach with my current situation, I reminded the passengers (as well as myself) that it was important for us all
to find God here on the cruise ship. This would be our Lenten challenge.
At each port I made it a task
to seek out the local Catholic Church. I
found the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul and St. Ann Chapel both in
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Unfortunately, they were both locked shut on
this particular day (U.S. Presidents Day).
In Basseterre, St. Kitts, I located the Co-Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. I was able to spend some time there in prayer
while I observed one of the religious sisters from the Catholic school explain
the Stations of the Cross to her
class. I could not easily find a
Catholic Church in Bridgetown, Barbados but did come across St. Mary’s Anglican/Episcopalian Church
which I briefly visited. Somehow I
missed St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic
Cathedral and the other Catholic churches there. Finally, I already knew from previous visits the
location of St. Martin of Tours Church
in Phillipsburg, St. Maarten. As I
entered there at approximately 3 PM on that Friday, there were about a
half-dozen people singing the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. I stayed there to pray
with them for a while.
I found many blessings on my
brief 10-day vacation, including the opportunity to hear the confessions of
passengers and crew alike. I also met a
number of faithful Catholic people, some of whom were willing to read at Mass
each day and helped with the distribution of Holy Communion at the Sunday
Masses. We had approximately 40-50
people at daily Mass and 250-275 for each of the two Sundays I was there.
God was indeed present in our
midst.
Fr. Ed Namiotka
Pastor
Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, St. Thomas
St. Ann Chapel, St. Thomas
Co-Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, St. Kitts
Interior
St. Martin of Tours Church, St. Maarten