Sunday June 1, 2009

I think my dates are off - everything in Africa was not as it should be. We woke up on Sunday in time to attend the Pentecost Sunday Mass at the church. The mass was outside in the "green" across from the church. It was a mass, a little reminiscent of the 1960's U.S. catholic services with a lot of participation of the local choir, clapping hands and dancing through the service - but in Africa. We stood in the back (always the American-Irish Catholic culture) under a tree (it is hot in Africa, even in winter) and watched the town children right in front of us as they obediently sat through a long church service. One of the children had a t shirt with a picture of Che Guerra on it (the clothing of African children is often from bundles of clothing available for very cheap in African markets. Joseph had loved the t shirts found right after the 2007 super bowl season that proclaimed New England Patriots Super Bowl Champs 19-1. One of the townspeople wore a t shirt "Proud Parent of a SUNY Geneseo Student". It is somewhat akin to those kids who get tattoos of Chinese or Japanese characters.)

Anyway, it turns out that the kids were so good (and a little antsy) because right after the mass, the church hands out frozen ice pops - and in a town with very little electricity, this is a big deal!

That night at dinner Ray kept telling our host how impressed he was with the feeling of the mass, how it was so different from the mass at home. Our host looked at Ray and said, "I can tell you are not Catholic, but your children and wife are. They stood at the right time, sat at the right time and spoke at the right time - you did not do any of that. The mass you attended is the same mass that is said all over the world on Sunday - if you are Catholic, you understand that." I believe that Ray was feeling a little out of sorts and the simple routine of the mass was helping to ground him, as it did for Joseph and he attended mass every weekend that he was in the village. Religion does have its purposes.