Salvador da Bahia Mission

"Give Thanks with a Greatful Heart!"

2012-02-06T05:07:00.000-08:00

Well, I just got back from Texas on Saturday - had a lovely time with family and friends, and my beautiful sister is now married to her wonderful husband. During my stay in Austin, I had the opportunity to share about our mission and project at several venues. I met with St. Ignatius youth group:

And when I got back from my sister's wedding I did an interview with Patrick Ryan on Relevant Radio:

Later that week I went to St. Dominic Savio High School for two days and spoke to all the classes about our mission in Salvador, religious life, and vocations. It was great to see fr. Daniel again after so long and I am so thankful that he gave me the opportunity to speak to the students! Maybe one day some of those young people will come and help us with our mission in Brazil - some of them are already gearing up for WYD 2013 in Rio!

Finally, I met with the Legion of Mary group at St. William's Parish and spoke about prayer and the Virgin Mary. I am thankful for their support and prayers for this mission.

Some of the best news for fundraising is that we have been accepted by the diocese of Austin to do a mission appeal at St. Thomas Moore, Ascension, and Peter and Paul parishes. I have already scheduled our mission appeal in St. Thomas Moore for August 11-12. The other parishes I will start contacting soon.

I left Austin and went to Laredo. We arrived on Sunday just in time for the morning mass, the brothers generously allowed me to speak to the congregation about our mission and receive the collection. The total raised from the morning and evening mass was $803! What a great start! Thank you so much for your generosity Laredo! I will begin working with some of the experienced workers in Alto this week to see how we can already get started moving forward renovating Mary Magdalene House.

The last event I got to host while in Laredo was Searching Issues. It has moved from the Cuadro Cafe to its new location in a place called Scholars - a very neat place! I presented on the "Love Languages," so if you are interested take a look at the video.

God Bless you all!
Br. Francis Therese

Photos and Video - Pilgrimage to Bonfim

2012-01-08T14:39:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos and video from our pilgrimage to Bonfim on Epiphany, Jan. 8th 2012. For recordings of some of the songs we sang look here.

Mass for Peace - January 1st

2012-01-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

On the first of January, we had a Mass with the Bishop of Salvador for Peace. Several children from Alto da Esperança made their first communion. This came at a very important moment as the police raids have been increasing in frequency and violence recently. We ask you to pray with us for an end to the violence, the drugs trafficing that provokes this violence, and the corruption that causes this vicious cycle to continue.

Baptisms and Feast of Our Lady of Hope

2011-12-25T03:39:00.000-08:00

We just celebrated our patronal feast at Alto on the 17 of December with a prayer vigil in honor of our Lady of Hope. The following day, fr. Patrick baptised 8 children - it was a very joyful event, take a look at some pictures:

End of Year Catechism Celebration

2011-12-10T09:20:00.001-08:00

Here we are playing frizbee with the catechism kids from Alto. Today was the end of year party, baptisms will be a week from now and January 1st we'll have Mass with the Bishop!

Children's Mass at Alto 11/12/2011

2011-11-17T15:46:00.001-08:00

Here are some photos from last Saturday's Childrens mass with Fr. John Michael Paul. We also acted out the Gospel (well, mimed it at least), but I was in it so I didn't take any pictures - oops. Anyways, it was a nice peaceful Mass in the middle of the afternoon, the Gospel was on the final judgment between the just who came to the aide of those in need and the unjust.

Some of these children will be making their first communion soon, there are also baptisms planned for the month of December, so stay tuned!

Mass at Alto - 10/30/2011

2011-10-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a video of the Entrance Procession from this evening's mass. Today was Br. Patrick's first day to preach the homily, he's still working on perfecting Portuguese. Here are a few more pictures of the inside of the chapel:

And finally a clip of the Recessional:

Missionaries!

2011-10-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

Great news!

We now have a second group of missionaries who are eager to come sometime this year and help on project Alto. The two groups have estimated they could raise as much as $2,500 each - that is close to $5,000 or R$10,000! Some of that will go towards renovations at Mary Magdalene house (which will cost us in total around $8,000 USD) but a lot of it will go towards smaller projects at the dwellings of some of the inhabitants of Alto who are struggling and need important work done on their homes. Some of it will go towards cleaning the houses of the sick or invalid, preparing meals and perhaps new clothes. We'll try to set up some fun activities with the kids of Alto too - a great way for the missionaries to be a positive and joyful encouragement in an often violent and discouraging area.

Oh! By the way... if you want to take a look at where Alto da Esperança is situated in Salvador with respect to the brother's convent (as well as a few of my other favorite places), check it out on Google Maps.

Details on Project Alto

2011-10-25T17:00:00.001-07:00

stageOne-projectedCosts.pdf

Estimation and Quote for stage one (renovation of Mary Magdalene House) of Project Alto.

ALTO-PCP.pdf

Booklet Describing the PCP Alto Project.

Slideshow of the youth of Alto da Esperança

2011-10-24T17:47:00.000-07:00

Slide Show of Mary Magdalene House - In need of renovation!

2011-10-24T16:02:00.001-07:00

Alto da Esperanza - Retreat House

2011-10-24T06:10:00.000-07:00

From

Here is a walk through of the "Retreat House" that we need to rebuild. There is a part on the outside that will need to be demolished:

For the moment we are trying to see if we can safely demolish just that part without having to demolish the entire structure. If we don't have to demolish the whole thing it will save us a significant amount of money.

First Post!

2011-10-10T04:54:00.001-07:00

Here is a little video-post I put together to introduce us and our mission here in Brazil. Feel free to post comments or questions and I will try to keep the blog updated as often as I can!

Peace!
Br. Francis Therese