Passionist Spirituality and Leadership (continued)
When I completed my time as General I was offered a job in Rome but believed it was best for my successor and myself to leave. After an enjoyable sabbatical at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkley, I went to one of our houses in Puerto Rico. I helped out in our parish and also conducted retreats in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. I preached a retreat to the priests in the Virgin Islands as well as taught their men preparing for the Permanent Deaconate.
After a halcyon two years in Puerto Rico, in 1991 I was asked to go to Jamaica to serve as Bishop of a new ecclesiastical jurisdiction or Apostolic Vicariate. It is not the purpose of this brief article to discuss the poverty of my people or the difficulties connected with starting a new local church.
In my visits to Passionist Missions around the world I often heard our men affirm that they received more than they gave. I regarded it as a pious thought. Not long after I came to Jamaica I learned the truth of this affirmation. Certainly on a material level what any missionary can give is more than he or she receives. But the poor show us many invaluable things. In their poverty they are keenly aware of their utter dependence upon God and they regard all as gift. Gratitude is an integral, essential component of their life. The Providence of a loving God is something taken for granted, accepted as a fact of daily life.
The poor are generous with their time and talents. Sociologists explain it by saying that the poor realize their dependence upon one another, hence their readiness to assist others. Whatever the explanation, it is impressive to see how willingly the poor will help others. Calls for volunteers to clean the church, cut the grass, paint the school-these types of appeals receive a ready response.
People are anxious to hear about God and his care for them. They long for instructions. In particular they want to learn more about the Bible. Jamaicans, at least, are a Bible loving people. Even the many unable to read learn passages, especially psalms, by heart.
It was my practice to celebrate Mass in two different parishes each Sunday. For the first few months I used to remind the people that I was a "baby bishop and baby Jamaican." If they loved me and wanted to help me, they had to do what one does with a baby: correct him. "Bishop, we don't do it that way; this is not our custom." Naturally, at first people were embarrassed to correct me. But after a few months I started receiving the comment that I heard throughout my time in Jamaica [except from the Cathedral parish]: "Bishop, you don't talk long enough." Protestant pastors normally preach for 45 to 75 minutes and rural people wanted longer sermons.
The poor love to sing. Twenty Jamaicans singing in church will make as much noise as an American congregation of a thousand. If there are twenty verses in the book, twenty verses are sung. All with gusto! Singing is a prayer of praise or petition and the poor pray with voice, heart and body. Their joy in the Lord is infectious. Living with them one can't help but become more immersed in their awareness of the goodness and kindness of their Savior.
These brief reflections fill me with a strong sense of gratitude for the many blessings I have been given. I have had unique opportunities to know religious life and the universal church. Perhaps more than most I have seen the warts and bruises in religious communities and the church at large but I feel certain that few have seen greater holiness, wisdom and lovableness than I have found. A few have been outstanding in all three qualities: sanctity, brilliance and lovability. Many have manifested at least two of these qualities in an outstanding degree and extremely rare has been the individual or organization that has not been admirable for at least one of these qualities.
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