Saludos del Centro Cultural Mexicano Americano de San Antonio, Texas! Greetings from the Mexican American Cultural Center, affectionately know as MACC. I am presently taking a break from my tarea -- homework -- to write a little to you about what I am doing and what I am learning here during these three weeks.

MACC is located on the near northwest side of downtown San Antonio in a peaceful residential neighborhood. This new campus opened just two years ago and features Hacienda-style buildings and state of the art learning facilities. The dormitory rooms are spacious and comfortable, but trust me, this is no La Quinta or Holiday Inn. The food is prepared by the nuns of a Vincentian religious order. They also cook for the students of the Assumption Seminary located across the street from MACC, and next door to the Chancery of the Archdiocese of San Antonio. (I believe "chancery" is a fancy word for "diocesan offices.")

Approximately twenty-five students are enrolled for this particular three-week session, most here to study Spanish, some studying English for the first time, and others studying the essentials of Hispanic Ministry in the mini-pastoral program.

The classes are small -- four to seven students per instructor. All the instructors are native speakers of Spanish and come from various states in Mexico or countries of Latin America. For nearly thirty years, MACC has been educating mostly Roman Catholic clergy, sisters and brothers in religious orders, and lay people who work with Hispanics, in their respective ministries.

This opportunity for me to study Pastoral Spanish here at MACC has come from the diocesan Hispanic Committee, on which I serve as a member. The chair of that committee has also come with me for these three weeks; the Reverend Dennis Smith, who recently retired as rector of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Spartanburg. He sends his greetings as well, and covets your prayers -- as do I -- -for a profitable three weeks of study.

Our Intensive Pastoral Spanish program began last Sunday with a one-on-one oral interview -- en español solamente, por favor (in Spanish only, please) -- in order to determine our placement in one of the classes. They assigned me to the Intermediate level, class B, and Fr. Dennis, who happened to know a little of the preterit (past) tense, was placed in Intermediate level, class D. I didn't even know what a preterit tense was, but I think I just used it.

After the oral interview we got a tour of the MACC campus and ate dinner with the seminarians. We also met some folks from another workshop being held last weekend: A four-day pastoral leadership formation program for migrant farm workers and those who work with them. Conducted entirely in Spanish, this workshop attracted migrant farm workers and leaders from allover the country. These were wonderful folks -- muy simpatico y amable (nice and kind) -- who graciously listened to and assisted us with our gringo efforts at communicating. As many of you know, any effort made by one to speak the Mother Tongue of another usually gets met with acceptance and encouragement by that other. We learned the names and stories of many of these participants before they left to return to their homes last Tuesday, but clearly they did not leave before they left a deep impression on us.

A typical day for a language student at MACC looks like this: Breakfast is served at 7:15 a.m. -- a las siete y cuarto de la mañana -- followed by bilingual Morning Prayer in the chapel at 8:00. The lesson is always read either in English or Spanish by one of the students in that target language, and the psalm is read in both languages, alternating with each paragraph. The Lord's Prayer is said in the language of your choice, and it reminds me of a Pentecostal gospel event, with several languages being heard in the sounds of the prayers.

La clase de Gramática (grammar class) begins at 8:30 with la Profesora Señora Sofía Reyes. Habla muy despacio -- Que bueno! (She speaks very slowly. How wonderful!) All classes are conducted in Spanish 90% of the time -- only for exact clarification do we ever hear any inglés out of our teachers.

After forty-five or fifty minutes comes a stretch break and then Aplicación de Gramática (Application of Grammar) until our morning coffee break at about 10:15. At 10:30, classes resume with Conversación, led by Señora Bertha Kosewicz. Here we go around the table and have to respond in conversational Spanish to her non-stop questions, constantly applying and practicing what we've learned.

My class has all men in it -- four priests, including me, a deacon, and two seminarians. The seminarians and one priest come from Nigeria, another priest comes from India, the deacon comes from Iowa, and the last priest is from Alabama. One of the seminarians, named Victor, got news last Monday that his mother had died suddenly the previous Friday (February 15). In the Nigerian culture, as the oldest son of his family, he has tremendous responsibilities to perform back home. His fellow seminarian, Augustine, says that they literally cannot go forward without his presence. As of this writing, his return visa and other arrangements are still pending. Please pray for Victor and his family at this time of loss and sadness. Notwithstanding this sad event, as a group, we have bonded well, and we enjoy the challenge and work of learning another language.

At 11:15 a.m. on most days we have a short break, followed by more conversation, but two days a week we have a bi-lingual Eucharist at that time. The Eucharist is celebrated at 5:00 p.m. on the other days, and also at 5:00 p.m. everyday at Assumption Seminary.

Being in a Roman Catholic institution, only Catholics may receive the sacraments at the Mass. Last Monday this left Fr. Dennis and me in the unusual position of being on the outside and looking in at a moment in worship when we usually are directly and deeply involved. I felt strangely excluded, and so did Dennis. Some of the sisters and staff members at MACC were very sensitive to how we must have felt. Sister Ida, the guest master, said that we were free to conduct a Mass in the Episcopal tradition and wanted to know how she could help make that happen. Last Wednesday morning, they announced that no priest had signed up to celebrate the 5:00 Mass at the cultural center, so Dennis and I offered to celebrate an Episcopal Eucharist for those interested, while others would be free to attend the seminary Mass. And that is what happened. Fr. Dennis preached -- in English -- and I celebrated the Eucharist -- in Spanish -- for 20 members of the MACC community who came to see an Episcopal Eucharist. It was the first time I ever actually celebrated in Spanish and it went very well, for the most part. Most of those who came, and received, were women and sisters of religious order. They understood full what it means to not be included, and wanted to bridge that gap in our experience by their presence. Two priests and my deacon classmate also came to our Eucharist.

Most days after lunch, a group of us walk the mile down to a nearby city park with a small, lovely lake. We then hurry to get back in time for the 1:30 afternoon Pastoral Spanish discussion class. This class deals specifically with the language as it applies to pastoral ministry. Otra vez, hablamos solamente en español. (Again, we speak only in Spanish.) Sra. Carolina Avilla really limits any English used to only that which is necessary for comprehension in our discussion. At 2:30, we either get a break for a few hours until dinner, or it's off to the computer based language lab for about an hour of listening and recitation.

Dinner is served at 5:45 p.m. and by 7:00 many of us have piled into the Fiesta Room (our official student lounge) for the telenovella "Amigas y Rivales" (soap opera "Friends and Rivals") on the Univision cable channel. While it is your basic soap opera, complete with over the top acting and loud punches of dramatic music at critical lines of dialogue, "Amigas y Rivales" provides us with excellent practice in observing and listening to native speakers as they talk. Of course, we have to have the Spanish language closed captioning turned on so we can at least see what we're hearing and missing because these actors usually talk so fast it's hard enough to parse the sentence, let alone the verbs. I invite you to join us some evening, Monday through Friday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time for "Amigas y Rivales" on Univision, and maybe you can get a feel for what we're experiencing in language school.

After this mild diversion, our day ends in our dormitorio (dormitory), for two or three hours of tarea (homework) each night, sometimes more. But it is not only the language that we're learning, but also the history, experiences and influences of the Hispanic culture of the people that we will one day serve. So that's our day; I hope that explains in a small way why I may not yet have responded to anyone's recent e-mail.

A final thought before I close; maybe two thoughts. I do a lot of praying in the chapel here each day. I pray for wisdom and insight, for sensitivity and understanding. I pray twice a day at least for the vestry and staff by name. And I also pray daily for the people of St. James.

I have with me the latest copy of the parish address book from our database. Four columns across, it takes up eight full pages with names and addresses. Each day I pray for all the names listed on a page; sometimes I do two pages. If your name is on the list, I pray for you by name here at MACC. It also pleases me to be able to remember a face to go with the majority of names that I pray for on our list. If I know of any pastoral concerns for one of the names on the list, I pray for that, too.

I also pray for the people whom God sends our way through all the visitors who come to St. James, and I pray for all those whom God will send our way this year, and over the coming months and years. I believe with all my heart that God has begun a marvelous work among the people here at St. James, and this work includes the people who will "come and see" and join in with us.

We are very blessed with talented, giving people, who welcome the stranger and serve those in need. Such gifts will bring to life ministries in which to use them, and already we have seen the basic roots and structures of many of these ministries come forward. When we look at what is taking shape here at St. James, as the pop song many years ago proclaimed, "The future's so bright, you've gotta wear shades." Part of that future will involve what I am learning here and what we will learn together in serving Christ in the Other who may not speak our language, but whom God knows as his child by name.

I ask your prayers for me, for Fr. Dennis, for our continued success here at MACC, and for safe travel home. And please pray for all of us at St. James, those whom we know already and those whom God will lead to us to welcome into this pilgrim journey of faith. It is a pilgrim band of many colors, languages and names. And it makes me smile to think of you as I read and pray for you by name.

God bless you all, be well, continue to love one another, learn new names, and I will see you soon when I return.

En el Nombre del Padre, y del Hijo, y del Espíritu Santo. Amén.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Rev'd Timothy M. Dombek
ST. JAMES EPISCOPAL CHURCH
301 Piney Mountain Road
Greenville, SC 29609-3035
(864) 244-6358
stjamesrector@mindspring.com

Copyright © 2002 Timothy M. Dombek All Rights Reserved.