Seminary in Panama: Chitré - festivals and nuns...

This weekend I went to visit the city of Chitré which is the capital city of the Province of Herrera.

Chitré seems to be a medium-sized city with probably a population of between 25,000 and 30,000. It is located on the Azuero peninsula and is probably the city that best preserves traditional dance, music, and customs in all of Panamá – or so I have been told. The big thing about Chitré is, as its logo says – En Chitré no hay Forastero (In Chitré no one is a stranger).


Like Gulliver in Lilliput

I left from the Parish of Los Angeles at 5am. I had to get up at 3.30 to pack, wash and get ready. I was collected by the bishéop of Panamá City, José Ulloa (an Augustinian). He is originally from Chitré and was travelling home to his parents’ house to join them in celebrating his father’s birthday. The reason I was travelling was two-fold: I was going because Chitré was celebrating its fiesta (166 years since its foundation), and also because the semi-enclosed Augustinian nuns in Chitré had asked me to give a talk to their student nuns.

It was an interesting journey which allowed me to see something of the countryside of Panamá. I was really surprised to see how green everything is here – all that rain pays off!!! Roads are quite good in terms of quality and it is noticeable that even roads heading in to the country (campo) are asphalted or else made of concrete. Concrete is often a better option in countries that have hot climates as it doesn’t melt in the way that asphalt does. However, concrete has big disadvantages when it rains as it means that the road is very slippy. This is the first time in my travels around South America that I have noticed that campo roads have been asphalted – it is a sign that central government is at least trying to improve the lot of the campesino.

A word about the campesino. As such, the word means “small farmer” but, and this is important, “small farmer” in English doesn’t mean what campesino means. Really, a campesino is a person (a man) who works the land as a day-labourer; he has no security of employment; he is paid a very low wage; he is dependent on his employer for everything (house, medicine, education of children etc); he is poor. Of course, there is also a much more pleasant aspect to being a campesino – he is resourceful; hard-working; loves a party; and is very in touch with nature (natural remedies, rhythm of nature, plants, fruits etc). You can’t become a campesino – there is no way of applying for the role. You are born in to this state of dependence, and it is very difficult to break out of it. In Africa, they speak of “the bush” which describes something very similar except it seems, that in Africa at least, “the bush” connotes backwardness – in South America the word “campo” has more to do with lack of opportunity.

Another reason the journey was interesting was that the bishop had just returned from the Synod on the Family in Rome and was sharing some interesting anecdotes relating to it. One of the most significant was about the very heated argument between Cardinals Mueller and Kasper; so heated, in fact, that they slipped in to German as they shouted at one another!!!

There was, unfortunately, one mishap on the journey. Just as we pulled up in front of the nuns’ monastery all the sisters came out to greet the bishop. I was getting down from the jeep and my trousers split – I don’t mean a slight split; they split from between my legs, right up the front, as far as my waist. I was left with one leg in the jeep and the other on the ground while the front of my trousers hung down over my leg – and, of course, to make matters worse, I was wearing underwear of the brightest orange colour that you couldn’t miss if you were blind. It was one of those moments when I wished the ground would just open up and swallow me!!!

Aspirants

Anyway, I gave my talk to the nuns and then went to the Augustinian parish of El Rosario (The In this community there are 3 friars and 4 aspirants. I had thought that the aspirants would be people in their 20s but, in fact, they are all between 14 and 17 years old. Really, it is a minor seminary, something that was common in Ireland years ago but that I doubt, and hope, we will never have again. Essentially, it is a type of residence where secondary school students who think they may have a vocation to religious life come to spend some years while they finish their schooling with the hope that they may continue on to the pre-novitiate later. In my opinion, this is too young to be introducing boys to this style of life – plenty of time for that when they are older.

Rosary).

One of the TV presenters

The lads brought me to see the folklore show which was being televised live on Ser TV – I’m sure I featured in the broadcast because I seemed to be about a foot taller than anyone else!!! It was all very nice – a mixture of dancing, singing, and music. This was followed by a procession of the Queens of the local towns.

One of the Queens

These Queens are not just beauty queens – they are also considered to be ambassadors for their areas This is not something that we have in Ireland but it is taken very seriously in South America.

and represent their area at all sorts of occasions.

I took lots and lots of photos so I will just add a few here and then put up a post which is just photos.