for a key to the pictures ~ see the end of the article
Impressions of Belize ~ Seeing the Diocese with Canadian eyes
Recently I was asked by Canon Roy Flowers, editor of the Belizean “Anglican News” to provide an article on my impressions so far of life and ministry in Belize, so here is part one of a two-part article…
I am writing this at the midpoint of our three-month stay in Belize, where I have the privilege of serving as priest-in-charge at St. Paul’s-by-the-Sea in Corozal Town. Enough time to see, and to feel, and to absorb, and to reflect a little.
“Tell me some things about Belize, and I will tell you some things about Canada.” This is the exchange I offered to our children at St. Paul’s school. “Belize is beautiful”, comes the reply. “Belize has many cultures and languages”, “Belize has tigers and crocodiles”, “Belize has a high crime rate” (this from a 7-yr old), “Belizeans are sometimes flexible about starting on time” (this last one actually came from an adult source).
After a six week sampling, I can say that all of this has some truth in my experience. I have heard a tiger roaring in the wild (that is, a jaguar, to Canadians) as well as seeing them in the zoo. I have cooled off in the bay of Corozal and climbed some Mayan ruins. (I am yet to visit the cayes and the south of the country). I have savoured stew chicken and powder buns delivered fresh-made to the door. And yes, Belize is beautiful.
And of all the beautiful things I have seen, nothing is more beautiful than the people themselves. Nothing has been more gratifying that the joyful smiles on the faces of school children, their hearty singing, and the regular and unforgettable cries of animated greeting we receive from them at school and in the streets.
Let me tell you a little about myself. I am in the 14th year since my ordination, and for the past 10 years I have been the Rector of St. Anne & St. Edmund’s parish, Parksville, BC, about 2 hours north of our see city of Victoria, on Vancouver Island in the far west of the vast country of Canada. It’s almost as far for me to travel to Belize’s Canadian partner diocese of Eastern Newfoundland as it is for me to travel from my home diocese of British Columbia to Belize.
I am here by an arrangement between the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and the Diocese of Belize, and by agreement with the bishops of the respective dioceses involved. For many years, the ACC has had a theological students internship program which involves a 3-month placement with a mission partner. My colleagues Lon Towstego and Kevin Arndt from the Diocese of BC have both served at Punta Gorda as part of their training.
Now the Canadian church is experimenting with placing priests who are taking a sabbatical on a short-term assignment as a means of broadening our understanding of the Anglican communion, deepening the bonds of affection that hold us together, and widening the scope of our education about the global nature of God’s mission in the world by means of an intercultural experience in ministry. We call this program “Education for Global Ministry”, and I am the willing guinea pig for this experiment.
My wife Sandy and son James are volunteering in the school with literacy education most weekday afternoons, and our younger son TJ is in school at Corozal Community College. James is also traveling each week to Belize to assist in the physical education program, and to help setting up and coaching the cricket team at the cathedral college. We also have three other children and two grandchildren in Canada.
I know that for many people in Corozal this has been a “cold” winter. But for us Canadians, this means the temperature has been just about right, 60s at night and 70s in the day. Perhaps the only thing warmer than the winter weather for us is the warmth of the reception we have received. I and my family wish to pay tribute to the hearty and generous hospitality and welcome by the diocese, the bishop, the clergy, the parish and school at St. Paul’s, and the townsfolk of Corozal. I often feel loved just for my presence here, and I find that to be a beautiful experience of God’s grace.
In one of the parish songbooks I observe that we have a verse to the popular song “We Shall Overcome” that goes like this:
“Creole, Maya, Mestizo, we shall not be moved,
Garifuna, Asian, White ones, we shall not be moved,…”
Before my arrival these were merely words in a book about Belize, but now I can connect parishioners and clergy and townsfolk to all of these titles and think of accents and language and personality and cultural distinctives and stories that attach to each of them. I can think of large Hispanic extended families living in small homes, where everyone seems to be looking out for everyone else even where there are few material possessions or resources in evidence, I can think of a neighbour proudly introducing her “100% Mayan” grandmother in her 89th year, firecrackers and dragons at Chinese new year, Garifuna drum rhythm, playing an evening cricket game with East Indian young men under the floodlights at the Corozal stadium, listening to the men playing guitar and singing the Creole “broke down” rhythm (I’m sure I’m spelling this incorrectly) at the clergy conference.
Perhaps as much as anything, it is the smiles on the faces of the children of the school, and the sense of being adopted as “Fahder Andrew” and “Miss Sandee” is something that will never leave me.
And I can say that what I know, even in a short time, through real people and real life communication, is a hundred times what I can know through book study or academic briefing, and the ability to connect the names and places on the diocesan website to real people and experiences is a thousand times more enriching than merely surfing the net for an understanding of brothers and sisters in otherwise faraway places. (Of course, I imagine the same would be true in reverse. If you ever have the opportunity to visit a variety of Canadian parishes and communities, you can best know our ethos by meeting and worshipping with us.)
Among the resources that have most prepared me for my ministry here are ones that I am reliving and reviving from my early days in the Methodist, Pentecostal, and Baptist churches, prior to my “homecoming” to the Anglican tradition. I find myself in the midst of a very hearty rendition of songs that meant a lot in my early years, but in my experience of the past generation of Canadian Anglican life have largely fallen into disuse.
The memory of a small rural Methodist pastorate in the 1960s where my father had a twelve-point charge is much more in keeping with my experience of life in Belize, where lay leadership is critical to the weekly worshipping life of so many small missions and parishes, and there are fewer clergy. This is a time in my life for me to be grateful for the childhood memories of open-air Methodist services and Moody & Sankey evenings, for the songs of Fanny Crosby as much as for those of Charles Wesley, Graham Kendrick, and the charismatic renewal of the 70s and 80s. It gives me an immediate access to the spontaneous joy, breadth of musicality, evangelizing zeal, and sterling lay leadership that characterizes so many members and affects the atmosphere of the diocese here in my experience.
If I had asked my landlady in Scotland 35 years ago for her favourite song, she may well have said “The Old Rugged Cross”, just as an 8-yr old here may do. I can barely think of any children I know who would offer the same answer today in BC, whether in church or in school. But when I ask our youngsters for a favourite song here, I am likely to be asked for a classic hymn or a song from the evangelical stables of the 1970s and 80s. We sing “Majesty” alongside Anglican classic hymns such as “Forty Days and Forty Nights” and move freely to “This is the Day” (in four languages), “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus”, and “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine”.
Part 1 of 2 … to be continued…
Recently I was asked by Canon Roy Flowers, editor of the Belizean “Anglican News” to provide an article on my impressions so far of life and ministry in Belize, so here is part one of a two-part article…
I am writing this at the midpoint of our three-month stay in Belize, where I have the privilege of serving as priest-in-charge at St. Paul’s-by-the-Sea in Corozal Town. Enough time to see, and to feel, and to absorb, and to reflect a little.
“Tell me some things about Belize, and I will tell you some things about Canada.” This is the exchange I offered to our children at St. Paul’s school. “Belize is beautiful”, comes the reply. “Belize has many cultures and languages”, “Belize has tigers and crocodiles”, “Belize has a high crime rate” (this from a 7-yr old), “Belizeans are sometimes flexible about starting on time” (this last one actually came from an adult source).
After a six week sampling, I can say that all of this has some truth in my experience. I have heard a tiger roaring in the wild (that is, a jaguar, to Canadians) as well as seeing them in the zoo. I have cooled off in the bay of Corozal and climbed some Mayan ruins. (I am yet to visit the cayes and the south of the country). I have savoured stew chicken and powder buns delivered fresh-made to the door. And yes, Belize is beautiful.
And of all the beautiful things I have seen, nothing is more beautiful than the people themselves. Nothing has been more gratifying that the joyful smiles on the faces of school children, their hearty singing, and the regular and unforgettable cries of animated greeting we receive from them at school and in the streets.
Let me tell you a little about myself. I am in the 14th year since my ordination, and for the past 10 years I have been the Rector of St. Anne & St. Edmund’s parish, Parksville, BC, about 2 hours north of our see city of Victoria, on Vancouver Island in the far west of the vast country of Canada. It’s almost as far for me to travel to Belize’s Canadian partner diocese of Eastern Newfoundland as it is for me to travel from my home diocese of British Columbia to Belize.
I am here by an arrangement between the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and the Diocese of Belize, and by agreement with the bishops of the respective dioceses involved. For many years, the ACC has had a theological students internship program which involves a 3-month placement with a mission partner. My colleagues Lon Towstego and Kevin Arndt from the Diocese of BC have both served at Punta Gorda as part of their training.
Now the Canadian church is experimenting with placing priests who are taking a sabbatical on a short-term assignment as a means of broadening our understanding of the Anglican communion, deepening the bonds of affection that hold us together, and widening the scope of our education about the global nature of God’s mission in the world by means of an intercultural experience in ministry. We call this program “Education for Global Ministry”, and I am the willing guinea pig for this experiment.
My wife Sandy and son James are volunteering in the school with literacy education most weekday afternoons, and our younger son TJ is in school at Corozal Community College. James is also traveling each week to Belize to assist in the physical education program, and to help setting up and coaching the cricket team at the cathedral college. We also have three other children and two grandchildren in Canada.
I know that for many people in Corozal this has been a “cold” winter. But for us Canadians, this means the temperature has been just about right, 60s at night and 70s in the day. Perhaps the only thing warmer than the winter weather for us is the warmth of the reception we have received. I and my family wish to pay tribute to the hearty and generous hospitality and welcome by the diocese, the bishop, the clergy, the parish and school at St. Paul’s, and the townsfolk of Corozal. I often feel loved just for my presence here, and I find that to be a beautiful experience of God’s grace.
In one of the parish songbooks I observe that we have a verse to the popular song “We Shall Overcome” that goes like this:
“Creole, Maya, Mestizo, we shall not be moved,
Garifuna, Asian, White ones, we shall not be moved,…”
Before my arrival these were merely words in a book about Belize, but now I can connect parishioners and clergy and townsfolk to all of these titles and think of accents and language and personality and cultural distinctives and stories that attach to each of them. I can think of large Hispanic extended families living in small homes, where everyone seems to be looking out for everyone else even where there are few material possessions or resources in evidence, I can think of a neighbour proudly introducing her “100% Mayan” grandmother in her 89th year, firecrackers and dragons at Chinese new year, Garifuna drum rhythm, playing an evening cricket game with East Indian young men under the floodlights at the Corozal stadium, listening to the men playing guitar and singing the Creole “broke down” rhythm (I’m sure I’m spelling this incorrectly) at the clergy conference.
Perhaps as much as anything, it is the smiles on the faces of the children of the school, and the sense of being adopted as “Fahder Andrew” and “Miss Sandee” is something that will never leave me.
And I can say that what I know, even in a short time, through real people and real life communication, is a hundred times what I can know through book study or academic briefing, and the ability to connect the names and places on the diocesan website to real people and experiences is a thousand times more enriching than merely surfing the net for an understanding of brothers and sisters in otherwise faraway places. (Of course, I imagine the same would be true in reverse. If you ever have the opportunity to visit a variety of Canadian parishes and communities, you can best know our ethos by meeting and worshipping with us.)
Among the resources that have most prepared me for my ministry here are ones that I am reliving and reviving from my early days in the Methodist, Pentecostal, and Baptist churches, prior to my “homecoming” to the Anglican tradition. I find myself in the midst of a very hearty rendition of songs that meant a lot in my early years, but in my experience of the past generation of Canadian Anglican life have largely fallen into disuse.
The memory of a small rural Methodist pastorate in the 1960s where my father had a twelve-point charge is much more in keeping with my experience of life in Belize, where lay leadership is critical to the weekly worshipping life of so many small missions and parishes, and there are fewer clergy. This is a time in my life for me to be grateful for the childhood memories of open-air Methodist services and Moody & Sankey evenings, for the songs of Fanny Crosby as much as for those of Charles Wesley, Graham Kendrick, and the charismatic renewal of the 70s and 80s. It gives me an immediate access to the spontaneous joy, breadth of musicality, evangelizing zeal, and sterling lay leadership that characterizes so many members and affects the atmosphere of the diocese here in my experience.
If I had asked my landlady in Scotland 35 years ago for her favourite song, she may well have said “The Old Rugged Cross”, just as an 8-yr old here may do. I can barely think of any children I know who would offer the same answer today in BC, whether in church or in school. But when I ask our youngsters for a favourite song here, I am likely to be asked for a classic hymn or a song from the evangelical stables of the 1970s and 80s. We sing “Majesty” alongside Anglican classic hymns such as “Forty Days and Forty Nights” and move freely to “This is the Day” (in four languages), “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus”, and “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine”.
Part 1 of 2 … to be continued…
key to the pictures:
1 Some of the clergy at the diocesan clergy conference held at Banana Bank Lodge: Bishop Philip, flanked (l-r) by Deacon Lloyd Perriot of St. Thomas in the village of Doublehead Cabbage, Lynda Moguel (one of the first women to be ordained in the province of the WI), Juan Marentes (visiting Columbian priest of the South American Mission Society on short term assignment in charge of the San Ignacio parish)
2 Morning light on the parish rectory
3 Sunrise, taken from just across the road from us on the bay of Corozal
4 Sugar cane fields line the country roads for miles around us. Heavy burning happens during harvest season (six months of the year), creating smoke and ash over wide areas.
5 Kenny Broaster, member of the Belize national cricket team, meeting with our James as they plan a coaching session for the newly-started Cathedral College cricket team. Brian Lara's cousin Jamie Lara opens the batting for ACC, as they take their first 15-over game by a score of 113-3 to 79-7 against city rival "Excalibur"
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