Report From Ecuador #2

Today involved much less travel than yesterday. Our first stop was the Diocesan Center, which is in a residential neighborhood not far from the hotel. The converted house holds both the diocesan offices and the seminary. We met most of the diocesan staff during our brief visit and were given a tour of the entire complex. More about the seminary on Friday.

From the Diocesan Center we drove north and east to the Cathedral of Our Lord. I knew that the cathedral had been designed by a Connecticut architect and built with significant contributions of money and material from the Diocese of Connecticut, so I was looking forward to seeing it. I was not prepared for the bright red roof! The building would not have been out of place in the United States, with different roofing, because it is one of those semi-A-Frame buildings. Inside, however, the space is wonderful. The stained glass windows are magnificent. Above the altar is not a crucifix, but a sculpture of the Risen Lord. They are still doing repair work to the building because the last diocesan bishop (there have been three interim bishops since then) neglected it.

We met with lay educators and clergy from the Quito area, and Ruth-Ann conducted a workshop for them. We began with a reading from First Corinthians, which I read in Spanish. It was my first time reading out loud in a public setting. By all accounts I did pretty well. The other member of our team, Veronica, who is from Honduras, said I read very well with a good accent. She encouraged me to study the language, something I will be doing soon, as we will be doing more work with the dioceses in Province IX.

It was interesting to watch the group work through the process Ruth-Ann gave them. By the end of the workshop it was quite clear that their hopes, wishes, and dreams were much like those of groups in many of the places we have visited.

We had dinner at a TGIF in the big mall across the main road from our hotel. It was quick, easy, but we still had to think in Spanish! The images and titles of the dishes in the menu were the familiar, but everything else was in Spanish. After dinner we wandered into the mall to find the Internet shop so Veronica could make a phone call at a cheaper rate than from the hotel. A mall is a mall is a mall is a mall. You could pick this one up intact, change a few signs, and drop it in any U.S. city without anyone noticing.

I'm off to bed. More tomorrow.

Peace,
Jeffri