It started badly. I woke up the first morning in Pedro
Santana thinking I had a flat tire and a dead battery in my
rented car. The battery was not dead; I just needed to learn
how to use the button ignition. And the puncture was no
problem. Father Keith O’Hare arrived with the church
mechanic, Attilo. In no time he found the offending nail and
had me moving again.
I was invited to preach at the vigil of Epiphany at San
José. Madelina (Mora) Guerrero had passed away since
my last visit,
More than 20 years ago, I recalled, we were about to begin a
pastoral council meeting in Pedro Santana. Mora declared that
before we do anything else we needed to solve a problem.
“What problem?” we asked. “There are seven Haitians on our
side of the Artibonito River (the border with Haiti). The Ton
Ton Macoute are ready to kill them as followers of Aristides.
Our military has orders to send them back.” We went in the
Guagua Blanca (the white jeep), picked them up and brought
them to sanctuary in the church. For months San José
parishioners sheltered and fed these refugees, despite the
fact that historically there was no love lost between
Dominican and Haitian.
Within days a military captain from Haiti, tall and fully
armed, arrived at the church door of San José. There
to meet him was Mora. “Why have you come here?” she asked.
“To bring back these renegades and execute justice,” he
answered. Mora declared, “If you have come to God’s house to
pray, you are welcome. If not, there is no entrance.” He
turned on his heel and marched back to Haiti.
At the Epiphany, Jesus was announced by a star as a light not
only to the church but to all nations, even the powerful, the
captains and the kings. Mora in the force of her character
and faith reflected the light of God’s word more clearly than
any star.
The highlight of my visit to Bánica was dinner with
Fathers Jason Weber and Keith O’Hare and three local
seminarians. Another high point was the news of a new school
in the hills. For the first time, students in the region of
Sombrero would go beyond the third grade to complete
elementary school.
Bishop José Grullon Estrella of the Diocese of San
Juan de la Maguana was the architect of this project. He
showed me a Dominican welcome at his Obispado at San Juan,
taking me to the construction of a new high school plus minor
seminary that the diocese would manage.
I was guest at the annual banquet of Cedajur, the diocesan
human rights center. Among the accomplishments celebrated
were the more than 400 Haitian-Dominicans who received
legalization, a step to citizenship. I had been able to
facilitate the funding for this project.
The next morning at the cathedral I concelebrated with Bishop
Grullon his Red Mass with more than 100 judges, lawyers,
procurators and officials from the Administration of Justice.
Seated next to the ordinary as the Psalm was sung Bishop
José whispered in my ear, “Gerardo, you do the Gospel
and share a palabrita, a littler word.” Sometimes the Holy
Spirit does better than hours of preparation.
“In this New Year of mercy may justice be tempered by
clemency for La República Dominicana, for our
neighbors in Haiti and for the Syrian refugees,” I said.
My trip was complete with a visit to the Home of our Little
Brothers and Sisters near San Pedro de Macoris. On the feast
of the Baptism of the Lord, 150 displaced children and youths
joined me to celebrate our adoption into a spiritual family
of love and faith.
Fr. Creedon served as founding pastor of the diocesan mission
in Bánica, Dominican Republic, from 1991-95.
