Christ the King Weekend, in belly of the king!

On Christ the King weekend, I got to visit the Eastern most outpost of the Inca Empire with 8 others from the Institute, at an Inca fortress named Incallajta (below). It is Bolivia's largest Inca ruins. The top picture is "Cristo de la Concordia." It is Cochabamba's central figure, standing on a hill that can be seen from all parts of town. It is the "Largest Image in the world." He stands at 46 meters tall (the Statue of Liberty is only 40 meters tall). He is taller than his likeness in Rio de Janiero. I went there with my Bolivian brother, Oscar on the Feast of Christ the King. It was nice, I went to Mass, received Communion, and had Jesus in my belly, then I entered, and climbed the stairs within the statue, and found myself in the belly of Christ!

New Coordinator Visits?

Here, Fr. Colin McGinnis, St. James Society priest from Guayaquil, Ecuador is visiting Fr. Tom Henehan, MM & I in Cochabamba. He is treating us to La Contada Italian Restaurant. He is visiting because the St. James Society is training 6 lay missionaries in the Maryknoll Mission Leadership Program at the Institute. Fr. Tom is head of this program. Fr. Colis is one of three priests in Ecuador who is eligible to be the new St. James Ecuador Coordinator. Elections will be held at the retreat in Ayangue next week.

The Jesuit Missions (Chiquitania)

Four of us from the Language Institute went to visit the Jesuit Missions that they opened up in the 17th Century outside of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. They were famous for enculturating the native people, using a mixture of their customs, and the Catholic religion. They were very successful. However, due to European politics, the Jesuits were suppressed, and the Franciscans took over the missions. Here we are in front of the Mission San Ana (in the jungle . . . we saw a lot of wildlife).


We were blessed to visit these missions during the very important feast days of All Saints & Dia de los Difuntos! They really clean up, repair and decorate the cemeteries these days!

Here is an example of some of the wildlife we encountered. Besides the tarantula & rattlesnake pictured below, we saw thousands of parrots, toucans, turkey like things, wild ostriches (piyos), caymans (alligators), bats, sloth and more.