January 2009

One of our January high points was the visit of Cindy Floyd and Pete Laurie, Michael’s sister and her husband. Because Pete worked for years in wildlife journalism, and both are avid birders, our itinerary included three national parks: Los Haitises up north on the Samaná Bay, Sierra de Bahoruco over on the lower Haitian border, and Jaragua down in the southwestern corner near Pedernales. We got to see parts of the country that we hadn’t seen before, parts that are pretty far off the usual tourist track (because most tourists stick to the beach resorts). We learned that there are relatively many species of birds here because of the great diversity of habitats—pine forests in the mountains, palms on the shore, dry forests in the middle elevations, fresh- and salt-water swamps, desert in the northwest, etc. Hispaniola has over 300 species of birds, more than 30 of which are endemic to the island.

Michael and April with visitors Cindy and Pete

The Dominican Republic has pretty good ecological policies and conservation plans, but it lacks the resources to implement them and maintain its extensive system of national parks. There is creeping deforestation from across the Haitian border, where almost all of the forests have been completely cut. The promise of eco-tourism is little appreciated, and so it is not widely promoted. In contrast with our experience in Costa Rica several years ago, where we encountered lots of theological reflection on ecological issues, the churches here have not given them much attention.  But things have hardly deteriorated to the point of no return, and there is growing concern—partly because

Haiti’s example has raised consciousness of how bad it can get. One of the graduating students at the Centro de Estudios Teológicos (CET) is doing his thesis on the interface between scientific cosmology and the doctrine of creation, and Michael will be one of his supervisors.

Location of Los Haitises, Bahoruco, and Jaragua National Parks

Hazy view of Lago Enriquillo from the hills of Bahoruco	Views of the coast and rocky beaches near Barahona on the way from Bahoruco to Jaragua

Endemic species - Broad-Billed Tody.	Endemic species - Hispaniolan Trogon	Endemic species - Hispaniolan Oriole	Endemic species - Palmchats (the national bird)

Los Haitises is named for outcroppings of rock like this, whether on land or in the water	Cindy and Pete stalk the rare Hispaniolan Crossbill at Jaragua--we didn't get to see it!

Our base camp at Bahoruco	Aerial photo showing extreme deforestation on the Haiti side of the border (to the left)

	On the trail at Los Haitises (left) Flamingos in the shallow laguna in Jaragua (above)

Later in January our Diocese received a five-day visit from Katharine Jefferts Schori, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. Representatives of the Dominican Episcopal Church took her on a whirlwind tour of prominent congregations and institutions, including CET. She joined a group of seminary students, faculty and graduates for dinner one evening. The PB´s visit was an important event in the life of the Diocese because it gave the Dominicans an opportunity to identify what they consider the best of their efforts, and to show a representative of the church at large what they are contributing to the church´s common life. They wanted to show her the positive results of integrating community service with evangelization.

Bishop Katharine with seminary students from El Salvador, Juan Pablo Alvarado and José Roberto Castro	Bishop Katharine with members of CET faculty - Jean Monique Bruno, Tony García, Daniel Samuel and Daniel Gonzílez

It was interesting to watch attitudes towards Bishop Katharine change. Dominicans are well aware of the church’s extreme polarization in the US, and the PB was widely perceived to be on the liberal side. Although there are similar differences of opinion here, the Dominican church’s emphasis on the common ground of mission has helped it to avoid this polarizing dynamic. Still, the majority probably feels an affinity with conservatives in the US, and some therefore expected to encounter the PB as an opponent. Fortunately, that did not happen because Bishop Katharine’s openness and even-handedness won respect for her and her leadership all around. 

Widely broadcast image of Bishop Katharine preaching to the crowd

There are relatively few women clergy here because neither the Roman Catholics nor the majority of evangelicals ordain women. Only the denominations that would be regarded as “mainline” in the US do so, and they are a very small percentage of the Christian population. Despite this, the PB’s gender seemed to make no ripples. Only one of the daily newspapers featured her visit, but there was good TV coverage. Responses to the widely broadcast image of Bishop Katharine preaching in her bishop’s vestments focused on the implications of her sermon for Dominican educational policies rather than the fact that she’s female.  

The climax of the PB’s visit was a festive eucharist at a sports stadium in Santo Domingo, attended by several thousand Episcopalians from all over the country. This was followed by a gala luncheon with clergy and lay leaders at a downtown hotel. We have now been to several mass gatherings of this sort, and they are a wonderful opportunity for the church to see itself in all its diversity. We come away with a renewed sense of our common cause—Christ’s reconciling mission to the world. 

The Presiding Bishop doing just that at festive eucharist in her honor at the Centro Olímpico	Bishop Katharine poses with April and Michael after the eucharist

Folkdancers perform a the farewell luncheon	Episcopal Church Women present their gift to Bishop Katharine

Peace in the new year,
Michael and April