Ministry in Honduras with the L'Arche Community

"It is the poor and fragile persons who hold us together"

Sister Patricia Dowling CSJ

What it is

Sister Patricia Dowling CSJ is now on a year's sabbatical leave. This is her story of spending 20 years with two L'Arche communities in Honduras, Central America.

Her first ministry in a developing country was with the CSJ's former mission in Guatemala, where the Sisters worked with the people to form leaders who would help the poor realize their dignity and rights. Then, an invitation to spend three months at a L'Arche community in Honduras turned into a 20-year ministry.

At L'Arche, Honduras, some of the mentally challenged people live in the L'Arche houses along with the assistants, some with their families. They can also attend the workshops while living out. Family members and others can belong to L'Arche, which is open to all religions and cultures. Sister Patricia says,

"At Teguicgalpa, my first responsibility was for the little school of special education that L'Arche had created. From there, I became house leader, the person who, with the assistants, nourishes and creates a loving atmosphere for the community. Then, I was invited to Choluteca, a town in southern Honduras, to be their community leader."

The vision

Sister Patricia explains the way L'Arche works,

"The home is at the heart of L'Arche. The main therapy is home life, belonging to a family. Weak and fragile people call forth others to come and live with them. Often, people see us helping this person. That's all they see. They don't see that that person is converting us, is changing us. It is mutual. We grow together. We discover and learn to accept our weaknesses and enter into deep relationships, which are at the heart of L'Arche.

"For example, I see another visitor coming and I've got the day piled up with work. Then I see Erika, one of our people, go running up to the gate and say, "OH, COME ON IN!!!" You learn how welcoming they are. They take everybody into their hearts without exception: the president the same as the poor man from the mountain—it doesn't make a speck of difference. You get your eyes opened watching that. You say to yourself: 'And I thought I knew how to love!'

"It is the poor and fragile persons who hold us together. I could give you the example of Raphael. He was extremely fragile, never could talk and never could walk. But he understood. At one time, he was so very difficult, and we couldn't see any improvement. But little by little, with the help of the psychologist, we discovered there was tension between two of the assistants. Raphael being so weak needed an atmosphere of unity. Once they made peace, Raphael improved. We called him our community thermometer."

Call to mission

Vatican II's invitation to religious orders to respond to the needs of the Third World in the '60's deeply affected Sr. Patricia:

"The Bishops of Latin America wrote the Medaillin Documents and that really changed the whole attitude on missionaries. This was the beginning of small basic Christian communities—from a hierarchical church to a church of the whole people of God."

A teacher at the time, she was also drawn by a growing desire to work with the poor. The experience changed her:

"I discovered you don't go to bring God: God is already there. Evangelization is not only me evangelizing; I am there to be evangelized. Reading scripture with the eyes of the poor, in circles with the poor, was really a different experience."