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Letter of the Provincial of Australia-East Timor |
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This is a portion of a letter Wayne Stanhope, the Provincial of the Australia-Timor Leste, wrote to the Province on July 26, 2006. It is reprinted here with his permission. Prior to heading to Sydney to join with our brothers there, I spent the previous week (5th July – 11th July) in Timor Leste. To be in solidarity with our Carmelite brothers and sisters at this critical time in their history meant a great deal, and I tried to communicate to them your love and prayer. The situation was quite overwhelming, currently there are around 150,000 people scattered in refugee camps throughout Dili. Market centres, shops, restaurants as well as whole areas of housing have been burnt to the ground or destroyed. The marauding gangs continue to move throughout the night destroying, looting and burning. The tension at night continues to be quite distressing. Our novices, students and professed friars, guard our houses throughout the night to protect not only ourselves but the refugees seeking protection with us. We presently have 2000 refugees in Motael, Dili being looked after by our Carmelite sisters and assisted by our friars especially Nelinho Americo Ferreira Soares. Nelinho is the associate pastor working in Motael parish. It is in the midst of these 2000 refugees that our brothers made their Simple Profession on the 16th July. Donatu de Jesus Marchal, Domingos Senanes do Carmo, Vitorino dos Santos, Fransisco Markes, Augustinho Exposto, Rocque Soares da Cruz, Armando Soares, Carlito da Silva and Lindo Hornay. These nine young men had spent the past three months, each night guarding our Novitiate house and at the height of the trouble, 300 refugees seeking shelter with us. They have had no electricity, no water, and every house in the street where the Novitiate is, either burnt or destroyed. When I arrived our brothers were living on rice, noodles and a little corn and had no vegetables. The International NGO had given twelve sacks of rice (50 kilos) to help feed the many people with us. At night while I was there, the noise of rivalling gangs fighting was constant. There is a loss of trust in government, neighbour and even family members. There is a reawakening of past memory of violation and abuse and a loss of confidence to self-rule, in achieving Independence people realise this was just the beginning. I was able to take into Timor-Leste medical supplies to assist the Hermanas Carmelitas in their nursing of the people and money raised from Coorparoo community and the Mercy Congregation in Parramatta. We immediately went searching for where we could buy vegetables and other food. Our brothers were exhausted and hungry and so with banks not operating the gift of money was greatly appreciated. At our property in Hera our students who continue to wait for visas (no offices have been operating) to return to Flores, have been protecting the building from being destroyed. Martinho, Angelino, Lindo and Carlos have not only protected the building but also our neighbours from gangs wielding machetes, arrows and rocks. Our brothers are safe and our building has not been damaged. Mr Bambang our builder of the new Novitiate and all his staff and workers have fled or returned to Indonesia. He is promising to return in August if the situation remains calm. We will wait and see. Fausto Tilman de Araujo, Carlisto Cab Silva, Faustino Cardoso Amaral, Pedro Amaral, Carlito da Costa Araujo and Pedro dos Santos were received into the Novitiate on the 12th July and Aniceto Maia da Costa began as our first Timor brother to be Novice Master. Frans Borta has concluded his ministry as Novice Master and as an Indonesian confrérè has had a very difficult and stressful time over these past months. We thank him for a ‘job well done’ and for his very generous service to our community in Timor-Leste. His future with us is uncertain and we shall await the outcome of his conversation with his brothers in Indonesia in the coming months. All our Indonesian confrérès are experiencing this period of time in Timor-Leste as highly stressful and threatening for them. I commend them for their courage and generosity. In our days together I facilitated a meeting, gave four conferences to the pre-novices and novices and celebrated a number of masses with our brothers. In the process of dialogue together we identified what the prophetic call was within the current situation. We summed it up in the following statement: The living of a Gospel based fraternity in Solidarity with the Poor as Reconcilers, with Integrity and Authenticity. We recognised at this time in the history of Timor-Leste, Carmelites are being called upon to live a spirit of unity within the diversity of our fraternities. An important witness in the midst of a divided country. The witnessing of a Gospel based fraternity as public religious persons is a new challenge for these young men and a significant one for the communities in which they are present. On the final day we discovered 54 families hiding in the mountains behind our new Novitiate building, terrified to return to their homes. I left our brothers in the midst of the task to provide food and shelter for these young families and their many children. Our vision as Carmelites to live as contemplatives in the midst of the people, finds redefinition when faced with such critical humanitarian needs. May our prayer be for the whole community of Timor-Leste that peace and solidarity may be achieved soon. |
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