This article is from page 26 of the 2008-04-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 26 JPG
A SHANNON priest who left the parish to minister to the poor in Ec- uador has led the first ever Easter celebrations in his new parish of El Bautismo del Jesus.
Fr Colm Hogan decamped from Shannon to work with the communi- ties in Ecuador who are leaving their homes in the county and living in wooden huts on the outskirts of the city in the hope of better employment opportunities.
But the Shannon curate is already making his mark, having led a con- eregation in the first ever Easter cel- ebrations in the community of the poor and now he’s planning to build a church there.
In letters back to his former Clare parish, Fr Colm explained that they have had to cope with monsoon rain- falls since the beginning of the year, in a place with no running water and no toilets.
“Some days the roads to my par- ish are impassable, there are huge craters, not potholes, developed in the mud roads and the roads that were tarred have either collapsed or just washed away. In all honesty the mud tracks on my brothers farm at home are in much better condition,’ he wrote.
Fr Colm is working with people who are living on the outskirts of a city which is steeped in wealth while his parishioners don’t even have a minimum wage.
“I was chatting to one guy today who is a mechanic in a garage in the city centre, and for 45 hours work every week, he takes home $80, his lunch break each day is ten minutes. Many of the families in the parish where I am based live in straw huts with no sewage or water facilities and basically only one big room, for families of up to ten people. Nights of heavy rains destroy such homes very easily.”
But despite their poverty, the people have “great dignity” and have made him welcome, Fr Colm and his pa- rishioners have now begun work on a small chapel which will hold about 100 people.
‘Much more facilities are needed in time, a central church location, a
parish house to live in, development of some of the schools which are in terrible conditions, a medical clinic and who knows what more,” Fr Colm Said.
There are two accounts open to support Fr Colm’s work, an account in Shannon Credit Union which can be accessed through the Shannon parish office beside St John and Paul Presbytery and the Fr Colm Hogan Ecuador Relief Fund account. The account number 1s 04613076 and the sort code is 93-22-72-AIB Birr.