June 17-25th, 2006 will be the next installment of the Bapchule Bound mission trip to the St. Peter’s Indian Mission in Bapchule, AZ.
Mark your calendars now ladies and gentlemen. This is a great service program that provides a real need to this Catholic community.
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The Bapchule Bound mission experience, unlike the University Catholic Center’s Mission Trip to Arteaga, Mexico, focuses virtually all efforts onto pastoral work with the community. The construction aspect of this trip used only three staff full-time with the occasional person helping out at night.
Upon much thought and prayer, the concept of virtues and their importance seemed to fit well with our expectations for the mission.

A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions.

Above, as the Catechism (1803) introduces us to virtues, I feel that this explains my feelings towards the subject matter and the community of young people we were serving.
“…but to give the best of himself.”
I have only worked directly with the older kids in Bapchule, those in 7th grade and above. In the two short weeks over two years that I have spent with them, I am convinced that this line best explains the purpose of virtues in their lives. Each and every single one of them is an amazing, great individual. Some of them have had bad raps or found themselves involved with some unsavory things or whatnot; however, talk to them one-on-one or in a small group and you’ll quickly see how each of them are truly precious. Many, if not most or all, of these young people live in unbearable situations. If they themselves don’t, members of their family or their close friends do. I firmly believe that those who find themselves wrapped in on the wrong side of drugs or alcohol or sex or violence are not bad kids at all; most of them have been dealt a bad hand and are trying not to allow them let that bad hand limit them to not giving the best of him or her.

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We focused on seven virtues over five days: the four cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues.

• Prudenceis the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it; “the prudent man looks where he is going.” “Keep sane and sober for your prayers.” Prudence is “right reason in action,” writes St. Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle. It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation. It is called auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues); it guides the other virtues by setting rule and measure. It is prudence that immediately guides the judgment of conscience. The prudent man determines and directs his conduct in accordance with this judgment. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases without error and overcome doubts about the good to achieve and the evil to avoid.
• Justiceis the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called the “virtue of religion.” Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good. The just man, often mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures, is distinguished by habitual right thinking and the uprightness of his conduct toward his neighbor. “You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.” “Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.”
• Fortitudeis the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause. “The Lord is my strength and my song.” “In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
• Temperanceis the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will’s mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable. The temperate person directs the sensitive appetites toward what is good and maintains a healthy discretion: “Do not follow your inclination and strength, walking according to the desires of your heart.” Temperance is often praised in the Old Testament: “Do not follow your base desires, but restrain your appetites.” In the New Testament it is called “moderation” or “sobriety.” We ought “to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world.
• Faithis the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith “man freely commits his entire self to God.” For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God’s will. “The righteous shall live by faith.” Living faith “work[s] through love.”
• Hopeis the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” “The Holy Spirit . . . he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.”
• Charity or LoveThe practice of all the virtues is animated and inspired by charity, which “binds everything together in perfect harmony”; it is the form of the virtues; it articulates and orders them among themselves; it is the source and the goal of their Christian practice. Charity upholds and purifies our human ability to love, and raises it to the supernatural perfection of divine love.

We gave each cardinal virtue a day and combined the theological virtues into a fun-filled Friday.
How much did we reach the kids with these virtues? Who knows. We had a “Skit Squad” do a great job with a different skit each day for each grade level (more or less) that gave everyone something concrete to connect the virtue with, we discussed Bible stories and saints that highlighted the virtue and we gave talks about each.
At the same time, my goal was not to provide catechetical instruction to the youth. If virtues are to enable us to let our best out and to help us show others what we’re really made of, being able to recite the Catechism’s description of each is not the goal.

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What is the virtue, to use the word in a different way, of taking a week out of our lives and finding ourselves in Bapchule with these kids? Quite simply, it is to make a connection with them. It is just to be there with them. Sure, it’s about giving a talk on justice and helping them to see that we all have a calling of making things right in the world. Sure, it’s about giving a talk on temperance or faith or hope. Above that, it’s about being ourselves just while there. It’s about being examples of temerance and faith and hope ourselves.
We were there to preach the Gospel at all times, and when needed, we used words. Our actions had to reflect, above all else, the virtues we taught them. I think we did a good job of it.

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As I type all of this, I can’t help but think how is that any different than what every day should be like? It’s not. We didn’t spend a week out in Bapchule to serve these “needy kids who need to hear from us about virtues”. We spent a week in Bapchule to serve kids who hopefully we helped by giving them an outside examples of virtue and to serve kids who gave us hope in tomorrow.

The Friday before the mission week rolled around. During the day, nothing exciting too place. I caught up on a couple of e-mails, sent some postal mail. Really, there was nothing exciting to mention.
Around 5 p.m., Vanessa and Teeney, a student from Texas A&M who had previously served at St. Peter’s, arrived from The Woodlands. We made our way to the van rental business and picked up our brand new 2005 Chevy 15-passenger vans. These vans were so new that they still had the temporary plates on them. After dinner and a trip to J&J’s Towing, we sit down and go over in too brief of detail what was going to happen the next week.
Around 1 a.m., I went home. I packed until 2:30 a.m. and left to drive to DFW. I made good time and pulled into DFW’s remote parking just before 6 a.m. My flight takes off on time and I land in Phoenix along with Amelia and Greg. Two of the sisters, whom I never had any personal interaction with before, pick us up from PHX.
We pull into St. Peter’s Indian Mission. If you were to go to Mapquest or Google Maps or one of those websites and look up Bapchule,AZ, you would see exactly where we were at. For whatever reason, the mission school is where all the various online map sites believe Bapchule is exactly located.
The school was much like I remember it. They had added a blue tent/tarp type thing over the basketball court, thanks to a NIH grant. The church now had air conditioning suitable for a building of that size. All in all, the site was just like last year.
We prep the site somewhat; getting a feel for what we had access to, collecting keys, determined location of classrooms. Nothing too exciting but the type of stuff an advance group should handle.
At 4 p.m., I found myself back at PHX with a school bus to pick up the various students from the University of Notre Dame who were flying in. Almost everyone was already there. One person was bumped to a later flight and we had to wait on him. We leave the airport missing one person, completely unsure as to where she was. Later, we learn that she misbooked her flight for the wrong day. I can’t say too much about this- I did the same thing last year when flying to ND to visit Vanessa.
I’m horrible with icebreakers. I’m not a fan of them; I don’t enjoy them. They simply aren’t my cup of tea. That’s fine except when you’re in charge of 15 people, virtually none of them knowing anyone else, all about to start a week-long project that requires them to know each other. A good number of people seemed to have started to talk amongst them. After seeing this, I just let everyone go to their own devices.
Amelia demands that I take a nap. I had dozed off for a few minutes at a time on the plane but that is not nearly enough sleep after being awake all day, driving all night and starting to coordinate a mission. While I’m off sleeping too heavy to dream, Amelia has the troops sort through all of the various supplies that we inherited from the previous church’s leftovers.
That evening, I hosted a very informal, very quick and very unofficial Ethics workshop. This was one of the more confusing aspects of planning this experience. The Bishop of Austin said that everyone from his diocese had to confirm to Diocese of Austin protocols, i.e. a workshop and background check before working with minors. The Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, home to Notre Dame, said he had no preference. The Bishop of Phoenix wanted everyone to have some type of training with various key points taught without question. The Austin requirements completely fulfilled the Phoenix requirements. For everyone coming outside of Austin, there was no training we could have our staff go to in order to meet Phoenix requirements. After chatting with the Phoenix Diocesan offices, my quick training would be good enough. They also asked that Austin people would be matched up to ND people to whatever level was possible. We tried.
Still very tired, I forget now of what the rest of that first day consisted. The two vans had left that morning and were now in El Paso stopping overnight. Without any other immediate concerns, I fall asleep.
At an ungodly hour that I do not know, I hear a constant knocking on my door. It is one of the sisters. One of our staffers who I had thought would be arriving around noon was already there and no one knew where she should go. Honestly, I have no idea what I said or what happened. I think I may have suggested that they go take a nap. I don’t remember.
I receive a phone call- the vans were almost there. Moments later, Van Wilder and Van Halen pull up and make their new home St. Peter’s. Later that day, I pick up the last of the staff from the PHX airport. Through the air, on land, with detours, delayed flights and missed turns, the staff of Bapchule Bound 2005 had all arrived.

On what is very much becoming an annual experience, I spent last week in Bapchule, Arizona serving at the St. Peter’s Indian Mission. Last year, I was a retreat leader for the Jr. High retreat aspect of the Vacation Bible School staffed by Sts. Simon and Jude parish in The Woodlands, TX. The parish had served at this location for three years previous and as far as I knew, were going to continue this program.
After the calendars flipped over to 2005, Vanessa Gonzalez told me that the parish had opted to not continue their relationship with the mission church. Vanessa, with a passion I have yet to see from anyone else, was set on continuing some presence to these kids at St. Peter’s. Soon enough, she was telling me about ideas for a two-week program, a Jr. High-High School program one week and a VBS program the second week. I thought we were taking on more than we could handle with a one-week VBS and Jr. High-High School retreat.
The Brandon Kraft Foundation, created exactly for this purpose, by virtue of the decision of our Board of Directors, approved a measure offering any and all of our services and resources to see to the completion of this program. Vanessa talked with Sr. Martha, principal of the St. Peter’s School, and set a date. The Foundation offered a web presence, such as it was, as well as e-mail and financial management resources. Stephanie Elliott and I brought the issue to Fr. Dave at the University Catholic Center. The program was approved and given the same rights and privileges as any other student organization at the Center.
Vanessa found money in places I didn’t know existed and recruited on top of that. At Texas, we raised some funds, nothing close to what we could have if we put our full effort into it. Our recruitment efforts weren’t as fruitful as we had hoped; too many people, it seemed, had already had their summer plans set. I don’t blame them. We didn’t start this process until after Spring Break. At Texas, we were the new kids on the block and we did not want to get on the bad side of the Mexico Mission Trip. This very established trip was vital to the social justice mission of the University Catholic Center and while our mission trip fits into the puzzle that is the UCC, we did not want to impact the success of our previous programs.
In either case, it worked. People signed up. Checks were received. Sr. Martha said kids were signing up.
Personally, I found myself in a personal funk. What were we doing? We were short-staffed. We weren’t reaching our fundraising goals. I had forgotten the importance of this program to this community. I know I didn’t do nearly the amount of work I could do in order to make this program successful. I don’t like to have regrets. I feel that you should make all your actions something that of which you are proud. If someone acts about your actions, you should be able to recall them proudly. You might have mistakes but they should be mistakes that were executed while giving all the effort that you’re able. To be completely frank and honest, I did not do what I could to make this project successful. My personal faith was lacking what was needed to see a project like this to completion. In either case, Vanessa made it happen despite my issues. I don’t like to have regrets but I do regret not putting 100% into this program.
I think Vanessa is too humble to accept my praise of her efforts; nevertheless, here it is: despite her weaknesses and because of her strengths, she was able to make this thing happen. Stephanie and I did a lot of prep work without doubt, but without her, this would have never happened. Her love for this community ensured that it would be served.
In either case, no matter my doubts or our current status, it was go time.

Bapchule Bound 2005, the summer mission trip that I coordinated along with Vanessa Gonzalez and Stephanie Elliott, is now complete. Over the next few days, I’ll go into more depth and reflection, but for now, it was an amazing trip. We had over 200 kids in either VBS or the Jr/Sr. High retreat- an all-time high. We only had about 30 staff.
It worked wonderfully.
Stay tuned for the Bapchule Bound 2005 reflection series.