GIFTS FROM THE HEART
Michele M. Gierck
A young woman gives her life in the service of the people of Honduras; a gift deeply treasured by its people.
Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez SDB, in Australia recently to give the Caritas Dom Helder Camara Lecture, dedicated the Melbourne evening to Dr Jane Connor—a medical doctor and past student of Genazzano FCJ College—who worked in Honduras, the Cardinal’s homeland.
According to Trish Cowling, the principal of Genazzano, Jane was a ‘dedicated and compassionate student’. No surprise then that she went on to gain a medical degree, later offering her services to Médécins Sans Frontières (MSF), Doctors Without Borders.
MSF is a non-government organisation which attracts people in the medical profession and support staff, who are as enthusiastic and able to put up with tough conditions as they are highly skilled.
Jane’s first assignment in 1997 was Afghanistan; her second in September 1998 was Honduras, arriving less than two months before Hurricane Mitch devastated Central America. An estimated 14,000 people were killed or missing in Honduras and crops and infrastructure across the country were wiped out as a result of the hurricane.
On 16 November 1998, in the wake of the hurricane, Jane was accompanying a critically ill patient to hospital when the helicopter she was travelling in crashed into the sea. All on board perished. Dr Jane Connor was 29 years of age and her body was never recovered.
One of her colleagues recalls, ‘Aside from being a gifted doctor, she had the rare talent of making whomever she was addressing feel the most important person in the world. Jane treated everyone with utmost respect’.
Respect was the way Cardinal Rodriguez began the Caritas Dom Helder Camara Lecture in Melbourne; not only dedicating the evening to Jane’s memory, but also presenting her mother, sister and brother (present in the front row) with a gift from Honduras. It was a touching moment—one of deep solidarity.
While Cardinal Rodriguez may not be a household name in Australia, he is well known in Latin America, not so much for his presidency of the Latin American Bishop’s Conference (CELAM), but more so because of his love of, and commitment to the poor.
Bishop Rodriguez—who became the first Honduran Cardinal in 2001—was part of the Jubilee 2000 Coalition which demonstrated peacefully outside the G7 meeting in Germany. He describes one scene.
‘We were in a big rally, along both sides of the Rhine River. With 50,000 people, there had to be order in the rally. All of us had whistles. We were allowed 15 minutes to whistle. That was a big sound’, he laughs, then reflects, ‘It is necessary to raise consciousness.’
Twenty years prior, Cardinal Rodriguez (a bishop at the time) was apostolic administrator in the south of Honduras, bordering El Salvador. The beginning of the civil war and the assassination of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero (March 1980) resulted in thousands fleeing—perhaps as many as 20,000—seeking safety on the Honduran border. It was, according to the Cardinal, a most difficult time.
At that stage the refugee camps had not been established. People, mainly women and children were living in fear. The National Guard (Salvadoran forces) frequently entered the area and harassed the refugees, until the church stepped in.
‘Then we started defending their rights (the refugees’) and
organising the people’, explains Cardinal Rodriguez.
What was the response of the local Honduran population?
‘To begin with, many of the refugees were living in the homes of local peasants; those which usually housed five became a home for ten people. They were very poor, but they shared what they had.’
Once a refugee camp was established, the church, working with the local population, managed to serve the place of refuge for one year without the help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), who took over at the end of 1981. Not only was Cardinal Rodriguez struck by the generosity of the poor, that is, the local Hondurans, but also the faith of the refugee community.
‘Signs of Hope—Where is the Spirit Working in our Church and our Culture?’ was the topic for the Caritas Dom Helder Camara Lecture. In a region of the world which over the last 25 years has been beset by war, earthquakes and hurricanes, one might wonder how it is possible for Central Americans to have any hope left.
Cardinal Rodriguez’s enthusiasm, his commitment to social justice and human rights, and his Latin American charm, were not lost on his Sydney and Melbourne audiences.
Of this he is sure, ‘In spite of the suffering, we are all called to be witnesses to signs of hope’.
The Honduran Cardinal tells of a shanty-town flattened by Hurricane Mitch, now rebuilt and offering its inhabitants dignified housing. He also speaks of the reconciliation following the Salvadoran Truth Commission.
Yet if there is one event in recent times which has inspired the Cardinal, it was the number of young people from around the globe who attended the recent World Youth Day with the Pope in Canada.
It is fitting that Cardinal Rodriguez dedicated the lecture to the memory of Dr Jane Connor. Anyone who puts their life and their skills at the service of the most vulnerable on our planet, is indeed a sign of hope—one we cannot afford to forget.
Medecins sans Frontieres is at www.msf.org
Information on the Caritas Helder Camara Lecture series is at www.caritas.org.au/education/helder.htm
For more information on Cardinal Rodgriguez go to www.cathnews.com/news/208/170.php
For a brief biography of Dom Helder Camara go to www.cathtelecom.com/news/909/15.html
CURRENT ISSUE | ABOUT | ADVERTISING | PREVIOUS ISSUES | LINKS
Reproduction of material from any Jesuit Publications pages
without written prior permission is strictly prohibited.
Copyright 2002 Jesuit Publications
PO Box 553 Richmond VIC 3121 Australia
Tel +61 3 9427 7311, Fax +61 3 9428 4450