Bishop Samuel Ruiz on leaving Chiapas 9. Subscription / Unsubscription
1. Students begin classes in Oventic, Aguascalientes II!
We were very happy to learn from the last Education Caravan for
Peace that the "First of January" Zapatista Autonomous Rebellious
Secondary School (ESRAZ) has opened with 140 students who have enthusiastically
begun their advanced studies in an environment of respect and dignity.
We must congratulate the effort of all of the indigenous Maya communities
of the highlands of Chiapas who with the opening of this school have
made a gigantic step toward a world with more justice and dignity
for everyone.
During the period of building the "Primero de Enero" (ESRAZ) and
later during the training of teachers from local indigenous communities,
the moments of joy have not been few, nor have we lacked in difficult
times.
Schools for Chiapas wants to offer our gratitude to everyone who
in the last three and half years has joined in solidarity while believing
in the beautiful dream of the indigenous Zapatista communities for
an education with dignity by and for all men and women. Further, Schools
for Chiapas wishes to publicly thank the indigenous communities for
always extending their warm invitation to visit the communities and
for giving us the opportunity to live and learn by their side. In
a fine hour, health and greetings!
2. Individual Indigenous Scholarship Program Begins
Just $44 per month will maintain a boy or girl in the "Primero de
Enero" Secondary School in Oventic Aguascalientes II. With more than
150 students living in Oventic while attending full time classes,
it is vital that individual students receive support. Right now there
is an urgent need for food and school supplies. With an annual donation
of $528 or 12 monthly contributions of $44 you can help a student
obtain a uniquely democratic and indigenous dignified education. 100%
of your scholarship contributions will be sent directly to the authorities
of the Secondary School in Oventic Aguascalientes II. You can put
an automatic monthly donation or an annual contribution on you VISA
or Master Card. For additional information please call (619) 232-2841.
3. Description of the Spanish and Tzotzil Summer Language Institute
in Oventic, Chiapas, MEXICO
This summer people from around the word are invited (for the first
time) to participate in formal language classes inside of Zapatista
territory in Chiapas, MEXICO.
These high quality, native language speakers (Spanish or Tzotzil)
will teach economical classes utilizing sophisticated techniques of
instruction and the best textbooks. You may join individual or group
classes which will be offered weekly (Monday - Friday) during the
months of June, July, and August 2000. Students of the Summer Language
Institute will live and learn in Oventic, Aguascalientes II located
about 45 minutes from San Cristóbal de las Casas in the highlands
of Chiapas; previous participation in an Education Caravan for Peace
is required to enroll (see dates for summer caravans @ point # 6.)
4. Calendar of classes of the Spanish and Tzotzil Summer Language
Institute
Session #1: June 19 al 23.
Session #2: June 26 to 30.
Session #3: July 3 to 7.
Session #4: July 10 to 14.
Session #5: July 17 to 21.
Session #6 July 24 to 28.
Session #7: July 31 to Aug. 4.
Session #8: August 7 to 11.
Session #9: Augusts 14 to 18.
NOTE: Please be sure to mention both the session number(s) and dates
when registering to participate in the Summer Language Institute at
Oventic as well as the language (Spanish or Tzotzil) which you wish
to study.
We ask all people who support the process of peace and justice in
Chiapas to consider this option for taking those language classes
you've been promising to take for years! Study this summer in the
cool mountain air of the Mexican southeast and at the same time support
autonomous education in free Zapatista territory!
5. Cost for weekly language classes - 20 hours total of instruction
in Spanish or Tzotzil
A Individual instruction - one teacher for one student = $110 per
week.
B. Small group instruction - one teacher for 3 to 5 students = $75
per week
C. Mixed instruction - individual and group instruction = $90 per
week
D. Cost of room and board = $50 for Monday through Friday
There will be a one-time expense of about $20 for a textbook and
other instructional materials.
The Spanish and Tzotzil Summer Language Institute at Oventic Aguascalientes
II is a project of the Zapatista Rebellious Autonomous Education System
of National Liberation (SERAZ-LN) and all the profits will be used
to support the efforts of the indigenous peoples' of Chiapas for the
construction and development of school. Please consider this option
for language studies rather than studying in one of the many commercial
language schools!
6. Chiapas Schools Construction Teams to visit the Lacandon Jungle
Several of his summer's Education Caravans for Peace will visit
Francisco Gómez, Aguascalientes III to help begin construction of
the second autonomous, indigenous junior high school in Chiapas, MEXICO.
All the caravans will also have the opportunity to meet the students,
teachers, and families during a visit to the first autonomous, indigenous
junior high school at Oventic Aguascalientes II.
The dates of this summer's Education Caravans for Peace are:
Caravan 17: Sunday, June 11 to Saturday, June 24, 2000
Caravan 18: Sunday, June 25 to Saturday, July 8, 2000
Caravan 19: Sunday, July 9 to Saturday, July 22, 2000
Caravan 20: Sunday, July 23 to Saturday, August 5, 2000
Register today! The Maya people need you!
7. Say "YES" to Zapatista School Bonds; "NO" to the bonds of
the World Bank!
Zapatista School Bonds are another way to collect funds for the
construction of schools and the development of the Zapatista Autonomous,
Rebellious Education System (SERAZ). If at this moment you can't donate
money directly from your wallet, you can ask family and friends to
contribute with a minimum of $5.00 for each Zapatista School Bond.
Let us know how many packets of 20 bonds you want along with your
address to begin supporting the construction of Zapatista Schools.
The bonds are sent on consignment so you don't have to send any
money now. For every 20 school bonds that you sell, you send in $100
(each bond has a face value of $5.00). 100% of the money collected
from the bond program is given directly to the autonomous, indigenous
education authorities in Chiapas. Join this effort to create a model
system of public education in the jungle and mountains of the Mexican
southeast.
8. Bishop Samuel Ruiz on leaving Chiapas
Originally published in Spanish by the Diocese Office of Communication
(Translated by irlandesa)
Señor Papal Nunciate, Welcome to Chiapas and to our country.
Most eminent Cardinals,
Dear brother Bishops,
Brother Bishops and Archbishops from other countries present in our
midst,
Brothers, representatives of other religions, Beloved brother Bishop
Mons.
Felipe Arizmendi, Brothers and sisters all.
Our moment of uncertainty has passed: the dark night of our transition,
with its journalistic, political, and even inter-ecclesiastical, scenarios.
The Resurrection of Easter dispelled it that night, and the light
of Christ that is our Easter fills us. There were days, previously,
that had been wretched, bringing with them their own anxiety. From
the moment in which the succession for the pasture of this Diocese
remained unknown, numerous communities began daily prayers for you,
until today, when they still did not know the name. God, through different
mediations, has given us his response, which is being fulfilled today.
It falls to me to deliver this crosier to you, made by indigenous
artisan hands, with great affection. This crosier is, at this moment,
a symbol of our Easter transition. It is a sign that this flock is
following a path in which you shall be accompanying them as Pastor
and Guide. It is a sign that this Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las
Casas (Diocese from whose bosom, as has been noted, the other two
in Chiapas have been derived) shall not at any moment drift nor have
internal conflict, but rather be under your care, because you have
already been welcomed among us, since you passed yesterday through
the borders of what is now the land of your Diocese.
Today you have passed 60 fruitful years of life. Congratulations!
That provides us with the opportunity to join our words of congratulation
with our sister Diocese of Tapachula, present here through numerous
representatives. But, in addition, it allows us to express our appreciation,
from the bottom of our hearts, to this sister Diocese, because it
was the field the Lord gave you, so that the seed of education in
faith, which He himself planted in your heart, might grow and mature,
and which you forged as Pastor and as our brother in solidarity. One
can see, on the other hand, from these events, the divine providential
disposition that Chiapas have a common destiny, and it is focused
on service to the growth and transformation of our country.
There are clear lines of our path to the future. I shall not itemize
them, but merely mention:
This Diocese has a providential future through the Universal Church,
as testimony which it must give to the world, both inside and outside
the Church. It has a vocation of unity. It has an ecumenical and inter-religious
path which is making progress, which must be cultivated, and which
will carry us to a much greater unity, still undefined, in the Universal
Church. And we consider this, humbly, to be a contribution of this
path to the entire Church.
We are moving, timidly, but also firmly, towards an indigenous church,
with the instructions of the Council and the reflections that have
made on the Continent concerning it. There are catechists, there are
deacons, the indigenous priesthood is being visualized for the future.
And you have been charged by the Episcopal Conference to follow this
path. This also implies constant work for cultural identity. This
is a new task, including examples that even yesterday, or the day
before yesterday, had barely been perceived. There is a vocation and
calling for unity from the culture, much stronger, even, than from
Christian identity.
This is something that is happening, marvelously, throughout the
Continent. From the indigenous identity there is a religious and political
drawing together that could not have been achieved in any other way.
One must, therefore, go more deeply into the Gospel in these respects,
the Pastoral Agents as well as, obviously, the Christian faithful.
And we cannot conceal from you - nor can you ignore - that this
Church, a pilgrim like the entire Church - in the conflict, that is
in the Cross of the Lord. It is a conflict of war that has not been
resolved, and it is a conflict of option, because the poor are the
consequence of social conflict. And so, it is not prophecy, but simply
looking, and seeing for oneself, that those who vituperate this church
are going to justify and are going to justify themselves. They will
defame those whom they consider to be an obstacle to their plans,
and they will continue attacking it if it is not docile in the face
of the system and to its unjust requirements.
But here we also have a task, a pastoral of reconciliation, through
inter-community dialogue, and through dialogue with all forces, including
also the task of discovering, and having discovered, the evangelizing
method for reaching our armed forces, present in such great numbers
on our land. This does not remain such a simple task, but it is one
most certainly full of future results, because the Lord shall accompany
us along this entire path, with his light and the strength of his
Spirit.
All of this can be summed up in one thing, which you have already
experienced, and which we are all experiencing, as we more clearly
comprehend what the Church's path means, a fundamental and elemental
option, which is the option for the poor.
By delivering this to you then, brother Bishop, this crosier, we
understand that the strength of the Spirit and the Light which He
brings, shall accompany you always.
Mons. Samuel Ruiz Garcia
Bishop Emeritus of San Cristóbal de Las Casas
Diocese Office of Communication
Email: comunica@laneta.apc.org
http://www.laneta.apc.org/curiasc
Donations and pledges to the program are vital! Join us!
Schools for Chiapas
Chanobjunetik ta Chiapas
Escuelas para Chiapas
Chiapas Schools Construction Teams
San Diegans for Peace in Mexico
1717 Kettner Blvd., Suite 125
San Diego, CA 92102
(619) 232-2841
FAX (619) 232-0500
schoolsforchiapas@mexicopeace.org