Agathe Hug/org. Panama is the hook in Central America that joins North America with South America, which hangs from Colombia. The narrowest part of its territory is only fifty-four kilometers wide. A limit separates Panama from Costa Rica and the other, from Colombia. The Atlantic Ocean flanks one side while the Pacific flanks the other side. On December 10th, Schoenstatt’s gaze will be directed toward Panama, when the Mass “toward 2014” is celebrated in covenant with this country.
Schoenstatt in Panama
First “Schoenstatt in Panama,” the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign arrived in Panama about three decades ago through Father Esteban Uriburu.
Last May, Father Rómul Aguilar and a group of Panamanian pilgrims arrived in Schoenstatt. It was the first pilgrimage from Panama to the Original Shrine. At the end of the nineties, Father Rómulo met Father Esteban Uriburu, and he invited him to visit Buenos Aires so that he could personally learn about the life of the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign, and in so doing, spread it in Panama. Father Rómulo valued this mission, and he took care that the Pilgrim MTA reached the people. During the month of May in Schoenstatt with profound emotion, he took the torch of preparation for 2014.
Since the beginning of this year (2011), there are two Mothers’ Groups, one Couple’s Group, and a Girls’ Group. On October 18th of this year, the Schoenstatt Family from Panama celebrated the Year of the Shrine current with a special moment of grace: there were forty-two Covenants of Love from these groups and from the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign.
A canal that unites two oceans
Besides this, when you think about Panama, surely you arrive at the Panama Canal. This canal is presently one of the world’s most important navigable routes, and after it was returned by the United States in 1999, it is also the country’s greatest source of income. But the history of its construction is tragic. It cost approximately 28,000 human lives. It was begun by a French businessman – Fernando de Lesseps, who also built the Suez Canal -in 1881, during its construction with the French in charge, 22,000 workers died, an average of 7.5 lives per day. The cause was yellow fever and ultimately because of the ignorance of the doctors who accompanied them. They advised the workers to place the bed frames over a receptacle of water, which was precisely the incubation place of the mosquitoes that transmitted the disease. In part, the dead were sent to their towns in barrels of vinegar, so that there would not be so many crosses on the work site.
Bad planning, defective geological studies, bad organization and financial problems led the construction firm to bankruptcy, which as a result of the financial and political circumstances, the French suspended the work.
In 1902, France sold the entire complex to the United States for two million dollars; approximately 40% of the work that had been done could still be used to continue. But before continuing the work, they worked against yellow fever and malaria. Large military detachments and Marines fought the plague of mosquitoes with petroleum. They sprayed the houses, they built drainage in the marshes and puddles, and when the mosquitoes formed again after a rain, they immediately covered them with petroleum.
Yellow fever and malaria were eradicated in 1905 in the area of the Panama Canal, and they could now truly resume the construction of the canal. During the work, from 1906 to 1914, 5, 609 workers died as a result of accidents and illnesses, an average of 1.9 deaths per day, many less that the previous 7.5. On August the 15, 1914, the first boat crossed through the canal. The centenary of the Panama Canal will be celebrated the same year as Schoenstatt!
A brief reference to the history of Panama
Panama was a Spanish colony, split in 1821 from Great Colombia that was formed by Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, part of Peru, and Guiana that existed from 1819/23 until 1830.
Panama became independent with the help of the United States, but the United States maintained the area around the canal and the income for its use, by paying rent. In 1999, Panama recuperated sovereignty of the canal zone, which was returned by the United States.
Two thirds of the Panamanians (60%) are mestizos, a mixture of the indigenous people and Europeans. Negroes and mulatos with a total of 15%. compose the second group. They are divided in two groups half of each group is considered Afro-Panamanian. They are the descendents of African slaves brought by Spain, who speak Spanish, or they are immigrants of the western Indian Islands, where the English Creole language dominates. 13% of the Afro-Panamanians speak this language. The indigenous people are 8.3% of the population. They were almost exterminated at the beginning of the Spanish Colonization. 4% of the total population is Asian.
Religious freedom is absolutely guaranteed in Panama. If the majority of the residents are Roman Catholic, there are a variety of churches, temples, and synagogues with religious services held daily. 86% of the population is Roman Catholic, 5% is Evangelical, 2% is Jewish, 1% is Muslim and 6% belong to other denominations.
The Holy Mass in Covenant with and for Panama will be celebrated on December 10th, the Saturday on the eve of the third Sunday of Advent and the anniversary of the crowning of the Blessed Mother in the Original Shrine in 1939.
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| 06.06.2011 – Peregrinación desde Panamá con el P. Rómulo |
Photos – October 18 in Panamá
Translation: Celina Garza, Melissa Janknegt, USA
