Teatro

In my wallet I am carrying a ten-boliviano ticket for admission to a benefit for a foundation that sponsors children who need heart surgery. The benefit is happening tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Teatro Adela Zamudio, a performing arts center on Avenida Heroinas in shouting distance of Convento San Francisco. The theater is ridiculously close to the convent, the time is right, and the cause is excellent. So, although it is a Wednesday, my long day with volunteering at Nuestra Casa, I will gladly go and see the show and support these needy children and their families. 

In the process, I will have my curiosity about Teatro Adela Zamudio satisfied. The theater is named for the Bolivian woman who can rightly be considered a modern founder of the nation. She is praised as an incisive woman of letters and a formidable proponent of the dignity, rights, and power of all women of the nation. Schools, statues, and streets commemorate her, and so does this theater. Whether the theater does more than bear her name to advance her legacy, I do not know. I can find out. 

I will also find out how much of a Spanish-language performance I can follow. At least I assume this performance is in Spanish. If any of it is in Aymara or Quechua, well, I shall be sunk. Regardless, here comes a worthy expedition into the arts. 

For the second consecutive day, the fount of conversation kept flowing. This was true especially in the third and fourth class periods one-to-one with Profesora Sara. In effect I gave her a two-hour tutorial on how the Roman Catholic Church declares saints nowadays. I do not remember how we came upon the topic. I think Profesora Sara steered the conversation in the direction of religious topics, and from there I kept the train a-rolling. Somehow we went from talking about the hierarchy of holy days in the Church to the feast days of the saints to how saints become recognized universally as saints. An overview of church history brought us to the present, and here I gave a description of the process of promoting the cause of a holy woman or holy man for canonization. Once again, though in simplified language, I seemed to find the words, the phrases, and the grammar I needed, with very few pauses for thinking. Whatever is happening, it is working well. In fact, Profesora Sara told me I should become a catechist or do faith formation in a parish somewhere in Cochabamba. Apart from conducting a few classes at Church of the Good Shepherd with Betsy Roman, our coordinator for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, I have not done catechesis since I led confirmation classes for middle-school children at my hometown parish, Our Lady of Grace, in 2004-05. Those classes were in English, of course. I make note of what Profesora Sara said because she is the second person after Señora Janneth at Nuestra Casa to affirm I can do ministry with Spanish-speaking peoples. 

Tomorrow morning, Profesora Sara and I will compare our ideas for upcoming conversations and make plans. Another cultural interview has been scheduled for Friday, thanks to Señoras Kitty and Tania, this time with a woman from the Caribbean. Indeed, the train keeps a-rolling.