09/03/2016 Wednesday
This evening we visited Sr Martha Ann who is a religious sister of the Incarnate Word. She had invited us to take a look at some of the murals painted in the south west area of San Antonio. This district is primarily an Hispanic area. After viewing the murals we returned to her convent house in the district where we were joined by Larry Hufford (St Mary’s University and Corrymeela) and his wife Lynda. We had a great evening talking about San Antonio, religion and, of course, politics. Yvonne gave an impromptu talk on sectarianism round the dinner table!
Here a just a few of the murals:
Figures based on skeletons and skulls are feature of traditional Mexican art. It is to do with All Souls Day and remembering and honouring the ancestors. It is about fun and fiesta rather than being macabre.
10/03/2016 Thursday morning
We had a brief visit to Alamo Colleges headquarters to meet the Chancellor, Bruce Leslie, who has overall charge of the five Alamo Colleges. We discussed what we had been doing and what we had learned whilst being in San Antonio. He talked about his visit and involvement with the Belfast Metropolitan College last year. Belfast Met are involved in a creative thinking project called FRESH which the Alamo Colleges want to bring to their colleges. In fact we were told that two members of Belfast Met were in currently S.A. for several days although we were unable to meet them. There is a good chance that we will see the Chancellor at Corrymeela.
11/03/2016 Thursday Lunchtime
We met Sister Walter Maher, also of the Incarnate Word, for lunch at the Silo. She had invited us to take part in an event to mark the anniversary of the Incarnate Word University. This is an annual event at which we have been asked to lead a session on the role of mercy in reconciliation. So we did some planning with Sr Walter for this as well as finding out more about her order and her Irish roots. A very nice meal by the way!