Fe en La Finca, Faith at the Finca
The stained glass window in the chapel of the Finca del Niño has an inscription underneath that reads, “Él que recibe a este niño en mi nombre, a mi me recibe”. This Bible verse (Mark 9:37) means, “He who receives this child in my name receives me.” The emphasis on Catholicism at the Finca is expressed very well through this verse. The ideology there is that every child is a child of God, and that Godis in every child.
Before arriving at the Finca, I had been told that Catholicism was very present, and that it was integral to the mission of the orphanage, school, community outreach, and other programs. However, I do not think I fully understood the magnitude of this until I was completely immersed. Whether it was daily morning prayer at 6:00AM, nightly religiously-guided activities, trips to town for Mass every Sunday, weekly Hora Santa, or one of the many other activities, the emphasis and importance of the Catholic faith could not be missed.
Being raised a Catholic my whole life, I was used to the seemingly constant, if at times subtle, impact of this religion on my own life. But through my time at the Finca, I began to wonder why the emphasis on this integration of religion into the children’s lives seemed to be stressed almost to a feeling of urgency. I had understood the importance, but it now appeared to have a greater weight than I had previously experienced. I quickly discovered the reason for this. As the volunteer director explained to me, these children have people in and out of their lives on a constant basis. The volunteers stay for 2 years, but a group of them leaves every year. The house parents and tías may stay for anywhere from 6 months to a few years. The teachers are the closest thing to a constant in their lives, and they are not entirely stable figures either. So in a system of seemingly constant turnover, what stability can be brought to these children? “We can’t be there for them forever,” he said to me. “But if we can show them God we can give them someone to rely on for life. One day they have to leave this place. They can’t take the Finca with them, but they can take God.”
While they may have been “introduced” to the concept of God in the childhood, the experiences these children have had may not exactly support the presence of God. They have been abused, malnourished, and neglected. As psychologist Alice Honig explains, “children of despair have learned from their early experiences with caregivers he way to confusion, chaos and cruelty. In contrast, children who have learned loving reciprocities in families can construct meanings of concern, cherishing, and steadfastness in serving God and others. They have learned faith.”[1]
By the time they leave the Finca and become part of the greater Honduran society as educated Honduran citizens, the hope is that these children have learned faith as well. In giving them the knowledge of their faith, in this case Catholicism, they now have a means of viewing their world. The children also now have something that is their own, something that is not going to leave them. As touched on earlier, it is crucial that they have this. Allan Figueroa Deck discusses the challenges Latinos face saying, “they are concerned with the nitty-gritty realities of jobs, making ends meet, raising children, and avoiding violence in our society.”[2] These concerns are things that the niños have already faced, and unfortunately will continue to face. That is why it is so important to the Finca that they have a solid grounding in a faith to supply them not only with strength and fortitude, but also a way of processing the events they will encounter, whether they are good or bad.
The children do not realize this as they walk to morning prayer or sit on the cool floor of the hot, sticky, chapel for Holy Hour. They do no see how this faith, being ingrained within them, means much more than just a part of their daily routine. The Finca is giving them the tools to navigate their futures. Faith is a base for not only personal identity and social relationships, but also aids in the meaning-making of personal and cultural experiences.[3]
These niños need something to believe in. Having been let down, abandoned, and discourage for most of their lives, what do they have to take with them now? The idea of sustainability, of implementing techniques that can be carried on by their participants into the future, is becoming increasingly popular in the economic sector. Why can it not be applied here as well? My director was right, very little in their lives will remain stationary, and very little ever has. Yet in introducing to them this faith, and teaching them what it means and how to integrate it into their lives, they have the opportunity for a constant in their lives, possibly for the very first time.
[1] Honig, Alice S. Ph.D. “The Roots of Faith: The Crucial Role of Infant/Toddler Caregivers” in Faith Development in Early Childhood. 1989. p. 39.
[2] Deck, Allan Figueroa. “A Latino Practical Theology: Mapping the Road Ahead”. Theological Studies, 65(2) 2004. p. 281
[3] Fowler, James, and Mary Lynn Dell. "Stages of Faith and Identity: Birth to Teens." Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 13(1) 2004.