An Interview with Mother Ines
of Hogar Rafael Ayau, Guatemala
Reprinted with permission from the October 2000 issue of The WORD,
Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese
MOTHER INES IS THE ABBESS OF MONASTERIO ORTOXO LAVRA MAMBRE, A MONASTIC COMMUNITY OF THE ANTIOCHIAN ARCHDIOCESE OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA WHICH MINISTERS TO THE CHILDREN OF HOGAR RAFAEL AYAU, AN ORTHODOX ORPHANAGE IN GUATEMALA CITY. THE EDITORS OF THE WORD INTERVIEWED MOTHER INES ON JUNE 24, 2000, DURING THEIR VISIT TO THE HOGAR.
Mother lnes, how did you come to Orthodoxy? In 1971,
after three years studying architecture in college, I entered
a Roman Catholic monastery without my parents' blessing, and finished
college by studying theology. These were difficult times in the
Roman Catholic Church, with many changes from Vatican II. I was
eager to learn the practices of monasticism, and began to read
books such as Sayings of the Desert Fathers, The Way of the Pilgrim,
Cabasilas' The Life in Christ, but they were teaching liberation
theology. I started praying the Jesus Prayer, and felt strongly
that if the people of Guatemala would learn it they would come
to know God.
My Mother Superior was a holy and wise woman who had loved me
from my childhood. She sent me to study with Jesuits, first to
Paris for two years then to Belgium. I went to Nicaragua during
the war, where we were healing wounded people, to El Salvador,
to the Philippines (where I met Mother Maria), back and forth
to Guatemala. Wherever I went, I faced constant intellectual struggles
over the liberation theology of the Catholic Church, but the Fathers
and Cabasilas were with me. Finally, after sixteen years as a
nun and having made my final vows, I was sent back to the Mother
House in Paris, then encouraged to take a one-year sabbatical.
I went to Jerusalem to study theology, and was directed to a Byzantine
rite monastery on top of a mountain in Galilee. Hoping this would
offer a full liturgical and spiritual experience, I called Mother
Maria, who had escaped during the revolution in the Philippines,
to join me. At that time, we did not know the differences between
Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Then we were invited to attend
a seminar at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
in Chambesy, Switzerland. After further studies in Orthodoxy and
further trials, Mother Maria and I returned to Guatemala, and
began a distance education program at the Universidad Francisco
Marroquin, which my father served as President. We were chrismated
and tonsured as Orthodox nuns, but were attached to no community;
soon after we met Mother Ivonne, a native Guatemalan who was teaching
at the local university. She expressed an interest in becoming
an Orthodox nun and joined us.
Finally, we met a Byzantine Catholic bishop who led us to the
Orthodox Church in Venezuela and asked them to "adopt"
us, because we needed to be in an Orthodox Church. An Antiochian
priest in Caracas, Venezuela with whom I was acquainted contacted
Metropolitan Antonios of Mexico, who requested that I visit him
in Mexico. Metropolitan Antonios gave me authority to begin organizing
a church in Guatemala under his omophorion, and we did so before
Holy Week 1994. In August 1994, he visited and served Liturgy,
during which he tonsured Mother Ivonne and appointed me Abbess.
We later visited Ellwood City, PA and met Mother Christo-phora
and the community of the Monastery of the Transfiguration, who
adopted us as sisters and helped us learn more about Orthodox
monasticism.
What philosophy directs the care of the children at the Orphanage? We accepted the challenge of the orphanage from the government because we knew we had the tools to treat the whole person: 1) Orthodox psychotherapy for the healing of the soul; 2) natural medicine for the health of the body; and 3) Neuro Net, which helps the neurological development of the children. Both Mother Ivonne, a biologist/chemist, and Sister Beatrice, a physician, were skilled in the practice of natural medicine and available to work with the children. We had experience working with Neuro Net through the school we had run in Guatemala City before opening the orphanage. Audiologist Nancy Rowe, who developed the Neuro Net program, was also willing to lend her expertise to help the children. We knew that God would work here, so we gathered all the tools we needed. It would have been selfish of us to say no when the government asked us to reopen the orphanage.
(Editor's note: Hogar Rafael Ayau was originally founded by Rafael Ayau, the great-great-grandfather of Mother Ines, in 1857. It had been taken over by the government of Guatemala in the early 1970s, and then closed for several years. On the feast of St. Herman of Alaska, August 9, 1996, Hogar Rafael Ayau was turned over to the Antiochian Orthodox Church of Guatemala by the First lady of Guatemala, and received by Mother Ines.)
When a new child comes to the Hogar, we care first for his
body. He may be filthy from head to toe, and will go to the infirmary
for cleaning and anointing. Next, we provide good food and security,
which "cools him down." Then we begin a Neuro Net program
to stimulate the brain. Both aggressive and submissive behavior
are symptomatic of lack of brain connections.
When the first group of children (115 of them!) arrived at the
Hogar, we did not talk to them about spiritual matters right away.
They started coming to church on their own, and we began discussing
spirituality after they had been in the orphanage for nearly one
year. In those early days, the Monastery of the Transfiguration
in Ellwood City, PA provided for the children's needs - food,
clothing, icons. We believe it is important for the children to
know where their help comes from, so they do not take it for granted,
so they learn to thank others, and so they learn gratitude for
God. This is important for the soul.
What methods of discipline do you use with the children?
We believe there is no "hidden sin." Everything
we do affects the others. For this reason, we insist on the children
being forthcoming about what they have done. The children develop
their own ability to understand what is good for them and what
is good for the community. We explain sin in terms of sickness,
since the children cannot understand sin but can relate to being
sick. Furthermore, for children, guilt is implied in the word
sin, but not in the word sick. We teach them that they have to
open a wound for it to heal, and have to bring their illness to
the doctor. The doctor is Jesus, and they have to bring their
sicknesses to Him to be healed.
We address discipline problems in church. We look for the cause
of the problem, and try to reason with the children. We also try
not to let anything pass by us, and receive daily written reports
from the teachers.
Discipline in church is different than the discipline in school.
The children are not obliged to come to church, but are invited.
Those in church do not want to be bothered or distracted, but
want to pray. We tell the children if they want to be bothersome,
don't come! If they are bothersome, they are asked to leave the
church. To pray (to pay attention) is hard work. Sometimes the
children are given a treat after a service if they have prayed
and paid attention.
Because the school and church are both right here at the orphanage,
we can be flexible. The schedule of church services accommodates
the needs of the children, and their school schedule is also built
around the liturgical schedule. We have Matins and Typika each
morning and Vespers and Compline each evening. On Sundays and
Feast Days we serve Hours and Divine Liturgy.
What is the future for the children of Hogar Rafael Ayau? Currently, there are 150 children at the Hogar. We presently have thirty children who are in the process of adoption, and thirty more with abandonments from their biological parents but not adoptive parents. The children who stay at the orphanage longer than others are here because it is God's will; they need the resources of the orphanage. Recently, people in the United States have been working with us to establish the Archangel Raphael Charity Fund. This fund will be used to assist people who want to adopt children from the Hogar but do not have the financial means to do so. Through the Archangel Raphael Fund they will be allowed to pay the costs of adoption [$15,000-$18,000 US] over time. We need donors to this Fund. We need adoptive parents.
Mother, it seems that many of the boys here want to be priests.
Many of the girls also want to serve the Church. Are you supplying
the Church in the Western hemisphere for the future? The children
have come to love the Church. They know that it is the Church
that has brought them out of hell. We sometimes remind the children
where they came from. We need to remind them so they don't repeat
the mistakes of their parents, not to make them feel guilty. Guilt
doesn't help them. We show them God's love, God's mercy rather
than guilt. We use reason, teach them that they must lead orderly
lives. We also remind them of the value of families.
Our children accept that they are different from other children.
The basic trust (of their mothers and fathers) has been broken.
They have suffered so much that their hearts have become stone.
They need to love others in order to learn to love God. How will
they learn to love God if they have no one to love? We tell the
missionaries who come to the Hogar to let the children love them.
This creates a little opening in their hearts. Because the missionaries
are Orthodox like they are, the children see them as "safe."
The nuns [five, including Mother Ines] also try to be free from
administrative work as much as possible so we can have a presence
with the children. The children need to be loved. This is our
mission - just to love them. Our work is very healing for everybody.
Mother Ines, thank you for sharing your story and your vision for the children of Hogar Rafael Ayau with the readers of The WORD.