By: Fr. Vicente Castro, SVD

Multicultural

I am a Divine Word priest working in a parish situated along the border of Brazil and Paraguay. I am with a middle- aged Paraguay priest, and an Argentinian brother preparing himself for Nicaragua, and another Argentinian student of theology having his pastoral experience I our parish. Together with three Brazilian religious sisters, we attend to eighteen thousand (18,000) Catholics, spread over a wide area of six hundred fifty (650) square kilometers.

Our Journey
We actually spend more time traveling than doing pastoral work directly. The chapels are hard to reach when the rains come and the hills can be impossible at times. We have thirty-two communities in all.

New Age of Evangelization
Together with the Latin American Church, the Church in Argentina has begun what we call “La Nueva Evangelizacion”: the new age of Evangelization, celebrating or, better said, remembering with a mixture of light and shadow its five hundred (500) years of Christianity. It is constantly searching for new ways to preach Christ in the midst of abject poverty and an over-dependent economy.

We Accompany the People
Things have been a little bleak lately. The rains have caused floods affecting about one million and a half Argentinians. The crisis of the educational system seems unsolvable. To top it all, the government is lying, but the Church is hopeful. We missionaries are here to accompany them in their struggle and search.

Because I am very new here and have practically tried to forget photography, I have very few photographs. I send you these pictures, they maybe not action pictures but they might be of help to you in understanding what we are doing. Please on sending Misyon magazine. It buoys up the missionary spirit. Que el Dios de la mission te pague por todos tus esfueros. Hasta la proxima.