Visit to the Prelature of Tefé (Amazon, Brazil) Orlando Escobar, CM, reports on the visitation ofPrelature of Tefé in Brazil.
From May 26-29, 2016 Father Gregory Gay, (Superior General), Father Orlando Escobar (Visitor, Colombia and President of CLAPVI) and Father Genry Cristóbal (Colombia) visited the Prelature of Tefé where Bishop Fernando Barbosa Dos Santos, CM has ministered since 2014 (he had been the Visitor of the Province of Fortaleza, Brazil).
In order to travel to Tefé we met in Manaos (Brazil) in the house of the Daughters of Charity where 230 children of poor families are cared for every day. From there we traveled by plane for about one hour and found ourselves in the heart of the Amazon. The Prelature covers an area of 264,669 square km and was under the pastoral leadership of bishops who were members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. That Congregation had evangelized in this area for more than a hundred years. In the past the Jesuits had ministered in this area.
This local church in Brazil has approximately 200,000 inhabitants and is composed of 10 municipalities which are organized into five pastoral regions. There are some 50 urban communities and some 450 rural communities, most of which are located on the banks of the Solimões, Juruá, Jutaí and Japurá Rivers. There are also about 200 chapels in which the people gather together for worship and meetings. There is a strong presence of various religious denominations, especially neo-Pentecostal groups.
During a meeting in the Vatican (a meeting which the newly appointed bishops participate in after being appointed to this ministry), Bishop Fernando took advantage of his journey to Rome and expressed to the Superior General his desire to have a Vincentian presence in the Diocese. Father Gregory contacted the President of CLAPVI and scheduled a visit to this area during which time we were able to visit various parishes, greet the majority of the 26 priests who ministers in the 14 parishes of this Prelature and also were able to meet with members of various ecclesiastical institutions in order to obtain some further information with regard to a possible mission for CLAPVI.
In places like Tefé it is clear that the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few (Luke 10:2). Nevertheless, we must also recognize the great ministry of the laity in this area. For example, on the day of our return to Manaos, the Archbishop of that city (who had been the Bishop of Tefé) was leading a meeting which involved the participation of the laity who represented many different communities. These men and women were people of every age and included members of indigenous tribes. The theme of the meeting was the role of the laity in the Church and the content was based on a recent document that had been published by the Bishops of Brazil. Also present at this gathering were other bishops, priests, seminarians, and permanent deacons.
Formation, is one of the great challenges in the Prelature … and added to that challenge is the financial matter of sustaining the mission (the largest cost is the transportation expense involved in visiting the various areas). Another challenge is the community life of the various congregations of men and women religious who minister in this area (there are ten distinct congregations). There is a desire for the Vincentian missionary presence in this area and it is hoped that a missionary team would take responsibility for one of the four poorest regions of the Prelature, namely Vila Bittencourt (on the border between Brazil and Colombia), Vila Copatana (a parish administered by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit) and Agrovila.
In the next meeting of the Superior General and his council and in the next meeting of CLAPVI which will take place in Chicago during the General Assembly, we will have further dialogue about this mission where a Vincentian Bishop is calling us to minister. In this way we will honor the decision that was made by the Superior General after the recent meeting of Vincentian Bishops in Rome, namely, to give priority to the requests from bishops of Congregation of the Mission (at the present time there are 35 Vincentian bishops).
Translated: Charles T. Plock, CM
