Pastoral Visit to Bolivia

Mark McDonnell and Dominic Sassi made a pastoral visit to the community in Cochabamba, Bolivia from 12-19 September. The community was opened in March 2005 and consists of 3 brothers – Juan Casey, Dermot Cregan and Xavier Sullivan – and a Maryknoll priest Tom Henehan. This CB community is the result of the challenge laid down by the Congregation Leader when the new Latin American Region was established in 2004. At that time Philip asked them to aim at opening 2 new communities in a new country – hence Bolivia which is happily contiguous to the River Plate and to Peru. Cochabamba is now the Regional headquarters and the residence of the Region Leader, Juan Casey.

Bolivia itself is a very poor country. It has a population of approximately 10 million, and is landlocked right in the centre of the South America continent. It has Peru to the west and north, Brazil to the east and Paraguay to the south. Over its history, Bolivia has fought wars with each of these three countries and has lost catastrophically, surrendering its access to the Pacific Ocean to Chile in 1905 . For years, the economy of the country has been in trouble, and allegations of wide spread corruption among the politicians are frequently aired. The country has natural reserves of oil and gas, but does not seem to be able to harness these significant resources for the good of the whole community. The annual per capita income is among the lowest in the world.

Mark and Dominic arrived in La Paz early on the morning of 12 September and soon experienced the bad side of living 12000 feet above sea level – headaches, nausea and shortness of breath. Fortunately we only stayed there one night and when we arrived in Cochabamba the next day after a 6 hour bus journey, the headaches had ceased. Cochabamba is only 8000 feet. The community house is situated in one of the barrios on the outskirts of Cochabamba, relatively poor and working class. It is called Sabastian Pagador. The people are simple, friendly and appreciative of the presence of the community in their neighbourhood.

The community of 4 are part of a wider group of 14 lay people and Religious who are searching for a new way of being church, appropriate for the situation in which they find themselves. They meet regularly to pray, reflect, analyse and plan for the future. They have been invited by the bishop and the local parish priest to assist in bringing the Good News to the people of the barrio. One of the community (Xavier) volunteers his services in the local secondary state school where he teaches Religious Education; another (Dermot) works part-time in a project for street children, and is a gentle presence helping people in a myriad of ways; Juan, apart from travelling to other parts of the Latin American Region, works on visioning and planning, as well as helping with young people’s out-of-school groups; Fr Tom is co-director of OLASEM which is a service provided by the Maryknoll priests and brothers dedicated to the promotion and formation of missionary work, especially among lay people in Latin America. The whole community is determined to assist the local people of God in any way possible.

While we were there we were fortunate to experience a public holiday commemorating the cityhood of Cochabamba, and 40th anniversary of the Maryknoll Institute of Languages where 3 CBs are presently studying. (Kevin Cawley, Peter Martin, and Chuck Fitzsimmons)

The brothers and Tom were grateful for our visit and Mark and Dominic were certainly inspired by the commitment by the men there. Their postal address and email for anyone who would like to make contact:
Hermanos Cristianos, Casilla 361, Cochabamba, Bolivia
Email: juancasey65@yahoo.com