Mission Stories- The Americas
Rekindling Faith in the Amazon: A Mission with a Global Heartbeat
One such beacon is a mission team from Argentina currently serving in the Peruvian Amazon. Supported by the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and the Missionary Childhood Association, this team, including lay missionary Flavia Cuadro, is working diligently to serve the indigenous and settler communities in this remote part of the world.
Imagine your hands helping Sister Anna of the Missionary Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. She arrived in the rural village of El Factor in the Dominican Republic and found it to be blessed with beautiful weather and warm, welcoming people. She also discovered that the village had no educational system for the youngest children. Parents were very busy, farming the land to grow what they ate or selling used goods that they scavenged to buy luxuries like cooling oil or salt. This left young children roaming the streets of the village, unattended.
Father Andrade Supports his Parishioners with Help of MCA in Rio De Janeiro
Missionaries have brought the “Good News” and “Good Works” of Jesus to the Americas, like to the Vila Alianca Slums are part of the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, the largest country in South America. People there live on the margins of society with very little access to education or health care. Father Andrade, one of the local priests at the Infant Jesus of Prague Parish, fights for the rights of his communities’ people. He works to educate the children of the slum and has an outreach program for families who are in the most desperate need.
With the help of Missionary Children in Philadelphia,
Missionary Sisters of the Servants of the Plan of God,
will be able to afford the work of “Joy in the Lord,” a
school that educates and rehabilitates children and
teenagers with physical disabilities.
The St. Francis Emmaus Center is in Turrialba, Costa Rica. It is located near the reservation of the indigenous people of the Chirripo. The Center provides a safe, comfortable place for up to 30 Cabecar mothers who travel long hours on foot days, before and after the birth of their children, to have access to medical care. Over 400 mothers and children are helped at the St. Francis Emmaus Center Center annually.
On the World Mission Rosary, the Color RED representing the Americas. The Vila Alianca Slums are part of the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, the largest country in South America. People there live on the margins of society with very little access to education or health care. Father Andrade, one of the local priests at the Infant Jesus of Prague Parish, fights for the rights of his communities’ people.
Archdiocese of Philadelphia Celebrates Extraordinary Year of Mission
As each day turns into weeks, the year of 2019 is in the making, however in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the Extraordinary Year of Mission is in full swing. Pope Francis, has reminded us throughout his papacy, that “All are invited to confirm our baptismal identity in a personal encounter with the living person of Jesus Christ, who invites us to be His witnesses in the world.” To ensure this emphasis and with a purpose of reawakening awareness of the call to Mission in Missio Ad Gentes, Archbishop Charles Chaput approved for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia an Extraordinary Year of Mission which began in October, 2018 through October, 2019.