Columban Fr Donald Hornsey recently journeyed back to the three Latin American countries, Chile, Brazil and Peru, where he worked for more than 40 years. He tells us of his visit.
Although I left the Diocese of Barreiras, in the north east of Brazil, over 14 years ago to go to Peru, I was invited back in May 2016 to represent the Columbans at the opening of a memorial for Dom Ricardo Weberberger. He was the first bishop of this diocese from its creation in 1979 until his death in 2010. This was the reason why I decided to journey back to Latin America which I had left in 2014. I also decided while there to visit the other two countries where I had worked.
In 1985 six Columban missionaries including myself arrived in this new diocese at Dom Ricardo’s invitation. We worked there for the next 17 years. Dom Ricardo was a great friend of the Columbans and much loved throughout his diocese. He frequently said that he had learnt a lot about being a missionary from the Columbans.
When the Columbans arrived in the Diocese of Barreiras, there were only two local diocesan priests and 17 foreign missionary priests including the six Columbans. During my recent visit it was a source of joy to discover that there is now only one foreign priest, an Austrian, in the diocese and that every other parish in the diocese has local diocesan priests.
Dom Ricardo’s memorial consists of a large church, an auditorium and a museum recalling his life and works. As it was built within a parish where I had worked for eight years, it was great to meet many old friends who still actively participate in the parish community.
The day after the opening of the memorial, Fr Ariovan, the parish priest in Bianopolis, the rural parish where I served for nine years, had arranged for me to visit many of the church communities. People in these communities were keen to show me how many of their chapels had been enlarged. Most of these communities have Sunday Mass only once a month, with lay led liturgical celebrations on the other Sundays. These communities continue to flourish with large numbers of people, including youth and children attending on Sundays.
My conclusion was that where there is a parish priest who actively supports and encourages lay leaders and catechists in their distinctive roles, the community flourishes. Where this is not the case as I discovered in Peru, the communities close down.
In Chile I stayed with different families in three cities who have been long-time friends. Staying there helped me realise that we priests can be removed from the joys but also the conflicts and tensions that can exist in families due to the pressures of modern life and the struggle to survive. Pope Francis in his exhortation 'Amoris Laetitia' is well aware of the difficulties that many families face. However, some of the families I visited in Arica in northern Chile, such as the families of Nina and Miguel and of Hector and Ximena, are actively involved in the ministry to families in their local church communities, seeking to strengthen family life and work for peace and reconciliation when necessary.
The town of Combapata, in the Cusco region of the Andes Mountains in Peru, was another story. I had lived there until 2014 and while it was wonderful to meet and greet so many close friends, it was sad to see that there was not yet a resident priest there. The priests who travelled there for Sunday Mass lacked either the time or the inclination to encourage the lay leaders to take more responsibility. The rural communities were also neglected. As a result many of the surrounding rural Christian communities had ceased to exist.
Perhaps because of the current lack of a strong church presence in Combapata, I was humbled when I was invited by the town mayor to a large meeting in the town hall. After speeches and presentations of traditional dances, I was presented with a Medal of Honour by the mayor and town councillors.
In my words of thanks, I said that if anything was achieved during my time there, it was achieved together with the local people. It was heart warming to think that the Columban presence of myself and Chilean Columban Lay Missionaries, Teresa and Claudia, had not been forgotten in Combapata.
I return to Aotearoa-New Zealand more conscious that we are all called to the same one mission. Mission overseas and mission at home are like the pairs of oxen that I saw so often ploughing the fields of Brazil and Peru. They work together and strengthen each other.
Columban Fr Don Hornsey is now based in Aotearoa - New Zealand where he works in Columban mission promotion and pastoral work with the Colombian community there.
Read more from The Far East, October 2016