From Colombia After a Haitus
Fr. Mark Marangone, who recently joined our community in Milwaukee, came from many years of service in our parish in Bogota, Colombia. In his place, Fr. Leonardo Raffaini recently arrived at the parish after serving in the work of encouraging missionary life in Italy. Here is what Fr. Rafaini shares after his return to Colombia. Above here he is pictured with children from his parish.
It’s already been a year since I left my home in Italy to return to Colombia. It seemed a “punishment” to leave Colombia … Instead, the Lord gave me the opportunity to regain health and to spend five years with family and friends. What I gained from them I will always carry with me.
Currently, I am in the same parish where I was eight years ago in Bogota, Colombia. This is an advantage, because I know the people and the situation, even though many things have changed. It is one of the 60 parishes of the diocese, with 130 diocesan and religious priests in the seminary and 17 students. My parish has 18 thousand inhabitants and I have been pretty busy.
The ministers of the parish
The help of the laity is crucial. In addition to the classic catechists, there are various prayer groups. From these, a bit at a time, were born extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist (among other things, bringing Communion to the sick and the elderly), the ministers of the Word, ministers of hospitality (welcoming the faithful as they enter the church), the ministers of charity (distributes food to about 50 poor families) and many others.
There is also a missionary group of children, in a parish of missionaries this could not be missed. There are also two youth groups, but this is the pastoral sector which is more difficult. Young people are often competing with images of life caught up in drugs and alcohol.
My task is the that of facilitator, following the different groups in the parish. It is not always easy to guide, advise, resolve the friction that arises, accompany them on their journey of faith as a community and on a personal level. The work is continuous: it gives satisfaction, but also some headaches … But God never leaves us alone and we continue our service among the people.
Corruption and injustice
All this is included in the general context of Bogota, a chaotic metropolis, polluted, violent with serious problems that seem impossible to solve. A small example: to go to a certified tax office I had to go through the whole city for an hour and a half by bus in the midst of chaos, standing, squeezed like a sardine!
Drug trafficking and the guerrillas continue to punish the country, although to a lesser extent than a few years ago. However, what most affects the lives of Colombians is the corruption and social injustice at all levels. Being a missionary is very different here than in other regions of the world. There is no mention of remote villages in the forest and the travel of long distances to reach them. Here in the city material well-being lives side by side with so much poverty, in particular on a human and spiritual level.
The Fraternity of Conforti
The great task of the church is being close to people, helping them to face the brutal reality they find themselves in and to find strength in God, in order to be agents of change. Encouraging a missionary vocation is not easy. The missions outside of this country does not attract many young people from Colombia. In fact, there is only one Xaverian Colomban, Father Pretel, who worked six years in the Congo.
However, the organization of friends who share in the charism of our congregation, the Fraternity of Blessed Conforti. It is a group of people committed to pray the missionary rosary every day, according to the intentions of our institute. The membership increased and now there are two groups in Bogota and a group in Cali, Buenaventura and Meddellin. Every two years a national conference celebrating with them
