Claretian Formation

CLARETIAN MISSIONS IN AMERICA

ARGENTINA

Formosa (Founded in 1961) Province of Argentina-Uruguay.

This mission was founded in the year 1961 and enthusiastically accepted by the Claretian Province of Argentina-Uruguay when it was offered to the Congregation. Soon a great many volunteers offered themselves to work there. Its main centres are the towns of Comandante Fontana, Ibarreta, Estanislao de Compo and Pozo del Tigre, with a vast rural area and a population of about 30,000. In the Summer months the temperature rises to 42º C. Some villages are isolated and many roads become impassable during the rainy season.

The population is a mixture of classes. On one hand, there are the natives, Creoles descendants of Spaniards, foreign Paraguayans and some 2,500 aborigines (Tobas, Wichis and Pilagás), lacking labour security, with precarious abodes and deficient health and education. On the other hand, the so-called “gringos” foreigners or children of foreigners (Polish, Yugoslavs, Ukrainians and some Turks), who handle commerce, own large estates and control the economy.

In this climate the Missionaries seek two goals: evangelisation and human promotion. The former, through Ecclesial Basic Communities and animators who have been well trained by means of courses and live-in seminars. The latter, by creating centres of integral development, promotion of women, fostering of dialogue and approach to the aborigines, respecting the signs of their popular religiosity, etc.

Río Negro (Founded in 1969) Province of Argentina-Uruguay.

As early as 1969 the Congregation was established in Austral Patagonia, more than 1,600 km south of the city of Buenos Aires. We are referring to two missionary parishes: Pilcaniyeu and Bariloche, in the diocese of San Carlos de Bariloche. The geography of the place goes down rolling from the Andes to the Atlantic, with very scarce vegetation: only poplars can withstand the fury of the wind that in winter can blow at speeds from 120 to 160 km/hour. The temperature can descend down to 25º C below zero.

Pilcaniyeu is a purely rural parish, with an extension of 12,000 sq. km. and 5,000 inhabitants. These are mostly of Araucanian descent and their only means of subsistence is taking care of sheep.

Bariloche can be considered a semiurban parish. It attends to several peripheral suburbs, where some 15,000 Chilean immigrants and peasants live surrounded by poverty problems, unemployment, alcoholism, family disintegration and prostitution.

The missionaries pursue in their work a double concern: to make people’s faith grow, especially that of children and youth, with the collaboration of some religious Sisters and catechists, and to accompany the popular promotion and development organisations, especially by means of production and consumption co-operatives.

Humahuaca (Founded in 1968) Province of Bética.

The Prelature of Humahuaca is located in North-western Argentina, adjacent to Chile and Bolivia. It has an extension of 33,000 sq. km. and a population of about 78,000 inhabitants: the Collas. The heights vary between 2,500 and 5,000 m. above sea level, with a tough climate in winter and torrential rains concentrated in the summer months. In the highest part we find the Puna, the Andean high plateau, immense, lonely, with scarce vegetation, high mountains and abundant hills. Toward the South, the Quebrada goes along the great river up to the Capital of the Province, San Salvador de Jujuy. Finally, toward the East we penetrate the foothill valleys with more abundant vegetation spread among tablelands, slopes and short cuts, especially dangerous during the rains. 

The Colla people, descendants of the Incas, are patient, hospitable, simple and deeply religious. They raise llamas, sheep and goats, they spin their wool by hand, cultivate the land where the climate is more benign, and extract minerals from their hills in their mine exploitations, most of which belong to a multinational company. It is a subsistence economy and the people are rooted in their land, their Pachamama. Many of the ancestral traditions of the Colla culture, marginalised today, are still kept alive.

A team of Claretian missionaries shares with these people a fruitful ecclesial experience engaged in three great fronts: ecclesial basic communities, formation of evangelising leaders and human promotion, carried out mainly by the Claretian Development Work (OCLADE). Several hundreds of animators of the Word, distributed among some two hundred communities, who in turn are also forming their own animators of catechesis and social promotion, already constitute a solid hope in this young Church. To complete the number of evangelisers of the Prelature, whose bishop is a Claretian, there are the Mercedarian Religious Sisters, the Daughters of Christ the King, the Claretian Missionary Sisters and three native diocesan priests.

BOLIVIA

Bermejo (Founded in 1968) Delegation of Bolivia

The Delegation of Bolivia took charge of this mission in 1968. It belongs to the department of Tarija and is located 220 km South of this city in the border with Argentina. It is a tropical zone, rich in oilfields and sugar cane. They have a population core, that is the city of Bermejo, with some 25,000 inhabitants, and 50 more rural communities scattered throughout the 3,000 sq. km. that comprise the mission. Some of these communities can only be reached by foot or on horseback, after many hours of travelling. Except for a small length, all the roads are dirt tracks and during the rainy season they become impassable. There is a mission project that is yearly evaluated in an assembly attended by all pastoral agents. One of the means of evangelisation they use is a radio station that covers the entire zone.

Northern Potosí (Founded in 1975) Province of Euskale­rria.

This mission was entrusted to the Claretians of Euskalerria in January of 1975. It is an eminently mountainous region, with a varied climate, in tune with the diverse heights, between 2,300 and 4,800 m. above sea level. Villages are linked by bridle paths, some dirt roads that are increasing, and there are also isolated zones.

The number of inhabitants is estimated in about 75,000. About 60% belong to the Quechua culture and speak their own language. About 30% belong to the Aymara culture. About 10% are mestizos or Cholos and speak basically the Castilian language. There is a mixture of three cultures: the Colla or Aymara, the Inca or Quechua and the Spanish. Their values are: family, work, community-solidarity, respect and dignity of the person, love of language and motherland, the omnipresence and immanence of the divine in their life. Their relevant mode of expression is the feast, both human and religious, around birth, marriage, death, land, peak moments of agriculture. Since the mestizo or Cholo dominates the socio-economic apparatus, there are two clearly distinguished worlds: that of the mestizo who lives in the cities or provincial capitals, and that of the native peasant who lives in the agricultural communities.

The Sisters of Providence, lay missionaries and Medicus Mundi of Navarre are collaborating with the Claretian Missionaries. The project of the missionary team that works in 3 provinces: Alonso Ibáñez, Charcas and Bilbao Rioja, takes care of human and Christian promotion, the education and preparation of catechists, liberation from illnesses and promotion of women, the promotion of agriculture and the knowledge of Jesus, the great Liberator.

Santa Ana (Founded in 1976) Delegation of Bolivia

This is a rural zone, also in the department of Tarija, but closer to the city, which comprises 38 rural communities scattered in 800 sq. km. It is a poor and quite inhospitable terrain, generally more than 2,000 m. above sea level. The Delegation took charge of this mission in 1976. Since 1995 the team of the Claretian community of Tarija is attending to it. The entire region is adversely affected by the emigration of young people. Its inhabitants are already less than 12,000 and there is no population centre of any importance.

Guayaramerín (Founded in 1993) Delegation of Bolivia

This is a zone located in the Northern part of the country, in the confluence of Bolivia with Peru and Brazil. It is a fully Amazonian region of about 8,000 km2. From Guayaramerín to Bermejo there are almost 2,000 km: if we fold the map of Bolivia, the two would coincide. The mission comprises the city of Guayaramerín (25,000 inhabitants) and some 4 rural communities. The access to most of them is only possible by river. From the ecclesiastical viewpoint, it belongs to the Apostolic Vicariate of Pando which, in an extension bigger than Portugal, has only 7 priests, three of whom are Claretian.

The Claretian Missionaries took charge of this zone in 1993, in a moment when the Apostolic Vicar could find no one to take care of it. The mission is located in front of the one held by the Catalonian Claretians in Grajará-Mirim. Only the large river Mamoré separates them. Among the means of evangelisation, the mission has a TV station of limited range.

BRAZIL

Matto Grosso (Founded in 1981) Province of Meridional Brazil

Paranatinga, diocese of Sinop and centre of the Claretian mission is located in the State of Matto Grosso, with an approximate area of 42,000 sq. km. It borders to the Northeast on the Prelature of Msgr. Pedro Casaldáliga. Today it has a population of 35,000 inhabitants that belong to more than 40 communities in formation, attended to from the mother community. The pastoral priorities are the formation of small communities or ecclesial prayer and reflection groups, the formation of pastoral agents, family ministry, vocation ministry and ministry with the natives. In the last years the Province tried to promote the mission of Matto Grosso, by sending more missionaries and assuming new mission fronts.

In addition to Paranatinga, the missionaries take care also of Campinápolis and Nuevo San Joaquín, of the diocese of Barra do Garças. At the beginning of 1997, with the creation of the municipality of Caúcha do Norte, another group of missionaries was established there. All these municipalities are more or less 200 km from the centre of the Mission. The total area of the mission is approximately 60,000 sq. km., with a population of 50,000 inhabitants. In the mission territory there are two groups of natives: the Bakairí and the Chavantes. Religious Sisters and lay missionaries are also working there.

Guajará-Mirim (Founded in 1982) Province of Catalonia.            

Guajará-Mirim is situated in the Brazilian State of Rondonia, in the midst of the Amazonian forest, bordering on Bolivia. The Claretians collaborate with the diocese in the construction of the local Church, attending to four parishes and co-operating in diverse diocesan activities, especially in the Seminary.

At present the missionary community is divided in three small nuclei: Guajará-Mirim, the centre of the mission, Nova Marmoré, some 50 km. away, and San Miguel de Guaporé, almost 900 km. away. There are several lay missionaries, who usually make a commitment of collaboration with the missionaries for a minimum of two years. They live in community and work especially in the promotion of small farmers through various associations, and in the education of children and adolescents from destitute families. Special attention is given in the pastoral work to the formation of catechists, leaders of basic communities and the promotion of the laity in general, as well as to the formation of the future local clergy.

The population is composed of small autochthonous groups and of emigrants of the most diverse origin. The majority of them are people who are seeking in the immense Amazonian region for an opportunity to own a little parcel of land that may guarantee the future of their family, an opportunity that they could not have or was denied them in their places of origin. The entire mission zone still has important deficiencies in transport services and communications, electric energy, education and health. Illnesses such as malaria, hepatitis or the most varied types of verminosis have always been endemic

São Félix do Araguaia (Founded in 1968) Province of Aragón.

Right where the Brazil of the expressways and the skyscrapers ends and the Brazil of the forest begins, the Claretian Province of Aragon has one of its missionary advance parties. It is located in the Amazon basin and has an extension equivalent to one third of Spain. Its climate is hot with an average of 35º C. Rivers, pastures, virgin forest, cultivated areas. Multitude of races intermingle in fraternal coexistence: from the pure Indian to the black, going through the mestizo, mulatto, European, etc. Simple people, poor, “retirantes” or emigrants, with the sleeping net on their back, their bony horse and many children. People of strong faith, long-suffering, “sofredoras,” frequently treated as slaves by the exploiters of those enormous estates.

When the Prelature was created in 1970, its first Apostolic Visitor, later Bishop, the Claretian Fr. Peter Casaldáliga took charge of it. Soon repression came and schools and dispensaries were closed, the pastoral agents were imprisoned and tortured, and all of them slandered. The culminating point came with the assassination of a Jesuit, Joao Bosco Penido, a team member, at the feet of Bishop Casaldáliga. The pastoral work is carried out with the participation of the people, with the help of publications and work by communities.

COLOMBIA

Chocó (Founded in 1909) Province of Occidental Colombia

The missions of Chocó have created a long and solid tradition in the Congregation. Three Apostolic Prefects administered Chocó until 1953. This year the mission was divided into two Vicariates: Istmina was left to the Fathers of the Foreign Missions of Yuramal, and Quibdó to the Claretians under the direction of Msgr. Peter Grau, Claretian. Among the many material difficulties, communications was not the least important, since they had to make use of the slow canoe. The climate, the plagues of mosquitoes and the ensuing malaria earned for this mission the reputation of being the most difficult of Colombia. Seeing the innumerable trials that the Missionaries had to suffer there, Fr. Martin Alsina proposed to abandon the mission, but the missionaries preferred to continue their huge task in spite of the enormous difficulties.

In  1988 the mission was made a diocese with the Claretian Msgr. George I. Castaño as its Bishop. Our missionaries work at the pastoral ministry of Quibdó, among the rural and indigenous population, teamed up with Claretian lay missionaries. Presently there are three missionary centres. The Medio Atrato attends to 40 settlements of black population, located on the banks of the Atrato river; the Centre for Pastoral Care of the indigenous natives accompanies all the indigenous communities of the diocese; and the Biblical Centre takes care of the popular biblical pastoral and the formation of evangelising agents of the entire diocese.

In the diocese of Apartadó, partly formed with territory segregated from the diocese of Quibdó, the Claretian missionaries attend to a mining post in Riosucio, from which they pastorally serve 140 rural communities scattered along the rivers and they also attend to the indigenous communities of the entire diocese. In this territory a true war is being presently waged between the guerrilla and the paramilitary forces. The civil population has been the main victim of this confrontation and, in order to save their life they have had to abandon their lands and move to other regions, forming new communities of refugees that are also attended by the Claretians.

In 1996 the first Emberá native Claretian was ordained priest in Riosucio, his birthplace.

Espriella-Tumaco (Founded in 1995) Province of Occidental Colombia.

This mission is 40 km. away from Tumaco, at the South-western end of the country, adjacent to Ecuador. It comprises an extensive territory with three well characterised zones. They are the settlements on the banks of the Mira river that marks the boundary between Colombia and Ecuador, with a basically black population; the mountain zone or “piedemonte,” where indigenous settlements predominate; and the road area, with some thirty “veredas” or villages, and the urban part of Espriella with 1,000 inhabitants.

The Vicariate of Tumaco has about 230,000 inhabitants, the majority of them below 50 years of age. Infant mortality doubles the national rate. 90% of the population are black, 2% indigenous (4,000 Awás, 600 Emberás) and 8% mestizos. Illiteracy reaches 51%, but in the rural areas it rises to 80% and 90%. About 60% live in absolute poverty and 38.7% in squalid condition.

Sincelejo (Founded in 1996) Province of Occidental Colombia.

At the request of the Bishop of Sincelejo, the community that had been serving an urban parish has also assumed the missionary attention to the indigenous population of his diocese, belonging to the zenú ethnic group. They occupy some 40 communities within the Department of Sucre, engaged in the defence of their life, land and culture.

In the Diocese of Apartadó three missionary posts are attended to, within a very complex geographical demarcation, due to their socio-political problems and their very cruel outbursts of violence.

CUBA

La Havana-Santiago (Founded in 1930) Delegation of Antilles.

Although in its first period Cuba could not be considered a mission, given its present circumstances, today we have to include it among the other missions of the Congregation. Cuba has always been one of the most beloved centres of the Congregation, whose presence goes back to the time of our Fr. Founder who arrived there as Archbishop of Santiago in 1851 and left in 1857. Fr. Manuel Vilaró, one of the co-founders, accompanied him.

In June 1880 eleven Claretians arrived in Santiago, but this foundation was a failure because of the yellow fever. By September nine missionaries had already died and the other two returned to Spain to save their life.

In 1918 a community was established in Palma Soriano, and others soon followed: Santiago, La Havana and Cárdenas. In 1961 the revolution came and the number of Claretians was reduced. In 1979 only two Claretians remained in La Havana, one of which died in 1986. Providentially in September of 1986 our missionary presence was finally strengthened with two additional Claretians, and two more in August of 1988, who started a new post in Guantánamo. In 1995 two Claretians began the new foundation of Santiago de Cuba and in 1995 in Guáimaro.

In La Havana efforts are made to care for and strengthen the Christian community of the Shrine of the Heart of Mary in a situation of re-evangelisation, welcoming, attention to popular devotion, formation of the laity, participation and Christian presence in society. Two rural parishes were attended to until 1991, when the missionaries were entrusted with the parish of El Cerro, very near the Shrine of the Heart of Mary. They also work in the Seminary, in the organisation of the teaching of Catechism in the Diocese, in the Centre Associated to the Institute of Theology at a Distance and in the animation of Religious men and women.

In Guantánamo the missionary work is done in the two parishes of the city: Santa Catalina and La Milagrosa, plus several other communities in the countryside. Forming a team with the Claretian Missionaries are the first group of Claretian Sisters who, after many years, were able to enter the country where their Congregation was founded.

The parish of Santiago has a good pastoral plan for the city and the suburban developments drafted by duly prepared lay people. Guáimaro is a small city, but the pastoral work extends also to other surrounding communities.

ECUADOR

Latacunga (Founded in 1985) Province of Oriental Colombia – Ecuador.

This mission comprises two ecclesiastical “parishes” composed of some 20 villages, most of which have a church or chapel. The central house of the missionaries is the parish called “11 de Noviembre.” From there they attend to all the communities. Poaló, in addition to being an ecclesiastical parish, is also a shrine with a tradition of nearly two centuries of popular religiosity that has gathered a great number of indigenous communities and peasants of various provinces of Ecuador.

The main work of the missionaries is: catechesis, formation of Christian communities, very intense liturgical and sacramental worship in those regions because of the strong religious tradition of that people. They are native people who live in the mountains at a height of more than 3,600 m. They raise llamas and sheep. Their poverty and marginalisation are absolute. The native Maca has been subjected and exploited not only by the governments, but also by the Church itself.

In 1955 the mission house was inaugurated in the indigenous community of Maca-Grande. It is the symbol of the process of inculturation with a native-faced Church. This house has been enlarged to become a Missionary Formation Centre.

GUATEMALA

Izabal (Founded in 1965) Province of Central America.

Guatemala looks out of a broad window between Belice (British Honduras) to the left and the nation of Honduras to the right. There the Claretian Province of Central America has its mission, scorched by an implacable sun. The territory of approximately 13,000 sq. km. has a population of about 70,000 inhabitants. Some members of other religious Congregations and a group of diocesan priests who live in community are also collaborating with the Prelate. Their style of life and work is imposed by the reality of the field of apostolic operations and realisations. Theirs is an atmosphere of atavistic Christianity, basic poverty, and a need of education and evangelisation at a personal, family and group level.

Until 1994 this mission was attended by the province of USA East in collaboration with that of the United Kingdom and Ireland, and their personnel is still there. Claretians, Claretian lay missionaries, De La Salle Brothers and three more Congregations of Religious Sisters are working in a team both in the pastoral care and in the socio-religious field. They have more than 300 delegates of the Word and catechists who collaborate with them in the region.

Santa María de Jesús (Founded in 1966) Province of Central America.

Five kilometres away from La Antigua, to the North, in the slope of the Agua Volcano, is found Santa María de Jesús, a village of Cakchiquel Indians, unique in America, a pure race and secular tradition. In the midst of a marvellous landscape, the multicoloured clothing of women catches the eye, when they go to the public square fountain to fetch water for their kitchen. This is a population of about 12,000 Indians of simple faith and ancestral type religiosity.

At the beginning the Claretian missionaries attended to them from the Bishop’s Palace of San Juan del Obispo but later on they moved to their village.

HONDURAS

Atlantida (Founded in 1967) Province of Central America.

The Atlantida, a department with an extension of 4,251 sq. km. exposed to the tropical sun, shelters a human community scattered in some 185 towns and villages with 18,000 blacks, 30,000 whites and 80,000 mestizos. Not all of them occupy continental land. In front of the torrid balcony that goes from the mouth of the Ulúa to that of the Balfate River, we can see the islands of the Bay.

The Claretian missionaries are there since October of 1967. The first ones to go there were from the Province of Castile. The earlier missionaries (Vincentian Priests) left to the Claretians deep channels of sacramentalisation and associationism. From the two most important cities, La Ceiba and Tela, the task of evangelisation meets great challenges: deepening into the Gospel, formation of lay leaders, promotion of material and cultural development of the natives, dialogue with other Christians, appreciation of autochthonous culture and promotion of the local Church by means of native vocations.

In 1972, in the capital of the Diocese, San Pedro Sula, a vast parish called La Guadalupe was established. In 1988 the first two Honduran priests were ordained. In 1994 the mission was transferred to the Province of Central America and, since that time, the bishop of the diocese is a Claretian missionary.

HAITI

Puerto Principe (Founded in 1999) Delegation of Antilles  and CICLA

On the occasion of the Claretian Jubilee Year, the Provinces of Latin America and the Caribbean region decided to make their dream of founding in Haiti, the poorest nation of America, come true. It is an Afro-American country whose white population is only 4%. There are no natives either. Its origin comes from the transfer of African slaves. It is overpopulated, boisterous and creative. More than 7 million inhabitants in only 27,000 sq. km. The country is extremely poor, in full political chaos, with a great ecological disaster. It has its own language, the Creole, derived from French, with elements of English and of the African languages. The illiteracy is very high. The people are very religious. Pastoral attention is concentrated in the centre of the city, leaving the masses of the periphery abandoned. There is a great variety of sects in addition to the voodoo, an Afro-American religion.

 There is an abundance of priestly and religious vocations In Haiti. The Claretians of the Province of Antilles already have a first promotion of Haitian vocations in the Dominican Republic.

MEXICO

Tlacoapa (Founded in 1960) Province of Mexico

Since 1960 the Province of Mexico has, within its own territory, an arduous and difficult mission, enclosed in a very rugged geography. It is located in the Sierra Madre del Sur that reaches a height of 3,000 m. above sea level, and whose chief town is Tlacoapa. The mission is made up of several “rancherías” or settlements many hours away from one another, and they can only be reached by foot or by mule. Its agriculture is scanty because the land is poor and for lack of irrigation. Its inhabitants earn their livelihood by making overcoats and huaraches or sandals; some raise goats. Malnutrition is the main cause of infant mortality. The population is indigenous, made up of Tlapanecs, Mixtecs and Nahuas, each one speaking their own language with practically no knowledge of Spanish.

From the very outset the Claretian missionaries undertook the task of evangelisation beginning with human promotion itself; thus the first primary school emerged, then the first arts and trades centre, the first dispensary and even the first airfield. There is a profound religiosity, albeit mixed with superstitions, myths and legends. Catechesis is given and they are accompanied in processes of hygiene, health, agriculture, apiculture and other programs beneficial to the community. There is a good number of lay collaborators who place their persons, their profession and their goods at the service of the Mountain people. The migration of Tlapanec youth is very high, up to 70%, which brings new challenges to the missionaries: to prepare the youth to respond to the reality they will find in the new milieu, and help the old folks who must remain in the Mountain, with their hunger, poverty and loneliness.

Santa María de Zacatepec (Founded in 1980) Province of Mexico.

Santa María de Zacatepec has a population of 25,000 inhabitants. It is located in the western part of the state of Oaxaca, in the Sierra Madre del Sur, near the great Mixtec Nudo. The climate is hot with abundant rains. The population is distributed in “rancherías” or communities scattered throughout the entire mountain range, many hours away from one another. The first settlers were the Mixtec ethnic group. The territory where the Claretian missionaries work is composed of three different ethnic groups: the Tacuates, the Mestizos and the shepherd-Mixtecs. The Mestizos are absorbing all the ambits of the population: civil posts, commerce, land parcels with the usual dominance and authority as well as the rejection and scorn on the part of the Tacuates. The latter like to call themselves “naturales” or natives and retain the organisation of communitarian services, fiscalías or prosecution offices, or the responsibility of organising the religious feast of some of the patron saints, Mayordomías.

The Claretian missionaries, from the outset of their work here, have centred their attention on preparing new evangelisation agents: catechists and celebrants of the word, in such a way that they may become effective builders of the kingdom. They have also cultivated the Bible ministry in different ways: spreading and distributing of materials at a low cost, biblical initiation classes and practical application courses. Finally, the accompaniment of youth has been intensified, with very positive results: personal commitment, collaboration in evangelising work and even vocational consciousness.

PANAMA

Colón (Founded in 1925) Province of Central America.

In 1925 the Holy See granted the Claretians an Apostolic Vicariate composed of the Province of Colón with the region of San Blas (Cuna Yala), the Province of Darien and the Archipelago of Las Perlas, all in Panama. Noteworthy are the beauty of Gatun Lake, the Atlantic coasts and the innumerable hamlets lost in the jungle. One of them, Belén, has the honour, according to tradition, of having the first Christian altar of the New World, although it is now one of the most forgotten regions.

The conditions of our first missionaries were difficult in the middle of a tropical climate and an almost total lack of infrastructure. The first Apostolic Vicar of Darien was the Claretian Fr. John Joseph Maíztegui.

The mission of Colón may be divided in three large zones: the capital of Colón with 80,000 inhabitants, 90% of which are black, and constituting the second most important city of the country, together with the canal and the residence of the Bishop who is always a Claretian; Costa Arriba, with the historical city of Portobelo; and Costa Abajo and Gatun Lake.

In 1968 this mission is placed under the Province of Castile who provides the missionary team, always under the jurisdiction of the Claretian Bishop. The apostolate is done as teamwork together with the missionaries of Darien and Cuna Yala. On 19 December 1988 it is separated from Darien as a Vicariate. The rest, that is, Colón and Cuna Yala, become the present Diocese of Colón. In 1994 the Province of Central America takes the responsibility over the mission.

The evangelisation of this region has been extremely tough not only because of the lack of infrastructure, but also because of the ethnic composition and the number of sects that are developing a strong activity in the zone.

Cuna Yala (Founded in 1925) Province of Central America.

Cuna Yala, traditionally called San Blas, is an archipelago inhabited by Cuna Indians in the Atlantic coast. About 28,000 Indians live in this region of more than 400 islands, only 40 of which are inhabited. These Indians retain their own culture and language until today. Transportation from one island to another is made by cayuco or dugout canoe; those belonging to the missionaries are normally provided with an outboard motor.

The history of this mission is closely united to that of Colón. Many a missionary dedicated long and arduous years to this mission, among whom Fr. Erice deserves special mention. He wrote a dictionary and a grammar of the Cuna language. Soon his work resulted in a number of vocations and now there are several Cuna missionaries, some of them Claretians.

Darien (Founded in 1925) Province of Central America.

The Darien zone is located in the easternmost part of Panama, just where the inter-American road disappears. It is a vast forest and unpopulated zone. The last census speaks of 27,000 inhabitants divided in Afro-American Darienites, Afro-American Chocoans, peasants and Emberá and Uanana Indians. The population is poor and scattered, economically regressive. The natives live on the banks of the rivers in the middle of the forest, where they can only reach by means of canoes. The typical dressing of women is noteworthy. They are friendly and simple people. Their food and health care, as well as their education, are deficient.

The apostolate is done through BEC (Basic Ecclesial Communities) that are slowly being formed in each village. In 1988 the present Vicariate of Darien was established and separated from the new Diocese of Colón; a Panamanian Claretian was appointed Apostolic Vicar with his see in Metetí.

PARAGUAY

Yhú (Founded in 1979) Province of Aragon.

At the beginning of 1979 the first six Claretian missionaries arrived in Yhú from the province of Aragon. Between the great Paraguay and Paraná rivers, almost in the centre of the country, we find the Department of Caaguazú and, within the Department, the districts of Yhú, meaning black river, and Vaquería, attended to by the Claretian missionaries. The district of Vaquería has an extension of 1,165 sq. km. and 15,000 inhabitants; that of Yhú, 1,105 sq. km. and 35,000 inhabitants. There is a great number of people scattered throughout the countryside and organised in Colonies and Compañias or villages.

The main problems of Yhú are the speculation of the land, which is rich, but most of it is in the hands of foreigners or very rich people of the capital. The Guaraní peasant is poor and a victim of all sorts of illnesses, mostly for lack of hygiene and adequate nutrition. The nearest hospital is 100 km. away. There is lack of schools and apt teachers. More than 60% of the children cannot finish their primary education and from every 100 children who do, scarcely two go on to secondary level.

The average Paraguayan of Guaraní language and culture is very religious, but of little formation. The Claretian missionaries take care of numerous Christian communities organised and directed by catechists or Christian leaders. The visit of the missionary and the celebration of the Eucharist takes place when the rains, the distance, etc. allow it. Each community takes care of building their respective meeting place and chapel.

Since 1983, the Missionary Sisters of the Claretian Institute collaborate very closely with the missionaries, especially in the health ministry and, since May of 1991, the Missionary Sisters of Jesus Crucified too. Some Spanish volunteers also help with occasional health works.

PERU

Juanjui (Founded in 1970) Province of León

In 1970 the Province of León founded this mission that seemed to be difficult. The zone had already been evangelised but the people were living their faith experience in the midst of prejudices and distortions. It was indispensable to plant the seed again.

The region is poor but there are possibilities of promotion. The land, if properly cultivated, can provide all the basic products. Religious indifference was the main enemy encountered by the missionaries but, by dint of great enthusiasm, the first difficulties posed by the local reality were overcome.

Around the year 1987 this mission began to live a period of sorrow and uncertainty due to the appearance of two influential phenomena. On one hand, the presence and activity of the revolutionary movements “Sendero Luminoso” and “Tupac Amaru.” On the other, the progressive invasion of the zone by the cultivation of coca that opened the way to drug traffic, with the concomitant corruption of the people and social classes, and to violence.

Although the apostolic activities continued, quite a few visits to villages and other actions had to be cut down because of the risks involved for the missionaries. Various pastoral orientations advised special attention to concrete persons, imprisoned and tortured, prudence and defence of human rights. In 1991 the first native Claretian priest from this region was ordained.

Paramonga (Founded in 1988) Delegation of Peru.

Paramonga is a town on the Peruvian coast, 220 km. north of Lima, belonging to the diocese of Huacho. Earlier the Claretian Missionaries had been working in the city of Huacho, until it was constituted a diocese. In addition to the town of Paramonga, which was born around a sugar cane industry but has declined today, the Claretians took charge also of a zone called Gorgor, located in the middle of the Andes, 150 km. from Paramonga, a zone that could only be attended occasionally. Lately this zone is being served from Huacho.

The Mission serves some 27,000 inhabitants and about 25 peasant villages, many of which are difficult to reach for lack or deterioration of the roads or deficiency of organisation, both civil and religious. Their nutrition index is very low due to defective feeding habits and lack of means, and priestly presence has been almost null for a time. Here too, as in other parts of Peru, there is tension coming from terrorism that is trying to dominate the rural population.

In order to attend to this mission zone, in keeping with the policy of revision of positions, the Delegation surrendered to the Diocese the Claretian school of Arequipa with about 1,200 students. It also left the parish of Cocharcas, in Lima, in spite of the fact that it was the first house and parish the Claretians had in Peru.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Puerto Plata (Founded in 1938) Delegation of Antilles.

During the first years it was the entire province of Puerto Plata. At present the civil province has several parishes. In the city there were two parishes, each of which was ascribed one part of the territory. The parish attended by the Claretians was in the oldest and poorest part of the city, and it included the port area. The church was San Felipe, the mother church of the city.

Not long ago the Diocese of Puerto Plata was erected and the church of San Felipe became the cathedral see and was turned over to the diocesan clergy. The Claretians moved to the parish of the Perpetual Help, with other sectors of the city and other rural communities. From there they are trying to start their work again in these new sectors with no chapel in their villages and with undeveloped communities. Within the parish and in one of the rural zones, Lajas de Yaroa, is located the Centre of Spirituality and Social Promotion, from which the Claretians also exercise their apostolic work.

VENEZUELA

Delta Amacuro (Founded in 1985) Province of Venezuela

This Claretian Mission belongs to the Vicariate of Tucupita, entrusted to the Capuchin Missionaries. It comprises a vast extension of the lands and caños or small navigable rivers at the mouth of the Orinoco river that crosses almost all of Venezuela.

The Claretians serve the native Waraos, the first dwellers of the zone, who live in small settlements, the peasant Creoles coming from other Venezuelan states, and a small group of English speaking Guyanese emigrants.

In this socially abandoned zone there are small villages such as Sierra Imataca, El Triunfo, Los Castillos, Piacoa, Santa Catalina and Sacupana. Scattered among these there are 36 more settlements, situated in the many caños of the river, which can be reached by curiara or canoe.

The Claretians have a pastoral plan inspired in the documents of the Latin-American Church and the options of the Claretian Congregation. The missionaries of Venezuela want to incarnate the Kingdom of God into history and open new avenues for the integral development of all women and men of the zone. To this end, they accompany the Christian communities, facilitate both the formation and access to labour of the laity, foster youth ministry by which new leaders are raised and formed, and promote all activities that tend to develop health, education and community organisation.

During these years the Sisters of the Guardian Angel, the Parochial Missionary Sisters and the Marist Brothers have laboured and constituted the Missionary Team together with the Claretians. During vacation time, volunteers from Spain and from other parts of Venezuela support with their personal work the labour of the religious.