Duc in altum

At the beginning of this millennium, the servant of God Pope John Paul II invited the whole Church to renew the work of evangelization (cf. Novo Millennio Ineunte no. 1). He called upon every member of the Church to heed Christ’s words as St. Peter did, to “put out into the deep” (“duc in altum”) and let down the nets. This will obtain for the Church a great catch of fish, that is, members of the Church. Today, when the need for a renewed evangelization has become more pressing, these words of the late pontiff appear prophetic.

Argentina and the Franciscans of the Immaculate

Just two years ago, the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate opened a mission in Argentina. The pressing need for evangelization in the area around the mission soon became evident. The new mission is on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, in the diocese of St. Justin the Martyr, where the friars were entrusted with the care of a poor parish containing three villages with about 45,000 inhabitants. They immediately set about re-evangelizing the parish, which proved to be an arduous task. To get a sense of the difficulties they face, let us take a look at the social and religious profile of their mission territory.

Religious panorama

The area is characterized by a mix of different religious devotions and customs. This is a consequence of immigration from Paraguay and Bolivia, as well as migration from northern Argentina. The people have brought with them different religious practices and devotions, and this diversity inevitably presents a challenge to evangelization. A parallel can be drawn with the situation in the United States in the nineteenth century. There, immigrants to the New World demanded the construction of separate churches for the various ethnic groups. In Argentina, the friars’ parish is so poor that it does not even have the means to repair the existing parish church. Consequently, the friars find themselves compelled to offer Mass in makeshift chapels or in tents to cater to the different ethnic group.

The people are very religious and have a strong devotion to Our Lady. There are at least three major Marian shrines frequented by Argentines: Our Lady of Lujan in the East, Our Lady of the Valley in the North, and the Virgin of Itati on the seacoast.

Sacramental and Cultural Life

The sacrament of marriage is generally in crisis in Buenos Aires. In the parish served by the friars, there were only 60 sacramental marriages the last eight years. Many couples live together without being married in the Church, others are divorced, and still other people live as single parents. This crisis is caused primarily by a lack of basic catechism regarding the Church’s teaching on marriage and by the fact that young people have not been taught the true nature of human love.

There are couples of certain age brackets and generations who are eager to learn the faith. Sometimes family catechism leads a couple to set right its irregular marital situation. The majority of the parents of children who belong to the parish are only civilly married. All those in an irregular situation, whatever its nature, certainly know one thing: they cannot worthily receive Holy Communion. The friars insist upon this point to encourage the couples to work toward regularizing their marital status in the Church.

As for the Sacrament of Confirmation, very few young people in Buenos Aires express a desire to receive it. A positive sign is that Mass attendance on Sundays and weekends is increasing, although attendance is still very low in proportion to the total population.

To face these challenges, the friars embarked on a systematic program of catechesis: they employed parents as co-instructors and organized various levels of catechesis. In the parish there are about 300 children who attend weekly catechism, including Sunday mornings, organized by the friars. There are also catechism classes to prepare adolescents to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. There are currently 80 young people who attend the program. Finally, a catechetical program for married couples is being organized to instruct them on the Christian meaning of marriage and family life.

Given the scarcity of workers in the vineyard of the Lord, the friars, only five in number, have to assume these arduous tasks of pastoral work. Their love for souls and for Our Lady is the force that inspires their holy perseverance. Their pastoral work is certainly a labor of love, which makes them cry out with St. Paul’s sentiments: “caritas Christi urget nos” (the charity of Christ urges us – 2 Cor 5:14).

Social Disorders

The social situation in Buenos Aires is unquestionably getting worse. There is about a 20% unemployment rate at the national level but it is certainly even higher in the friars’ parish. Wages are very low and the cost of living is very high; families are large, mothers are abandoned, older people have neither a pension nor any medical assistance; unjust and intolerable situations drive many adults to suicide. Faced with all these social ills, the friars have organized an outreach program using the meager means at their disposal. Every week they bring food and other basic necessities to families and try to offer a little relief to those who eat only one meal a day and have to beg for it.

The villages are very poor: the streets are bare dirt and sometimes flooded by rain. The houses are poor and patched with pieces of wood. Some families have difficulty supporting themselves. Drug use is very common, as are alcoholism, abortion, and prostitution. These are just some of the social ills that constitute a serious challenge to missionaries. The example of the holy life and fidelity of the friars in the community certainly contributes to the silent resistance to these evils. Their life of voluntary poverty freely chosen becomes a sermon urging perseverance and patience to the people among whom they live. Their contagious expression of joy for the basic necessities of life is a prophetic proclamation of Christ’s beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs in the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3).

Mary’s Presence in Argentina

One might wonder why the friars would dare to open a difficult mission in this part of the world. The explanation lies in the friars’ Marian vocation, and particularly in their vow of unlimited consecration to the Immaculate. The arduous work of the mission calls for selfless dedication even to the point of victimhood, but their vow calls for a dedication without limits. The work calls for a total offering of oneself to God and to souls, to bring these souls to the knowledge and love of the Immaculate. It requires missionaries who will be signs of hope and confidence to a world experiencing various evils, which fundamentally have their source in the moral evil of sin.

The Immaculate, victorious over all evils, became a sign for all generations that evil will not have the last word, for in the end, Her Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Franciscans of the Immaculate bring this presence of Mary to the people of Argentina through their lives, work, and dedication. They literally become extensions and continuations of the life of Jesus and Mary here on earth. When Mary, the Mother of Christ, is present, the people can certainly exclaim with the prophet Isaiah: “The Emmanuel is with us; God is with us” (cf. Is 7:14; Mt 1:23).

If you wish to help our poor mission in Argentina, please follow this link: Challenges of Poverty in Argentina