Page 1 | 2

Crisis in Colombia

The world news media has been quick to report the “crisis” caused by the alleged sins of some Catholic priests. It hasn’t been so quick to report another type of crisis: the daily crisis our missionaries in Colombia face in their on-going struggle to bring the love and peace of Christ to that country.

Here, first hand, is a news report about our own personal crisis in Colombia. It is taken from the letters of Father Bob Seguin, C.S.B., pastor of Ecce Homo, our Basilian mission parish in Medellin, and other notes from our missionaries. Father Seguin’s parish is in one of the hot spots of the conflict in the country.

Spring 2002

The Basilian Fathers in Medellin are in the western center of the city on the road that leads to the sea near San Cristobal. Our zone is in an agreeable enough natural spot, but it is a marginal and poor parish. Unemployment is very high and as a consequence there is much violence. During the last seven months more than a hundred families have left because of the difficult situation.

In spite of this, we see the hand of God who walks with us. We have now completed five years at Ecce Homo parish. During these years, I, as pastor, have been helped by Fathers Vince Thompson, Francisco Serafin Mauricio, Jose Diocles Delgado and Kevin Storey. Now we have with us our Basilian candidate Carlos Lenin Bautista. He came in February after a spiritual retreat with the postulants and has assumed the catechesis for confirmation, the youth group, and a small base community. Since coming to the parish we have published a catechism for First Communion and another for Confirmation. We have also initiated a number of small base communities, teaching adults reading and writing skills, a bible course directed by Father Raul Cespedes, c.m.f., a new computer program of bible studies and of course we continue assistance to poor families. This year we are beginning a committee for solidarity in which the leaders of the different barrios of the parish have been invited to participate. In Olaya, we are planning to build a new church and we have now purchased land with a loan from the archdiocese for the new church and parish center.

Barrio youth making crosses at the Taller for World Youth Day

We have introduced something new this year which strongly reinforces the strength of the liturgical year in the catechism at the schools. The idea is to go to each school once a month. There are four schools in the parish.

At the taller (workshop) of San Basilio we are finishing 22,500 crosses made with much love by the youth of the barrio for World Youth Day in Toronto in July. On finishing this contract we hope to gain new work for the taller.

For Holy Week, we formed committees of work. The youth are preparing the Way of the Cross for Holy Thursday and a drama for Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday). We are happy to have the help and the presence of the Madres Escolapias, the Marianist novices, and four of the Xavier Missionaries seminarians.

March 16, 2002

Archbishop Isaias Duarte Cancino
of Cali

Archbishop Isaias Duarte Cancino of Cali was assassinated at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in a marginal neighborhood of the city. Archbishop Duarte had spoken strongly and denounced publicly the evils of our society; he sealed his words in his own blood. The Archbishop was a man for all, rich and poor. He fought against kidnapping, poverty and hunger. The martyred Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero once said, “A bishop will die, but God’s Church, which is the people, will not perish.” Our missionaries in Colombia pray to ask the Lord of life that Archbishop Duarte’s blood continues to scream out loud from this valley of tears. The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.

May 8, 2002

Fr. Seguin writes, "Thanks so much for the recent check. You can’t imagine how much good it does for the families of six of our single mothers." This year we are hoping to acquire land and begin building two new parish centers, one in Blanquizal and the other in Olaya. These centers include workshops for small industries like the Taller San Basilio which helps with the unemployment problem by encouraging the young people to develop their own businesses. We need two or three more chapels in different barrios of the parish which will serve both for the celebrations of the Eucharist and also as catechetical centers. About 250 new families have arrived in our area and another 250 are expected within a year.

In Christ Jesus, our one and only hope.

June 11, 2002

Fr. Seguin sent the following sad note. I am alone now after a very sad day. At 6:30 this morning, one of the sisters came looking for me because one of the ninth grade girls in the school was missing. Two young men “encapuchados” (masked men) came to the house and took her out last night at 7p.m. While we were talking to one of her sisters, Claudia, another of her sisters came out to tell her that they found the body of Cielo, their missing sister. Claudia immediately collapsed in the middle of the street.

Then we went to their house and afterwards went to the site where Cielo had been found. She had been stabbed and tortured and then killed the night before. The body was face down in the mud. It had rained all night long and there was little sign of blood. It had all been washed away.

Next we called the police. They said they would come and investigate. They didn’t, so we called again and again they said they were definitely coming. The third time we called they said they would not come. So I called the “personaria.” They called someone else who in turn called me and then the police called to say that they would come.

About an hour later they had not arrived and we had heard that the armed group was waiting for the police. So we finally put the body in our car and took it to the receiving hospital. They received it and phoned the police.

The rest of the day was filled with different ordinary things and in the evening we went to the wake. It was in a cemetery chapel, miles and miles from where we are. We arrived and there were only about eight people there at 8 p.m. We said some prayers for the vigil and then came home for compline (night prayers).

A friend of Cielo’s had also been taken and killed last night as well. He had been with our messenger boy and two of the members of the armed group came up to them and told Cesar, our messenger, that they wanted to talk to the other fellow. They said it was all right and that nothing would happen.

They went off and Cesar waited. When his friend didn’t return after an hour he went looking for him in the direction they had gone. Cesar finally found him dead near the main road. The girl was not found, as I said, until the morning. May they rest in peace.

June 23, 2002

Father Seguin, himself, has been the target of death threats. When we asked him about this, he shrugged it off and requested that we concentrate on telling about the problems the people are facing. His message to the Basilian co-missionaries is:

The Basilian Fathers in Colombia thank you for your concern and the gifts of your love and prayers. The great grace in life is the presence of the Lord with all his power to calm us and to give us strength in all the situations we find ourselves in. The situation in Colombia is difficult. Many people are suffering. We can only hope and work for peace. To be centers of peace in the midst of conflict is what Jesus calls us to be. May he have his way with us and make us centers of peace and love through his spirit at work in us.

Mission Is God’s Gift to Humanity;
Holy Spirit the Protagonist

“The missionary character of Christianity is God’s gift to globalized humanity,” Cardinal Claudio Hummes told Pope John Paul II and the officials of the Roman Curia during the papal retreat last spring.

“The radical novelty of the life brought by Christ and lived by his disciples is a gift that comes from the love of God for us, which offers us an opportunity of complete happiness and fulfillment,” said the archbishop of Sao Paulo. The mission helps man surmount the prevailing materialism and consumerism which cannot satisfy him, the Brazilian cardinal explained. He emphasized that the protagonist of the mission is the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will guard and guide our missionaries in Mexico, Colombia, and St. Lucia.

Mission Mentions

New Bishop Named

Very Reverend Ronald P. Fabbro, C.S.B., former Superior General of the Basilians, was named Bishop of London, Canada in May. Father Fabbro had just visited the Basilian Mission Center in Sugar Land the week before his appointment. A General Chapter was held at St. John's Center in Plymouth, Michigan the first week in July at which Rev. Kenneth Decker, C.S.B. was named successor to Father Fabbro as the new Superior General. Congratulations to Bishop Fabbro and Very Reverend Kenneth Decker. The new General Council is pictured at right.

Basilians Receive Mission Award

The Basilian Fathers Missions have received the Bishop John McCarthy Mission Award, presented for outstanding work as an institution of mission. Father Jack Whitley, C.S.B. was presented with the award by Bishop John McCarthy at the Texas Mission Council Annual Conference in San Antonio last February.

Pope to visit the Basilians at Strawberry Island

At the end of Toronto’s World Youth Day, the Holy Father will travel to Mexico to canonize Juan Diego, the Indian to whom Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in 1531. That canonization will take place July 30. During his trip, His Holiness is expected to spend a brief time of rest with our Basilians at our retreat on Strawberry Island on Lake Simco about ninety miles north of Toronto.

Click here for Page 2 >