Aparecida:
Recently we celebrated the Eucharist on the beach in front of the chapel in Los Patos, with all the catechists of our parish. We met from 2 PM until 6 PM studying Aparecida, the document from the bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean. We looked at how the bishops see the modern world and how they diagnose the problems confronting many cultures.
Andres:
The man in the background is Andres. He is the President of the Parish Council and a Confirmation catechist. Beside him is Carlos who is both a student for Confirmation and a teacher in one of our campos. Andres lives in Paraíso and is a public school teacher. His assignment requires him to travel back and forth across the River Riocito in order to reach the rural school. When the New Testament has Jesus speaking about Andrew as being a "true Israelite" and "not having any guile", the description aptly fits our "Andrew" (Andres).
Four teams of catechists:
In this group picture, the catechists from four communities come together. From South to North, the communities are: Los Blancos, Los Patos, Ojeda and Paraíso. Sister Yolanda has the gift of knowing how to share responsibility and challenge the catechist coordinator (one for each village) to animate and direct the members of her team. With people like this, the mission of caring for the parish moves along gracefully. How blessed is this environment, where the catechists encourage one another!
