From June 13 to the first week of July, the visit of canonical renewal to the Province took place and was carried out by the General Councilor for Latin America, Fr. Álexander Lam
In full pastoral enthusiasm and with new and numerous challenges to address, the visit of the General Councilor to the Province of Nuestra Señora de la Consolación, in the eastern part of the country, has been a great encouragement for all the brothers and collaborators who give their lives in the different educational and evangelizing projects that are carried out in the area.
As Fr. Lam tells us, "every canonical visit is an experience of the service and pastoral care of the Prior General for all the communities of the Order throughout the world." And for this reason, in this case, for more than two weeks he was able to tour the different communities of the province, to visit all the realities distributed throughout such a vast territory, and to be able to share "moments of prayer with each community, personal interviews with each brother and a final evaluation meeting".
In the ethnic and social peripheries
One of the peculiarities of this Province, as Fr. Lam assures us, is that in recent years some new apostolic challenges have been assumed, such as the implantation of a community in Chapada do Norte, in the state of Minas Gervais, in the midst of the so-called quilombos, a large ethnic group descended from runaway slaves who were emancipated from slavery since colonial times. This group, which has lived in a situation of marginalization and ostracism for centuries, was institutionally recognized in the 1980s. Recently, the Order has decided to settle in the community of Chapada in order to care for its members physically and spiritually.
At the same time, in the state of Fortaleza, there is a community nestled in a peripheral parish that is witnessing the open conflict between mafias and rival clans that has plagued the territory for years. “These brothers have decided to be there and to carry out stages of formation”, affirms Fr. Lam
Respect, dialogue and synodality
As the General Councilor has been able to verify, this is a province "dynamic, alive and eager to expand and to establish relations with the local Church and with the Order". In this sense, he assures us that he has been able to feel first-hand a fund of respect and dialogue among all the members of the province, which also favors harmonious growth between the different generations and their different perspectives, which augurs a hopeful and fruitful development, as they have already been able to experience over the years.
At present, in fact, the Province has 9 houses, 8 educational centers (distributed among schools, social works and the Augustinian Center for Integral Ecology) and a total of 8 parishes.