Jamaica

If you're like me, you smile when you hear the word "Jamaica."  The bobsled team.  Bob Marley.  One Love.  

You might not know that Jamaica suffers from a high rate of illiteracy, a booming HIV/AIDS crisis, and the ignominy of being the murder capital of the Caribbean.

Catholic Relief Services is trying to help Jamaica by promoting peace, addressing HIV/AIDS, helping with disaster recover from past hurricanes and promoting education.  Here's more on their work.

Some other smaller groups that are active missionaries in Jamaica include:

• Missionaries of the Poor
• Kingdom Builders
• The Passionists
• Jamaica Missions

And many more.

More on Haiti

This came from Catholic News Service: 

HAITI-PATIENCE Jul-29-2010 (660 words) With photos. xxxi

Patience of Haitians six months after earthquake impresses US bishops

A destroyed St. Gerard Church in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in early February. (CNS/Bob Roller)

By Dennis Sadowski
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- With cleanup following the Jan. 12 earthquake moving at a snail's pace and life in makeshift shelters the new normal, Haitians are facing their predicament with a spirit of patience that has impressed two American bishops.

"The people are hopeful," Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, N.Y., told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview July 28 from Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. "There's not a mass depression.

"But at the same time they need some concrete signs of a plan. That's not been developed yet," he said.

Bishop DiMarzio was part of an eight-member delegation from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that arrived in the devastated capital July 25 for a week of meetings with Haitian government officials, Haitian church leaders and Catholic agencies working on migration issues.

Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami described those with whom he spoke after celebrating Mass at one of the hundreds of tent camps that remain in Port-au-Prince as patient, but anxious.

"I asked them how they were doing. They said, 'We're here. We're surviving.' People are certainly anxious in having a sense of where they are going. But they also had a sense of understanding of what could be done under the circumstances," he told CNS between meetings July 28.

Bishop DiMarzio said that based on what he heard during his visit it appears that many people will remain in substandard housing in the camps for at least another six months.

"There's a lot to be done," he said. "We wish it could be done more quickly. I think the weakness of not having a major central government to force things to happen is a problem."

That weakness also has limited progress on recovery and reconstruction efforts. Debris removal is moving at a snail's pace because of a shortage of heavy equipment, the country's poor road system and lack of landfill space to dump material.

Although mountains of debris remain in the earthquake region, Archbishop Wenski said he has found that much of what has been accomplished has gone unnoticed.

"It's certainly a daunting task," he said. "Six months is not a long time in many ways. When you consider ... the amount of debris and rubble here is 10 or 12 times as that generated by the World Trade Center (in 2001). It took several months for that debris to be cleared."

The archbishop also said that cash-for-work programs coordinated by various aid agencies, including Catholic Relief Services, are bolstering the Haitian economy.

The archbishop discussed the recovery process and other needs with Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and Eduardo Marques Almeida, representative of the Inter-American Development Bank in Haiti, July 28. A July 26 meeting with Haitian church officials further clarified priorities for rebuilding local parishes, schools and community centers. The earthquake destroyed 70 parishes.

The delegation also had a humanitarian focus to its mission. Bishop DiMarzio was accompanied by staff members of the U.S. bishops' Migration and Refugee Services in an effort to determine how best to meet the needs of children in the aftermath of the quake. Specifically, the delegation was concerned about children who remain separated from their families or orphaned.

The delegation also gathered information about Haitians seeking to immigrate to the United States to reunite with children or family members sent northward for treatment of serious injuries sustained in the disaster.

MRS staff also planned to visit officials in the Bahamas, one of the stopover points for Haitians trying to make their way to the United States.

Archbishop Wenski planned to visit the Haiti-Dominican Republic border before his return to Miami Aug. 1. The area has long been the source of tension between the two countries as Haitians attempt to flee their economically depressed homeland in search of jobs and better opportunities in the Dominican Republic. The delegation planned to meet with Jesuit Refugee Service representatives to discuss how to ease the tensions and better serve the economic refugees.

Suriname

I grabbed Suriname out of this week's bag o' countries for no good reason - only that I swam in high school against a guy from Suriname who went on to win an Olympic gold medal.  Anthony Nesty, I still thank your coach at Bolles for entering you in the 100 breast, so I could say I beat an Olympic gold medalist.  (Two actually, but who's counting.)

But I digress.

Suriname doesn't get much coverage in the Catholic Church - the last story in FIDES is from the installation of a new bishop by John Paul II - but I did find a couple of family-run missions there.  When you think about it, it's cool to see the Spirit connect people so randomly so that I (and maybe you) end up praying for:

The Shirley family, witnessing to the Aukan people in Suriname

The Rhoads family, in Paramaribo

and

Jared and Wendy (and now Lydia Grace!), witnessing to the Saramaccans.

Cuba?

Maybe it was all the Cold War drama about "Godless Communists," but I'm slow to think of the Catholic Church as active in Cuba.  And yet it is.

Catholic Relief Services has been active there in conjunction with Caritas Cubana since the early 90's.  You can read more about their work here.  And here's a story about a conference for lay Catholics held by the archdiocese of Havana.

Haiti Prayers

Let's face it: there is much to pray for in Haiti.  It's easy to be overwhelmed by the depth, extent and pervasiveness of suffering that has existed there for decades and was magnified exponentially by the earthquake.  I can't cover it all, but I'll try to highlight a couple of things - ministries that people I know are connected to.  I'll also set up a list of Haiti causes on the PATW twitter feed (assuming Twitter's server ever works again).

1) From Beth: Living Hope Ministries in Haiti is a Christian mission organization near Carrefour, Haiti that operates a primary school, trade school, entrepreneurship program and church. Living Hope (LHM) is about 2 miles from the epicenter of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12. God has providentially protected LHM in the midst of the devastation so the mission will have a large role in the coming months in sharing God’s love in word and in action.

2) From Dan: He'll be traveling to Haiti next week (August 6) with the youth group from his church.  As he says: There are 48 of us making this trip to help the healing and rebuilding process that our church is committing to being a part of for as long as it takes.  While we’re there in Port-au-Prince we’ll be doing a VBS with the children, interacting with local teens, painting an orphanage, distributing food to the poor, and doing other outreach and local ministry activities. We’ll even be spending some time praying at the Presidential Palace.  You can follow his trip here.

3) I'll also mention again the ongoing ministry our church has with its sister parish in Haiti, St. Isidore on the island of La Gonave.  Partners with Haiti could always use your prayers for its medical mission trips and for those who come to St. Petersburg from Haiti for medical care.

4) Catholic Relief Services has been a giant among Haitian ministries for a long time.  Here is a recent blog post on their work, here is a summary of their report on Haiti 6 months after the earthquake, and here's a much broader overview of the history of CRS in Haiti.

5) Here, here, and here are three reports from FIDES on the state of Haiti 6 months after the earthquake as well.  Two million people living on the street.

Holy Caribbean!

This week appears to be a "catch-up" week for the World Council of Churches ecumenical prayer cycle we're following.  While the headliner is Haiti, for which there is so much to pray because the needs are so great and the Church is so active, Here's the whole list of countries to pray for this week.  If you know anything (or care to research a little) about missions in any of these countries, e-mail me what you know or find out at prayaroundtheworld@yahoo.com and I'll post it for everyone to see.  So here's the list:

Antigua and Barbuda

Barbados

Cuba

Dominica

Guyana

Haiti

Jamaica

Netherlands Antilles

Puerto Rico

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Suriname

The Bahamas

Trinidad and Tobago

If you want to claim a country as "yours" to research, there are plenty to go around, so just claim it in the comments!  The links on the right side of the page are a place to start.

Guatemala medical mission - Hands of Hope

This is an inspiring story about a family from Pennsylvania that started a mobile medical mission for the rural poor in Guatemala.  Thanks for finding them, Beth!

Hands of Hope

How We Started 
In 1998 our family moved from Pennsylvania to Guatemala. We started the Hands of Hope Ministry Mission(which is Manos de Esperanza, in Spanish) operating a mobile medical clinic to the rural  poor in Guatemala..’ 

In 2000, we built a 2,400 sf medical clinic in the rural village we serve, near Sumpango/Chimaltanango, Guatemala. There are so many needs among the very poor people that many times our clinic is barely large enough to accommodate the crowds of sick people.

We are a Christian, faith-based mission and we rely on donations from others to fund the needs of the clinic. However, we serve everyone equally without regards to their particular religious beliefs or, non-belief.

Hands of Hope is a registered USA 501(c)3  non-profit and all donations in the USA and Canada are tax-deductible.

What We DoOur mission and goal is to serve the very poor rural indigenous people while demonstrating the love of Jesus. Our 2,400 square foot permanent medical clinic is located in the mountains about 45 minutes from the town of Antigua, south of Chimaltenango. The nearest town is Sumpango.

Villages We ServeOur clinic is in the village of San Rafael El Arado, which is the center village of three villages: Santa Marta,  San Rafael and San Jose Yalu which is the village farthermost from the main highway.

Next week: Haiti

Next week is the Caribbean.  Lots of great ministry to pray for.  Here's one, from the Bible Dude.

And here's one from my own parish, an ongoing ministry as part of a parish twinning program:

Guatemala: Are you kidding me?

Searching Catholic Relief Services site, I found this:

Guatemala: Volcano, Storm Force Evacuations

People arrive at a makeshift shelter in Santa Rosa, Guatemala, after they were forced to leave their homes due to the torrential rain dumped by Tropical Storm Agatha. Photo courtesy of CRS partner the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima

Anne Bousquet, CRS country representative for Guatemala, describes the conditions in Guatemala after the eruption of the Pacaya volcano and the torrential rains brought by Tropical Storm Agatha.

It’s been a week since the Pacaya volcano erupted and people are still sweeping the ash from their homes and streets. I mean, the ash, it’s like snow that doesn’t melt. It’s black, black sand. The big issue is roof collapses because when the ash gets wet it gets very heavy. I’m amazed at how much has gotten cleaned up in such a short time. There are teams of public workers dedicated to the effort but you also see average citizens cleaning up their neighborhoods. I really hope it doesn’t blow again.

People evacuate their homes in the village of Aldea in Santa Rosa, Guatemala, after flooding from Tropical Storm Agatha. Photo courtesy of CRS partner the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima

A bad situation was made worse by the arrival of Tropical Storm Agatha, which dumped torrential rainfall throughout Guatemala. All told, 21 of 22 departments have been impacted. So far there are 156 people reported dead and over 140,000 people evacuated. The short-term needs right now are food, water, medicine and temporary shelter. The good thing here is that the majority of evacuees are with family or friends although there are over 88,000 in shelters. But soon people are going to need homes to return to because some of them were mired in mud and floodwaters. Some homes can be repaired quickly but others will take time depending on the amount of damage.

Going home will really help people to return to a certain sense of normalcy that will allow them to begin focusing on getting their kids back in school and earning a living. The floodwaters washed away crops. If they are going to reap any harvest this year they have to get new crops into the ground soon. If they don’t get it in now they are going to lose that essential resource and potential income. So there is that sense of urgency.

We sent two teams of experts to Escuintla today and one team will travel to San Lucas Toliman tomorrow, to assess how we can be of most assistance to our partners and the people affected. San Lucas Toliman was really hit hard by the storm and like Escuintla and many other areas of the country, they have had a couple of deaths. It’s devastating. Some of the worst hit areas are getting attention in the media but some that are still really bad aren’t getting any. We can’t forget that the people who were affected by the volcano continue to need our help, despite the fact that Agatha left so many others temporarily homeless.

Our goal is getting people back into their communities and their regular lives as quickly as possible. Around the volcano a number of schools were partially or totally destroyed by rocks. We are interested in working on needed repairs. We are currently mobilizing food, water, medicine, hygiene kits, cooking kits, temporary shelter supplies for those most in need.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? A volcano AND a tropical storm?

Great ministry in Honduras

From FIDES:

2010-07-19

AMERICA/HONDURAS - Learning the “values of life” from early childhood: Catholic campaign reaches out to 250,000 children

Tegucigalpa (Agenzia Fides) – Aimed at teaching the principal values of life to youngsters from an early age this year's annual 'Children's Campaign', promoted by the Catholic Church in Honduras is reaching out to thousands of children in schools and catechism groups. The seven week Campaign it is expected to involve an estimated 250,00 children with more than 11,000 teachers and 860 participating schools said Bishop Angel Garachana of the diocese of San Pedro Sula. The Campaign, launched on 5 July, and will end in the last week of August. The theme this year is "The Values of Life".

“Through children we reach the family ” Bishop Garachana explained, adding that in situations of violence and insecurity it is necessary to create entirely new attitudes, planting seeds of trust and justice in order to build neighbourhoods of harmony and peace. This year's theme - "The Values of Life" - is very important, "because respect for life is a sort of nucleus around which many other values rotate because, we might say, it is the core value which is most frequently offended and violated " said Bishop Garachana.

The root of the crisis of values, of violence, of social injustice, can be traced back to a lack of respect for the sacred value of life, of the human person, every human person. “If people are exploited, the vulnerable are abused, workers see their rights trampled, there is no respect for life and people kill other people, it is because the sacredness, the value of human life, of the human person as such, has been lost” the Bishop concluded. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 19/7/2010)

Pray for the children of Monte Alban

From FIDES:

Oaxaca (Agenzia Fides) – As a result of the earthquake which struck Mexico on 30 June, there is concern for the condition of a children's canteen in Monte Albán where, a recent after-tremor caused a landslide to fall on the canteen building damaging the kitchen water pipes. Fortunately the landslide happened at night when the canteen was empty. We are in Mexico, in the outskirts of Oaxaca, only 2 km from the famous archaeological site of Monte Albán, a district where the Italian Associazione Volontari per il Servizio Internazionale (AVSI) has worked since 2003 on a 'Tent Campaign' with its local partner DIJO (Desarrollo Integral de la Juventud Oaxaquena) and a Spanish partner CESAL. To continue to assist mothers and children in Monte Alban AVSI is building a new Centre for Education and Community Development which, when finished, will include a new canteen, nutrition programmes, kindergarten, after-school programmes and various activities for mothers. 

Today Monte Albán faces many problems: 6,000 people live in conditions of extreme poverty. Homes are very poor, with mud floors, cardboard walls and tin roofs. There are no services and hygienic conditions are a sign of serious social hardship. Children are undernourished, many are infested with fleas, parasites and other skin diseases. Most families consist of unmarried mothers who struggle to feed the children who are alone as early as 3 years and many start to work. Monte Alban has a high rate of adult illiteracy and poor school attendance. Since no birth certificates are issued, children cannot be registered at school. Lacking proposals for a better future, the area is characterised by violence, including armed violence by increasingly younger gangs of boys. (AP) (16/7/2010 Agenzia Fides)

Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize

I'm looking forward to praying more for these countries this week.  Mexico is (indirectly) in the US news even more than usual with the debate over immigration.  Whatever your feeling about Arizona's law and the broader US immigration debate, it seems to me that we have to remember that God loves every person He created, and we would do well to pray for them.  So maybe it's worth praying this week for the church and nation of Mexico, in part that they can create an environment for life that makes emigration to the US less attractive?

Sudanese bishops ask for help

http://www.georgiabulletin.org/local/2010/07/08/sudanesebishops/

Excerpt:
Bishop Rudolf Deng Majak of Wau, president of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said the trip to the United States was to ring an “alarm bell” about the dire situation in their land. He lived in a refugee camp himself for five years.


Other bishops were Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio and Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Adwok Kur of Khartoum.

“We need your prayers, but we also need your voice. If we can influence you … to do your little bit,” Bishop Majak said.

Earlier in the week, the bishops met with government officials and members of Congress to highlight the perilous situation in Sudan. They also visited with Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory.

Sudan has been wracked with one of the longest running wars in Africa, with generations growing up knowing violence and hundreds of thousands forced to find security in refugee camps. A five-year-old ceasefire was implemented with the intervention of the United States, European countries and the United Nations. It is vital the United States and the international community stay engaged and push for a free and fair election, the bishops said.

Relatively absolute poverty

I was trying to learn about this week's countries and saw "Nicaragua is the poorest country in Central America."  Wow, I thought, that must be bad, and it was, with a GDP per capita of $2,800 a year.  But what does that mean?  So I looked up Haiti - poorest in the western hemisphere at $1,300 a year.  Wow, that's really not much... I wonder what the worst of the Eatsern Hemisphere is? Turns out it's a toss-up - Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo both have a GDP per capita of $300.  So that's less than a dollar a day.  Less than $4 a day in Haiti.  Just over $7.50 a day in Nicaragua.

The US is $46,400, or more than $127 a day. (Only #11, incidentally.  All stats from the CIA fact book.)

Now, maybe GDP per capita isn't an accurate indicator.  Maybe there are dimensions that it doesn't capture that reflects a less desparate life than these figures seem to say.  But when I think about the fact that I spend more on diet coke alone than $4, I find it hard to really interalize what these numbers mean.

Remember Haiti?

Haiti comes up in the prayer cycle in a couple of weeks, and we'll post more about what they are going through then, but can you believe it's been 6 months since the earthquake there?  It seems that many Americans have long since moved on to other topics. It's striking that one of the requests from Peru was that they were still struggling to rebuild from an earthquake 3 years ago.

Web Super Sleuth #1!

Estela Cabrero Kallweit wins the first Web Super Sleuth for finding contact info for bishops in Nicaragua!  Still looking for Panama contacts.

Thursday night call for help

On Thursdays I try to hunt down contacts at the Catholic bishops' conferences of the nations we're praying for the following week to ask for prayer intentions.  It's a fun exercise, trying to navigate a website in a foreign language.  I got stumped tonight: for the life of me, I can't find a contact form or e-mail anywhere on the Nicaraguan bishops' site: http://www.cen-nicaraagua.org.  If you can, you get my eternal thanks and I'll mention you as a Web Super Sleuth.

Venezuelan bishops point to poverty, violence and corruption, angering Chavez

Also from FIDES:

Caracas (Agenzia Fides) – The Information Office of the Archdiocese of Caracas issued a statement of solidarity and support for Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino, Archbishop of Caracas, after the insults uttered against him by President Chavez during the celebration for the beginning of the bicentennial anniversary of the nation's independence.

...

The vice-president of the Bishops' Conference, Bishop Baltazar Porras, said in an interview with a local radio station that "the words of the Head of State deserve to be reviewed carefully. We need to look at the real situation of the country, where there is poverty, violence suffered by the Venezuelan people at all levels, take a look at all the kinds of corruption that are coming to light, and see the desire to cover-up the real problems. [emphasis added]  The Cardinal has said nothing more thatn what we have already written in the various documents from the Episcopal Conference. Now, he has only appealed to the people of Venezuela in building a society open to all.” The offensive words of President Chavez came in reaction to an interview granted by Cardinal Urosa Savino to the “El Universale” newspaper on Sunday, June 27, in which among other things the Archbishop said that the country is on the road to dictatorship and ruin due to the mismanagement of the government. 

...

The vice-president of the Bishops' Conference said that this should not be cause for hatred or insults, but for brotherhood, to allow us to live with serenity and joy, and added that the best response is that of the people of Venezuela, who once again show their "credibility and trust" in the Catholic Church and her authorities.

You can find President Chavez' statements here.

News about the church in Colombia

From FIDES:

Bogota (Agenzia Fides) – The Colombian Bishops' Conference has dedicated part of its website to the unfolding of the LXXXIX Plenary Assembly of Bishops, which is being held in Bogota (July 5-9). As the country is celebrating its Bicentennial of Independence, the theme of the Assembly is: "The Church's Work of Evangelization in Building Up Society in the Context of the 200th Anniversary of Independence." 

...

According to the note sent to Fides, poverty and employment were the first topics covered by the Bishops.
"The poverty and misery of half of our fellow citizens can no longer be regarded simply as an economic fact. Behind it, one discovers the violation of fundamental human rights and, therefore, a social conflict which must be addressed with courage and boldness by governors and by the entire Colombian society," said Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez, President of the Bishops' Conference of Colombia, in his speech. He then added, "the latest official figures show that unemployment, as of May 2010, reached 12 percent in Colombia, an equivalent of 2.6 million people unemployed. Also, it is estimated that 52.7 percent of people who work have a precarious work." 

A news story about Ecuador

We've had little luck getting prayer requests for the church in Colombia, Venezuela, and especially Ecuador.  Here's the best I could get for Ecuador, thanks to the Florida Baptist Witness:

Indie Rocker looks to fly Gospel into Ecuador

Jun 16, 2010
By CAROLYN NICHOLS
Newswriter
Evan Smith, a junior at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville, has plans to soar above and beyond his current job pouring concrete in Colquitt, Ga. He says God may lead him to perform music in arenas, or He may lead him to people along an Ecuadorian river.
Smith, 21, hopes he can do both. Just 18 solo hours away from a pilot’s license, he looks expectantly towards the sky as both his music and mission aspirations are tied to flying.
As a six-year volunteer with Southern Baptist missionaries to Ecuador, Steve and Carol Thompson, Smith said he believes God has called him to connect to people in 200 unreached communities along the Napa River that are best reached by air.
Smith is even looking into an experimental airplane powered by the same gasoline used by cars. The plane, he said, which can land on water, would be “perfect” for Ecuador.
“This is in the Lord’s hands, of course,” Smith told Florida Baptist Witness. “The big question now is ‘Where does my music fit into all of this?’”

Read the rest of the story and pray for Evan.

Colombian prayers

Like the Venezuela story, this FIDES story is a reminder that there are many parts of today's world where speaking out in faith isn't safe:

2010-06-11

AMERICA/COLOMBIA - Threatened with death bishops, religious and agencies working to promote respect for human rights

Santa Rosa de Osos (Agenzia Fides) – The diocese of Santa Rosa de Osos in Colombia and the Colombian Catholic Bishops' Conference issued a statement strongly condemning a recent attack on the residence of the Bishop of Santa Rosa de Osos, Mgr. Jairo Jaramillo Monsalve. Early in the morning of June 10, a bomb exploded in front of the Bishops' House, damaging part of the facade.
The statement, sent to Fides News Agency, reads as follows: “We consider these actions as direct attacks on the Church as she exercises her prophetic mission which includes announcing and denouncing the complex situation all over the country but especially in the diocese of Santa Rosa de Osos.”

The statement continues “the priests in the diocese of Santa Rosa de Osos firmly reject such expressions of violence which does nothing to help efforts being made to promote peace, respect and dialogue”.

The diocese of Santa Rosa de Osos, created in 1917, comprises 29 districts in the regions of North, North-East and Bajo Cauca, with a total number of 80 parish communities, circa 550,000 people in an area of 22,000 sq km.

In another part of Colombia, in the centre of the country, Bishop Camilo Fernando Castrellón Pizano, SDB, Bishop of Barrancabermeja, issued a statement following threats received by the Jesuit Refugee Service and other organisations involved in promoting respect for rights, labour rights and social harmony. The Bishop recalls that “God alone is the Lord of life”, and, quoting John Paul II, affirms the inalienability of human rights and the unacceptability of violence. Dialogue, he says, again quoting the same Pontiff, is the only path to social harmony.

The following part of the statement from Bishop Camilo Fernando Castrellón Pizano is reported by the Bishops' Conference web site: "I consider this not only a grave error but something which is totally wrong: with the power of arms these people intend to intimidate individuals, institutions and communities and impose their own opinion as the only path, ignoring respect for the dignity of every human person, for human rights and, consequently, the right to diverge and to hold a different opinion". (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 11/06/2010)

Venezuelan news

As is the case with almost every country, I enter the week with no real knowledge of what the state of the faith is there.  This story in FIDES really grabbed me though.  I tend to assume that martyrs are a thing of the past.  Not so:

2010-05-03

AMERICA/VENEZUELA - The violent death of Father Wood, who had just launched a 'Campaign to protect Life and Peace

Puerto Ordaz (Agenzia Fides) – A Catholic priest, Fr Esteban Robert Wood, aged 68, parish priest of Sagrada Familia parish in Puerto Ordaz, was murdered in the evening of Wednesday 28 April, near the parish house in the Unare district of Puerto Ordaz, in the state of Bolivar, Venezuela. Fr Wood, originally from Vancouver in the state of Washington (United States), had been on mission in Venezuela for more than 23 years. The parishioners gave the alarm when the priest failed to open the church doors at six in the morning, as usual. A man who works in the parish found the body of the priest, who appeared to have been stabbed.

Local sources told Fides that Bishop Mariano Parra Sandoval of Ciudad Guayana, diocese which includes Puerto Ordaz, visited the parish house where the priest was found and said the crime was a sign of the climate of violence present all over the country. Both the bishop and the local authorities suspect that the attack was a robbery and ended with the murder of the priest.

Local papers reporting the incident had words of praise for Fr Woods: “a person of excellence and humility, we are all very sad” said a women who lives in the vicinity. Fr Miguel Angel Garcia, who works in a neighbouring parish, said “Fr Wood worked hard to promote the community. He also worked with projects of Ciudad Guayana”. Only a few weeks ago he launched a Campaign to promote Life and Peace, and to fight the very violence of which he became a victim.

Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela

This week's countries.  Any requests?

A Response from Peru

Prayer request from a friend of Joan's.  Can anyone translate?

Querida Joan, comparto esta nota sobre un tema que pienso requiere la reflexión de todos, y por lo tanto de la oración.

Considero que si la iglesia en general, y en particular la católica, supera tensiones internas, como la que trata este asunto, su intervención se vería potenciada.

Gracias por el contacto, en la web del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias CMI, hay un directorio de miembros en los diferentes países, lo mismo en la web del Consejo Latinoamericano de Iglesias CLAI, y pueden además anotar datos de la web de la Conferencia Episcopal de cada uno de los países de la reión.

Finalmente, está terminando el Decenio para superar la violencia, promovido por el CMI y que desarrolla acciones masivas de oración internacionalmente, a las que se podrían sumar las que promueve Jeff.

Un abrazo.

Oscar
PD.- Hoy hablé con un funcionario de la Defensoría del Pueblo por lo de las pensiones y la deuda con los Vencedores del 41. Mañana habrá un evento en Villa El Salvador, sobre las pensiones no contributivas, y espero se puedan incluri algunas palabras sobre lo del 41.