AMERICA/ARGENTINA - ARCHBISHOP OF BUENOS AIRES GIVES MISSIONARY MANDATE TO 1000 MISSIONARIES TO ANNOUNCE THE GOSPEL IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE CAPITAL AND BEYOND IN RURAL AREAS

Friday, 5 December 2003

Buenos Aires (Fides Service) – Some 1000 city missionaries will be given the solemn Mandate by Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires and primate of the Church Argentina, on 6 December 2003, during a solemn mass in the Cathedral. About 100 different groups of missionaries, in all 1000 people, are prepared for mission in Buenos Aires and beyond. Some will carry the Gospel to the far corners of the city amidst dire poverty and marginalisation, others will go to rural areas, others will evangelise at work or other environments.
“This missionary event takes place every year since 1989. The idea is for our diocesan missionaries to receive their mandate from the Archbishop and because most of them will begin their missionary work in January and February the Mass for their sending is held in December” Father Pablo Piccolini, Co-ordinator of Buenos Aires Archdiocesan Centre for Mission Groups told Fides.
“These missionary groups are of great importance for the Church in Argentina and they have special characteristics. The groups vary from 5 to 30 people, aged between 15 and 35, mostly laity accompanied by one or two priests. They are parish groups, school groups or members of religious institutes, Father Pablo Piccolini told Fides.
Some groups work all the year round, others only in the Summer during vacation time. The latter meet regularly during the year to prepare the Summer Mission and keep close contact with the communities where they will go on mission. The Summer groups usually work in rural areas, at a considerable distance from Buenos Aires. Whereas those who engage in mission all the year round usually devote the weekends to visiting slums in outer Buenos Aires.
The solemn Mass with the sending of the missionaries is a positive experience of communion among the different groups and an important event of missionary animation in our archdiocese. It is also a time in which all the groups can listen to the message of their Archbishop in”. (R.Z.) (Fides Service 5/12/2003; lines 31; words 394)


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