AMERICA/BOLIVIA - Bishop Aubry remembered: the mission was the most important part of his life

Cochabamba (Agenzia Fides) – A few days after the death of Bishop Roger Emile Aubry, Redemptorist (see Fides 19/02/2010) Fides has received a very significant testimony entitled: "The Gift of Fidelity,” in thanksgiving to God for the contribution of Bishop Aubry to the missionary life of Bolivia and Latin America, given by Msgr. Juan Gorski, MM on May 25, 2000, at the Bolivian Catholic University in Cochabamba, on the occasion of the conferment of an honorary degree to Bishop Aubry.
This contribution shows clearly that the mission, for Bishop Aubry, was the most important thing in his life. An event that marked him deeply was his participation as Episcopal Delegate of Bolivia in the Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 1974, dedicated to evangelization. He spoke of his brothers in the episcopate who worked in Africa and Asia, deeply impressed by their testimony from the missions. Shortly after, he was elected Chairman of the Commission for the Missions of CELAM. In 1968, he was the first to speak of the "missionary situations" that characterized many areas of Latin America, placing them at the heart of the Church. Full of missionary experience, the communities could go out on missions outside the American continent, becoming aware of their universal missionary responsibility. Number 368 of the Puebla Document, written by Bishop Aubry, says it all: “The time has come in Latin America, ... for the particular Churches to project beyond their borders, ad gentes. We must give from our poverty ..."
The contribution of Msgr. Gorski ends by citing one of the many experiences of Bishop Aubry: "Once, in the Vicariate Apostolic of Reyes, in the Amazon, due to torrential rains in the Andes mountains, the tropical rivers swelled and destroyed the entire crop of a region. There was a poor farmer who had planted before all his neighbors, and managed to save his rice crop before the flood. Some merchants offered him an attractive price for that rice, but the farmer refused to sell it, so he could share the rice with the poorest families in his community." (CE) (Agenzia Fides 23/02/2010)