Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Islas Maria (Agenzia Fides) – For the third consecutive year, a group of young missionaries from the Anahuac University (Universidad Anahuac) and some members of the International Prison Fellowship led by Father Bernardo Skertchly, President of the organization, successfully carried out missions in the prisons of the Islas Maria, where they provided spiritual assistance to more than 1,600 inmates.
This year, there were 56 young people who went to prisons on Islas Maria, located in the Mexican Pacific, about 120 kilometers west of Puerto Vallarta, to give spiritual assistance to detainees, their families, and also the staff who operate in prison.
The island became a prison in 1905. It is an area that is 14 km long, 12 km wide, with mountains in the center, where inmates serve sentences of up to 20 years. On its perimeter, there are distributed clusters known as "Campamentos," where detainees live in a climate of relative freedom, many accompanied by their families.
To perform the mission, the young missionaries were divided into two groups: one for about 900 prisoners and their families in the villages of Aserradero and Bugambilias, while the second group went to minister to another 700 new inmates at the community of Balleto. From early morning, the young missionaries began their work immediately after breakfast and after morning prayers, to return in late afternoon as true apostles to share dinner together, have prayers, and exchange stories of touching experiences lived during the day.
The Islas Maria experience was described by missionaries as "the meeting of human misery with the mercy of God," because the people who live there have committed serious crimes, have lost their dignity and that of their families, and live in subhuman conditions." (CE) (Agenzia Fides 29/04/2010)
