AMERICA/CHILE - About 1,500 university students bring Christ's message of joy and hope to 52 locations

Santiago (Agenzia Fides) - About 1,500 students are visiting hundreds of people and families in 52 Chilean communities to bring the message of Christ's hope to them. The young volunteers of the projects "Misión de Vida", "Trabajo País", "Siembra UC" and the members of the choir "Misión País" made their way from the "San Joaquin" campus of the Catholic University of Chile (UC) with backpacks, bags, building materials and tools and sleeping bags... to share the faith of a living Church to the 52 Chilean locations. According to information from UC, the pastoral projects of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, which will take place between July 13 and 22, will involve young university students from UC and other universities, as well as high school students in their third and fourth year of high school. "This year we want to reactivate young people because we come from two pandemic years in which the number of participants was almost zero. We believe that as young people we have a duty to go to Chile and to those who need it most. We want to show that there are young people in the country who are willing to help each other," says Hernán Holch, who coordinates the "Trabajo País 2022" project and managed this project together with Inés Ariztía. The volunteers want to create spaces for dialogue and encounters while placing Christ at the center. "Trabajo País" wants to convey a message of hope based on the encounter with Christ and putting the abilities of each individual at the service of others, of Chile and of the Church. The university students will be active in 23 locations from the Arica region to the Bío Bío region, where they will build or restore chapels and meeting houses, among other things. "Siembra UC" is a missionary project that began in 2003 with the goal of bringing together third- and fourth-year high school students who would like to serve Chile and the Church together. Around 450 high school students take part. "Saint Albert Hurtado said that a Catholic is a person to whom God has entrusted the world. María Paz Alessandri and Juan Pablo Sáez, the coordinators of the "Misión de Vida" project, explained to the participants: "Ever since we had this dream, we have always seen this day far away. We could not imagine that there would be 1,500 brave young would be people who would set out to meet Christ and respond to a Chile that today harbors so much uncertainty.The presence of each one of you is very important because you are courageous young people who face the "Only true encounter that can transform lives. Young people who know how to respond and bring about an encounter with Christ. We respond with courage to the Christ of life". The choir "Misión País", on the other hand, sees itself as an instrument that reaches people's hearts through music. The choir will perform in various communities as part of the joint project and would like to promote the encounter with God. "We know that through music prayer can be experienced more deeply, and that is the mark we want to leave in these missions. We want to make sure that every person has a real connection to Christ in their prayer," says Manuel Jouanne and María José Chadwick, the coordinators of the project. (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 20/7/2022)

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