The eleven vicariates of the congregation (5)

Its roots

The betharramite presence in Paraguay was certainly favored by the expulsion of religious from France. Some of them reached Paraguay. They offered their fully availability to start a new work; but it is mainly the result of the tireless will of the bishop of Asuncion, Monsignor Symphorian Bogarin, determined to establish a Catholic college, the first in his country. The choice fell on the fathers of Buones Aires who came from Bayonne (France). After many vicissitudes, the Colegio San José was opened on July 1st 1904 with 15 students. The first community was made up of 5 Fathers: Jean-Baptiste Tounédou, Charles Sampay, Jean Lhoste, Alfred Bacqué and André Lousteau.
For a long time the San José boarding school was the only betharramite work in Paraguay. Brilliant professors of this institution gave a considerable boost to the cultural development of the country. We can name, among many others, the fathers Eugène Surerbielle and Pierre Chenu, who were superiors; father Lucien Cestac, both apostle of the devotion of the Sacred Heart and of the Apostolate of Prayer; father Joseph Saubatte, known as Pai Saba, for a long time Parish Priest of San José, founder of the San Miguel Garicoïts parish school; father Miguel Rigual, who founded the minor seminary of the Congregation in Paraguay in 1951, known to all as Colégio Apostolico; father César Alonso de las Heras, a learned and versatile religious, who wrote the history of the San José college.
In 1933 the college chapel was established as a parish church; in 1977 a new community was opened just outside the capital city, in a place called Ciudad del Este, where the Congregation was first entrusted with a parish and starting from 1979 with a new boarding school. Since 1947 the works of Paraguay have always been part of the Province of Rio de la Plata, along with Argentina and Uruguay; in 1977 Betharram in Paraguay became a provincial delegation and in 1983 the vice province of Paraguay was established and it acquired its full autonomy. This encouraged the development of the works, in a special way those engaged in education; the formation houses for the novices and the scholastics were founded at Puente Remanso and at Lambaré. At the same time new Betharramite parishes at San Joaquin and at La Colmena were created.
The Congregation in Paraguay gave two bishops to the Church: Mons Claudio Silvero Acosta, Bishop of Coronel Oviedo and current Auxiliary Bishop of Encarnación; and Mons Ignacio Gogorza Izaguirre, Bishop of Coronel Oviedo, Ciudad del Este and current bishop of Encarnacion.
In the new structure given to the congregation, the Vicariate of Paraguay, along with Brazil and Argentina-Uruguay, is part of the Region Father Augusto Etchecopar.

Roberto Cornara

Present and Future with Fr. Javier Irala scj, Regional Vicar

The Betharram of Paraguay has certainly been blessed. We celebrated the 110th anniversary of that , “Here I am!” uttered by the Fathers Sampay and Lhoste, the first two Betharramites that on February 21, 1904 settled in the Guaranì land.
About 5 years before, Bishop Bogarín, definitely one of the most prestigious Bishops ever of the Church of Paraguay, during his ad limina visit had submitted a worrying request to His Holiness Leo XIII: he asked the permission to open a Catholic boarding school in the Paraguay land, because, he argued, the youth of his country were losing their faith. The Will of God wanted the Betharramites religious to take up this great challenge, despite a shortage of staff and in a very difficult time for France ... the years of exile.

Today, looking at the vast field of apostolate that we are asked to take care of, perhaps we should say that we are too few for such a plentiful harvest. We are 19 religious: some with poor health, others are in advanced age; we are trying to carry out the mission entrusted to us in 5 major boarding schools (with about 6000 students) and in 5 parishes; three of them are located in rural areas and two in urban areas, all with a significant and demanding pastoral activity; we also have a house of formation.

This is the main source of our blessings, today just like 110 years ago: our main responsibility is to repeat the Ecce Venio with the same dynamism as the Incarnate Word, for the rest the Lord of the harvest will provide ... and, of course, we are called to pray and do vocation promotion to attract more workers into this beautiful vineyard.

The educational mission was and still is the main ministry entrusted to us by the congregation and by the Church. The work in our boarding schools is very much appreciated by the society, both because along many years important people have been formed and because of the style of education we are giving: to form a good Catholic and a good servant of the motherland.
This seems to be the reason why our works are still flourishing even in difficult times, when several other private boarding schools have been closed down or have seen the number of their pupils drastically dwindling. We are enjoying good health, we have a good academic level, a qualified teaching staff and adequately open to the betharramite spirituality; the boarding schools are self-supporting and have important guarantee funds. The vocation to priesthood of some of our young priests was born in our boarding schools. The Church is asking us not to leave such a fruitful field of apostolate.

In these recent years we have found great help in our Superior General who stressed the importance of the spirituality of Saint Michael Garicoits to be given to education in our institutions.
Our boarding schools are going to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Saint Michael on May 12th in the majestic stadium Leon Coundou, organised by the Colegio San José in Asunción. There will be a parade along Avenida España, followed by a solemn Mass; about 3,000 people are expected to turn out: students, teaching and non-teaching staff of the five institutions.

What does the future has in sore for us in the field of education? According to a recent survey, Paraguay is the youngest country in South America, with 70% of the population under the age of 30; we can assume that there will still be the opportunity to exercise the ministry in the boarding schools for a long time. Public schools fail to meet such a need for study and training , and this will certainly increase the demand in the private boarding schools ... the ability to occupy this space it certainly depends on a Church open to the signs of the times ... from our side we see the need that many young religious be trained to take on this mission, which continues to be challenging, perhaps even more than 110 years ago: the youth of our country are losing their faith, said Bishop Bogarín. We can share his view today , by seeing how alcoholism, drug addiction and juvenile delinquency are rampant ... For quite some time now , the Congregation has been asking us to concentrate our efforts both on the accompaniment and pastoral care of the educational community, leaving the academic and administrative direction to the laity. This decision has certainly strengthened the cooperation between the religious and the laity. Parents also recognize that this decision has helped to significantly improve the spiritual support given to their children: the field is open , the soil is rich , we need farmers having the same Heart of Christ.

Another important mission entrusted to us by the Church is the parish ministry. In recent years, the religious, for several weeks, were going to the interior of the country to carry out the mission or to help neighbouring parishes where pastoral care was inadequate. Gradually, at the bishops request, we have begun to assume the pastoral care of parishes. As I said, we take care of three rural areas and two urban districts with more than 3 churches.

The pastoral work in the parishes is very important for several reasons. Usually, each parish is divided into sub-stations or communities, and each one has its own structure with catechesis and various pastoral services. This ensures that a large number of laity are formed and collaborate closely with the priests. The parish priest, regularly visiting each community, can have a close contact with all families of the parish over a vast area. Usually a good number of laity respond with enthusiasm and vibrancy. This partially can explain why the Church in our country is considered as the organization with the greatest social and moral influence.

The largest number of candidates to the priesthood and religious life come from the parishes. This can be considered a further blessing: there is a good number of vocations, both men and women. A good vocation ptomotoin always gives a lot of fruits. The difficulty lies in giving a proper personal formation to each candidate and make them able to persevere in carrying the responsibilities they have assumed.
Is there a future for this type of ministry? Yes, there is, certainly. The bishops will continue to ask; there are still many underprivileged areas, both rural and suburban areas. The risk, always hidden, is that the religious does not distinguishes himself from the diocesan priest, especially when he fails to establish a community life ... We must also consider that the common people do not make any distinction between a diocesan priest and a religious priest .

What other challenges or mission fields are lying ahead in our Vicariate?
In our meetings we often talk about how we can respond to some of the many social needs of the population. Paraguay still has 40% of the population under the poverty line and certainly there are many “new kinds of poverty“: landless peasants ; homeless people; increasing of alcohol, drug addictions, and crime etc. We often wonder whether we can give more of our resources , our places , our personnel, to these “existential peripheries”. In Ciudad del Este, Father Fulgencio has started an interesting project about the prevention and care of the drug addict people. An association of volunteers, called PAPETRA (Pastoral, prevention, addiction treatment) has been set up. 
Giving answers to the brothers and sisters in need : this is definitely one of the priorities of our Vicariate in the near future.