Paraguay, South America

NEW BEGINNINGS - THE BIRTH OF A VICE PROVINCE

Vice Province of St. Anthony of Padua

PARAGUAY

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By: Fr. Seraphin J. Conley, TOR

In 1959, the Holy Father, Pope John XXIII appealed to religious congregations to come to the aid of their confreres in the task of strengthening and preserving the Faith in Latin America, an area targeted for Communist penetration. The Minister Provincial, Very Rev. Jerome A. Pechillo conveyed the Province's willingness to accept a mission. The Holy See assigned our Province the responsibility for the Departmento of Caaguazu, then part of the Diocese of Villarica, Paraguay.

In 1960, after an impressive Mission Departure Ceremony in the chapel of the Franciscan Preparatory Seminary, Hollidaysburg, the first group of missionary friars left for their central mission station in the small city of Coronel Oviedo. The Papal Nuncio, Mons. Martini met them at the airport and gave them an orientation to Paraguay. He explained that their job was to build up and prepare the way for a Diocese in some twenty years!

A gas station along the main road through the town was purchased and transformed into the Convento de la Immaculada Concepcion. In it was located the parish office for the Parroquia de Nuestra Senora del Rosario, an old church a block further up the unpaved road. Later, the friary served as the residence for the Commissary Provincial and part of the property was the location for the "Casa Vocacional San Damiano" for pre-novitiate students. (Presently, in 1993, it is the house of Novitiate for the Vice-Province of San Antonio de Padua.)

A year later,in 1961, this area entrusted to our care was erected into the Prelature of Coronel Oviedo by Rome and Fr. Jerome was named the first Prelate Nullius, or Local Ordinary. Under his supervision, a lovely new Cathedral was built beside the old church, which was converted into the parish hall. To provide for the needs of his widely dispersed flock, Mons. Pechillo invited other religious congregations of men and women to work with our friars and the Friars Minor and Salesians of Don Bosco already present. The Irish Passionists, diocesan priest volunteers from the Dioceses of Altoona and Brooklyn, the Franciscan Missionary Brothers from Bamberg, Germany, the Canadian Augustinian Sisters of Mercy staffed clinics and the Teresian Sisters from Spain staffed the Cathedral's parochial school and trained young girls as catechists.

Other parishes and mission stations were opened. Fr. Adalbert Wolski built the beautiful church of the Tres Reyes at Carayao and his successors there kept up the tradition! Fr. Seamus Corcoran rebuilt the parish house and any number of chapels and mass stations throughout the extensive parish limits. As a favor to Bishop Claudio Silvero, he also took care of the neighboring parish in the town of Cecilio Baez. After refurbishing the church in the town's center, he built the "mini-basilica" of Nuestra Senora de los Angeles at the developing crossroad area of the new paved highway. Fr. Seamus was a great vocational promoter and saw a number of his parishioners enter the Order.

At the Cruce area of Coronel Oviedo, a new parish of Cristo Redentor was established by Mons. Pechillo and assigned to the Province. Soon after the new church was constructed, it was hit by lightning and completely destroyed. Undaunted, Fr. Raphael Eagle and the parishioners began all over and the new building was even better than the first. Fr. Peter Chavez beautified the church and grounds during his many years as Pastor and added a modern hall for meetings and classes. Fr. Peter has been a strong promoter of the Charismatic Renewal and has organized several national assemblies which have overflowed the capacity of the large city sports complex.

In 1976 the Prelacy was raised to the status of a Diocese and Mons. Pechillo had the joy of ordaining a Paraguayan bishop, Mons. Claudio Silvero, SCC and handing over a Diocese well provided for in all the necessary infrastructure. He had served the Church and people well from 1961 - 1976 and returned to the United States as Auxiliary bishop of Newark, N.J. until his death on Jan. 1, 1991. The following year, our friars ended their administration of the Cathedral parish. An era of building and providing the material structure of the Church was ended. Our Province was honored in the efforts and sacrifice of so many friars.

At this time, the friars of the Commissariate decided to concentrate their efforts on promoting vocations and providing a program of formation. A simple novitiate building was built on our property joining the Cruce parish and Fr. Raphael took on a new role as Novice-Master. In the course of his Visitation, the Minister General, Fr. Roland Faley encouraged our friars and the Italian friars of the Assisi Province working in the next diocese at San Estanislao to combine efforts to provided a stronger program of Formation for the increasing number of Paraguayans coming to both Commissariates. In 1979, the Inter-Provincial Conference of Paraguay was established by Fr. Roland with Fr. Seraphin Conley, the Commissary Provincial of the Immaculate Conception Province as the first President. It was agreed to begin our formation collaboration at the novitiate level in the existing locale at the Cruce.

Since "San Gregorio," the Minor Seminary of the Assisi Province at Santani was filled to capacity and could not provide places for the young men coming to us, it was decided to set up our own Pre-Novitiate Program in Coronel Oviedo. The former house at the end of our friary property which had served as the residence for Mons. Pechillo was converted into the "Casa Vocacional San Damian" providing a provisional locale for 10 candidates enrolled at the old Colegio Parroquial and later its successor " Colegio Mons. Geronimo Pechillo, T. 0. R.." Fr. Seraphin served as the first Director of the Casa Vocacional for several years until his return to the United States. An impressive number of our Paraguayan friars began their Franciscan journey in this humble place. The first member of the "Class of Founders, " Fray Dario Coronel was ordained on January 21,1989 and went on for studies in Franciscan Spirituality at the Antonianum in Rome.

An Inter-Provincial program for the clerics of the two Commissariates was also set up at the existing House of the Italian friars in Barrio Herrera, Asuncion. This residence soon was inadequate to the number of friars and there was difficulty in purchasing the adjoining property for expansion. The two Provinces approved the building of a new clericate next to the Theological Institute at the new campus of the Universidad Catolica in Lambare (Asuncion). At present, the friary at Herrera serves as the residence for the junior professed friars and older postulants doing studies with the Jesuits at Colegio Xavier and the House of Studies at Lambare is for the clerics studying Philosophy and Theology.

The Inter-Provincial Conference had its share of tensions in working out the problems that arose as Italians, Americans and Paraguayans tried to harmonize their understandings, temperaments and experiences for the Order's future in Paraguay. A great deal of the problem seemed rooted in an organizational structure which was often inadequate to respond quickly or decisively whenever problems arose. As a means of avoiding such problems, the Minister General in a letter of February, 1991 placed the combined formation program directly under his authority.

In 1982, the friars of our Commissariate met to consider directions for the future in Paraguay in preparation for the Province's Chapter of Mats. We had received an invitation from Mons. Van Aaken,SVD to consider accepting a parish in the Prelature of Alto Parana. Frs. Raphael and Seraphin had visited some of the parishes in the area of the See City, Pdte. Stroessner (now Ciudad del Este) in the company of the Vicar General, Mons. William Hirth. It seemed a wonderful opportunity and satisfied the criteria of assuring community life, provision for adequate financial support, etc. Unfortunately, our lack of personnel made it impossible to prudently accept any new commitments. However, during the following years, Fr. Raphael was very active in preaching and retreat work in the Prelacy and kept the idea alive. During his visitation to Paraguay, the Minister Provincial, Very Rev. Giles Schinelli visited the area with Fr. Raphael, Commissary Provincial, and was favorable to the idea. The willingness of Fr. Cyprian Mercieca to return to Paraguay provided the experienced friar needed for the new venture. The Province agreed to accept responsibility for the Parish of N. Sra. de la Asuncion in Hernandarias near the Itaipu Dam complex. On October 2, 1988, in the presence of a large number of friars, religious and laity, Fr. Cyprian was installed as pastor. In March of 1991, he and his associate, Fr. Federico Gayoso moved into the new friary alongside the main church.

A special meeting was held at the Motherhouse of Sts. Cosmas and Damian fron November 11 - 13th, 1991. Under the presidency of the Minister General, the Ministers Provincial of the Assisi Province, V. Rev. Raffaele Pazzelli, and of the Immaculate Conception Province, V. Rev. Giles Schinelli, the elected delegates of the Paraguayan friars, Fr. Pedro Villalba, Fr. Frederico Gayoso, and the General Definitors, the Very Reverend Frs. Lino Temperino and Seraphin Conley, plans were drawn up for the establishment of the Vice-Province of Paraguay under the patronage of St. Anthony of Padua. The proposed date of this establishment was September 17, 1992. So, the final chapter in the history of our service to the Church in Paraguay has been written. A number of friars have offered their time and talents over the years and God has blessed their efforts. We pray that He continues to bless the new Vice-Province of St. Anthony of Padua.

By: Fr. Cyprian Mercieca, TOR
Immaculate Conception Province

The Third Order Regular began to send missionaries to Paraguay in the 1950's. They were from the Assisi Province in Italy. In 1960 the American Immaculate Conception Province also established a mission in the central part of the country. This was in response to the appeal made by the Holy Father to all religious orders and congregations in North America and Europe: "Send missionaries to Latin America because the Faith there is in jeopardy!" Indeed, the Catholic faith was in danger because of the overwhelming poverty of the masses, coupled with the tight grip with which military dictatorships held their countries down; and because extreme Marxist-Leninist ideologies were capturing the imagination and the hopes of so many men and women who lived in utter desperation. At the same time "runaway" capitalist principles and subhuman working conditions squeezed the same masses from the other end of the spectrum. In truth, there seemed to be collusion - by default -between the afore-mentioned extremes and the leaders of the Church. A great void was caused by the lack of prophetic proclamations of the Gospel, while simultaneously neglecting to demand social and economic justice from those in power.

The TOR missionaries labored as best they could, but they knew that the Church is genuinely established in a country only when the Gospel seeds begin to be planted by those priests and religious of the same race. So, in time, young Paraguayan men were invited to join the Third Order Regular as priests and brothers. The invitation was accepted by a good number of youths, and their ranks grew so steadily (including a substantial number of ordinations to the priesthood) that by the early 1990's the two (Italian and American) TOR entities were officially fused into one Paraguayan Province!