Supporting pastoral programs for youth and vocations in the Andes
The Territorial Prelature of Corocoro is situated high up in the Andes. Life is hard here, and the people live widely scattered, often in small settlements. Only a handful of the villages have a population of over 10,000. Around 80% of the 290,000 people in the prelature live in extreme poverty, and rural exodus is a real problem as many people migrate to the urban centres of the country, subsequently finding themselves stuck in slums. Families are thus torn apart.
All this represents an immense challenge for the Church. The 27 parishes of the prelature have only 17 priests to minister to them, whereas each parish is comprised of up to 80 smaller settlements, many of which are remote and inaccessible. Hence most of these places can be visited only once or twice a year at best by the priest. There is also a shortage of catechists who can help prepare the people for Baptism and for the reception of the other sacraments. Meanwhile, various sects are spreading ever further.
Bishop Pascual Limachi Ortiz, who himself belongs to the Indigenous Aymara people, who make up the majority of the population of the prelature, wanted to do something to change all this and devoted himself above all to the youth apostolate, because young people are the future of the Church. And so, in 2021, with the help of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), he set up a training program which aims to form young people in the faith and promote vocations. It has been a tremendous success, and he now wants to extend and expand this initiative.
He writes: “At present, we see the need to give greater continuity to this work with young people, who are the most neglected group in our society. We are also very interested to see how youth work can also be taken up in those parishes and areas where we have not hitherto been present.
We want to increase the number of participants and at the same time provide a better and more intensive formation to a certain number of young group leaders. At the same time, it is also very, very important for us to concentrate on the promotion of vocations. Our program is aimed at young people aged 15 to 29 years, who represent around 28% of the total population and therefore number some 87,000 people.”
The program includes courses on various topics, such as the Holy Scriptures, the Sacraments, Christian values and morality. There will also be retreat days and youth meetings, which will require not only course materials but also the cost of travel, lodging, and meals for participants. We would like to support this valuable program again this year in the amount of $17,112, as it represents an important contribution to education in the faith and the promotion of vocations in this particularly challenging region. Will you help us?
