On May 27, Saturday morning, the Church of Sao José, at the heart of the city of Belo Horizonte (Brazil), was full of faithful from different parts of Brazil. Thousands of people with great joy attended the episcopal ordination of Mgr Vicente de Paula Ferreira CSsR, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Belo Horizonte, nominated by Pope Francis on 8 March.
Archbishop of Belo Horizonte, Bishop Walmor Oliveira de Azevedo the main celebrant of the ceremony of episcopal ordination, and other bishops concelebrating with him were the Archbishop of Diamantina, Mgr Darci Nicioli CSsR, and Bishop of Cachoeiro do Itapemirim, Mons Dario Campos. Many bishops from various parts of the country and priests concelebrated the Mass, along which many fellow Redemptorists.
In his homily, Bishop Walmor emphasised that we must look to our Church as the one who serves and that in this mission, Bishop Vicente represents the nobility of the Redemptorist heart, in communion with the teachings of the founder of the Congregation, St. Alphonsus Liguori. “Let St. Alphonsus become his inspiration and let him rejoice in his heart.” Bishop Walmor also talked about the mission of Archbishop Vicente in the Archdiocese of Belo Horizonte, when he was the Episcopal Vicar for Missionary Action: “We are aware of our enormous challenge in many directions, especially in the villages and Favelas (the suburbs). In the Archdiocese of Belo Horizonte, we have over 500,000 people living in poor neighbourhoods and villages and we need to be present among them all. We want to face this challenge with the work of the new bishop. I’m sure it is on this front, and other important places such as the “Valle del Paraopeba,” which is a rural area, we will have a great missionary engagement with Bishop Vicente. “
Mgr Vicente listened and took to his heart the words of the Archbishop. During the Episcopal Ordination he was also accompanied by Fr. Dalton Barros, C.Ss.R., his formator in the Congregation, and Father Américo de Oliveira CSsR, Provincial Superior of Rio de Janeiro.
(Http://www.provinciadorio.org.br)
