The Church present in Santa Cruz (Valles Cruceños area), Bolivia, has organized a vocational meeting for young people from the parishes in the Juan XXIII Vicariate, under the guidance of Father Fr. Juan Carlos Urzagaste, CSsR, Parish Priest of the Sweet Name of Jesus Parish in Vallegrande, who is the Episcopal Vicar of the San Juan XXIII Vicariate.
On Saturday, September 28, the Youth Meeting of the Valles Cruceños was held with the motto “United in prayer, renewed and called to the mission.” The meeting brought together 196 young people, 14 catechists, a religious man, 6 religious women and 6 priests from the Bolivian Provinces of Florida, Manuel María Caballero and Vallegrande. Delegations from the Parishes of Comarapa, Saipina, Pampa Grande, Mairana, Samaipata and Vallegrande participated. They celebrated the joy of being a young Christian, full of hope despite the different realities that each of them goes through.
The first part of the meeting focused on the theme of prayer, as we prepare to celebrate, as a Church, the Holy Year “Pilgrims of Hope.”
Later, each young person was encouraged to delve deeper into the topic of vocation. Several congregations were present and presented their charism, spirituality and mission, including the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorist Missionaries), the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), the Congregation of the Dominicans of St. Catherine of Siena, the Congregation of the Servants of the Virgin Mother of God Immaculate Conception and the Congregation of the Sisters of the Christian Schools of Mercy “St. Mary Magdalene Postel”.
Attentive to the universal Church and social reality of young people, the Vicariate of Saint John XXIII promoted this Meeting with the aim of rekindling the vocational flame in each young person. The need to promote a culture of vocations in the various spaces of society is increasingly clear. It is urgent to transform the shadows of a “closed world” into an “open world,” where the theme of vocations is a constant.
May God bless our youth and water the soil of our Church with abundant vocations!
Brother Pablo Vinícius Reis Moreira, CSSR.
