A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH TO A PILGRIM COMMUNITY
La Sagrada Familia Parish in the Dominican Republic receives visitors
from Milwaukee
This year Catholics
in Southeastern Wisconsin commemorate the 35th anniversary of the
twinning relationship between the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and La Sagrada Familia parish in Sabana Yegua,
Azua, in the Dominican Republic. During all of these years, priests from Milwaukee
have run the parish, sharing their faith and love with the people of Sabana Yegua
and its surrounding rural communities. Since 2003, members of the Community of
Saint Paul, lay and ordained, have been in charge of the parish on behalf of
the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
In order to
commemorate these 35 years of partnership, different activities have been organized,
so that people can participate and experience this partnership of faith. In
late June and early July we have had two groups of pilgrims from Milwaukee visiting
the parish.
The first was
a group of 25 young adults, plus 7 seminarians from the archdiocese, who spent
a week in the parish and were immersed in different activities with children,
youth and the community at large. It was a great experience for the young
adults coming from Milwaukee and the youth from the parish who came together to
interact and share their talents and faith. The group was a coordinated effort
put in place by the World Mission Office of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee,
Catholic Financial Life Insurance company and, also, the archdiocesan office
for Young Adult ministries. These three organizations came together and worked
hard to make a wonderful pilgrimage of faith for the young adults participating
on the trip. The seven seminarians held reflections and activities while
sharing with the 25 young adults, who expressed that they were going back home
transformed by this pilgrimage.
The second was
a group of six men, five of whom are in training to be ordained permanent deacons
in the archdiocese of Milwaukee. They visited La Sagrada Familia parish as part
of their formation plan. They stayed with families in their Sabana Yegua homes,
got to know the different ministries and then in the evenings reflected
theologically about what they were seeing. It was a wonderful combination of
theological reflection, prayer and sharing faith and love with the local
community.
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