New Marist community gathers for the first time

The new community Lavalla200> of Tabatinga, Brazil, came together for the first time during a Mass held on Feb. 26 presided by the bishop of Alto Solimões, Bishop Adolfo Zon Pereira.

Participants included Brothers Jeff Crowe and Ángel Medina, formators of the Lavalla200> members, who were visiting from Feb. 22 – Feb. 28 from Rome, as well as friends of the community and religious from other congregations. Brasil Sul-Amazônia’s provincial, Brother Inácio N. Etges, and the coordinator of the América Sur region, Brother Alberto Aparicio, who held a series of meetings with Brothers Jeff and Ángel during their stay, also attended the Eucharistic celebration.

The community’s members are now Juliana Kittel (Australia), Br Isidoro García Maté (Spain), Br Paul Bhatti (Pakistan),  and Verónica Rubí (Argentina), who has been in the community since 2016.

They are the second group to join the Lavalla200> International Communities for a New Beginning and were assigned the destination of Tabatinga after they completed their two-month formation last June . Until now, the members had been occupied with obtaining visa permits and other practical aspects to prepare them for their new mission.

Tabatinga is in Brazil’s Amazonas state, and borders with Colombia and Peru. The locals there face narcotrafficking and human trafficking issues. Due to their fertile land, the indigenous are also at high risk of being forced to leave in the future if foreign multinationals were to pressure the government in to changing the law, stripping them of their rights.  

The main tasks of the Lavalla200> members there include helping river and indigenous communities, whose children live situations of marginalisation in the populations where they have to go to study after primary school.