Comboni Missionaries of Brazil North-East hand over a parish

Comboni Missionary Fr. Dario Bossi (in the picture above) left the parish of St. John the Baptist in Açailândia, in the south-east of the Brazilian state of Maranhão, to hand it over to the new diocesan pastor, Fr. Domingo Gonçalves da Costa. The high point of the ceremony was the Eucharist.

“We concelebrated with the bishop of the diocese, with Fr. Domingos da Costa and ten other priests of Açailândia, of the Micro-region of the city of Imperatriz, among then the vicar general, Fr. Felinto Elísio. The church was too small to hold all the faithful, who were able to follow the ceremony from outside on a giant screen,” so said Fr. Angel Yáñez García.

During the celebration, which lasted over two and a half hours, Bishop Gilberto Pastana de Oliveira (in the picture above) thanked the Comboni Missionaries for 22 years of presence in Açailândia and for the work done in evangelization and human promotion, naming also the missionaries who went through the parish.

The celebration continued the next day, in the area of Piquiá, 13 km from Açailândia. While all the faithful and the religious stood in the square of St. Lucy, and while the doors were still closed, there took place the reading of the decree of erection of the new parish – Santa Luzia do Piquiá – and of the document of nomination of the new Comboni pastor, Fr. Angel Yáñez García, who received the keys to the church from Bishop Gilberto. The city of Açailândia now has four parishes: St. Francis, in the center; St. Sebastian; St. John the Baptist; and the new one, St. Lucy, which includes 16 small Christian communities.

In the course of the Eucharist, the new pastor received from the hands of the diocesan bishop the appropriate symbols: Water (for Baptisms), a purple stole (for the Sacrament of Reconciliation), the tabernacle key (to keep the Eucharist). After the celebration, the bishop, the priests and the members of the Comboni family, plus some lay people, gathered to share a meal in the residence of the Comboni Missionaries.

The new pastor, Fr. Angel Yáñez, who was quite moved, concluded the celebrations with these words: “At this moment, I wish to express my gratitude to God, to my bishop and to the Comboni Missionaries who have been through here during these past 22 years and to thank also the people in charge and the Christians of the community for the cooperation and the warm welcome. May the Lord, through the intercession of Mary, Of St. Lucy and of St. Daniel Comboni, continue to bless us!”

March 2012. Demonstration against pollution from 5 steel industries which, for over twenty years,
are destroying the environment and the lives of the people of Piquiá, in Açailândia-Maranhão,
Northeastern Brazil.