Bringing OCA mission to South America

[Jose Lauro Strapasson]

Hi there!http://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/happy.gif

Why not to bring an OCA mission to south america?
Here where I live (Brazil) we only have colony churches that don't like to use our language (portuguese) in the liturgy.

J.L.

[magner de souza]

jose, I agree with you. Here in Belo Horizonte, we have only one orthodox church working. Two have closed the doors many years ago. This one left, a Syrian Orthodox Church of Saint Peter prays in portuguese nowadays.

[Jose Lauro Strapasson]

And Syrian Orthodox is not our Church http://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/sad.gif
In Curitiba we have a greek church that have liturgy one time a month.http://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/sad.gif The Ulkranian Cathedral we have here is almost only in ulkranian language and I go to antiochian church but our father is going back to Liban after Lent.http://www.monachos.net/mb/clipart/sad.gif

[Olga]

Though this doesn't help the fact that Orthodox church services are lacking where you live, have you looked at the website www.fatheralexander.org (http://www.fatheralexander.org) website? This site was set up by the late Bishop Alexander of Buenos Aires, and has a wealth of downloadable material and resources available in Portuguese, as well as other languages.

[Julio Vázquez]

The OCA used to have a South American diocese with three parishes in Venezuela and its Cathedral in Brazil (Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul). All of these parishes have died, however, and the diocese has been officially inactive for about a decade.

Also, if there's a nucleus of people in your areas that is willing to work for the formation of a Portuguese-speaking mission, I would suggest to contact one of the churches already present in Brazil with Portuguese speaking clergy, such as the Polish Diocese, the Antiochian Metropolitante, Ukrainian Eparchy, or the Serbian parishes. if there's a group willing to gather and do their part in some location, surely one of them will help.

May God help you!

[Fr Seraphim (Black)]

Dear Julio,

I am certain people will come from North America...eventually.

We also, as you, suffer lack of clergy; graduating seminarians, who Bishops would consider as responsible and mature candidates for the priesthood, etc. My own Bishop, Seraphim (Storheim), Head Hierarch of the O.C.A. for Canada, is naturally very, very busy with Holy Week. But knowing him as I do, I can see not only his face but give you his response!!! Gee, some assumption, eh!

I would also write to Abbot George of Gregoriou Monastery on the Holy Mountain. Not only is he an extraordinary Elder, but his monastery is famous throughout the Orthodox World for its monk/missionaries. And you will need a monastery to nourish all the sprouting parishes. His address, (and he does know English),is:

ABBOT GEORGE
HOLY MONASTERY OF GREGORIOU
KARYES
MOUNT ATHOS
GREECE
630 86

In Florida there is the VERY active O.C.M.C., many of whom I met in the Balkan countries. They send missionaries, usually laity (husband, wife, and children, though not necessarily in that schema) to many countries. O.C.M.C. stands for the Orthodox Christian Missions Centre - I will post their address a bit later (as I do not have it right now.)

Naturally, the most important element is prayer and the unshakeable belief that Christ will fulfill your prayers.

Knock and the door WILL open!!

A joyful Holy Week and Pascha to you! (Do you know Acacio also, by chance?)

[Julio Vazquez]

Dear Father Seraphim, forgive me! I'm neither Brazilian nor Portuguese-speaking, and I don't live in Brazil. I'm from San Juan, Puerto Rico, where we do have a rather well-served mission (http://freewebs.com/iglesiaortodoxa). We are also well-acquainted with the OCMC, and in fact, you can read about our mission in a recent issue of their magazine (http://ocmc.org/images/pb/magazine/ OCMC_2005_Spring_Mag_web.pdf (http://ocmc.org/images/pb/magazine/OCMC_2005_Spring_Mag_web.pdf)).

I wholeheartedly agree, of course, with your comment that good monasteries are necessary to support the missionary work. This is, in fact, the chief problem of Latin American Orthodoxy, and the reason for its decline and near extinction: that no significant efforts have been made by anybody to plant permanent monastic communities in our lands. May God grant that this will change in the future!

Please pray for me, a sinner!

[Jose Lauro Strapasson]

Thank you Julio and thank you father Seraphim.

Our problem is that our country is too big and there are not enough churches. Where I live (curitiba, in the south) there are 4 churches. But for example, OC is present only in 8 states of the coutry. The Polish Diocese is in Rio de Janeiro that is about 800km from here.
And we don't have a seminary.

[Fabio Lins]

It's true that the situation of Orthodoxy in Brazil is sad. The very few churches that exist are not at all interested in missionary work at the time, although *there are* laity and some priests who, as individuals, would appreciate the idea. I agree that a missionary monastery would be a very good initiative, since the monks would be able not only to serve as models, but also as educators.
I have been working to have an encounter of native orthodox Brazilians, ethnic orthodoxs and even foreign missionaries whou would be interested in setting missions around Brazil. This meeting would take place in Rio de Janeiro, in 2007 and it would probably be held in the premises of the Polish Church in Brazil, in Copacabana. In Brazil, missions would probably be directed not only on setting new communities but also on helping older ones which exist in slums and shanty towns both on the material and educational aspects. Truth is that most of the present day Orthodox converts in Brazil had very little access if any to a truly Orthodox education, specially those of an older generation when there wasn't Internet and this has created some informational gaps that said monastical example could very easily solve. I would like to start making a list of people who might be interested in coming to Rio de Janeiro next year, bringing their missionary experience and vision to such an encounter.

Fabio Lins