Ever since the mid-1960s there has been violent conflict in Colombia. During this time around 6 million people have been uprooted from their homes and around 200,000 killed. A further 60,000 people are registered as still missing.
Despite a peace accord in 2016, many areas of the country are still controlled by armed groups, and the violence has in fact escalated since last year. In the more rural regions the growing of coca for the drugs trade has all but wiped out the traditional agricultural cultivation. The situation is also exacerbated by a large influx of immigrants from neighbouring Venezuela, thereby still further intensifying the people‘s poverty.
For Catholic priests Colombia has been a perilous country for decades now. Over the past 40 years almost 100 priests have been murdered in this South American country, and dozens more abducted. Yet despite this, the priests have not allowed themselves to be intimidated. Thanks to your generosity we have been able to regularly support these priests in various different dioceses of Colombia. For they urgently need our help. And so we regularly pass on your Mass stipends to them.
Bishop Israel Bravo Cortés of the diocese of Tibù writes: „A region like our own, which is so severely marked by violence and death, needs God. Its people need the presence of the Lord in their hearts if they are to be able to confront and transform so very many painful situations that have marked their lives. We feel an obligation to strive to build up a new culture, centred on the joyful Gospel message of peace. In this environment we feel called to practise mercy, to be a missionary Church and bearer of hope. In a region where people have ceased to dream of better times, where the option of progress no longer seems credible, where death continues to leave its mark, we know that we are playing a decisive role in proclaiming the Lord Jesus and opening up new horizons of hope by being truly reliable companions to people who today feel so vulnerable in the present situation.“
Other similar letters have reached us from other dioceses in Colombia. By passing on your Mass offerings to them, we intend to continue supporting these brave priests, who are standing by their people and proclaiming the Good News of Christ, without regard for the safety of their own lives.
