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Being in a mission trip is like being in a pilgrimage of faith, but instead of visiting shrines, monuments, churches, monasteries and other sites from the past, we visit people of faith in the here and now. Recently, a group formed by parishioners from three parishes of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee flew to Bolivia with Fr. Juan Manuel Camacho, from the Community of Saint Paul.
Bolivia is the poorest country in South America. Its socio-economic reality is precarious, and there are many needs at all levels. The purpose for the “pilgrims” in Bolivia was to get to know the reality of the people that the CSP serves there. The group was able to help with the street children center in Cochabamba (Casa San José). They spent two days on educational activities with the children, who at the same time had the opportunity to interact with people from a different culture. The group also worked on the rural areas in a reforestation program planting trees on the barren mountains of Los Andes. The reforestation program that the CSP has in the mountains of Cochabamba is located in the municipality of Independencia. There, on the top of the Andean mountains, the visitors from the USA worked shoulder to shoulder with the local farmers planting trees that will make a difference in their lives. But all the work that we did was minimal if we compare it with the great work the Holy Spirit did in each one of us pilgrims. The transformation that happens when we come out of our comfort zones and open our hearts to a different reality is just amazing. We celebrated Mass in a rural community, a place where the local priest can only get to once every three months. It was a great expression of the diversity of the Church, since during the Eucharist three languages were spoken: Spanish, Quechua and English.
This mission trip was one of many efforts from the CSP to bring people of different parishes and walks of life from the archdiocese of Milwaukee to connect with the missionary life of the Church. We look at these trips as pilgrimage of faith: pilgrimages that help us understand the Church, its vitality, its critical role in so many places of the world, and its diversity.
