Santa Rosa Missions of Paraguay

Santa Rosa is composed mainly of poor farmers who plow the land with oxen. The town of Santa Rosa, about 200 miles from the capital of Asunción, has a population of about 6,000; the neighboring villages that comprise the mission bring the total count to 14,000.

The Jesuits and three different congregations of sisters pray and work together to form basic Christian communities. First they form the animadores (animators or leaders) of these communities. The formation process takes about two years. These animators vitalize and are responsible for the basic Christian communities.

Besides Santa Rosa itself, the Jesuits have twenty-four villages to attend to. They say Mass once a month in those villages, depending on whether it is raining or not and on the condition of the dirt roads.

There is a one-day retreat every month for the animators. A three-day, five-day, or eight-day individually directed retreat is also available to them. The formation team of sisters and Jesuits regularly visit the animadores in their homes.

Members of these Christian communities work together in cultivating medicinal gardens, make natural home remedies for the sick, and sell different types of teas to the public. Others work together producing vegetable gardens which they irrigate to increase production. They frequently band together for the common good of the village — collecting, for example, food or money to help someone in the village who is sick or in need. There is also considerable cooperation among the villages themselves.

Written by Fr. Charles Thibodeaux, S.J.
Associate Pastor at Santa Rosa Missiones