Bibles for a Parish in Bolivia
Thursday, July 18, 2013

Success Story

Bolivia is regarded as the poorest country of Latin America. Two thirds of its almost 11 million inhabitants, who are overwhelmingly of indigenous Indian descent, currently live in poverty – some 40% of them even in extreme poverty. But this is not the only problem. In the last few years, similar to Venezuela, the situation in Bolivia has grown increasingly alarming in regard to freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

Given this situation, it is all the more important to strengthen Catholics in their faith. The Parish of Cuerpo de Cristo in the city of El Alto (population 900,000+) high in the Andes uplands some 13,000 feet above sea level, is working intensively with the Sacred Scriptures. On Sundays, the people bring a Bible with them to Holy Mass and afterwards read the texts from the day’s liturgy together, reflecting on them and endeavoring to answer the questions that the parish priest has prepared for this session. This is a very fruitful form of catechesis.  Similarly, the 41 religious education teachers are showing their pupils how to better get to know the Word of God.

Bishop Jesús Juárez Párraga is fully behind this initiative of his parish priest and would like as many of the faithful as possible to benefit from it. But the people in El Alto are extremely poor, and few of them can afford to purchase a copy of the Bible. And so, Father Sebastian, the parish priest, turned to ACN for help to purchase 700 copies of the Scriptures. Thanks to the generosity of our benefactors, we were able to provide the $6,400 requested. Now the parish can continue with this valuable Bible study initiative. Father Sebastian and his parishioners say thank you!

This now completed project is an example of our work. If you would like to support a similar project, then please indicate the reference code below when making your donation. Thank you.

Project Code: 211-01-89