The Sodalit Family in Chile celebrates the erection of ‘Mother of the Apostles’ Parish
Santiago de Chile, 09/22/14, (Sodalit News – Chile). With a celebratory Mass and in an atmosphere of great joy, the Sodalit Family in Chile hosted the erection of the Mother of the Apostles Parish in Maipú on September 14th. Presiding over the ceremony was Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, Archbishop of Santiago de Chile.
The Eucharistic celebration was presided over by Cardinal Ezzati, who in addition to Archbishop of Santiago de Chile is also president of the Chilean Episcopal Conference. Before the ceremony the Card. Ezzati read the 338th decree of the Archbishop of Santiago, with which life was given officially to the new parish.
During his homily Cardinal Ezzati thanked God for the gift of this new parish for the archdiocese, as well as the Family Sodalit for their pastoral presence, and all the faithful, urging them to be “committed Christians with their lives and their contribution, so that the name of the Lord be glorified in this place.”
Regarding the Gospel, the Archbishop said that “Christians are called to forgive, to remove from our hearts the roots of discord, disunity and anger often felt towards our brothers. Because God has forgiven us for all the times we have fallen into sin. God is always merciful and always forgives. How should we forgive? As God forgives us. “Finally, the Archbishop of Santiago said that “none of us, even after the most serious errors committed in life, may think that he is not worthy of the forgiveness of God, because He always forgives us, even forgetting our offenses.”
Fr. Hernan Alvarez, a member of the Sodalitium of Christian Life and pastor of Mother of the Apostles Parish, expressed his joy at this event highlighting it as “very important for all of us, because God entrusts us with a particular territory, with people of flesh and blood, which requires us to go beyond ourselves to proclaim the Lord bringing the joy of the Gospel.”
Moments before the Mass, the Archbishop of Santiago met with the parish council and pastor to be better informed of the parish activities, but especially “so that they could personally know their pastor,” he said. Cardinal Ezzati asked them to keep alive the spirit of the founders of the Sodalit Family, always being rooted in Jesus Christ as living stones, and secondly, being willing to go out of themselves to evangelize. The archbishop also asked to emphasize the four key points of the Church’s activities: the Word of God, liturgy, fellowship and service.
After the Eucharistic celebration, members of the parish folk group ‘Mother Earth’ offered a number of traditional artistic dances as a way of giving thanks.
Mother of the Apostles Parish is entrusted to the Sodalitium of Christian Life and Fr. Hernán Álvarez, SCV is its pastor. It is located on the southwest side of Maipú (just outside Santiago, Chile), in a territory that covers about 28 thousand inhabitants.
