Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo is the Archbishop of the Diocese of Mérida-Badajoz, in Extremadura, Spain. He was recently assigned to these lands, in June 2024. And, as a good Franciscan, he wanted to give a pastoral, missionary, and fraternal meaning to his episcopal visits to the diocese’s deaneries. His expressed desire was to give them missionary direction and preparation, and for this he relied on the three missionary congregations that still carry out itinerant missions in Spain: the Claretian Missionaries, the Paulines, and the Redemptorists.
Grateful and inspired by the proposal, we missionaries, who had already worked together in previous experiences, have prepared a missionary proposal for these days, which will be in October 2025.
The proposal that prepares this episcopal visit to the archpriests is called: Evangelization Week. We define it as an extraordinary pastoral process of encounter and renewal for the parish. It involves offering missionary activities and meetings that will enable the parish to reach out to those who do not regularly participate in its life.
The events are varied: there are meetings with children and adolescents, couples and weddings, moments of Eucharist and reconciliation, visits to the sick and listening sessions, as well as other moments of entertainment with the pastoral workers of each parish community.
Last August 14th we had a small preparatory meeting with some priests of the deanery, the fruit of which is the photo that accompanies these lines.
Victor Chacón, CSsR.
