El Pregonero - The Town Crier

1 El Pregonero - The Town Crier Lent Diocesan Bulletin #6 March 2014 The Church is beginning the season of Lent, a very significant time for Christians. Here in Uruguay, it seems that this season is almost completely forgotten, if not completely obliterated, formally by law as well as in daily practice. Perhaps we would do well to remind ourselves what Lent is and how it can help in our daily Christian pilgrimage. In the early Church, the length of Lent varied, but eventually it was settled and began six weeks (42 days) before Easter. This amounted to only 36 days of fasting (since Sundays are excluded). So, in the seventh century four days were added before the first Sunday of Lent, getting us to the forty days of fasting we now have - to imitate Christ's fasting in the desert. Nowadays in the Church a Christian can have a sign of the cross traced on their forehead on Ash Wednesday. The ashes are made by burning the palms from last year s Palm Sunday. The ash, from the Latin "cinis" is the product of something burned by fire. Symbolically, we perceive it having to do with death and by extension, also with humility and penance. In Jonah 3.6 it serves, for example, to describe the conversion of the Ninevites. Many times, it is paired with the "dust" of the earth, "Verily I am dust and ashes," says Abraham in Genesis18.27. On Ash Wednesday, preceding the first Sunday of Lent (many might better understand if we explain that follows Carnival), we symbolically offer the imposition of ashes on the forehead. It is a response to the Word of God that invites us to conversion, a start and threshold into a Lenten fast as we prepare for Easter. Lent begins with Ashes and ends with the fire, water and light of the Easter Vigil. Something must be burned and destroyed within ourselves the old self to make room for the new Easter life of Christ. I invite you to spend some time (and not necessarily a lot) each day during the season of Lent, perhaps to: pray in more depth; to join with someone else to explore various aspects of our Christian life; to read a book that explores aspects of our faith, or the Bible itself; to make a decision to give up something during this season and offer it to God as a little sacrifice. There are many things a person can do during Lent. I hope that every reader will seriously consider what s/he might do, in order to reach this coming Easter celebration with a fresh perspective. May your Lenten season be truly blessed! + Michele

2 MARCH HAS ARRIVED, with new opportunities! We extend an invitation to the workshops which take place at the Lafone Hall (Reconquista 522 Ciudad Vieja) Every Monday & Wednesday from 2:00 5:00 p.m. Sewing Knitting Crochet We ll begin on Wednesday, 19th March All welcome! For more information= Vilma: 2711.7343 The inscriptions begin for AUTUMN SWEEPERS From the 10th thru 14th of March from 10 a 15 hs Pls see the poster, on the following page Unidad de Comunicación El Abrojo Tel & Fax: (598) 2 903 0144 / 2 900 9123 Soriano 1153 CP: 11.100 Montevideo, Uruguay www.elabrojo.org.uy Follow us on FACEBOOK and on TWITTER

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4 Our Bishop +Michele, shares with us: I thought you might like to hear a little about my time in England, and especially in Canterbury, at the course for new bishops. Before I tell you about the course, I can t forget to bring you greetings from Charles Bradshaw, who preached here last year, and many of the other people who make up the group known as the Friends of Uruguay. This small group of people remember our little Diocese with their prayers, as well as work to assist us financially. We are very fortunate to have such a group supporting us. As you likely have heard, England has had the most rainfall in over 200 years of keeping weather records. The rain is not only flooding peoples homes. It s also causing farmers a lot of difficulty. And, it s causing damage to the transportation system. Roads and even train lines have been washed out! I m telling you this because it affected me as well. I was to have gone to the south of England by train, to meet with some people in the Diocese of Truro, to begin talking about forming a possible companionship link. However, because the rail line was washed out, the trip had to be cancelled. Fortunately, the Bishop of Truro and some members of the Diocese had travelled up to London, for the meeting of their General Synod. And so, he invited me to meet with him there which I did. I felt it was quite a positive meeting and I look forward to continuing the conversation we began. Hopefully, we will formalize a companion diocese relationship with them later this year. This is all by way of asides. Now, let me tell you about the Conference itself. Its official title was: On Being a Bishop: for those in the early years of their episcopal ministry. We were housed in Canterbury Lodge, a small 15 or 20 year old hotel, built right on the Canterbury Cathedral grounds. All of our rooms were no more than a couple of hundred meters from the Cathedral. We were a total of 26 bishops, including three women, from all over the Anglican Communion from the British Isles, as well as Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, South Sudan, Korea, New Zealand, Myanmar, Portugal, and the West Indies. It was truly a rich mix! Our days began with Morning Prayer at 7:30 in the Cathedral, followed by Holy Communion, and then breakfast. We listened to lectures on a variety of topics: like The bishop in relation to mission, The bishop in a global context, The liturgical ministry of the bishop. We were also involved in Bible Study sessions. We had one field trip day, when we went into London and visited the offices of the Anglican Communion and met the people who work for all of us there, including the Secretary General, Canon Kenneth Kearon, who you may remember visited us at the beginning of January, last year. The truth is that the days flew by and they have left me with many really good memories and also, new friends, both personal, as well as for our small Diocese. +Michele

5 IN VERITATE LIBERTAS Montevideo, 24th February, 2014 Dear All, With a warm and fraternal Christian greeting: PEACE! Among the many callings we have as Christians, one of these is to grow in our knowledge of the faith. We do this in many ways, including widening our knowledge of the Bible and other Christian teachings. At the diocesan level, we are fortunate to have the ITAU (Anglican Theological Institute of Uruguay). This small institute helps us prepare the future clergy of our Church, and can also help prepare the laity for many and varied ministries. Recently, at a meeting of the Academic Council of the ITAU, given the need for further support from the Diocese, with your prayers and support, an idea was put forth - that during Lent we think about our candidates for Holy Orders, as well as their teachers. At this present time, the ITAU has no assigned budget; however, it continues its activities with small subscription fees from those who attend its courses. Despite the aforementioned and continuing with this system, we deem as necessary, a more effective commitment on behalf of the Diocese, towards the training of its future ministers. Therefore, we wish to invite you to consider an offering during this Lenten Season. The proposal is simple, it consists of each one of us giving up things which may be superfluous (such as ice cream, sweets or a movie), and whatever would go in to paying for these, we would place in a box at home throughout Lent. When we celebrate Palm Sunday (13 th April) each one of us would take what we have collected in a sealed envelope, addressed SEMINARY COLLECTION, as our offering. The envelopes will be collected by the parishes and placed in the offering again, during the Great Easter Vigil next April 19 th at the Cathedral. As soon as the offering is received, we will send you all figures of the amount received. At Diocesan Synod, we will render an account to the whole Church of how the funds have been used. May God richly bless you with your gifts! Fraternally yours, + Dr. Michele Pollesel + Gilberto Porcal Lic. Heber Tito Castaño + Diocesan Bishop Suffragan Bishop Priest Chaplain Rector and Academic President Senior Chaplain

6 THE ANGLICAN ALLIANCE BRINGS TOGETHER THOSE IN THE ANGLICAN FAMILY of churches and agencies to work for a world free of poverty and injustice, to be a voice for the voiceless, to reconcile those in conflict, and to safeguard the earth. The Anglican Alliance is forming an Advisory Council and the Chairman, Archbishop Albert Chama, has invited the Rev. Alejandro Manzoni to form part thereof. It is an honorary position, which will cover at least 2 years (2014-2016) and Alejandro will be consulted at the regional and at the wider Anglican Communion level. If you are interested in reading more about this, here goes the link: http://www.anglicanalliance.org/ We give thanks for this news and we pray for Fr. Alejandro On Monday 17th February, an agreement was signed between the Ministerio de Vivienda Ordenamiento Territorial y Medio Ambiente (MVOTMA) and the Anglican Church of Uruguay, for the management of the communal premises of the neighbourhood Committee of Nuevo Colón. The Anglican Church of Uruguay has worked with the neighbours of this area, for more than 10 years. They currently run the CAIF Creciendo (Child Day-care Center) and carry out a permanent policy of preparing youngsters, aged 18-29 years, to join the work force. The communal premises will fundamentally be used as a centre for communal events, as also for increasing the work-skills of the users. This communal center was built within the overall project/framework for the improvement of the Nueva Esperanza Colón, neighbourhood.

7 END OF THE YEAR CONCERT La Trinidad Parish Fray Bentos At the closing of 2013, the AMADEUS quartet, interpreted an end-ofthe-year concert in our parish. They shared pieces of J.S. Bach and Christmas carols. We had a good crowd of people and we all enjoyed this young folks quartet, which allowed us to lift up our spirits thru art and music. Fr. Gonzalo Soria

8 The Directorio del Instituto del Niño y Adolescente del Uruguay (INAU), the Corporación Nacional para el Desarrollo, the Coordinación General de Políticas de Primera Infancia de INAU CAIF and the Anglican Church of Uruguay, have the pleasure of inviting you to participate in the events to be held on the occasion of the inauguration of the Project which has been completed in 2014 thru the auspices of the Public Education Infrastructure Trust which enabled the construction of new premises for the CAIF, Dajú Bilú (Day-care center), within the Department of Montevideo. The event with National and Departmental Authorities will be held on March 14, 2014 @ 10:30 a.m. @ Parahiba St #5568 corner of Domingo Arena Montevideo R.S.V.P. = email: plancaif@inau.gub.uy

9 Mission & Communal Center - Santiago Apostol, Colón A photo taken at the friendly farewell we held for our dear colleague, Andrea Castelli with Fr Alejandro s warm blessing for the team, especially Andrea, our families and the community A memorable occasion!

10 We pray for We give thanks for our Diocesan Bishop, +Michele s safe return for his time in England, for the contacts made and for the rich experience of getting to know and being able to share together with other Bishops from the Anglican Communion. The Anglican Church of Uruguay and our mission to be God s instrument in the midst of our society; our clergy and their families and the workers at each Project and their families. For each person who draws near to a Parish / Mission / Project May we be open to welcome every one of them May this Season of Lent, be a time of reflection for each one of us. We receive your news and you ll find us at: elpregoneroiau@gmail.com http://www.uruguay.anglican.org/ http://www.comunionuruguay.org/ http://www.facebook.com/elpregonero.iau/ https://www.facebook.com/iglesia.anglicana.del.uruguay