Support Religious and Lay Missionaries in a Struggling Diocese in Argentina

Añatuya is one of the poorest diocese in Argentina. Most of its population of barely 200,000 live widely scattered across an area (26,500 square miles) close to the size of West Virginia. The roads are poor, the people have little access to formal education or medical care, and unemployment and broken families are a widespread problem.

Currently there are 81 religious Sisters, two brothers and seven lay missionaries working in the diocese, trying to make a difference. Some of them are running homes for the elderly, homes for children,  and soup kitchens. Some care for the handicapped, while others work in parishes where there is no priest, supporting the families in their faith. Many have to travel long distances, often by bicycle, to meet those they serve. 

Sister Maria Luján of the Missionaries of Jesus, Word and Victim, one of the congregations working in the diocese, reports: “At present we are running 20 mission centers, or Parajes, in Argentina, some up to 35 miles away. We reach them via unmade roads, often made virtually impassable not only in rainy weather on account of the slimy mud, but also in dry weather when the soft earth is like sand dunes.”

“The people living in these “Parajes” are generally in communities of somewhere between 10 and 70 families, large families with many children. They tend to be thinly scattered, since they are livestock herders and let their goats roam widely across the countryside.”

“We support the people spiritually, making house visits, giving religious instruction, caring for the elderly and the sick and taking care of the ethical and moral upbringing of the children and young people, as well as organizing Word Liturgies. We also run a basic field hospital and teach sewing and other handicrafts. We are constantly trying to ease the needs that we see in the families.”

ACN regularly helps the religious and lay missionaries in the Diocese of Añatuya and we are planning to do so again this year with $36,400, so that they can continue their precious and dedicated ministry among the people. 

Can you join us in supporting these religious and lay missionaries serving in one of the poorest diocese in Argentina? 

Aid to the Church in Need commits to invest your funds where they will have the greatest impact for the Church that we serve. Funds donated to Aid to the Church in Need’s projects will be used towards the greatest need in our programs to help keep the Faith alive.

Code: 209-08-39