US missionary risks death in Colombia

Zenit News Service

Contents - Jun 2001 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Church reform: from Stage One to Stage Two - Michael Gilchrist Archbishop Pell installed in Sydney - Michael Gilchrist News: The Church Around the World Basic Ecclesial Communities: Adelaide's 'new model of church' - Michael Gilchrist Annual women priests protest in Adelaide - AD2000 Report Denver document addresses challenges to Catholic marriage teachings - AD2000 Report US missionary risks death in Colombia - Zenit News Service Anglican defence of Catholic inter-Communion ban - Fr Geoffrey Kirk How a small rural parish survived against the odds - Paul Newton Light to the Nations 2001 - Young Australian Catholics celebrate their faith - Mary-Jane Donnellan Letters: Archbishop Pell (letter) - Godwin Brown Letters: Ballarat Diocese (letter) - Fr Gerry Baldock Letters: Encouragement (letter) - John F. Doran Letters: Consecrated life (letter) - Therese O'Rourke Letters: Indian appeal (letter) - Kevin L. Fernandes Letters: Annunciation (letter) - Andrew Scholl Letters: Altar (letter) - Stuart J. Blackwood Letters: Science and Christianity (letter) - Mrs Carol V. Phillips Letters: Sexual abstinence (letter) - Errol P. Duke Letters: 'Lest we forget' (letter) - Marion Craig Books: The Turin Shroud: Past, Present and Future, International Scientific Symposium - Anthony Cappello (reviewer) Books: 'As One Struggling Christian to Another: Augustine's Christian Ideal for Today' - Bill Muehlenberg (reviewer) Books: 'Blessed Columba Marmion: a Short Biography' by Mark Tierney OSB - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: 'The Wedding Present' by Viscountess Margaret Long - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: Heaven in Stone and Glass: Experiencing the Spirituality of the Great Cathedrals - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: 'The Doctors of the Church' by Bernard McGinn - Angela Joseph (reviewer) Books: 'Praying The Psalms: A Commentary' by Fr Stanley L. Jaki - Anthony Cappello (reviewer) Books: 'Praying with Thomas Aquinas' by Houle, Monshau and Norris - Catherine Sheehan (reviewer) Reflection: The priest: mediator between God and man - Archbishop George Pell

After a three-hour ride on mule-back under a burning sun, Father Van Hager finally arrives at a small village, set in the middle of guerrilla-controlled coca-cultivation lands. The American priest first goes to the school, which becomes a church for a few hours. He celebrates Mass and preaches in faulty Spanish to the 30 faithful.

"These are the trenches of the Church and of Colombia," said Father Van Hager at the end of Mass. "Not even Colombians want to come here.

That makes Father Hager, a Consolata missionary, an anomaly. His order generally works in the poorest areas of the world, and he is believed to be the only American priest living in the southern demilitarised zone of this country, ceded by the Government to the Colombian Armed Revolutionary Forces (FARC).

Father Hager, 57, is the only priest ministering to 15 isolated villages. To reach the remotest areas, he rides on a mule for eight hours over rough terrain. He travels to other villages by boat, the same transport used by the locals to transport coca leaves.

Colombia has seen violent internal conflict for 37 years. The Catholic Church, the only institution present in the whole of the country of 39 million people, has had difficulty finding religious capable of going to areas marked by violence and isolation.

"It is very frustrating work, because of the low religious level of the people," said Father Hager. "However, we continue to work. There are already more couples married in the Church than in the parish«s entire history."

The priest who preceded the Consolata missionary remained only nine months before requesting a transfer; and the one before him lasted only a year in this region where the guerrillas are the law.

The missionary's faithful feel he is close to them, though they only see him about once every two months.

Said Martha Montoya, 22, one of the residents of this village, "He is very good, because he explains the serious things of life to us."

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 14 No 5 (June 2001), p. 9