INTERVIEW WITH ÁLEX VIGUERAS CHERRES sscc,
from the community of Diego de Almagro (Chile)
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“People understand that we are a community”
Since January 2017, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts has been present in Diego de Almagro, a small city located in the Atacama region. The brothers went to this place following a decision of the 2015 Provincial Chapter to accept the call of the 38th General Chapter of the Congregation and Pope Francis to go to those places where people are marginalised existentially and geographically. This place suffered two floods (2015 and 2017) that affected a third of the town.
Can you tell us about the presence of the sscc community in Diego de Almagro.
We are currently a community of three brothers: Gabriel Horn, Claudio Carrasco and Álex Vigueras. The Province wanted to come here to try to live a renewed religious life, seeking a different way of being among the people and living our consecration. We are in charge of the parish of the Holy Spirit, which consists, in addition to the parish base, 5 communities. One of them is in the Inca village of Oro, which is located 40 kilometers from Diego de Almagro. The parochial responsibility has not hindered our entry into the diverse areas of local life: radio, religious dances, football clubs, work with immigrants, manual labor. We chose to come here because this is a place that has been neglected by the State and also the Church. After the floods, especially that of 2015, this community was in a very bad way - materially and spiritually.
We have seen that you do not live in the parish house or in the town of Diego de Almagro itself, but in a what was an ‘emergency settlement’ on the edge of the town. Why this option?
In general, in those places where we are we make an option not to live in the parish house. At the beginning, the brothers did live in the parish house, but, already in the first year, they began to build the house in which we currently live. I think there are two factors that led us to this: the first is to have a certain privacy regarding pastoral work, a space that guarantees a certain distance from the hustle and bustle. We believe this helps the experience of community. The second is that we understand how the place where one lives shapes the way one sees and experiences many things. The ‘emergency village’ in which we live was set up for families that were affected by the flood of 2015. These families had lost everything. They are, in general, poor families, very poor. Here it is possible to be a neighbour in a way that doesn’t happen in the parish house. Living here gradually brings us closer to the life of the simplest people of Diego de Almagro, although we realize that just living here is not enough. A simple place like this has also helped us to live in poverty: you can't have many things, simply, because they there is no room for them. If a piece of furniture is missing, it is not bought: it is built; If something is wrong, it is not thrown away: it is fixed. But, despite being a simple place, we also try to ensure a certain order and beauty. We have a very small chapel, but - according to my opinion - very beautiful, with beautiful stained glass windows made by the brothers. And, in the middle of the desert, it was possible to create a beautiful garden.
How would you describe community and domestic life in this environment, particularly in connection with the emergency village?
All of the things that would usually cost us here has come natural to us: the common prayer in the morning and at night, the Eucharist, the community meeting every Monday. We have not found it difficult to take on household chores: cleaning, laundry, cooking. Although we are three priests, we chose not to increase the sacramental services that were offered before our arrival. That has allowed us a less stressed life, with time for this type of work, because we realize that community life is an essential element of our mission. A brother is rarely late. Rarely is someone absent at meals. We are together for a long time and that has helped us build the community. People realize that we are community. Something interesting has happened: when they invite us to some house for lunch or to have tea in the afternoon or for some celebration, they invite all three of us.
Here popular religiosity has its place, integrated in the Holy Spirit Parish. Tell us something about the value of religious dances.
The presence of religious dances has been a very important factor in parish work. They are around 300 people divided into 6 dance groups. It has been a challenge to get into this way of living faith. This is a Church which, in the midst of the crisis of the Chilean Church, is a healthy church. In the dances old people, adults, young people and children can all take part. They are whole families who participate, following the tradition of their ancestors. In my view, some elements that give strength to this experience are:
Autonomy: religious dances are organised with a lot of autonomy. The organisers do not depend directly on the pastor, they are able to confront the priest when they disagree. Animation and management of the dances depend directly on the direction of each dance, chosen by the group. In the case of our parish, the dances are very connected to the pastoral works. In addition, they require ongoing pastoral formation. This valuable feature is something that some priests dislike. They do not accept not having control of what happens in the dances.
Family foundation: part of the stability of this experience has to do with being grounded in the family experience. Children are consecrated to the Virgin when they are very young ate an age when they can barely walk and dance and play instruments. In religious dances, faith is transmitted naturally and, together with faith, an vast amount of the values ??necessary for life.
A synthetic approach to faith: the faith that sustains the dance experience is deep and simple. It is not entangled in the tangle of dogmas and commandments. They give what Pope Francis calls an ”evangelizing synthesis."
Materiality and corporality come first: in the dance experience there are words, but very few. Fundamental to the dance is gesture: dance, play the instruments, carry the image, touch the image, bow down before it. In a celebration that took place last Saturday we took the image of the Virgen del Carmen to La grotto, to “her house”. Of the four hours that the ceremony lasted, only 5 minutes were dedicated to the word. The rest was dance, music, jumping, promises made on one’s knees, , presentation of the children who were born in the year, positioning of costumes, crying, joy, hugs ... It is an experience of popular religiosity in which everything goes through matter. In which God embraces and speaks through matter, in which God is loved in her. Perhaps that is why it has taken us so much to understand this experience: we wanted concept, systematization and rational coherence. Perhaps that is why we have tended to disqualify all these traditions as non-evangelical or extremely basic spirituality. We have been arrogant or proud and failed to realise that the experience of popular religiosity is deeply evangelical. In the Chilean case, is is this experience that is saving the Church, that is giving us light in the middle of the crisis.
The Provincial Chapter asked that this new presence not be so traditional. How do you feel that this specific request of the Chapter is being carried out?
While it is true we are in charge of a parish, the way we are taking charge allows us to have time for other types of jobs. For example, Gabriel occupies a good part of his time in stone crafts and construction, as well as accompanying religious dances. Claudio dedicates a good part of his time to visiting the sick; he is also dedicated to jewellery work in stone and fixing a lot of electrical equipment (and all kinds of appliances). There have been brothers who were part of a local soccer team, or who have accompanied immigrants very closely. I am part of the team that carries the radio program “Aclaro”, which is broadcast every Saturday and which allows us to connect all the dimensions of the life of Diego de Almagro to Chile and the world. On radio, we talk about education, environmental care, politics, health, popular religiosity, migration, spiritual life, family life, Bible, etc. I have also been able to devote myself to music, composing songs for religious dances and for masses of the most important festivals. We also accompany a group of lay people (from the parish and from outside the parish) who care about the environment, who are taking part in a struggle akin to the struggle between David and Goliath in making their complaints against the abuses of mining companies who look to profit at the cost of the destruction of the environment. Our parish has become a reference place for this cause. Workers Day is celebrated in the parish on 1st May. We are also involved in organising the anniversary celebrations of the 2015 flood - organising the celebration and coordinating assistance to many families who cannot afford to eat. Anyway, we are in a parish, but the parish is is not a "black hole" that eats everything. The sacramental life is only part of what we do, not the main thing.
What are the challenges facing the Diocese of Copiapo?
I think there is a need for the Church, which was at one time very strong, to consolidate itself with some kind of project: a Church that will accompany the poorest, a Church that is composed of small communities who live on and out of the Word. We need to make changes that facilitate the role of the laity, especially for women. Speeches and analysis are no longer enough. There is a need to make decisions that encourage greater synodality at the structural level.
The Church must more clearly carry the flag in defence of the environment in a region that is being razed by mining companies, which are run by large transnational consortia.
Rather than seek to strengthen vocation ministry (which is an urgent need due to a shortage of clergy), we must anticipate the changes that are coming in the future. Instead of leaving a priest with two or three parishes, we need to dare to pass on the responsibility of parish management to deacons and lay people.
You had in your diocese Bishop Celestino Aós, who is now the apostolic administrator of Santiago de Chile. How do you see the task for this brother bishop in the context of the current crisis of the Chilean Church?
The task ahead is extremely difficult. Above all, at the episcopal level. I believe that we are still with an episcopacy that, for the most part, has not fully assumed the crisis of child abuse . Some still think that all this is a campaign to discredit the Church; or even that the crisis has passed! We need an episcopate that stands decisively on the side of the victims, one which empathises more with them. For many pastors the victims remain, first of all, a "stone in the shoe." We need pastors who are not afraid to approach people, who are not afraid of dialogue or criticism, who are able to move from being elite to becoming position to they move from the elite place to “become one of the people”. Finally, an important part of the mission of Bishop Aós will be to "align" the Chilean episcopate with Pope Francis. I think in this early stage Bishop Aós has helped build trust with the victims. He has not made the problems go away. He has been honest and transparent. He looks simple, without the air of a prince. He is perceived as having an evangelical spirit. These are all very good signs.
09/07/2019