Fr. Severiano de Cáceres is an Augustinian Recollect priest born in Villanueva de la Sierra (Cáceres, Spain). He is 56 years old and he had practiced his pastoral ministry for more than 25 years in the mission of Chota (Peru), where he was named “adopted son”, and where he will now go to continue working.
In his six years as top honcho of the Order’s NGO, Severiano gave a big boost to the organization. When he took on as head in 2002, Haren Alde had implemented 5 development projects with a funding of 365,000 euros. When he left it in August 2008, the funding had tripled to more than a million euros; the ongoing projects have also tripled.
He is happy with his work, which he summarized thus: “We have improved the lives of a million persons”. Some achievements
The outgoing president of the Recollect NGO, during his six years at the service of the Order, infected with his enthusiasm for justice and social action those responsible in towns, presidents of foundations, bank directors and even presidents of autonomous regions. Among his most notable achievements is getting the president of the autonomous region of La Rioja to visit Peru to check on the progress achieved by its contributions. But Severiano’s greatest satisfaction was “the school for the indigenous population that we constructed in the mission of Bocas del Toro (Panama), as well as having helped in the construction of highways and a sea-lane among the villages of this Augustinian Recollect mission”. He is happy with his work, which he summarized thus: “We have improved the lives of a million persons”.
In these six years, the NGO set up its web page, started publishing its newsletter (13 issues have so far been published), has been present in the Spanish media, has received the solidarity award from the Rioja Government and the Navarra Foundation for Ecological Resources award for its projects for ecologically improved kitchens.
Needs
But not all was easy during the six-year period. The religious warns of the urgent need that the Order has of obtaining an adequate office in Spain to attend to the demand of volunteers. “There are many people who volunteer to collaborate and cooperate with us, but we do not have an adequate place to accommodate them”.
Another area wherein improvements can be made is that of the delegations: “Preparing the NGO delegates to function at full capacity and with technical knowhow is one of our pending tasks”. The Augustinian Recollect friar believes that “we have to make the delegations agile and dynamic in the search of new partners, in the promotion of Haren Alde, and in the capacity to prepare projects”.
Fr. Manuel is also 56 years old and has worked in Argentina, Venezuela, Spain and Brazil Replacement
The Order has already named priest from Leon Fr. Manuel Fernández Rodríguez as new president of the NGO. That’s another Augustinian Recollect friar working full time and for free as Haren Alde head for the next years. “I wish Manuel much success in his work. I will collaborate with him from Peru”, Severiano explains; “he will not feel lonely because the NGO belongs to the Order and we will all help to carry it forward”.
Fr. Manuel is also 56 years old and has worked in Argentina, Venezuela, Spain and Brazil, mostly in parish and school assignments. In the last year and a half he had been preparing to take over Haren Alde working in the Brazilian mission of Marajó. He knows that Severiano has left a very high standard and thus he comments that he “wants and hopes to maintain and, if possible, increase the aid to the most needy”.
Fr. Fernández has known the NGO since its establishment, but has been in closer contact with it during the eight years that he spent in Granada and Motril (Spain). His only request is that “the whole Augustinian Recollect family participate and show concern for this common cause, that we join our efforts in order to fulfill the mission of favoring the most needy”.
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Six years at the head of Haren Alde |
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