The Congress was organized around the topic “From the city of man to the city of God”. On the first day, there was a lecture on the city of man (João Batista Libânio, SJ), and on the second day, in the light of Augustine, a reading was made of the book City of God (Fr. Heres Drian de Oliveira Freitas, OSA). On the third day the participants listened to the Oblate Sisters of the Assumption who are present in exposure communities such as those of Tapauá (Prelature of Lábrea) and the testimony of Bishop José Luis Azcona, who has received death threats for raising his prophetic voice against the exploitation of human beings. The afternoons of the first two days were spent in Augustinian workshops on music, catechesis, ethics and information technology. Evenings were spent in fraternal socialization with different scheduled activities.
Strong presence
The Augustinian Recollects are rooted in Brazil, have been in the country for 110 years and have three religious provinces therein. Among the Congress participants were Francisco Sevolani Botacim, prior provincial of Saint Rita Province, and Julio Amézua, Vicar Provincial of Saint Thomas of Villanova province in Brazil. Also participating were 2 seminarians from Maringá, 25 members of the lay fraternities of Franca, São Paulo, Río de Janeiro and Salvaterra (Marajó) and male and female teachers of of schools of Santo Agostinho of Leblon and New Leblon and of the kindergarten school of Saint Monica in Breves. An announcement was made in the auditorium of the 100 years of the restoration of Saint Thomas Province and of the 50th anniversary of the creation of Saint Rita Province.
Mario Aparecido guided some workshops on Saint Augustine’s Commentary on the First Letter of John. Sebastián Olalla, member of the organizing committee, coordinated the liturgy, guided some workshops on music in Saint Augustine and presented the project “Augustinian Songbook of Brazil” with more than 200 selected songs.
FABRA
The FABRA is composed of 5 religious orders, one congregation for men, and 8 congregations for women. The majority of these institutes have lay associations or secular fraternities. In Brazil there are at present 7 bishops of the Augustinian family. The vocational and missionary presence of these families is very varied: seminaries, formation houses, parishes, schools, missions and exposure communities in frontier areas.