For a month he visited the communities and ministries of the country to get to know first hand the reality, experiences and needs of the Augustinian Recollect Family.
Fr. Miguel Angel Hernandez arrived in Bogota on February 8, 2024, beginning his visit in the communities of Colegio Agustiniano Ciudad Salitre and La Candelaria Centro and participating in the diaconal ordinations that were celebrated in the Parish of the Immaculate Conception.
After the capital, the cities of Pasto and Cali were the next destinations. There he met with the Augustinian Recollect Missionary Sisters, the community of St. Rita de Casia Parish and the Colegio Agustiniano Campestre. In Palmira, he celebrated the Ash Wednesday Eucharist with the students of the school. Later, he shared moments of dialogue with the formation community of La Linda Seminary in Manizales.
During the second week, the Prior General traveled to Medellin, Cartagena, Bucaramanga, Yopal-Trinidad and Bocas del Pauto, where he experienced the warmth and hospitality of the local communities. In Orocué he visited the Parish of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria.
After these experiences in the interior of the country, Fr. Miguel Angel Hernandez visited the Candelaria Desert, where he shared meetings and celebrations with the formative community of the novitiate of the Province.
On his return to Bogota, he held meetings with the Augustinian Recollect Missionary Sisters, the Augustinian Recollect Sisters of the Sick, the Augustinian Recollect Nuns, various secular fraternities and the JAR youth.
In the third week, he visited the communities of San Joaquin (Las Ferias), Suba, Tagaste and La Consolación and met with the Provincial Council and the board of directors and collaborators of ARCORES Colombia.
Before returning to Rome on March 9, the Prior General addressed a farewell message to the members of the Province of Our Lady of Candelaria. In it, he thanked God for allowing him to meet new confreres and the ministries of the Province in the country, which in several cases have many years of history and a profound life.
Likewise, he thanked them for the details they have had with him during his stay and for the way in which they have taken care of him and have taken care of his travels to the different communities.
Fr. Miguel Angel Hernandez said that he has a good idea of the situation of the Province of Our Lady of Candelaria in Colombia, and he hopes that the Lord will once again unite his paths with those of his Augustinian Recollect sisters and brothers and allow him to meet them again in these marvelous lands.
