The Parish of St. Joseph, in Santa Fe (Argentina), has become a reference in the spiritual accompaniment and formation of young people and adults through our charism.
In fact, it has become one of the most active parishes in the Vicariate of Argentina.
This community has imbued its own parish activities with Augustinian spirituality and has also developed retreats and spiritual accompaniment groups that have transformed the lives of many of its participants and helped them to deepen their knowledge of this spirituality.
History and growth
In 1988, Fr. Manolo Fernandez, Fr. Carlos MarÃa DomÃnguez y Fr. Marcelo Corleto created the structure of accompaniment in the Augustinian charism that today is sustained in the parish.
Thus, they began a missionary dynamic that sought to connect young university students with the parish, so that they could have a first experience of God’s love.
From there, they sought to accompany them in the process of faith and knowledge of the Augustinian charism.
Subsequently, this initiative was opened to include adolescents and adults and thus integrate the whole community in a continuous process of spiritual growth.
“Restless Heart” and “Casiciaco”.
The charism is presented through so-called “impact retreats”.
A first type of retreat, called “Restless Heart,” is intended for adolescents between the ages of 15 and 17.
It serves as the beginning of a journey of introspection and spiritual discovery.
For adults, the parish offers a second retreat, called “Casiciaco”, which is adapted to the different stages of life.
Thus, this activity is organized in groups of participants from 18 to 25 years old and from 30 to 60 years old, and in another one specifically for married couples.
In each of them, the participants can rediscover their faith and the values of the Augustinian Recollect charism.
The dynamic of these retreats seeks to help young people to enter into their inner self and discern the different aspects of their lives in the light of Jesus.
The disconnection from the outside, the musical accompaniment and the different reflections help the young people to take a new look at themselves.
As explained below, these retreats, moreover, do not end at the weekend but extend over one to three years in a process of continuous accompaniment.
In this way, participants are guided by a team of coordinators and guides who share their personal experiences and assist them in their spiritual journeys.
The retreats for adults offer them the possibility of experiencing the encounter with Jesus in community, through spaces of interiority, prayer and fraternal sharing.
In the two-day retreat for married couples, the deepening of the Augustinian charism allows them to strengthen their consecrated love.
Service communities: ministries and guides
However, this work of accompaniment could not be carried out without the help provided by the service communities, called “ministries“, which intervene in the different stages and moments of the Augustinian Recollect life of the community, both in the adolescent and adult movements.
In this way, each ministry accompanies a stage, during the different years that compose it.
In each of these periods, the participants are organized into communities. 
Thus, in the case of adolescents, the Rio de Vida ministry pursues for five years that, after First Communion, they live the retreat “Restless Heart”.
On the other hand, the ministry of the Milan stage accompanies the teenagers who make the retreat “Restless Heart”, between 15 and 17 years old.
Finally, the ministry of the Casiciaco stage assists the young people who make the retreat of the same name and accompanies them for a year or a year and a half.
The work of the ministries is complemented by the work of the accompanying guides, who directly assist each of the communities.
They share their personal experience with Jesus with the retreatants.
In fact, their work is fundamental because it is common for them to open their hearts to the young people and adolescents, and show their personal and concrete experience with Jesus, Mary and the Church.
Likewise, they assume the commitment to accompany the young people and adolescents for a period of one year (in Casiciaco) or up to three years (in the Milan stage) in their journey of knowledge and deepening of the Augustinian charism.
At present, there are two precommunities in the parish, each comprising about 20 young people.
Subsequent experience
After these retreats, adolescents, youth and adults are invited to continue the Augustinian experience by living in community.
For one year, the adults are accompanied by people (adults and couples) who are already deepening their understanding of the Augustinian charism through their life in community.
The adolescents, youth and adults close their “pre-community” stage with another retreat, which brings together the entire Augustinian Recollect community of the community.
This is the Fundamental Evangelization Retreat (REF), which consists of an experience in which the Kerygma of our faith is passed through the heart.
After this retreat, they begin to live their community life independently.
The JAR movement currently has 20 communities, the 2 precommunities mentioned above, 4 caravans of the Milan stage and 5 communities of the Rio de Vida stage.
In the adult movement, accompaniment is carried out with the same structure, by means of accompaniment teams for the “pre-community” stage, after the Casiciaco for both adults and married couples, and then the community stage.
The parish currently has 37 communities, including adult and married couples, and 6 pre-communities.
New initiatives: The Secular Fraternity
In addition, in this year 2024 the parish has initiated a new itinerary to make known the Secular Augustinian Recollect Fraternity, a path for lay people who have already enjoyed an experience in the Augustinian life and who wish to fully live their Christian vocation and holiness based on this charism.
This journey begins with an awareness of the call of the laity in the Church.
It continues with a re-reading of the vital and spiritual experience of St. Augustine, expressed in the Confessions and in the biography of the Bishop of Hippo written by St. Posidius, and, finally, it reflects on the invitation of the Order to the laity to respond to the Christian call from the Augustinian Recollect charism.
Vocational accompaniment
Finally, it is important to highlight the work of accompaniment that is done with young people and adults in the vocational aspect. This work is carried out by a parish team that, together with the vocation promoter of the area, generates spaces for interiority and discernment through retreats for men, women and engaged couples.
At the same time, it opens spaces for dialogue, such as the cinema-debates.
In this way, young people are offered the possibility to consider a life of encounter with Jesus through the Augustinian Recollect life and to think and dream of personal life projects, in service to their brothers and sisters and to the whole Church, as their own vocational call.
