General Delegation of Colombia Gathers to Discern Its Mission
The Carmelite Family in Colombia, friars and laity together, gathered in Manizales on July 11 for a day of prayer, reflection, and dialogue on the vocation and mission of Carmel in the country, taking up the General Chapter's call to discern that mission together. About twenty people took part, some from the Manizales community itself, others arriving from across the country.
Fr. Pedro Arenas, one of the founders of the Delegation, opened with a look back at its history: a presence that began in 1971 and grew, over five decades, into small mixed communities of friars and laity marked by simplicity, hospitality, and shared responsibility.
The gathering came at the end of a full week for the Delegation. The community in Bogotá, made up of two friars and joined by members of the Carmelite Family, hosted pastoral outreach in the western foothills of the Cordillera Oriental, around La Vega, staying at the house of Jorge Millan and Ángela Herrera de Millan, longtime members of the Carmelite Family whose home has become a point of reference for many people in the surrounding countryside. From there, friars and lay Carmelites reached mountain communities where the faithful have little regular access to the sacraments: celebrating the Eucharist in family living rooms, anointing the sick, and simply sitting with people in their homes. The journey then continued to Manizales, seven hours through the Andes, where friars and lay members share a household and welcomed the group for the final days. Fr. Nepi Willemsen, General Councilor for the Americas, joined the week as part of a fraternal visitation.
The week closed with the community's regular Sunday Eucharist in Manizales, live streamed every week for the wider community of faithful in Colombia and beyond. It was a fitting close to a week that showed, once again, how far a small Delegation's reach can go.
