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The mission is eternal
Oct
Rome, Italy. It was not by chance that it was the day of St. Teresa, I am sure. The lady traveler joined the small group of two (we were not one and a half, as in the case of the reform of the Carmel) that began the journey of the new Claretian mission in the Russian Federation. José María Vegas and Mariano José Sedano were accompanied by our provincial of Castilla, Vicente Sanz.
Everything was still to be done. The only thing we had clear was that, first of all, we had to convert ourselves to Russia, to be born again in a new culture. Nothing less.
For this, the pioneering presence of our Claretian brothers in Poland was going to be fundamental. The two years spent with them in the heart of Siberia, in Krasnoyarsk, opened for us the doors of language, culture and understanding of the ecclesial presence in this land, which we already felt as our own.
Since 1998 we have been living in St. Petersburg, involved from the first day in the formation of future pastors, religious and pastoral agents of this church that is on pilgrimage in these lands without borders. To the academic and catechetical teaching and the formative tasks of our candidates, have been added, from very early on, such Claretian accents as the care of consecrated life, family ministry, work with Caritas and the dialogue and practice of ecumenism. Since 2001 the missionary prow of the community has set its course north. Since then, we have been the pastors of the parish of St. Michael the Archangel in Murmansk, one of the northernmost parishes of the Catholic Church.