Aid to the Church in Need: Bolivia - violence against the Church increasing

Bolivia - violence against the Church increasing

Posted by ACN News on 27/5/2009, 10:22 am
Board Administrator

ACN News: Monday, 25th May 2009 – Bolivia

Bolivia - violence against the Church increasing

The Catholic Church in Bolivia is facing massive threats from groups close to the government and their supporters, according to information given recently to the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). According to Javier Legorreta, the head of the charity's Latin America desk, the Catholic Church in Bolivia is beginning "to become a persecuted Church, a suffering Church in great need". For example, a few days previously, a chapel and other buildings belonging to the Catholic parish in the town of Villa Ingenio in the diocese of El Alto were forcibly demolished, he reported – and this was no isolated incident, he added.

Apparently, members of a local "neighbourhood group" – a so-called “Junta de Vecinos”, had occupied the building in Villa Ingenio and had forced the parish priest, Father Hilarion Perez, to sign a written document authorising its demolition. Using extreme intimidation, they had threatened to blow up the building using dynamite if he did not sign the document immediately. Fearful for the safety of his parishioners, Father Perez finally signed the document. Immediately afterwards, members of the local communal administration brought in heavy machinery to demolish the chapel, at the same time destroying the adjoining parish buildings, which had been erected between 1986 and 1988 with the help of international donors. The official reason given by the chairman of the commune, Rolando Aruquipa, for demolishing the buildings was the necessity to build a medical centre on the site. But in actual fact a medical centre already exists not far from the demolished chapel, Mr Legorreta explained.

Bishop Jesus Juarez of the diocese of El Alto explained that the Church had nothing against a health centre but strongly deplored the demolition of the chapel and the tactics involved in it. This action had caused deep suffering in the Catholic community, he added, and appealed to the local and national authorities to protect the security of the Catholic faithful and the buildings of the Catholic Church, which were providing an important social and missionary service. He reminded politicians that the protection and security of churches was part of the right to religious freedom as defined in the Bolivian Constitution.

Speaking of the overall situation in Bolivia, Javier Legorreta of ACN remarked that while the Catholic Church was striving to create a climate of dialogue and peace, the signs of hostility on the part of the government were becoming ever stronger. For instance, in a speech in January at the world social forum in Brazil, the Bolivian president, Evo Morales described the Catholic Church as an "enemy of peace" in Bolivia and demanded for his country "another faith, another religion and another church". President Morales had plainly declared that the Catholic Church was his greatest enemy in the reform of the country and had literally stated "We must replace it!" Such a demand could never lead to peace in a majority Catholic country, said Legorreta and deplored the fact that the situation for freedom of religion and conscience was "steadily deteriorating", similar to what was taking place in Venezuela. One of the highest priorities now for ACN was to help the local Church communities to officially register their legal ownership of properties in order to have some defence in law. This was above all important, he said, since many properties had formerly been given to the Church "with no more than a handshake" and were now being threatened with arbitrary expropriation.

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 130 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 46.5 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information, please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org