My Idea was to Give One Year of Volunteer Service
“No one can give what they don’t have.”

Published on: April 11th, 2013 — 8:07 AM / OBS: SOUTH AMERICA

CUSCO, PERU — A story for you today from Cusco, Peru in Spanish with English subtitles focusing on discernment through missionary service. We bring you the testimony of two men giving service to the poor with the Missionary Servants of the Poor (Opus Christi Salvatoris Mundi www.msptm.com/en/ )

The first man you see in the video is Fr. Pierfilippo Giovanetti from Italy, and the second is Eduardo Pardo from Barcelona, Spain. They both went to Cusco with the idea that they would give one year of service to the poor. (read more below)

Annie & Al Palmquist

Video Missionaries in South America

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produced: Annie & Al Palmquist … Read More »

Christ Has Brought Us Together Today
“We are here to say yes to life and no to death.”

Published on: March 27th, 2013 — 2:33 PM / OBS: SOUTH AMERICA

LIMA, PERU — This year’s March for Life in Lima was on March 13, 2013. Everyone said this year it was much more organized, and the Archdiocese of Lima itself organized the march. They were hoping that 100,000 people would participate in the march, and according to Catholic News Agency, the number of participants exceeded 100,000 people. (read more below)

Annie & Al Palmquist

Video Missionaries in South America

GET UPDATES FROM ANNIE & AL PALMQUIST
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music by: Aaron Copland

We started in front of the Department of Defense in Jesus María and marched until arriving in Parque Castilla in Lince. There was a lively pro-life spirit about the entire crowd despite the … Read More »

Canada is a “salad bowl” of cultures, and political correctness
“As a Catholic, I came out of Catholic high school barely knowing anything about my Catholic faith.”

Published on: February 25th, 2013 — 10:28 PM / OBS: SOUTH AMERICA

LIMA, PERU — What does it mean to be a Canadian Catholic? In a country that is proud to be a “salad bowl” of cultures, religions and traditions, it is becoming more and more difficult for Catholics to speak the truth. Megan Blair shares her story of growing up in Oshawa, Ontario, which is just outside of Toronto. She attended a Catholic school her whole life, but her faith formation was weak and the teachers and administrators were always walking on tip toes trying not to say or do anything that would offend others. (read more below)

Annie & Al Palmquist

Video Missionaries in … Read More »

Nora had graduated from college and was living and working in Washington D.C. as a social worker. She worked for several years in the fast paced stress filled city until she decided she needed a different pace. She devoted one year of service with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps within the US, and at the end of the year still wanted to do more missionary work. She began looking for other options for longer term service within the US or abroad. She found the Franciscan Volunteer Corps which at the time was sending missionaries abroad for 3 years of service (the current term of service is 2 years.) She began learning about the Franciscan spirituality and it resonated with her beliefs about caring for the environment and respecting all the different parts of God’s creation. When we met Nora in Cochabamba, … Read More »

His Holiness Radiated From Him
“We did not know if we could get pregnant, soon after we found out we were pregnant with our first daughter!”

Published on: December 19th, 2012 — 5:48 PM / OBS: South America

AYAVIRI, PERU — When Abby Sinnett was transitioning from her teenage years to her early twenties, an incredible blessing came into her life; her husband first, but then a trip to the Eternal City. After committing their lives to each other, Abby and her husband were showered with truly a once in a life time blessing, a flight to Rome to meet in person with the late, and now blessed, John Paul II. On the flight over to Rome and the Vatican, this young and faithful Catholic couple contemplated one important question, “what should we say to the Holy Father?” (more below)

Annie & … Read More »

‘It was necessary, absolutely necessary’
Whether it is the scratches in our hardwood floors or deciding on our next vacation, it often obstructs our view of Christ

Published on: October 30th, 2012 — 9:28 AM / OBS: South America

AYAVARI, PERU — Every year for the past 3 years, medical missionaries have been making their way from the U.S. and other parts of Peru to the small town of Ayaviri, Peru. For almost a week, these doctors, nurses, pharmacists and some non-medical personnel tend to the needs of the people in this high altitude town (about 4,000 meters, or over 13,000 feet) and the surrounding countryside. They brought all the medicine, vitamins, and equipment they could and tended to patients from October 16th through the 19th (2012). This medical campaign (as it is formally called), was coordinated through the … Read More »

About an hour or so outside of Colombia’s capital city, we found a jewel of modern architecture about 200 meters under ground. The Salt Cathedral (of Zipaquirá) is a full fledged Roman Catholic church (not an actual cathedral, as it has no bishop) built in the tunnels of a large salt mine. A pilgrimage center for the country, and popular with tourists, the Salt Cathedral started as a sanctuary, carved by the miners (1932) as a place for their daily prayers, where they asked for the protection of the saints as they went to work. In the 1950s the Salt Cathedral was inaugurated and dedicated to Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, patron of miners.

In 1991 the construction that expanded the sanctuary to its current grandeur was undertaken. Finished and inaugurated in 1995, it now has various sanctuaries, corridors, … Read More »

An Australian named Greg goes to Peru to begin a year of growth and learning about the Socalitium of Christian Life in Lima, Peru. He is an aspirant, meaning he aspires to go into formation and come out as a consecrated lay man that will devote his life to the apostolic work he does evangelizing the culture. Meeting the people where they are at, but not necessarily being ok with where they are, and challenging them to move to higher levels spiritually. We found him with a mission group from Boulder, Colorado that went for 2 weeks to serve the poor in a shantytown in Lima. Greg has been living in Lima for the last year and hopes to enter his formation this coming year to become a Sodalith, a consecrated lay man with the movement. We hope you enjoy … Read More »

In the thick of the historical district of Ecuador’s capital, lies the Church of the Society of Jesus (aka: La Compañía de Jesús). Though very unassuming from the outside, this church is absolutely awe inspiring when you enter. GOLD GOLD GOLD, everywhere you look, up, down, left, right, up-side-down and inside-out, GOLD surrounds you. Over 7 TONS OF GOLD were used to glorify God in the construction of this church’s interior. Enough said.

In a shantytown of Lima, Peru, Kelsey Teran shares why she is now so happy to be Catholic after a profound experience of service. Her brother Alan lives in Lima, as he is in formation to become a Sodalit with the Sodalitium Christiane Vitae (Christian Life Movement). When she was invited to go down on a mission trip with the Christian Life Movement, she could not pass up the opportunity to have a taste of what her brother is experiencing on a regular basis in Peru. Though Kelsey was raised Catholic, she fell away from the faith during college when she was immersed in a religious studies major at the University of Colorado. But during her last semester of college, she went on a retreat and saw a skit where Jesus consoles a broken and disheartened girl, and then breathes … Read More »