A Newsletter

Volume 1, No. 2: January - April, 2006

IN JACAREACANGA, some 750 km up the Tapajos River...
In the middle of the rainforest, the Franciscans have two communities.  One is formed by two Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception and the other by Fr. Richard Duffy, OFM (a missioner originally from the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis, MN), Fr. Manoel Lima, OFM and Bro. Amaurí Pereira, OFM.  The city of Jacareacanga is a small, but growing urban area of maybe 3,500 people.  The entire municipality has many Indian villages and communities of gold-miners, as well as communities of farming and fishing families in its territory of 53,531 square kilometers.  It’s rough and tough in Jacareacanga.  The roads are muddy and slippery now and dusty later on.  The river is full of rapid and tricky rock formations.  The cost of living is doubled and tripled because of distances and transportation difficulties.  Mosquitoes and daylight fleas abound, depending on when and where.  The search for gold generates individualism, violence, prostitution, illness and unfulfilled dreams.  The forests attract adventurers, land-grabbers and poachers, ranchers, lumber companies and those with huge agro-business projects in mind. 

The Mundurukú Indians, now nearly 10,000 strong, are the real traditional residents of the municipality of Jacareacanga.  They and their land were and are still the victims of a relentless and unjust search for immediate profit, euphoniously called “progress.”  They are the excluded and impoverished in their own rich forest.  Now and more than ever they are called to be the protagonists of their future and well-being.  The friars and sisters have served the Mundurukú, Apiaka, and Kaiabi Indians and other traditional residents of the region, continuously since 1911 e 1912.  Besides the St. Francis Mission among the Mundurukú, they have now assumed a new presence on the limits of the native people’s land.  They are there to serve first and foremost the poor and excluded. 

There are two “parish” communities in Jacareacanga – St. Anthony and St. Peter.  Fr. Manoel travels kilometers on end to be present to communities in the interior.  Because of the rapids and distances, he uses an outboard motor boat (a gift of Amazon Relief, an entity based in Grand Rapids, MI, which promotes life-giving projects in the Amazon).  If you think gas is expensive here, try Fr. Manoel’s mission.  Fr. Richard Duffy ministers to the city and some neighboring villages and goldmines.  His 76 years have cut down on his mobility, but not his spirit-driven, bicycling energy.  In January, he began a nursery project for seedlings of fruit trees (Preventative medicine in the villages) and hardwood trees (reforestation).  The fence around the land must be almost up by now.  Bro. Amauri is a cook and a baker by profession, so, with some local assistance and a boost from St. Anthony Parish in Columbus, Ohio, he is beginning a cooking and baking school for poor women and youth.  The Sisters and Mundurukú women are doing a mosquito net project (also preventative medicine) for the hammocks. 

I worked in this region a few years back and I was just there in December to see firsthand the good work that is being done.  If you and yours are looking for some good, life-promoting projects, help keep these two Franciscan communities doing what they are doing in a rough and tough area called Jacareacanga!
~ Fr. Mike Kellett, OFM

“LENT is a time for CONVERSION.  It jolts us out of mindlessly satisfying our own needs and fancies and encourages us to trace our hungers and thirsts into LOVE OF GOD AND LOVE OF NEIGHBOR.”

The Friars remember YOU with gratitude, when they celebrate the Eucharist and daily Prayer.  Every Tuesday morning, for example, all the communities in the city of Santarem gather to celebrate the Eucharist for you, our partners in mission.

Check out the Franciscans' Website! www.amazonfriars.org

Return to 2006 Delegation to the Amazon Experience and Photos

To learn more about
other St. Cloud Diocesan Global Partnerships and relationships;
return to the Global Solidarity Web Page