Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Balsas (Agenzia Fides) – The Catholic Church in Brazil marked the 10 anniversary of the death of Sister Dorothy Stang and her dedication to the evangelization of the peoples of Amazonia. "Her humble, silent and almost isolated work, today is multiplied in every corner of Brazil, winning so many hearts and minds, reaching beyond the dimensions of the world and time" said Bishop Enemésio Ângelo Lazzaris, F.D.P, Bishop of Balsas (Maranho, Brazil) also President of the Land Pastoral Commission (CPT), according to information received by Fides.
Sr Dorothy Stang, born in the United States of America and naturalised Brasilian, a member of the Congregation of Notre Dame of Namur, was murdered at the age of 73. She was shot dead at close range in the early morning of 12 February 2005 in a place some 40 km from the town of Anapu, in the western area of the Parà state of Brazil. For more than twenty years Sr Stang had worked in the Land Pastoral Commission (CPT), assisting with dedication and passion the daily life of peasant workers, especially in the Trans-Amazon region of Parà State. Because of her courageous denunciation of violent activity on the part of “fazendeiros e grileiros”, since 1999 Dorothy had received many threats to her life (see Fides 15/2/2005).
Last Thursday February 12, Bishop Erwin Kräutler of the prelature of Xingu (PA) and also president of the Indigenous Missionary Council Consiglio Indigenista Missionario (CIMI), said a Mass for Sister Dorothy at San Rafael in Anapu, near where the missionary sister is buried. "When we buried the body of Sr Dorothy, in February 2005, we said repeatedly: 'we are not burying Sr Dorothy, instead we are planting a seed. She is a seed which will bear much fruit. Today we are celebrating these fruits and the new seeds they are producing" says the report from the Prelature of Xingu. (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 16/02/2015)
