During Lent, Catholics around the world are invited to practice more deeply the observances of Lent: Prayer, fasting and almsgiving. One of the members of the Community of Saint Paul, Fr. Ricardo Martin, is the pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Racine, Wisconsin. For the last two years, this parish has dedicated its Lenten almsgiving to building two chapels in the territory of La Sagrada Familia Parish in the Dominican Republic, where members of the CSP have worked since 2003. These chapels are not only spaces of prayer, but also serve as places for the people to gather, and from where the CSP runs several educational programs. Both years, two different groups of parishioners have traveled from Racine to the Sabana Yegua, Dominican Republic to learn about work there and to be present for the consecration and blessing of the chapels.
This year, the parish will be aiming its Lenten campaign to the building of another chapel/community center but this time in the area of Independencia, in the province of Cochabamba, in Bolivia. Independencia is four hours away from the city of Cochabamba, driving through a breathtaking section of Los Andes. The chapel will be built in a plot donated by the local community, situated in a central location to serve eight different rural communities, and it will host medical and agricultural programs. To learn about the project and the people it will serve, last February Fr. Ricardo visited the area. This is the video that was produced to explain the project to Sacred Heart parishioners: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMKc4vAvZyc
