Argentina: Bishop García Cuerva offered Mass for Pallottines murdered 48 years ago

48 years after the so-called “Saint Patrick Massacre”, one of the bloodiest attacks of the last military dictatorship in Argentina, in which three priests and two Pallottine seminarians were murdered in their parish house in the City of Buenos Aires, the Local archbishop, Mons. Jorge García Cuerva, celebrated a Mass this Thursday.

With the temple filled with faithful at 7:00 p.m. (local time), the celebration made grateful memory of the testimony of the priests Alfredo Leaden, Pedro Dufau, Alfie Kelly, and the seminarians Emilio Barletti and Salvador Barbeito, murdered on July 4 of 1976.

The Archbishop of San Juan de Cuyo, Mons. Jorge Lozano, concelebrated the Mass; the Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires, Mons. Alejandro Giorgi; the parish priest of San Patricio and postulator of the cause of canonization of the Pallottines, Fr. Juan Sebastián Velasco SAC; and several Pallottine priests.

The celebration was part of a series of activities that began on July 3 in the Buenos Aires city of Suipacha — birthplace of the priest Alfie Kelly and where the parish community is Pallottine — with a “Cultural Vigil” that consisted of the restoration of a mural dedicated to the murdered priests and seminarians, the inauguration of an artistic exhibition in the Municipality, and a Mass.

In the city of Mercedes, for his part, the Archbishop of Mercedes-Luján, Mons. Jorge Eduardo Scheinig, led a moment of prayer in the local cemetery on Thursday morning with the community at the place where the remains of Father rest. .Alfie Kelly.

The commemoration then moved to the emblematic parish located at the intersection of Echeverría and Estomba streets. Among those present at the Mass presided over by Bishop García Cuerva were the Irish ambassador to Argentina, John Gerard McCoy; Deputy Eduardo Valdés; the Minister of Infrastructure and Public Services of the Province of Buenos Aires, Gabriel Katopodis; the Buenos Aires legislator Claudio Ferreño; and the mayor of Suipacha, Juan Luis Mancini.

A “community faith”, committed and bold

In his homily, the archbishop focused on the community, committed and bold faith of the five Pallottine brothers, a faith that “gave attention in its historical moment and continues to do so today, 48 years later.”

To describe that faith, the prelate highlighted Father Dufau’s insistence on prayer “as a way to communicate with the Lord”; and to explain his “community faith,” he explained: “They did not live their faith in an individualistic or private way, they did it so united that they even mixed their blood, the blood of brothers.”

He also stopped to talk about his “committed faith,” and in the words of seminarian Salvador Barbeito, he expressed: “Every year, at every step in time, we must rethink the fidelity of our vocation as a response to the needs of the Church in each historical era.”

Finally, he identified in them “a bold faith, but not brave like comic book superheroes; a very human faith with the frailties and vulnerabilities that we all have.”

Taking as a reference the evangelical story in which Jesus forgives the sins of the paralytic, and for this reason he is accused of blaspheming, Bishop García Cuerva pointed out: “Thinking and speaking ill of others was also what our servants of God suffered, it was like killing them again.”

And taking the words that Pope Francis dedicated to Saint Oscar Romero, he expressed: “Once dead he was defamed, slandered, dirty, that is, his martyrdom was continued even by his brothers in the priesthood and in the episcopate.”

In this regard, he reflected: “Only God knows people’s stories and how many times, people who have already given their lives or who have died, continue to be stoned with the hardest stone that exists in the world: the tongue.”

Finally, he encouraged people to “stand up despite the difficulties; standing up for truth and justice; standing, even though our legs hurt and paralysis seems to win. Standing, like Alfredo, Pedro, Alfie, Salvador and Emilio who fertilized our Church with their blood. Standing like Mary at the foot of the cross.”

“Push with your prayer” the cause of canonization

“Life is achieved and matures as it is given to give life to others. That is ultimately the mission. That was his mission 48 years ago. That is also our mission today,

give life,” he concluded.

At the end of the celebration, the postulator of the cause and parish priest of San Patricio, thanked those present, and especially the archbishop of Buenos Aires, commenting that for a Cause of Canonization to advance, it is necessary for a bishop to “put it on his shoulder.” ”.

“I put it on my shoulder, but we need many to push, so push with your prayer, that prayer that Father Dufau said that we all have to have, so let’s pray a lot, let’s ask God to help us so that we can move forward.” the cause,” responded the archbishop.