Father Olivera Ravasi, a lawyer, theologian, blogger and author who has produced numerous video conferences and interviews on YouTube, told ACI Prensa that the Order of Saint Elias recently celebrated its eighth anniversary and is looking to buy a house in the heart of Buenos Aires to offer studios, a conference room and a bookstore where young people can receive instruction in the faith and exposure to Catholic culture. The order also has a training house for seminarians in Ecuador under the auspices of an archbishop.
Although there are missionaries from other orders in Argentina, Father Highton said that the Order of Saint Elias has its own charisma and apostolic dynamism: “We go to the missions with only a backpack and without the bureaucratic apparatus of others. It’s as if we were missionary commandos. In the Church there are the regular troops, but we are the commandos.”
Father Highton is accompanied on some of his missions by volunteers, seminarians and lay people from Argentina and elsewhere. In Argentina there are several parishes served by priests associated with the order.
“It is a great grace that he has granted us,” said the priest. “We are in contact with bishops and religious, such as the Franciscans, in the countries we visit and we cooperate with them. We worked with the Servants of the Word in Malawi and had great success, for example. With them we were able to start chapels where there were none.”