“Hope is not burned,” is the message that prevails when the La Asunción de Chile parish of Chile, which was intentionally burned in October 2020 and reopens its doors after its reconstruction.
The ceremony will be on Sunday, May 25 at 10:00 a.m. (local time) and aims to be more than the celebration of the reconstruction of the physical temple, to also offer a sign that it is possible to rebuild after pain and get up after the fall, when God is in the middle of his people.
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The Archbishop of Santiago, Cardinal Fernando Chomali will preside over the reopening mass of the temple.
With this reconstruction, the call is also “to restore the soul of our wounded homeland”, because what this temple lived “is a symbol of what Chile lives today: fractures, social fires, polarization, distrust, loss of common referents”, but with this again it is shown, in this jubilee year, that “hope does not burn”, express From the community, whose faith continued in these five years and allowed it to open its doors today.
In this video made for the last patron saint parties you can see the state of the temple during its reconstruction:
Located on Vicuña Mackenna 69 Avenue, the Church of the Assumption dates from 1876, and for more than a century it was a space of life of faith, community and service. During the 2019 social outbreak, it was looted by hooded people who removed benches, confessionals, paintings, sculptures and images from interior.
In October 2020, after one year of those unfortunate events, the temple was again white of violence, producing there an intentional fire.
Several firefighters were present at the scene, but in a period of 10 minutes the fire ended up collapsing the roof of the building, the needle and other properties attached to the parish.
At the time of the attack, the pastor of the place, P. Pedro Narbonne, He said to ACI Press: “Death and pain do not have the last word, but the last word always has hope and life. The one who triumphs is always our Lord and we are supported and united to him.”
Material losses, including art pieces and historical architectural details, were significant and unrecoverable. However, this did not stop the faithful, who in these almost five years remained united and underway to recover the parish space.
Julieta Villar
I am a journalist, a graduate in Communication from the National University of La Matanza in Argentina. I have work experience in non -governmental organizations. Since 2016 I dedicate myself to Catholic journalism, first in the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA) and, since 2022, as a correspondent for ACI Press for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia.