Dear Friends, I returned from Campos last month, my first visit in more than two years due to the pandemic. The visit was shorter than I would have liked, but in a few days I was able to see and be encouraged once again by the 40,000 person strong traditional diocese. In an age when death and decline are much about us, that wild, mountainous terrain is filled with life and growth. It reminds one of how the church must have looked in Italy a few centuries ago, with religious orders everywhere, catholic families abundant, and architectural delights appearing in all corners. It was perhaps this last that makes the biggest impression since it is so noticeable and so iconic. Not a church or shrine or hospital or seminary exists where some project small or large to improve is not ongoing. With colonial baroque or continental gothic as models, new churches spring up unexpectedly, built for hundreds of faithful to use at a time, and old churches see new decorations. The church of Bom Jesus and the seminary of the Immaculate Conception are two examples of this. In the former there are 5 Masses on a Sunday filling the 800 capacity church to the brim. Meanwhile decorators carefully paint the ceiling in blue and gold. In the seminary, the facade has just been completed and painted and rooms are ready to hold 80 seminarians. And how is there so much life and growth? While the work of the bishop, priests and religious all contribute, it is the Faith expressed through their love of Tradition which unites them throughout. Once again I encourage you to support this good work that through our little help, and God’s protection, they might continue to flourish in these difficult times. In Christ, Dom Benedict Nivakoff, O.S.B. |
Friends of Campos, Inc.Friends of Campos, Inc. is a US-based not-for-profit (501c3) which supports the social and educational projects of the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney, most of which are located around the diocese of Campos dos Goytacazes in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Archives
April 2023
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