By Miguel Fleitas Martinez, partner-in-mission, Paraguay (Province Southeast Latin America)
I began my journey as a mission partner in 2010 when the Congregation invited me to take part in planning meetings to support and strengthen the mission in Paraguay.
As a qualified social worker who had worked for local NGOs and public bodies in implementing social policies linked to community participation development, I was deeply fascinated by the values, charism, and spirituality of the Congregation.
These early planning meetings and subsequent spaces of encounter with sisters and partners-in-mission helped me to understand the Congregation’s deep commitment to life and the immeasurable value given to each person regardless of their personal circumstances.
During these 14 years, I have experienced profound changes, both in my personal life and in the life of the Congregation.
Tragically, my beloved life partner Zunilda Mareco – who had been Good Shepherd Community Development Coordinator – died from Covid in April 2021.
I witnessed the merciful love of Jesus the Good Shepherd as the sisters provided every love, care, and professional medical support they could following her diagnosis.
A tenderness that continued to be experienced and sustained me and my son, Eduardo, in our moments of darkness and human fragility following her death.
This experience strengthened my love for the Congregation and my zeal for the mission. I too feel called and challenged to reach out to those in need, generating creative responses in favor of the dignity and rights of all.
Today, I work alongside sisters and partners-in-mission, playing an active part in the process of planning for and implementing our responses to the Calls to Action of the most recent Congregational Chapter.
In Paraguay and Brazil, which make up the Province of Southeast Latin America, we are concerned in particular with the New Governance Structure as we seek new and creative ways to structure ourselves with the other provinces that make up REAL.
In this ongoing journey, we create spaces for dialogue, discussion, and analysis, where we seek to look in an integrated way from our realities as apostolic sisters, contemplative sisters, and partners-in-mission.
At the core of what we do and how we feel, is mission. This invites us to offer the best of ourselves to create effective structures, where people have their dignity and rights confirmed and access to appropriate opportunities to achieve their full development as children of God.
Our vision is that with optimism, faith, and openness we will embrace the new structure that emerges, allowing us to continue to promote attitudes of safeguarding, mercy, and reconciliation to keep alive the words of our Congregational motto: “One person is of more value than the whole world”.
