Gyapong, Deborah

English

Duquesne University: Digital Commons

Spiritan Magazine Volume 38 Number 1 Winter Article 12 Winter 2014 Ottawa–born Spiritan appointed BIshop of San Pedro, Paraguay Deborah Gyapong Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/spiritan-tc Recommended Citation Gyapong, D. (2014). Ottawa–born Spiritan appointed BIshop of San Pedro, Paraguay. Spiritan Magazine, 38 (1). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/spiritan-tc/vol38/iss1/12 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Spiritan Collection at Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Spiritan Magazine by an authorized editor of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. 18 Winter 2014 / SpiritanBishop Pierre JubinvilleOttawa-born Spiritan appointedBishop of San Pedro, ParaguayDeborah GyapongPope Francis appointed an Ottawa-born priest as Bishopof San Pedro, in Paraguay, a long way from the Hullsector of Gatineau, Quebec, where he grew up.Spiritan Bishop Pierre Jubinville is going back to an areahe knows well. He spent eight years in the San Pedro dioceseas a Spiritan missionary.“I knew I wanted to become a religious and a priest,” hesaid. While a student at Collège Saint-Alexandre in Hull, Quebec — a private school run by the Spiritans — he decidedto join the order. Being a Spiritan“For me community life is very important. It’s not just to livetogether, it’s a way of discerning, a way of approaching every-thing,” he said. “Being religious and being missionary areessential parts of being a Spiritan.”But the image he had of missions as a teenager came fromposters of starving or malnourished children “with the fliesaround.”“I was not a very adventurous person,” he admitted. Buthis first experience of missions — two months in Mexico —made him realize the posters did not tell the whole story.“Around the child there’s a people: parents, a family, a wholelife different from this isolated picture,” he sad.He experienced the same thing when he went to Zaire, nowknown as Democratic Republic of Congo. “Mission is to reachout to people,” he said.At first he thought of being a religious and a missionary,but in Zaire he also realized “what it would be like to be apastor of a people,” he said.Ordained a priestA year later, in 1988, then Gatineau-Hull Bishop RogerEbacher ordained him.Ebacher, now Gatineau Archbishop-Emeritus, describedJubinville as “very bright” and “a poet.”“He seemed to me to be a very goodpriest when I ordained him,” said Ebacher.“I didn’t think he would be a bishop, but Iam very happy about that!”Jubinville went on to obtain a Licenciatein religious studies from the InstitutCatholique de Paris. He served in Mexico,then in Paraguay as a parish priest in Lima,San Pedro, and as superior of the Spiritan community inAsuncion. Since 2012 he has been in Rome as First GeneralAssistant in the Congregation of the Holy Spirit.Ebacher recalls visiting Paraguay when Jubinville was apastor in Lima. “I had a marvelous time with him, visiting thecountry, visiting the poor.”The Spiritan priest was concerned about those who suffered under the dictatorship and introduced the bishop “I think it is a remarkable act of confidence that [the Paraguayan people] would call me to serve themand be there in a certain way to represent them.”to friends who had been tortured by the regime. “He was agood pastor, able to meet people, to share with them their preoccupations,” Ebacher said.In addition to his parish he had several other communities“here and there in the bush,” Ebacher said. “I was verytouched by his way of doing pastoral work, of being near people.”Rural pastoral life Jubinville said that during his eight years in the San Pedro diocese he at first reached out to indigenous communitiesscattered through the diocese “visiting them and trying toestablish bonds between them and the church.” He was alsoinvolved in rural pastoral life and parishes, some large, somejust small chapels, co-ordinating, visiting and animating theirformation. He also served in the city. “I think things have changed a lot,” he said of the diocesehe will return to as bishop. “There’s a big problem with land,with poverty. The church too has grown; the population ismore urban now.”He expects to spend at least a year visiting and becomingreacquainted with the diocese to get a feel for things. SanPedro is 22,000 square kilometers in size. Out of its popula-tion of 453,000, there are 416,000 Catholics, served by 28priests and 47 religious.Crossing boundaries, reaching outThe Spiritan charism involves going to places in the worldwhere it has been difficult to find workers: “Pope Francis ishelping us very much to come back to that. If it wasn’t forhim I wouldn’t have accepted this change in my life,”Jubinville said. “He is showing the way to cross boundariesand to reach out to people. That has helped me to cross theboundary from religious life to diocesan life; from a congre-gation to an episcopal conference.”It’s a big challenge to serve as a bishop in another country,he said. Though he loves the Paraguayan people, he is notParaguayan. “I think it is a remarkable act of confidence thatthey would call me to serve them and be there in a certain wayto represent them.”Communities of faith and mission “I will remain a foreigner and that implies many difficultiesin totally understanding, totally being part of their adventure,”he said. “That for me is a very great sign of the universality ofthe church and the openness that has to reign among us. Weneed to build communities of faith and mission,” he said, “TheLatin American bishops have realized that if the church doesnot become missionary it’s going to die.”The church is not just some specialized union, he said. “We all have to become very passionate about other people,find ways to love other people, to know them and to buildbridges,” he said.“The whole adventure of going out of ourselves, of reach-ing out to brothers and sisters, changes us. It makes ourchurch life much more concrete and alive,” he said.Jubinville’s father and sister still live in Gatineau. The Spir-itan community there, however, has grown too small to keeprunning Collège Saint-Alexandre, which is now lay-run. Fewvocations to the Congregation come from Canada now; most come from Africa.“What I know about youth today is that the church is notvery much part of their universe,” Jubinville said. “I was ofanother generation, even if a very small minority in my time.I am always happy to talk about the adventure faith has putme on. It can be a very fulfilling experience for anyone whowants to give his or her life to it.” nPierre Jubinville was ordained bishop on December 21, 2013 in San Pedro. Reprintedwith permission from Canadian Catholic News.Spiritan / Winter 2014      19Spiritans worldwideTotal membership 2828Countries 57  Top Ten CountriesNigeria 683France 353Ireland 306Portugal 139Ghana 133Tanzania 122Netherlands 84Angola 80Cameroon 77Poland 77USA 59Canada 32“The whole adventure of going out ofourselves, of reaching out to brothers andsisters, changes us. It makes our churchlife much more concrete and alive.”

Ottawa–born Spiritan appointed BIshop of San Pedro, Paraguay

https://dsc.duq.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1139&context=spiritan-tc

Ottawa–born Spiritan appointed BIshop of San Pedro, Paraguay

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Duquesne University: Digital Commons