In This Issue:
Drug War
Makes Oblate ministry Difficult
Vocations Flourishing In Zambia
Oblates Helping to
Promote Devotion to
Our Lady of Guadalupe
When Fernando Anchustegui was growing up in Mexico City, the Missionary Oblates encouraged him to follow his dreams.
Today,more than 40 years later, the Oblates are helping
Fernando make his dream come true.
Fernando’s dream is to place a special image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in every nation on earth. These images are exact digital duplications of Our Lady’s image on display at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
In August one of these special images was enshrined at an Oblate parish,Our Lady of Guadalupe in Midland,Texas. Presiding at the enshrinement ceremony was Oblate Bishop Michael Pfeifer,O.M.I. (pictured to right) of the Diocese of San Angelo.
“When I served for 16 years in Mexico I had a special devotion to Our Blessed Mother under the title of Our Lady of Guadalupe,” said Bishop Pfeifer. “I went often to pray at her beautiful basilica in Mexico City. I am so happy, as an Oblate Bishop, to receive this special image. What makes it so unique is that it has actually touched the original image that hangs over the altar at the basilica.”
During the late 1960s Bishop Pfeifer was director of a grade school run by the Oblates in Mexico City. One of his students was Fernando Anchustegui.
“Fernando and his family, especially his mother, have been true Oblate supporters for many years,” said Bishop Pfeifer. “When I was in Mexico I formed a number of mission groups to support the Oblates’work in Mexico and Fernando’s mother was one of the biggest supporters.”
Over the years Fernando maintained contact with the Oblates, and eventually he dedicated himself to promoting devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. When Bishop Pfeifer heard about Fernando’s mission he asked him to bring the extraordinary image of Our Lady of Guadalupe toTexas.
Bishop Pfeifer also asked Fernando to bring the image to the African nation of Zambia. As a former administrator for the Oblates, Bishop Pfeifer helped to establish the Oblate mission in Zambia more than 25 years ago.
Fernando traveled to Zambia in May to present the digital image of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Bishop Paul Duffy,O.M.I. of the Diocese of Mongu. Bishop Duffy was one of the first four Oblate missionaries sent to Zambia in 1984.
The Zambian image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is now enthroned at St.Agatha Parish in Kapulanga. Father Joseph Phiri,O.M.I. said parishes throughout Mongu are planning to conduct pilgrimages to St.Agatha to view the image.