Becoming a Fisher of Men

One of the most significant issues faced by the Church in Latin America is the vast distances that need to be covered. There are simply not enough priests to visit every community regularly. Rolisson knows this better than most, having grown up in the Amazon. He is determined to become a priest and help minister to the faithful in the Amazon.

By ACN Staff

Rolisson praying during Eucharistic Adoration. (Credit: Aid to the Church in Need)

Rolisson Afonso was born in Manaus in the Brazilian Amazon. His mother was too young to properly look after him when he was born, so he was raised by his devout Catholic grandparents in Santa Isabel do Rio Negro. Every day, Rolisson would pray with his grandparents, reflect on the Gospel, pray the Rosary and attend Holy Mass on Sunday.

Rolisson would go fishing with his grandfather to help provide food for the family. These trips remain some of his fondest childhood memories. When he was 12, Rolisson told his grandmother that he wanted to become a priest. He was initially attracted to the priesthood by the vestments worn by the priests. Sadly, Rolisson fell away from the Faith during his teenage years. His friends teased him for wanting to be a priest, and he dropped the idea. Looking back, Rolisson understands his mistake, but looking at the positive side, he believes that he can now relate to and communicate with young people in a similar situation as he was in as a teenager.

Rolisson eventually moved back to his birthplace of Manaus to further his education and stayed with his mother and younger siblings. Rolisson’s mother was an Evangelical Protestant. Ironically moving into a Protestant household enabled Rolisson to reconnect with his Catholic Faith. Rolisson explains more:

“They would ask me questions about my Catholic Faith, but I wasn’t able to answer them. So, I went looking and discovered a community near my house. I became involved and joined a youth group.”

Rolisson continued his studies and later got a job. The idea of entering a seminary had stayed with him. Growing up in the Amazon, Rolisson knows better than most the difficulties faced by the Church there. The remoteness and vastness of the area is the most significant issue faced by the Church. There are simply not enough priests to cover such vast ground.

Rolisson explained how infrequently some communities are visited by a priest:

“Some of these riverside communities only get visited by a priest once a year, or once a month. He arrives, celebrates Mass and then returns to the city. This is one of the reasons I want to be a priest, to take the sacraments, the Gospel, to these people, to serve their needs.”

Rolisson knew that God was calling him to join the seminary. He made the difficult move to leave a secure well-paying job and entered the seminary. The Church here is poor and often cannot support seminarians. The support given by ACN to seminaries is vital.

Father Zenildo Lima is the rector of Saint Joseph’s Seminary, where Rolisson is in attendance. Father Zenildo believes very strongly in listening to local people and learning from them. This approach has helped foster many vocations in this part of Brazil, increasingly from indigenous communities. Father Zenildo looks to the Gospels as to how to foster vocations. He explains more:

“Just as Jesus walked along the margins of the Sea of Galilee, calling his disciples, who were simple people, to be fishers of men, so does he call us, and so does he call the riverside communities to be his disciples and proclaim the Gospel.”

In the Amazon, the fishers of men need boats just as much as regular fishermen. On top of supporting seminaries in the Amazon, ACN helps provide the local Church boats and other forms of transportation to reach isolated parishes and communities. Rolisson wished to pass his thanks to ACN and our benefactors in supporting the Church in the Amazon:

“I would like to thank all the ACN benefactors for helping us, and ask them to keep doing so, so that we can have more priests for our Amazon, for the whole world, and continue to take the Eucharist and our pastoral work to furthest reaches.”

ACN supports seminarians like Rolisson all over the world. Please consider donating if you would like to help us in our work.