04/06/2024 Author: Hernán Darío Cadena

The Apostolic Vicariate of Mitú in Colombia covers 54,000 square kilometres, making it larger than Belgium, the Netherlands, or Switzerland. The pastoral work carried out is mostly missionary in nature. Mitú is also where a lone ACN benefactor tries to live out his faith as an example of the community that helps sustain the Church.

Mitú is the capital of the department of Vaupés in eastern Colombia. With a population of 50,000, it is a small city that resembles an island amidst the “sea” of the Amazon jungle, near the border with Brazil, almost 600 km from the Colombian capital of Bogotá and was recently visited by a delegation from the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). During this visit to learn more about the reality of the vicariate, local bishop Medardo de Jesús Henao spotted a man on one of the streets of Mitú and greeted him enthusiastically, telling him that he was with representatives of ACN.

The man’s face lit up with a wide smile. “I am an ACN benefactor”, he said. Indeed, the delegation recognised the rosary hanging from his left wrist: carved out of wood by Christians in Bethlehem, it can be worn as a bracelet and is distributed by ACN Colombia as part of an initiative to support Christians in need in the Holy Land.

Martín Alberto Peña, 47, was born in Mitú and is ACN’s only benefactor in the entire region. He told the foundation that he is sustained by the power of prayer because “with God, anything is possible”, as he repeats several times. The purchase of the rosary was the first step for Martín in becoming a benefactor. He learned of the initiative through the foundation’s social media accounts and made a donation, becoming a member of the ACN family. When he received the rosary, carved from olive wood by Christian craftsmen in the Holy Land, he understood that he was getting much more than a simple prayer object; he felt that he was somehow spiritually united to these Christians.

He then began to receive the weekly news bulletins ACN sends to benefactors by email, which sparked his interest in the lives of Christians who suffer or are in need in different countries. He also realised that the foundation’s mission goes beyond merely financial aid.

Little by little, he developed a deeper concern until one day, he read about a missionary – he can’t remember in which country exactly – who ate nothing but peanuts and water, and he felt inspired to go a step further and make a regular donation, thinking: “what this missionary in some other part of the world is experiencing, could be the same as what many priests in my own country are going through.”

This is what Church communion is all about, and it explains why we can find benefactors such as Martín in the middle of the Colombian jungle, hundreds of kilometres from an ACN office.

Martín Peña is a dynamic businessman who often uses his professional experience to help the Church, including with catechesis and retreats. He is glad to serve in this way, following the example of priests and consecrated laypeople in the vicariate. “Here in Mitú, the priests are always willing to help and to listen. From the bishop, all the way down, everybody is available and this is an example that inspires us all”, he says.

As with many regions that have similar or even more difficult situations, the support of benefactors is crucial to the pastoral work in the Vicariate of Mitú. Bishop Medardo de Jesús Henao used this unexpected encounter with Martín to encourage ACN benefactors all over the world to “never give up on the joy of helping us evangelise”.

That is what Martín Peña does. This simple man in the middle of the jungle is one of 360,000 ACN benefactors worldwide, part of a family spread out among dozens of countries, who support the Church’s work in distant places that are often forgotten and are always in need. Martín does not hesitate to say that “when you give, you have already received a blessing. To give from the heart really is the best.” This blessing works both ways because, thanks to the generosity of Martín and many other benefactors all over the world, aid also returns to Mitú in the form of Mass stipends, vehicles, and financial support for meetings and pastoral gatherings that allow the members of the local Church to continue to spread the Good News.