University students innovate in the ways of mission in pandemic

Volunteers from Capilla País, Misión País and Siembra UC, projects of the Pastoral Ministry of the Catholic University of Chile, visited different communities in the country, virtually and in person, with the purpose of delivering their testimony of faith and building meeting spaces with the community.

Photo of a missionary playing ball with a boy

photo_camera In 2021, not all areas could be reached due to sanitary restrictions, so people were also contacted electronically.

The context of the pandemic and the increase in infections presented recently, encouraged students of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, who participate in the projects Misión País, Capilla País and Siembra UC, to reinvent themselves and go out to meet the people virtually and with daily visits to the communities.

This is how this year – due to the health situation – it was not possible for the missionaries to stay and physically stay for ten days in the different regions where they used to go in previous years.

Missions and urban works

“With your mercy let’s embrace Chile” is the motto under which the project volunteers decided to carry out missions and face-to-face work for five days. They met in groups to serve different communities in the Metropolitan Region, such as Puente Alto, Paine, Villa Lourdes, Quilicura and Buin. In some of them there were volunteers from Mission Country, in others from Capilla País and in others from both projects.

These works and missions were carried out following a strict COVID protocol prepared by the UC Christian Pastoral and Culture Directorate for this type of activities, which included, among other measures, that all participants returned home daily in the afternoons, that the transfers There were a maximum of two people per car, the permanent use of a mask, hand washing and the use of alcohol gel regularly.