UC launches book that brings together the first 100 columns of “A Weekly Reflection”

The presentation of the document was made in the Santa Ana parish within the framework of the celebration of the festival of San Joaquín and Santa Ana. By 2024 it is intended to publish a column every week. The Directorate of Pastoral and Christian Culture supports the coordination of this project.

With the presence of Cardinal Celestino Aôs, Archbishop of Santiago and Grand Chancellor of the UC, Monsignor Álvaro Chordi, Auxiliary Bishop of Santiago and Episcopal Vicar of the downtown area of ​​Santiago, Fr. Tomás Scherz, Vice Chancellor of the UC and the rector Ignacio Sánchez, the book “A weekly reflection” was launched. This contains the 100 columns published during his first three years of work.

The project, which began in 2019, has the objective of fostering discussion within the parish communities and their families. For three years he has delivered a message of hope from different academic communities of Catholic universities in the country for all members of the Chilean Catholic Church. In addition, it addresses issues from the perspective of the different experiences and disciplines of teachers to be a contribution on relevant issues for conversation and reflection within the family, the Church community and society.

For three years, he has delivered a message of hope from different academic communities of Catholic universities in the country for all members of the Chilean Catholic Church.

In its beginnings it was delivered to the parishes on paper, but it is currently published in web and podcast format . When completing the first 100 reflections, it was decided to compile them into a book that allows the content to continue to be used to illuminate meditations, conversations, and religious encounters.

At the presentation ceremony, Rector Ignacio Sánchez declared: “This book reflects the concern of Catholic universities to be able to communicate with the parish communities. In general, in universities we fulfill our role of reflection and formation on a daily basis, but we thought it was also important to have direct contact with the communities of the parishes, with the base communities. We thought it was very interesting to be able to come to the family table . , through a conversation -on a Saturday or Sunday- by means of a column written by our professors, teachers or professionals”.

The rector Ignacio Sánchez spoke about the project in the Santa Ana parish, as part of the celebration of the festival of San Joaquín and Santa Ana. Photography: Karina Fuenzalida.
“After a while we also invited the rest of the country’s Catholic universities, which are in different locations and regions. For almost two years now we have had the participation of other universities”, stressed the rector.

In addition, the academic authority said that they soon want to incorporate a parishioner into the editorial committee and that, from the year 2024, they intend to publish a reflection every week, since for now it is published every two weeks. He also indicated that it would be interesting to hold more conversations in the parishes on the topics covered in the reflections.

Bernardita Aspillaga, from the Department of Pastoral and Christian Culture , has coordinated and managed the project since its inception. She comments: “It has been a very enriching experience to be part of a great work team. I am very grateful for the willingness of the authors to collaborate in delivering a message from their expertise to the Church communities. One of the challenges is to deliver a reflection that is understandable to everyone. Many times there is a tendency to use a more academic language due to the origin of the authors themselves, but, thanks to their collaboration, an understandable language for a wide audience is achieved”.

During these years, each reflection has sought to provide support according to the time that was being lived, such as the social outbreak or the pandemic. Likewise, on the occasion of reflection number 100, Pope Francis adapted a homily to commemorate this great milestone within the project .

“I think that the reflections contribute with a diversity of topics that deepen various aspects of daily life, of the spiritual and of moments that mark the passing of the year for us, says Bernadette.

“Throughout the years, there have been themes that tend more to the period in which it is published, for example, popular piety or devotion to the Virgin. There are other issues that have to do with everyday and spiritual issues, such as the issue of education, solidarity, peace and, finally, more contingent issues such as when the pandemic was, with issues of health and work.

During these years, each reflection has sought to provide support according to the time that was being lived, such as the social outbreak or the pandemic.

“There is still a long way to go and, at the launch of the book, you can see the desire that there is from the parish communities themselves to contribute with topics for future reflections. Those who are interested in contributing, we have enabled a section on our website where they can send their proposals”.

During the launching ceremony, the winners of the literary contest “Entre Fuentes Letras y Vitrales” were also awarded, which was organized by the parish and extended to the neighborhood. The winners were: Jesús Andrés Blanco (11 years old, children/adolescents category); Alejandro Sauman (adult category) and Antonio Canosa (senior category).

To facilitate access and reach the public, each of the columns has been audio recorded . The podcasts have been recorded by two journalists who work at the UC Communications Department: Alejandra Vásquez has recorded the columns signed by women and Matías Broschek, those written by men.