Church brings hope amid death and destruction in earthquake-hit Venezuela

AS Venezuela mourns its dead following two devastating earthquakes priests have told a Catholic charity that the Church is often the only source of hope.

Father Daniel Acosta, who lost both his home and friends that night, told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN): “So many people, so many friendships gone. It hurts badly when you realise that somebody you knew your whole life has gone, after years of sharing everything with them.”

The parish priest of Tarmas added: “Feelings are very mixed. We are here to accompany, to counsel and to support those who have suffered human losses, but also the many who have lost their jobs. 

“We commend ourselves to the Lord, asking him to help us every day. In the morning we fill ourselves with His strength, with God’s spirit, to better serve our communities. But at night the heart sinks, and since we are merely human, the tears flow.” 

The priest was speaking to a delegation from ACN visiting La Guaira Diocese, one of the most badly affected by the 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude tremors of 24th June.

The parish of St Oscar Romero, in Ciudad Chavez, had a population of 22,500 people but now a huge number have died or are missing.

Fr Alfredo Bustamante, the parish priest, told ACN: “This was a young parish, but it has been practically destroyed. Around 80 percent of the faithful have died. 

“We lost entire families, grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren. Only four members of our choir survived, and I lost four of my altar servers. It has been hell.”

ACN was told one girl was asked by injured parents to check the morgue for their two missing daughters. She searched through 200 bodies before finding them and another friend of hers.

When ACN visited nearby Caraballeda, Mass was being celebrated in the parish of Our Lady of Candelaria.

 Fr Laudence Betancourt told ACN that before the earthquake the church was under construction and not yet being used for daily Mass.

But now they have five times more faithful coming to seek consolation at the church which is open from 7am to 7pm. 

At the entrance there is a poster with three lists – the dead, the missing and the rescued.

Next to the altar, 13 square wooden boxes sat on two tables draped in violet. They contained the ashes of bodies extracted from the rubble days earlier, which their families had taken there for a memorial service.

Bishop Pablo Modesto pointed to one box containing the ashes of a young girl who was an altar server and carried his crozier during the Nativity of St John the Baptist, shortly before the earthquake. 

During his sermon, the bishop spoke about the miracle of surviving. 

Bishop Modesto said he had thought he would die when, after seeking refuge under the door frame, during the first tremor, he heard a brutal roar.

He later learned the noise had come from the collapse of the five buildings next to the seminary. 

He and others managed to get out. Several walls collapsed, but none of the sixteen seminarians suffered serious injury. 

The bishop added: “But in the end, it’s the miracle of why we made it but others didn’t. It’s difficult to understand, but these are things we need to ponder in our hearts – like Mary. 

“And to realise that if God gave us the gift of life – and it was a gift – it is so that we can live in service to others and not just give up. The question is not why I am alive, but what for.”

With thanks to Maria Lozano