SANTIAGO, Chile, JUNE 7, 2010 (Zenit.org).- As Chile continues to rebuild after a Feb. 27 earthquake, tents are being sent to be used as chapels for the parishes still holding services on the street.
The 8.8-magnitude quake affected 2 million people in eight of Chile’s 27 dioceses. Over 800 people were killed in the disaster and some 500,000 more were displaced.
Aid to the Church in Need reported today that it is sending 39 tent chapels to that region to house the Church services that are still being held on the streets.
Some 80% of the churches in the quake-stricken areas were devastated to the point of being unusable, and thus Masses, baptisms and funerals are taking place outdoors.
The vicar general of the Rancagua Diocese, Father Barnabas Silva, blessed the first of these tent chapels on May 30. It was erected on the site of the ancient Church of the Immaculate Conception, which was destroyed in the earthquake.
Father Aquiles Correa, a parish priest, spoke to Aid to the Church in Need after the blessing: «The pain has been great, but faith and trust in God inspire us to keep walking forwards.»
«Thank you for giving this place to us,» he said. «It will be a place to meet Christ, the cornerstone of our lives, a place for the community to gather and receive the sacraments, a place to keep out the cold and rain.»
A group of Carmelites also attended the blessing ceremony and gave the parish an image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Chile’s patron saint.
Christiane Raczynski, the aid agency’s president in Chile, noted that these iron and vinyl tents will «allow parish priests of churches damaged by the earthquake to welcome and comfort the faithful, while giving them a sign of hope.»
These temporary chapels «will give them time to rebuild their churches without taking hasty decisions — as they will need to consider heritage, economic and social factors before reconstruction can take place,» she explained.
The tents, which were designed for easy assembly, cover an area of over 1,990 square feet, with a capacity to seat 100 faithful.
