Brazil – Casa Nova
1965-1982
From a request of Bishop William Murphy, C.Ss.R. of the Brazilian diocese of Juazeiro, Bahia, the Edmonton Province accepted the rural parish of Casa Nova. During the 17 years of the mission, six Redemptorist priests and two brothers brought pastoral care to the rural mission of 35,000 parishioners, annually baptizing 1700, conducting 300 marriages and distributing 28,000 communions. Travel was in all forms, especially light trucks, horses and boats. Fr. John Molnar, the mission’s superior for 15 years, travelled throughout the parish’s 30,000 square kilometres of unpaved roads. He earned a private pilot’s licence to ease the travel. While in Brazil, he published in Portuguese, a manual to help train catechists and pastoral animators to build base ecclesial communities.
