Cúcuta, Colombia

SOUTH AMERICA

A LIFE LIVED FOR CHRIST, A LIFE WELL SPENT
Fr. Pedro Correa
Author: Colin Howell,  5 April 2020

For many years in America we heard of nothing good coming from Colombia. It was always about guerillas or cartel wars so violent it earned them the title “most dangerous country in the world,” a title they held for some time.

But while the stigma still stubbornly persists, the truth is an ocean apart, or rather, a Gulf apart. A flight over the Gulf of Mexico unveils a country that scarcely resembles itself from just 15 years ago. Cucúta, Colombia, while on the border with neighboring—and intensely struggling—Venezuela, still managed to drop from 48th to 50th most dangerous city in the world, positioned now even much better than US cities like New Orleans, Detroit and Baltimore. And in another year or so it may drop off the list entirely.

Now the once-labeled most dangerous city in the world, Bogota, the country’s capital, has become a tourist hotbed and is famous for myriad reasons, not the least of which is the kind openness of the locals, with their welcoming warm smiles and inviting culture.

If one follows the news and attempts to understand how a country could turn around so quickly, one would certainly come across all manner of literature about policies and governmental intervention. And while this certainly is part of the reason, there is a far more powerful reason that almost always goes unspoken, and is more than likely the reason behind those welcoming warm smiles.

It is because of the lives and sacrifice of priests like Fr. Pedro Correa and his parish priest before him.

Fr. Pedro grew up in the center of city life in Cúcuta and recounts the days of rampant violence, common prostitution, street fighting and ubiquitous drug trafficking. Hearing his stories seem otherworldly, something out of a film: like hooded, armed men ordering them to leave a baseball field and head home. We too would probably have run for our lives as faceless, nameless men started shooting machine guns in the air behind us. One might even wonder how a boy that grows up in such an environment could possibly end up a priest. A drug dealer sure, but a priest?

Pedro knows well that his life and the life of his siblings is a mere gift of grace from God and could easily have been a life of crime, drugs and violence. But God clearly and decisively works through families devoted to Him, as well as priests who give their lives in service to their spiritual families, as a true Alter Christi.

And little Pedro had both of these graces in abundance: a devout family and the witness of a fearless priest who defied the cartels so effectively for the sake of the local children that he had to be removed from the city and kept secret to survive assassination contracts placed on his life. Pedro, in his years as an acolyte, saw firsthand the power of what God can do in the life of a man who gives himself completely back to God in service, a power that burned an indelible mark on his soul.

Young Pedro was called by God for something else and entered the seminary at just 17 years of age. Now just 30 years old and a priest of just 2 years he takes up the yoke day to day to continue what God called his parish priest also to do when he was a young boy: to save the souls of the people of Cúcuta, and perhaps even the soul of the city itself. Even finding a boy murdered on the steps of his church doesn’t seem to slow down a priest like Fr. Pedro.

But just like an acorn that needs water, sunlight and time to grow into the majestic, formidable oak tree, so too does a young priest need a solid foundation of formation to become the formidable presence of Christ locally, something Fr. Pedro’s bishop understands all too well. And for this reason, he has sent Pedro for a few short years to Rome for advanced studies at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, for the water, sunlight and time this young future diocesan leader will need to effectively live out his apostolate.

What more appropriate time could there possibly be than this moment to consider Christ’s ultimate gift of self on the Cross, and ultimate act of power through the Resurrection. And as we consider, perhaps you would like to join us in supporting priests and seminarians like Fr. Pedro, receiving the formation they need to go back and effectively live for Christ in their parishes, dioceses, cities, countries and continents. And who knows, maybe in a single generation, we will see a city, a country completely transformed and resurrected by the power of Christ and his gospel, through the sweat, blood and tears of priests like Fr. Pedro.

Mostly we need your concrete prayers, for our apostolate and for the apostolates of the entire priesthood for Christ. But we also cannot continue without your financial contribution to ensure that the future leaders of the Church receive the formation they need to become the leaders that God has called them to be. Grace may come from God, but we invite you to join us in the small role God has placed under our care: the formation of the future leaders of the Church by clicking on the donate or volunteer button at the top of the webpage.