The College Missionaries of Santo Domingo - Dominican Republic
The main thoroughfare: Rue de Saint-Domingue.
To remedy the lack of priests and increasing religious ignorance, the diocese of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) is forming college students to be missionaries in their daily lives.
According to statistics from the Pew Research Center, the Dominican Republic is one the Caribbean countries where Catholics have the strongest missionary spirit. Indeed, 20% of weekly churchgoers, which is 41% of the total population – the highest percentage in Latin America after El Salvador – report they have at least one apostolic activity every week.
But the number of priests is not in proportion with popular practice, since in the archdiocese of Santo Domingo, with its population of 3.9 million, there is only one priest for every 7,200 Catholics.
“The Dominican population needs the help, attentiveness, and pastoral comfort of priests”, recalls the Work of Hispanic-American Priestly Cooperation.
The lack of priests, however, has led Archbishop Francisco Acosta, archbishop of Santo Domingo, to try another idea. He has decided to launch a group of “college student missionaries”: for the prelate, each student should receive an adequate formation in order to evangelize in his own circles.
While it is true that the people lack formation, the priestly ministry will never be accomplished without zealous priests.
Sources: Fides / Pew Research Center / FSSPX.News
