A Holy Mass held on August 2, 2026, at the São João Batista Parish, in Jaru, marked the farewell of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit (SSpS) after 38 years of evangelization services in Jaru.
The celebration was presided over by the Bishop of the Diocese of Ji-Paraná, Dom Norbert Foerster, along with the parish priest Pedro Paulo Costa, the vicar from Jaru, Edivan Oliveira Sidou, and the visiting priests Divino Raimundo from the Parish of Our Lady Help of Christians in Rondolândia, Mato Grosso; Antônio Hammes, popularly known as Father Toninho, from the Parish of Our Lady of Fatima in Ji-Paraná; José Carlos da Cruz from the Minor Seminary of Our Lady Queen of the Apostles in Ji-Paraná; and Edson Castro from the Parish of Saint Lucy in the municipality of Santa Luzia.
The two most recent nuns serving at the São João Batista Parish in Jaru, Sister Nilva Moro and Sister Helena Accadrolli, were deeply moved by the tributes paid to them during the celebration.
According to Sister Maria de Fátima Kapp, Provincial Coordinator of the Missionary Congregation of the Servants of the Holy Spirit, from Ponta Grossa in Paraná, responding to the appeals from the Amazon region in Northern Brazil during the development of the CNBB’s Missionary Project: “Sister Churches,” it was decided, after reflection and research at a Provincial Assembly, to close educational activities in two schools, to free up Sisters for missions on the frontiers and to hear the cry of the poor.
At the time, the late Bishop Dom Antônio Possamai requested the Provincial Superior, Sister Agada Brand (of blessed memory), and her Council, to found a community in the Diocese of Ji-Paraná.
“To clarify our discernment as a Province and to allow a greater number of sisters to have contact with the Amazonian reality, we embraced the possibility of a vacation mission with the Junior Sisters and other sisters who were able and wished to participate. More than 30 Sisters participated in that vacation mission in the Diocese of Ji-Paraná, including formators. The purpose was also to define the location (Parish) where we would undertake one or more foundations. Based on this strong experience in the Amazon, it was decided to open two communities, with some geographical proximity: Jaru and Projeto Urupá, in the Diocese of Ji-Paraná in Rondônia. These were started in February 1988,” declared Sister Fátima, explaining that the Sisters arrived in Jaru on February 8, 1988, and immediately afterwards went to Urupá. “It wasn’t long before the idea of a third community arose, in the near future, which would be in the city of Vilhena. The founding of the Missionary Community in Vilhena was on February 18, 1990,” emphasized Sister Fátima, who also said that the priority of the missionaries’ service in the three communities in Rondônia was the formation of leaders, visits to communities in urban and rural areas, coordination and advice in socio-missionary-pastoral areas in accordance with the team of agents (priests and nuns) and following the guidelines of the diocese. There are some peculiar characteristics of each parish.
“Considering the vitality and conditions of these parishes to continue their missionary-pastoral journey, and in view of our missionary itinerancy, the numerical decrease of sisters, and few new vocations, we have discerned once again and decided to end our activities in the Diocese of Ji-Paraná,” Sister Fátima informed.
In Urupá, the sisters concluded their activities in December 2010, and in the city of Vilhena, in December 2012. Now it was Jaru’s turn to say goodbye. During these almost four decades, 38 sisters served in the municipality. “This step is taken after much prayer, discernment, and dialogue. We have seen that the seed sown in the fertile Amazonian soil has germinated, grown, and is bearing abundant fruit. We are grateful to the One and Triune God for His loving presence, to Bishops Dom Antônio Possamai, Dom Bruno Pedron, and Dom Norberto Foerster, to the parish priests, leaders, and all the people of God in these parishes, with our gratitude and recognition, and prayers,” concluded Sister Fátima.
After the celebration, several tributes were paid to sisters Nilva, Helena, and Fátima, and a grand lunch was served to all those present in the Catechetical Hall.
Source: Anoticiamais
