Jesus the Good Shepherd Parish of Structural City, located in Brazil’s Federal District, has been a source of grace for its suffering people since its inception, often lifting them out of situations of great vulnerability and elevating them to the category of children of God
To understand the depth of these words, we need to go back to the origins of this community in Brasilia.
The genesis of Structural City
Its formation was the result of the gathering of people living in extreme poverty in the mid-1960s in the area close to Brasilia’s landfill, which at the time was unregulated and colloquially known as “the dump”. They went in search of means of survival and established precarious housing there.
Even without infrastructure, the cluster of shacks adjacent to the site grew and began to take on a more urbanized appearance. At the end of the 1980s, the Federal District’s Complementary Sector of Industry and Supply (SCIA) was created, and in 2004 the agglomeration of hundreds of homes became its urban centre, adopting the name of the highway that cuts through the region to the south, the DF-095 or Structural Highway.
Today, the city has around 45,000 inhabitants, is largely paved and has an economic base rooted in commerce. The former “dump” is now called a controlled landfill – the second largest in Latin America – and only receives construction waste.
Made up of mostly young inhabitants, the city has been divided into sectors, and among them is the Santa Luzia Sector, which has the most precarious infrastructure and therefore requires more attention, as Pope Leo XIV reminded us a short while ago: “the poor are at the heart of all our pastoral activity.”1
A dream come true
The Church could not be indifferent towards a people in need, not only of material resources, but above all of spiritual support
The Holy Church, as a loving Mother, could not remain insensitive to such a large section of the population, in need not only of material resources, but above all of spiritual support. Cherishing the dream of doing something more for the sheep of his flock, Most Rev. Sérgio da Rocha – then Metropolitan Archbishop of Brasilia, now Cardinal Primate of Brazil – took the initiative to create a pastoral area under the aegis of Jesus the Good Shepherd, in the poorest part of the territory of the Parish of Our Lady of the Encounter with God, which already existed in the Structural City.
More than ten years later, on April 7, 2024, Cardinal Paulo Cezar Costa, the current Archbishop of Brasilia, as a solicitous shepherd, augmented this dream: amid the alleluias of Easter, the pastoral area was transformed into the new Jesus the Good Shepherd Parish, entrusted to the care of the Clerical Society of Apostolic Life Virgo Flos Carmeli, of the Heralds of the Gospel.
On Divine Mercy Sunday, at the end of the Easter Octave, in a solemn ceremony concelebrated by Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis and the Bishop of Tocantinópolis, Most Rev. Carlos Henrique Silva Oliveira, together with numerous priests, Cardinal Paulo Cezar installed the first parish priest, Fr. Lourenço Isidoro Ferronatto, EP, and presented the parochial vicar, Fr. Stywart Andrey Almeida Durães, EP.
Despite not yet having a parish church or a parish house, Jesus the Good Shepherd Parish was born with bold goals and challenges: to embrace the struggles and difficulties of its flock, with courage and enthusiasm.
Intense pastoral and social action
From the outset, intense pastoral action became its daily routine. After the parish priest took over the presidency of the Santa Clara Christian Association – a Catholic organization founded in the early days of the pastoral area with the aim of providing social outreach, and which operates on the premises of the Santa Luzia Chapel – he began to give special spiritual assistance to the nursery linked to it, which provides day care for around one hundred children, and faces the material challenge of covering the costs of its maintenance and activities every month.
This association, in partnership with the parish, also assists around four hundred and twenty families with donations of clothes, medication and food, and offers medical, dental, psychological, nutritional and legal care to the local community, as well as cultural and sports activities, with the support of volunteers. Skills-training courses for young people and adults are also provided.
In addition, every month the parish distributes a hundred basic food baskets – sometimes more, when a special donation is received, as in the case of the Save Me Queen of Fatima Campaign, which offered one hundred and fifty baskets – to families in impoverished situations, and the parish health outreach organizes a community breakfast on the third Sunday of every month, served after the eight o’clock Mass and dedicated to the sick.
One sociocultural initiative that has had a particularly positive impact on the community was the Music Project at Jesus the Good Shepherd, run by the female branch of the Heralds of the Gospel, with the aim of awakening a taste for music and culture in children and teenagers. Its first performance was at the well-attended Christmas cantata held on Gaudete Sunday, conducted by Fr. Anderson Fernandes, EP.
Another venture being set up in the parish is the Artisanal Bakery Project, an initiative of the Brazilian vice president’s wife, Maria Lúcia Alckmin. A first group took part in the bread-making course on the premises of the Church of Our Lady of Mercy and new groups were subsequently formed in the Jesus the Good Shepherd community. The course has already been administered twice in the parish, and the participants have been given the opportunity to enter the labour market, either in bakeries or confectioneries, or by setting up their own small businesses or even making their own bread at home.
Fruits marked by the supernatural
These simple souls, hungry for God and filled with gratitude for the benefits received and moved by grace, draw closer to the Church
Notwithstanding all this social work, the parish priest and his collaborators are well aware that “the gravest form of poverty is not to know God,”2 as the Pontiff also reminds us. And they see with joy that the fruits of their dedicated work are marked by supernatural effects: these simple souls, hungry for God, full of gratitude for the benefits received and moved by grace, draw closer to the Church and begin to participate enthusiastically in ecclesial life.
Trusting in God’s help to build its parish church, which continues to function somewhat precariously in a tent, the parish has provided countless opportunities for the faithful to participate in the Sacraments and the Sacred Liturgy. It has already been possible to celebrate the feast of the parish Patron, the Good Shepherd; to carry out more than a hundred Baptisms, countless First Communions and two Confirmation ceremonies, with a third planned for the end of this year; to administer the Anointing of the Sick to those needing it and to celebrate many funerals.
More than a dozen Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist received their investiture in a ceremony celebrated by Cardinal Paulo Cezar in November, and in December, as a gift to the Immaculate Conception of Mary, twenty-seven altar servers and four acolytes were instituted to serve at the altar. Processions were also held in honour of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 and Our Lady of Fatima on May 13.
In October 2024 and in March of this year, hundreds of devotees consecrated themselves to Our Lady, according to the method of St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, in Eucharistic celebrations attended by countless faithful from all over the Federal District and neighbouring states. The proper preparation was done through the online course given by Fr. Ricardo José Basso, EP, on the Reconquista Catholic Formation Platform of the Heralds of the Gospel, or in person in the community itself.
Born in the Easter Season, the parish was able to celebrate its first Lent and Holy Week this year. The voice of the Divine Redeemer seemed to echo: “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you” (Lk 22:15)! There was a recitation of the Way of the Cross through the streets, a Palm Sunday procession and a Passion Concert performed by the Heralds of the Gospel, as well as all the ceremonies proper to the Easter Triduum: Mass of the Lord’s Supper and washing of the feet, the Passion Celebration on Good Friday and the Easter Vigil, culminating in the jubilation of the Resurrection and joyful Easter celebrations with the children.
Goals proposed and achieved
In the short time it has been in existence, the parish has been able to achieve so many goals that the brief lines of an article are not enough to recount everything, let alone all the details that reveal the gentle hand of Our Lady guiding each of its steps.
In addition to what has been reported, we can add the visits made to the homes of parishioners, with the enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, blessing and consecration of the family, as well as the monthly Holy Mass celebrated in shops of “Automobile City” – an area of the Commerce and Services Sector of the Federal District within parish bounds – in the presence of the owner, employees and neighbours.
And just to mention a few of the other milestones achieved, in September was initiated the Rosary for Mothers, who pray for their children, and last January the Men’s Rosary, on Fridays. Also at the beginning of this year, the 8th Agape Encounter for Couples was held in the Santa Luzia Chapel, with the participation of twenty-five couples; in April, with the help of the shared coordinator of the Vicariate Centre, the Apostleship of Prayer was founded; and in May there was a pilgrimage to the basilicas and houses of the Heralds of the Gospel in the state of São Paulo, with the participation of sixty pilgrims.
Providence has blessed their efforts, and the new parish is becoming a reference point for Structural City
The parish priest and vicar know no rest, truly working in the apostolic style, for at times they have no “leisure even to eat” (Mk 6:31)! Such activity would be impossible without the support of several Heralds of the Gospel who constantly help them by giving catechesis and training courses, welcoming the faithful, enriching liturgical singing, accompanying home visits and assisting them in everything they need.
Providence has indeed blessed their efforts, and the new parish is every day becoming a reference point for Structural City, where its humble but faith-filled people know that they will always be favoured with the Divine Word and a breath of encouragement from Heaven that gives meaning to their daily battles and sufferings. There, the Holy Church allows them to participate in the honour of belonging to the divine family, of being called to the banquet of the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. ◊
Notes
1 LEO XIV. Message for the 9th World Day of the Poor, n.5.
2 Idem, n.3.
