Within the framework of the service of animation and accompaniment proper to the General Government, and in the name of the Father General, Carles Gil i Saguer, Fr Julio Alberto Álvarez, General Assistant for America, carried out the General Canonical Visitation to the Piarist presence in Bolivia from 18 to 24 January 2026, visiting the communities and works of Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Anzaldo and Cocapata. The visitation took place in a fraternal atmosphere of attentive listening and shared discernment, with the aim of strengthening community life, sustaining the evangelising-educational dynamism and projecting, with renewed hope, the mission of the Pious Schools in favour of children and young people, especially the most vulnerable.
Santa Cruz: community, initial formation and educational-pastoral mission
The Canonical Visitation began in the Piarist community of Santa Cruz, where the religious Alex De Sousa and Enivaldo De Oliveira reside, and where the Novitiate Formation House is located, currently with three novices: Oqueciano, Fabio and Juliano. At this first stage, meetings of work and dialogue were held with the religious community and with the formandi, highlighting the centrality of fraternal life, fidelity to the charism and the necessary articulation between formation, mission and personal accompaniment. Meetings were also held with the brothers already on their formative journey, Jaiban and Bryan.
The works of the presence were also visited: the school and the parish of Saint John Bosco, and a meeting was held with the directors of the four educational units.
Cochabamba: memory, shared mission and vocational horizon
The Visitation then moved to the Piarist presence in Cochabamba, where the community, the school, the Calasanz Centre, the residences and the parish are located. Serving there are Fr Primitivo Arnáez, Fr Alberto Prieto, a Lay Piarist of the Fraternity of Betania, Itziar, and a young postulant, Gustavo, who is beginning his vocational process.
The community and pastoral encounters made it possible to recognise, with gratitude, the solidity of the educational work as a concrete expression of the Piarist option for those most in need of opportunities. The presence of the postulant Gustavo, together with the novices in Santa Cruz, was welcomed as a hopeful sign that calls for renewed care in accompaniment and in the quality of formation processes.
Anzaldo: the first Piarist presence in Bolivia – fidelity and continuity
The third stage led to Anzaldo, the first Piarist presence in Bolivia, currently accompanied by Frs Justino Soria Vela and Carlos Aguerrea Fuentes. There the boarding house, the school and the parish were visited, valuing the perseverance of the mission in a context that requires pastoral closeness, educational constancy and the capacity to sustain integral educational processes.
Cocapata: intercultural fraternity and integral sustainability of the presence
Finally, the Canonical Visitation concluded in Cocapata, where the Polish Piarist Fathers Fr Stanisław Chowaniec and Fr Kazimierz Chowaniec serve, together with the new member of the community, Fr Wilson Siles Lima (Bolivian). The community, the boarding house, the Calasanz Centre, the school and the parish were visited, and the coffee, wheat and other crops were also seen, which are cared for by the Fathers and boarders themselves as part of a dynamic of shared responsibility and educational work.
This aspect, lived in a pedagogical and community key, was explicitly linked to the call to care for the integral sustainability of Piarist presences: a sustainability not limited to the economic dimension, but integrating community life, mission, vocations, structures, formation, leadership and a responsible relationship with the environment. Although the challenge is great, the Fathers of the community offer a living testimony in favour of the children and young people of Cocapata.
Inspirational keys and priorities discerned
In the various community meetings, the General Assistant fostered dialogue aimed at linking the keys of inspiration with the concrete reality of each community and work, highlighting challenges to be assumed as priorities in planning and in ordinary life:
- The Calasanz Movement, as an evangelising itinerary and proposal of belonging;
- Vocational Culture, as a transversal horizon of every presence;
- Vocational Ministry to religious life, with explicit strategies, prepared accompanists and well-cared-for processes;ç
- The Fraternity of the Pious Schools, as an expression of shared mission and charismatic co-responsibility, also through Itaka-Escolapios;
- The project of presence, as an instrument of vision, coordination and evaluation;
- An Order mentality, which strengthens communion, unity of criteria and a sense of belonging;
- And integral sustainability, as a guarantee of continuity and apostolic fruitfulness.
Fr Julio Alberto Álvarez expressed his heartfelt gratitude for the welcome received in each of the presences, for the openness to frank dialogue and for the daily dedication of the religious, lay people and collaborators who sustain the mission. In a particular way, the General Congregation extends special thanks to the Provincial of the Province of Brazil–Bolivia, Fr Javier Aguirregabiria, for his closeness, accompaniment and constant encouragement of Piarist life and mission in the demarcation. We also appreciate the warm welcome Fr. Julio Alberto received during this visit, which coincided with the Provincial Father’s birthday celebrations. Congratulations on the life God has entrusted to you and the mission you carry out on behalf of the poorest.
The Visitation made it possible to recognise, with sincere joy, the blessing of Piarist vocations currently distributed along the stages of the Initial Formation itinerary. Alongside gratitude, the visit also highlighted the opportunity to consolidate personal and community accompaniment for each one, and to strengthen the work of formators, so that vocational processes may grow in human depth, spiritual maturity, Piarist identity and missionary availability.
With the conclusion of the General Canonical Visitation, we share the joy that the Piarist presence in Bolivia, in the diversity of its contexts and works, possesses a significant human and charismatic richness. The journey continues with hope, under the impulse of the Spirit and the intercession of Saint Joseph Calasanz, so that our communities and works may continue to be home, school and evangelical presence alongside children and young people, especially the poorest.
