Catskill native at helm in Brazil

Bishop Capistrano Francisco Heim traveled 2,500 miles from deep in the rain forests of Brazil to the Albany Diocese this summer to spend seven weeks speaking to Catholics in various parishes about his missionary work -- and to visit relatives.

Bishop Heim is a native of Catskill who is known as Dom (the Portuguese word for bishop) Capistrano in the Prelacy of Itaituba. The prelacy (which is like a diocese) includes about 200,000 Catholics.

Itaituba (pronounced "ee-tie-tuba") covers an area that he describes as "half the size of Italy."

Brazilian Church

Bishop Heim has been a Franciscan missionary in Brazil for 40 years. As bishop of Itaituba for the past 16 years, he oversees 18 priests, all but one of them missionaries from other countries.

"Last December, I ordained the first priest from our prelacy," he said. "It was a special day for us."

The people in his prelacy are "mostly immigrants who came years ago looking for gold," he told The Evangelist. "Eighty percent of them say they are Catholic, but we call them 'nominal or census Catholics' because they identify themselves as Roman Catholic for the census rolls but aren't really active in their religion."

He guesses that active Catholics represent about ten percent of the population. They make up five parishes and one Indian mission.

Special needs

Since the Catholics are spread out over such a large area, Bishop Heim said that it is "impossible to reach everyone. There is electricity only in the main town." Additionally, many roads are only dirt tracks that get washed out in the heavy rainfalls that often last six months.

"This limits travel severely and makes access to outlying communities very difficult or impossible," he said. "Our priests visit the parishes as often as they are able, but they can't celebrate Mass on a regular basis if they can't access the sites."

To make up for that absence, Bishop Heim explained, "our catechist program has been designed with a strong emphasis on lay involvement in certain ministries, and [preparation for] First Holy Communion, Baptism, Marriage and Confirmation. It is catechesis at the grass-roots level and very effective."

Themes

Each year, the bishops of Brazil choose a theme to be used during liturgical seasons, and materials are developed and supplied to dioceses.

"For example, this year for Lent, the theme dealt with the problems and ecology of the use of water," he noted. "In every parish, special songs were chosen to coincide with that theme."

The bishops also have initiated a program that incorporates meals, immunizations and other healthcare benefits for expectant mothers and dependent children.

"Our prelacy has between 6,000 and 7,000 people enrolled in this program who are cared for by over 200 volunteers from the area," Bishop Heim noted. "The program has reduced the infant mortality rate nationwide by about 50 percent."

(To contribute to the Prelacy of Itaituba, Brazil, contact Bishop Heim's sister, Annette Heim, at 678-0181.)

(7/22/04)