Spain. On December 21, the new Curia of the Province of Betica was blessed and inaugurated. The act was presided over by the Bishop of Humahuaca, Pedro Olmedo, CMF, and among those present were the Provincials of Santiago, Catalonia and representatives of Portugal, as well as other Claretians of the Province and members of the Claretian Family. After the words of salutation and welcome of the Fr. Provincial, the guests could watch a projection in which the different quarters that the Curia of Betica has occupied in these 102 years of history (Zafra, Jerez de los Caballeros, Madrid and Seville –several quarters), up to the present site in nº 16 of the San Antonio Mª Claret street in the city of Seville.
Fr. Jesús María Palacios explained the sense of a Curia in a religious Province. Next, Fr. Rafael Martínez, Provincial Econome, presented the work that had been done and some of its significant details, giving thanks for the valuable work of the many people who have contributed to its realization. The act ended with the solemn blessing, given by Bishop Pedro Olmedo.
May the blessing of God descend upon it; may it continue being a place of administration, from which the provincial services of Secretariate, Arquives and Administration; but above all, may it be a space, where the cordimarian spirit may have life, where the relationship with the brothers may have priority over what is official and where the life of the Province is promoted in all its instances: the government, the missionary spirit of the Word of GOD, the formation, the youth and vocational ministry, the relationship with the civil and ecclesiastical institutions.”