2024-04-25 13:30:20
Let’s see. From the Giudicarie to the Andes, from the profession of librarian to the missionary choice. It’s the story of Stefano Marchetti, 51enne di Bolbenowhich will take place on Saturday 27 April at 3pm he will be ordained deacon in Tione by the archbishop of Trento Lauro Tisi. Marchetti got to know Bolivia thanks to the collaboration with the “Operazione Mato Grosso” association, which is active in South America.
Over the years his volunteer work has gradually intensified, finally becoming a lifestyle choice that led him to leave his job as a librarian in 2020 to dedicate himself full time to helping the Bolivian population of the village of Peñas, at four thousand meters above sea levelnear Lake Titicaca and the slopes of Chacacomani.
It is here that Marchetti met Father Antonio Zavatarelli, a missionary originally from Menaggio, in the Como area, awarded the Silver Plaque of the International Alpine Solidarity Award in Pinzolo in the summer of 2019. Marchetti and Father Zavatarelli also work together to train young people as mountain guides capable of accompanying tourists on the mountains of the Cordillera Real.
After choosing the mission, Marchetti matured the decision to become a priest. An adult vocation that led him to attend the seminary in La Paz and study theology, without however interrupting his commitment to Peñas. The bishop of El Alto, Monsignor Giovani Edgar Aranain agreement with the Archbishop of Trento Monsignor Lauro Tisi, proposed that the missionary from Giudicaria be ordained in his diocese of origin and then ordain him himself as a diocesan priest in the cathedral of La Paz in the coming months.
“I clearly saw the risk that working with children and with and for the poor could become a job, perhaps richer than many others but which did not change my life that much”, wrote the Trentino missionary in a long letter dedicated to friends and family, in which he explains the reasons for his choice to embrace “the prospect of completely giving life away, with all my defects, mistakes, limits and fear, in the service of something much bigger than me”.
Throughout the journey, Marchetti was always supported by his community, which organized a fundraiser that allowed the construction of the new church in Peñas, inaugurated in June 2021, to be completed.
2024-04-25 13:30:20