Recife, February 19th, 2005

Prot. N. 52/2005

To the Member of the Congregation

Dear Brothers,

I’m extremely pleased to inform you that the Holy See has officially announced that the Holy Father has appointed as the bishop of the diocese of Comodoro Rivadavia (Argentine) our fellow-Dehonian Father Virginio Domingo Bressanelli, who is my predecessor as Superior general of the Congregation.

Father Virginio Domingo Bressanelli, born at Beravebù (Santa Fé, Argentine) on 1st May 1942, began his formation curriculum for the religious and priestly life at one of the apostolic schools of the Congregation in Argentine, from where he was then transferred in Italy, where he achieved his studies in the universitarian institutes of Trento, Monza and Rome.

During this period of studying in Italy he pronounced his first religious profession in Bolognano (Trento) on 29th September 1961 and later on he was ordained a priest in Rome, on 17th December 1966.

In 1967 he obtained the Licence in Theology at the Pontificial Gregorian University in Rome. Then he turned back in Argentine, where he continued studying psycho-pedagogics. Subsequently he set on to work in the pastoral care and in the formation field.

At the birth of the Argentina-Uruguay SCJ-Province in 1983, he was appointed as the 1st Superior Provincial, holding this office for two three year periods till 1989. His service was characterized by his enthousiasm and openness to the probems of the Province and of the whole Congregation as well. During these first years where the young Province was confronted first of all with the problem of being understaffed, he never shrinked back from helping the new presences of the Congregation sending out his own religious in missions that needed them more (the Philippines).

This style of his service was earning much approval also on the part of other religious bodies in Latin America who recognized in his personality great capacities for this type of service. For that very reason he was elected vice-president of Latin-America’s Major Superiors (CLAR) which post he occupied from 1988 to 1991.

In the run-up for the XIXth General Chapter of 1991, he was a member of the Preparatory Committee, and during the labour of the General Chapter itself he was elected to be the 8th Superior General of the Congregation, which post he held for two mandates (=12 years), from 1991 till 2003.

In the capacity of a General Superior he has been also member of the 18 Consultors to the Holy Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples, and moreover he has taken part in the Bishops’ Synod celebrated in 2001 which occupied itself with the theme of the role of the bishop in the world and in the Church.

When his General’s mandate had come to the end, he passed a sabbatical year in Spain, studying and updating his acquaintance with formation themes in order to prepare for the formator task that awaited him when once he had come back in his Province.

Today the Holy Father entrusts him with the episcopal ministry over the diocese of Comodoro Rivadavia, a diocese situated in the South of Argentine, in the Patagon solitude on the Atlantic coast.

According to the Annuarium Pontificium of 2004 this diocese the foundation of which dates February 11th 1957, has un extension of 234.000 km². It has about 413.000 inhabitants, 345.900 of which are Roman Catholics and the sum total of diocesan priests is 26, of seminarists 9, and 22 members of male institutes; all this for 33 parishes and 90 churches and mission stations.

A not light task is awaiting Father Virginio’s but thanks to his human, spiritual riches and skillful leadership, he will no doubt succeed in serving this church in the spirit and truth of a son of Father Dehon. This is a service he takes upon himself with much Dehonian disponibility and a great love to the Church.

Having got to know and appreciate Father Virginio in his service as Superior General of the Congregation, we partake the joy of the whole church of Comodoro Rivadavia for his appointment as their leader, and we remain grateful for his service to the Congregation as our Superior General and for the testimony of his life, simple and disponible, we have witnessed of.

On behalf of the Congregation we assure him of our brotherly support, consisting in friendschip, prayer and help, so that he may be the shepherd the local Church of Comnodoro Rivadavia needs: a shepherd after the Heart of Jesus.

This year of the Beatification of our Founder, we give thanks to the Lord for bestowing the episcopal consecration on our brother, and to the Holy Father for demonstrating his confiding in the person of Father Virginio and in the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

We are brotherly associated with the Argentine Province, where Father Virginio was born for the religious life in the Congregation, celebrating togetherly the spirit of disponibility in the service of the Church, because we believe that God will not cease from blessing the generosity the Province furnished a clear proof of by accepting this service to the Church, specially in the context of the recent manpower problems the Province is facing up to.

We congratulate the relatives of Father Virginio also on behalf of the whole Congregation. We associate ourselves with them praying the Lord that he may bestow upon the new bishop abundant blessings for his service as the bishop of the Comodor Rivadavia diocese.

With kindes regards, in the Heart of Jesus,

Father José Ornelas Carvalho SCJ

Superior general