Let’s catch up with recent news from our Foundation of Colombia:
Settling in at Casa San Justo
In early December 2025, Provincial Superior Fr. Mark Francis, CSV, visited Casa San Justo (Saint Just House) and blessed the home, where Pre-Novitiate Director Fr. Dan Lydon, CSV, House Coordinator and Coordinator of Vocation Ministry Fr. Juan Carlos Ubaque, CSV, and young men in formation are living. Later in December, the Archdiocese of Bogotá granted official recognition to the home as a formal house of formation.
Coming up in March, Auxiliary Bishop of Bogotá Edwin Vanegas, who also serves as Vicar for Religious, will come to Casa San Justo to join a meeting of local vocation directors for religious communities that live and serve in Bogotá, including Fr. Juan Carlos.
After sending Br. Julián Camilo Torres to Chile to begin his novitiate last month, Fr. Dan and Fr. Juan Carlos continue with second-year pre-novice Andrés Julián Rozo Fontecha and first-year pre-novice Ángel Felipe Vásquez. Their local ministry includes altar serving and catechesis at St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom Parishes.
Ash Wednesday in Our Schools
At Colegio San Viator (Saint Viator School) in Bogotá, Chaplain Fr. Edgar Suárez, CSV, celebrated Ash Wednesday services with Rector Fr. Alejandro Adame, CSV, and Deacon Br. John Alexander Avellaneda, CSV, with Br. P. Enrique Medina, CSV, serving. The school celebrated Mass for older students and then followed with a special adapted service for younger students.
“We began this important season of the Church, connected to la Campaña de Comunicación Cristiana de Bienes (Christian Sharing of Goods Campaign), dedicated especially to supporting our brothers and sisters affected by the floods in the department of Córdoba in northern Colombia,” Fr. Edgar said of the collections of non-perishable food and hygiene supplies. “This is a concrete sign of compassion and fraternity with those who are suffering.”
At Colegio San Viator in Tunja, Fr. Edwin Ruiz, CSV, teamed up with students to offer an introduction to Lent through an explanation video.
The students talk about the humility and solemnity of our ashes, the spiritual focus of Lent, and its path toward Holy Week and Easter – a great Viatorian resource built on the witness of our young people to help others enter into their spiritual journeys.
Another New Song to Sing
Last year, a group of musicians, including Fr. Juan Carlos, published Anciano Obispo, Jóven Testigo, a new song contemplating the legacy of St. Just. The group is at it again with El Niño Luis Querbes, a song Fr. Juan Carlos wrote a few years ago about the vocation of Fr. Querbes that they now have recorded and published to YouTube and Spotify.
This song follows Fr. Querbes from his childhood faith to his young adult vocation and then to his priesthood as an adult – all the while devoted to Mary, Our Lady of Grace. Here’s the refrain:
Con María, Nuestra Señora de la Gracia / with Mary, Our Lady of Grace
con Jesús, el fruto del amor / with Jesus, the fruit of love
En Lyon el niño Luis Querbes / in Lyon, the child Louis Querbes
su vida consagró / your life consecrated
For the song and recording, lyricist Fr. Juan Carlos worked with composer Ximena Silva, guitarist José David Mendoza, and engineer Carlos Ballesteros.