The ceremony of award of works to the construction of Pastoral Centre of Pêra took place last Saturday in the main church of that Parish. The works started today and is expected to be ready in 15 months. The structure, to be built in the space occupied by the old house donated to the parish which is to be demolished, is expected to respond to initiatives of a religious, social and cultural nature.

Presented as a future “space of leisure, affection and cooperation”, the Pastoral Centre of Pêra will be constituted by the parochial residence, the parochial registry, the room of the parish priest, eight rooms for catechism classes, the catechists’ room, a room with a stage for shows, recreational activities and social meals, a multi-purpose room, mini-auditorium for presentations and meetings and a cafeteria with a support kitchen. In the social context, it is foreseen that the infrastructure will include support activities directed to children and young people but these activities have not yet been defined, according to the words of the parish priest during the ceremony of the signature of the contract with the construction company. “This house will also have a social component, a support service or a soup kitchen. We will analyse that afterwards because it is yet not clearly defined”, said Father Manuel Coelho.

The bishop of Algarve, who presided over the ceremony, considered it to be a “work of everyone and for everyone”, and left a word of encouragement: “This work fully integrates what the mission of the Church and of this parish is”, stated D. Manuel Quintas, mentioning the need to “create spaces of meeting, gathering and sharing to cope with the solitude of so many” and to “accomplish what is the specific mission of the gospel and Christ”. The prelate drew the attention to the responsibility associated with the administration of property, also in a sign of “faithfulness to those who left it”. “We cannot and we must not consider ourselves to be the owners of the property we administer. We are just administrators”, he warned.

The Mayor of Silves, Rogério Pinto, referred to that work as a “magnificent project of excellence for the parish and for the municipality” that combines the social component and the spiritual component, and the chairman of the Parish Council, Mr José João Marques, considered that the construction of that building “fills the gap that exists in the parish”. The construction work, whose global value is budgeted at 1,6 million Euros, will be totally financed by the parish of Pêra. The financial income after the sale of the plot of land allowed the parish to move towards the construction of this building. At the end of the ceremony, a visit was made to the place where the future Pastoral Centre of Pêra will be erected.”