Puerto Natales is a Chilean port city located at the southern end of the country. It is the capital of the province of Última Esperanza, or Last Hope, where the marvelous Towers of the Paine rise. About 25 thousand people live in the area.
In addition to a school attended by more than 1,200 students, the Salesian presence in the city consists of an oratory, several social works and a parish to which many chapels are related. It is a purely missionary presence, it being the only parish of Puerto Natales – and it is, of course, Salesian.
It was created on 23 February 1918. It was later moved to its current location on December 29, 1918, and inaugurated on March 9, 1930. To build it, under the name of "Our Lady of Carmen", was the then bishop Msgr. Pedro Armengol Valenzuela; subsequently, his successor, mons. Abraham Aguilera Bravo, Salesian, gave it the official name that has accompanied its one hundred years of pastoral service: "Mary Help of Christians". Among its many tales, one is Fr Egidio Viganó who, as Rector Major, gave the parish the painting that dominates the temple, the work of the artist Mario Bogani, where the imposing Towers of Paine and the maternal presence of Mary Help of Christians appear.
To celebrate the parish's important anniversary, the faithful participated en masse at the Eucharist presided over by Msgr. Bernardo Bastres, bishop of Punta Arenas, and concelebrated by Fr Carlo Lira, Provincial of the Salesians of Chile; also present: Fr Carmelo Moler, Director of the Lyceum "Msgr. Fagnano" of Puerto Natales; and Fr Sergio Astorga, Director of the community, before various regional and local authorities.
"To celebrate one hundred years means to thank God for all the good done," said Msgr. Bastres during the Eucharistic celebration." Subsequently, Fr Lira blessed the baptismal font given to the parish church.
Taking advantage of the occasion and in the context of the anniversary, Fr Lira visited the school in Puerto Natales and offered the Salesian "Good morning" with a message to all the young students and officials present. "It is a historic moment of celebration for the 100 years of the presence of parish life in the city of Puerto Natales. It is a moment of celebration, of joy, of gratitude," said Fr Lira.
