Brother Gustavo van Humbeeck Benegas, ss.cc., was ordained a deacon last week. The ceremony, presided over by Bishop Guillermo Steckling, omi, of the Diocese of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, took place on Tuesday the 23rd, at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in the city of Presidente Franco.

The Holy Mass was attended by the faithful, but was also followed on the parish's social media channels. Facebook. The broadcast was made by the local communications team and also simultaneously retransmitted by... Padre Eustáquio Channel (review here). The entire celebration was conducted in Spanish.

Gustavo Rafael Arnaldo Van Humbeeck Benegas was born on March 14, 1989, in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay. He is the son of Rafael Adolfo Van Humbeeck Busto and Nélida Benegas Viveros. He is the third of four children.

He began his Christian initiation at the Parish of Saint Catherine of Siena in the city of Fernando de la Mora. He became acquainted with the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts from a very young age through the brothers who carry out their apostolate there. He then joined the Congregation in 2012 and, in the same year, began his philosophical studies at the Jesuit Institute of Humanistic and Philosophical Studies in Asunción.

He entered the novitiate in 2015 in Cerrillos de Curacaví, Chile, carrying out his pastoral work in the Sacred Hearts Community in that location.

He professed his temporary vows on January 15, 2016, at the Santa Catarina de Sena Parish, the place where he grew up in his Christian life. He made his perpetual profession at the Nossa Senhora de Fátima Parish, in the city of Presidente Franco, on November 23, 2020, the community where he currently serves.

Between 2016 and 2019, he pursued his theological studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and carried out his pastoral work at the Parish of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, accompanying the youth and sick of the communities: Father Esteban Gumucio and Maria da Esperança. In addition, he underwent a formative experience at the Sanctuary of Health and Peace in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, in 2020.