Religion in Ciudad Guayana

Ciudad Guayana had about 800,000 Catholics but only 44 Catholic Priests. Of those 44 priests only about 20 are Venezuelan. The rest are missionary priests form the U.S., Germany, Spain, Poland, Italy and France. Many of the lay people what more attention from the priests then the priests are capable of giving because of the huge disparity. In recent years many of the lay who want more attention from their religious leaders, have converted to Evangelicalism. There are many more Evangelist leaders then Catholic Priests in Ciudad Guayana because it is much easier to become one. Evangelist leaders only need about 6 months of training, As apposed to years of training that Catholics require, and they don’t take vows of abstinence or poverty. It is hard to say exactly how many Evangelical churches are in ciudad Guayana because many are run out of homes and even in the street. My uncle predicts that in his parish, which has one Catholic church and four chapels, there are about 50 Evangelical churches. At most of these churches you must “donate” to attend services. They even have revivals out in the parks were they will exercise people in order to rid them of evil spirits. In order to recruit people they will go door to door in the barrios and preach. They have even come to my uncles house a few times when I was sitting on the porch but Lucy, My uncle’s fierce German Shepherd, had scared them off. From What I have heard from my uncle, most Evangelicals in his area preach a more negative message saying that if you do not join them then you will go to hell.