Paranagua, Brazil, Apr 22, 2008 / 15:42 pm
A priest in Brazil has come up with a novel way to raise money for a roadside chapel meant to provide spiritual assistance to truckers—trying to break a flight time record using 1,000 helium party balloons. According to news reports, the enterprising Fr. Adelir de Carli has gone missing off the southern coast of Brazil.
The 41 year-old priest, who is an experienced skydiver, was equipped with a parachute, a thermal suit, a satellite phone, and a GPS device. He lifted off from the port city of Paranagua on Sunday. The priest’s craft also had a buoyant chair.
Aspiring to break a 19-hour record for the most hours flying with balloons, Father Carli hoped to raise money to fund a spiritual rest stop for truck drivers in Paranagua, a major agricultural port.
In a phone interview with a Brazilian TV channel on Sunday, Father Carli said he was having difficulty operating the GPS and was “very cold, but fine.”