Columban Mission - July 2009

The Magazine of the Missionary Society of St. Columban

June/July 2009

On the Mission Trail in Peru

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Volume 92 - Number 4 - June/July 2009

o n t e n t s

This Issue’s Theme: The people, the projects, the faith and the future of our work in Peru.

Columban Mission Published By The Columban Fathers Columban Mission (Issn 0095-4438) is published eight times a year. A minimum donation of $10 a year is required to receive a subscription.

Send address and other contact information changes by calling our toll-free number, by sending the information to our mailing address or by e-mailing us at missionoffice@columban.org.

On the Mission Trail with a Horse Named “Horse”

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Seminarians and priests travel to the rain-swept edges of the Peruvian Amazon.

Mailing Address: Columban Mission PO Box 10 St. Columbans, NE 68056-0010 Toll-Free Phone: 877/299-1920 Website: WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG Copyright 2009, The Columban Fathers (Legal Title) Publisher Fr. Arturo Aguilar, SSC directorusa@columban.org

A Good News Story The keys to a real house

4 Escaping the Sheep Pen 14

6 Gates for Statues

Indigenous Peruvians secure their status in society.

Trading respect for insecurity

8 Natural Resources

Chapels built for and by the migrant community in Lima

10 Religious Symbols in the Andes

The search for a harmonious combination between ancient symbols and the Church

17 Vengo Ya!

Learning to live in the moment

18 Partners in Mission

Bringing more people to mission 21 Landmines

Navigating life’s obstacles

22 News & Notes

Driving into the future

Departments 3 In So Many Words 23 From The Director

A good place to be missionary

Editor Sr. Jeanne Janssen, CSJ jjanssen@columban.org

Managing Editor Kate Kenny kkenny@columban.org

Editorial Assistant Connie Wacha cwacha@columban.org

Editorial Board Fr. Arturo Aguilar, SSC Jesus Manuel Vargas Gamboa Sr. Jeanne Janssen, CSJ Kate Kenny Jeff Norton Fr. Richard Steinhilber, SSC Connie Wacha

The Missionary Society of St. Columban was founded in 1918 to proclaim and witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ.

The Society seeks to establish the Catholic Church where the Gospel has not been preached, help local churches evangelize their laity, promote dialogue with other faiths, and foster among all baptized people an awareness of their missionary responsibility.

Cover and Graphic Design by Kristin Ashley

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Mission in Today’s Peru

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eru catapulted into the news during Holy Week 2009 for sentencing former president Alberto Fujimori to twenty-five years in prison for crimes against humanity and other serious abuses of power. The sentencing is one indication of the many rapid and profound changes around the globe now being hailed as a new epoch. Peru has been pulled into this new epoch marked by global economic collapse and recession, waves of migrants and refugees and concern for climate change. Peru also feels the great upsurge in demands for full human dignity, social justice and participation in public life. For instance, there are popular protests against international mining companies that are polluting the rivers, land and air.

Global links have been forged through economic treaties, summit meetings with other nations, and the internet.

Columban missionary work with the Peruvian people is greatly influenced by the context of the challenges and opportunities of this new epoch. We accept that God has a preferential option for the poor; hence many of our efforts are in the predominantly poor areas of Lima and Sicuani. Ideally, each parish is a community of communities.

This involves a larger parish forming many smaller basic Christian communities within its parish boundaries, each with its own modest chapel and Sunday celebration, with an In So Many Words ordained priest or a well prepared pastoral worker.

Fr. Chris Baker The Columban team in Peru includes priests, seminarians, Sisters, associate priests, lay missionaries from other countries and approximately 50 local Columban missionary collaborators, who go out from their own parishes to help form small communites in areas which are short of pastoral helpers. Recently two groups of Peruvian lay missionaries were prepared and sent to the Philippines and Fiji.

The dozen parishes under Columban care have over one hundred different projects to help educate and empower the local people to make their full contribution to the Church and the nation. Some projects are directed towards forming leaders and confident missionary disciples. Other projects reach out to persons with serious learning difficulties or physical disabilities, as well as to the unemployed, the infirm and the incarcerated. We are confident that the spirit of the Risen Lord is guiding all nations to become a truly global family marked by love, justice and peace.

We are confident that the spirit of the Risen Lord is guiding all nations to become a truly global family marked by love, justice and peace.

Fr. Chris Baker was ordained in 1950 and was appointed to Peru in 1977. He continues to work in Lima, Peru. www.columban.org

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June/July 2009

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A Good News Story

The local police built Magda’s house on their own time.

The Keys to a Real House

by Fr. Joseph ruys

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ecently I was asked to bless a new house. The practice is not unusual in Lima, but let me tell you why this blessing was special.

Magda Victoria Papuico Samudio is the mother of four children and the grandmother of one. She has been living with her family on a little hill in our parish known as “Cerro Candela,” or candle hill, for the past eleven years. Before moving to the hill she lived as guardian in a food preparation center used to distribute breakfast and dinner to the poor.

Many sections of the community have these government supported centers. Her particular center was closed when the road was widened to become a major through-road in our parish. She then had to look for somewhere else to live with her husband and children.

Magda moved out to Cerro Candela to “claim” a small plot of land and constructed what was to be their home. The home was made of planks of packing pallets, cardboard and plastic sheeting with reed matting as a roof. At the time, Magda was two months pregnant with her fourth child. After three months her husband left her and has not been seen since.

Alone, Magda has managed to look after her children by washing clothes three days a week. She earns about 250 soles (US$80.00) per month. With this money Magda www.columban.org

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Left: Magda with her children and grandchild in front of their new home. Fr. Ruys is in the background.

Below: People carve sites out of the hillside to build their homes.

has to feed her family, pay medical bills, buy clothes and educate her children. Luckily she receives a little help from the Australian Sisters of Mercy through their Women’s Support Center when life becomes impossible for her.

Since she lives high on the hill the water truck cannot reach her home. Magda and her children carry water up about 100 meters by bucket so that they can drink, wash and cook. Life under these circumstances would be difficult for any family. However, there is more to tell. Magda’s second child, Catarina, age 15, is developmentally disabled and needs special education and care.

A year ago her oldest daughter Evelyn, age 17, gave birth to a son, Luis. Evelyn died three days later leaving Magda to raise her new grandson. Her other two children www.columban.org

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are Betsabel, age 12, and Juan, age 10. The three children attend school every day, and Magda does not ask them to work to augment the family’s income. Sending young children to work selling candy or polishing shoes is illegal but common practice here in Peru.

Last year officers of the National Police of Peru arrived at Magda’s home. They spoke briefly with her, took some photos of her home and told her they might be back with some good news. Indeed they returned and offered to build her a new house on the same site!

In their own time, with their own hands, the police leveled a larger part of land and built a simple four room house along with a little shop from which Magda can sell a few basic household items.

While the house was being built the police rented a room in a hotel

for Magda and her family. When the police invited me to bless the new house they explained that they have begun this new program to assist a needy family each year in each of their poorer jurisdictions.

For me, it was a great experience to see the good work of the police working within the community Magda and her family have received the keys to their new home, a real house with a solid foundation. They still have many difficulties to face each day but at least they have a home to protect them from the elements.

I had the honor of being able to invite God’s blessing on their new home.

A good news story of hope, don’t you agree? CM Fr. Joseph Ruys is an associate priest working with the Columbans in Peru.

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Gates for Statues

Trading Respect for Insecurity

By Fr. Maurice Foley

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ll of us experience moments when we cannot do any more than we have been doing because the inspiration that motivates us dries up. For priests experiencing a spiritual dry spell, the diocese arranges retreats and asks us to drop everything and come together for a few days of prayer and contemplation.

Generally speaking, the miracle of regeneration works. On returning to the parish, everything looks different. Liturgy gets a new

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Clockwise from left: A shrine; Gated community in Peru; El Progreso marketplace shrine to St. Martin De Porres and Our Lady.

stimulus, sermons change for the better and the old problems are solved.

A retreat is supposed to keep you going for a year, but it sometimes does not. Eventually, you will fall victim to tedium, stress or general anxiety. In my parish recently we had a series of events starting with First Holy Communion, then Confirmation, Christmas and finally a three week study course crammed into a very short time frame all of which left me drained. The annual retreat was still a month away, and I wished it were sooner.

As I wandered around a local market and purchased a few trivial items, I replied automatically to greetings and good wishes.

However there was something more to the greetings that day.

Presence makes for approval, and approval fortifies relationship. I don’t know all, certainly not by name, who greeted me, but they knew me. They know what I do and what I stand for and somehow or other this is the source of a spiritual creation. When the Church needs help, they respond. When they need help, the Church will help them; if not from the priest www.columban.org

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directly, then most certainly by the intercession of their patron saint.

Certainly those who spoke to me at the market that day unwittingly helped me reconnect with my community and my work within it through their acknowledgements and greetings.

Where I live in Peru we are several years into the benefits of having supermarkets, but there are no greetings, no personal approval, no bonding of relationships there.

You pay for what you get and go away satisfied. The marketplace is different. It has to be blessed every year. It has to have a patron saint.

Depending on the spiritual fervor of the person elected to promote the devotion for that year, there could also be a novena. What is the precise intention of the person who promotes these devotions in the marketplace no one knows, but it would not be too much to guess that a rise in sales or profits would have something to do with it. To be spiritually backed up by a patron saint is part of the culture. Nobody questions it, and everybody understands.

Hand in hand with this religious manifestation goes another manifestation: an increasing number of streets have done away with free access and have put gates on either ends of the street. This leads to a lot of inconvenience especially to the unwary. People have been driven to this extreme action by the continual robbing and stealing that goes on. While patron saints might protect the marketplace, they will not protect the streets from home invaders, burglars, thieves and urban terrorists. Sadly, people now are anticipating the arrival of these vandals, and gates are put up on streets “just in case� as a method of crime prevention.

Scant recognition is paid to the needs of taxi drivers, refuse www.columban.org

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collectors, goods delivery services and of course to the priest visiting the sick. Police are so caught up in going after drug traffickers, corruption scandals and myriads of other crimes that the needs of the citizens are put aside. The people have to defend themselves. The result is a very insecure society.

People who work hard all day merit a welcome homecoming at night, but what they find are barriers and gates which over time give the feeling of incarceration.

Immense efforts are being made to turn the Peruvian economy around and establish a free, democratic and affluent society. One way or another, they are working towards the goal.

In the headlong race to increase productivity, cut costs and extend the radius of employment in search of a better life for all, certain values are being lost. Something has

gone wrong, very wrong, when the patron saint is ignored or despised.

It will do no good to exchange gates for statues. It will do no good to trade the respect due the patron saint of the marketplace for the cold steel of a gate. Until the respect which the statue has engendered for centuries is rediscovered, the confusion and insecurity which gates and guardrails provoke will prevail.

However, the old and the new can coexist peacefully; spiritual renewal can occur during an innocuous trip to the market if one is open to the possibilities. CM Fr. Maurice Foley recently celebrated his 50th sacerdotal anniversary and continues his mission in Peru.

Clockwise from top left: A topsyturvy marketplace; A Shrine to Our Lady in the marketplace; A Shrine to Our Lord of Miracles; A Shrine to Our Lady of Fatima, Patronness of El Pacifico .

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Natural Resources Chapels Built for and by the Migrant Community in Lima

by Fr. leo Donnelly

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ain in Lima is an event.

If it is real rain, it is a devastating event. Since Lima is the second largest city in the world located in a desert, after Cairo, Egypt, it rarely rains to the point where it can wreak havoc. The climate allows us to build homes and buildings with estera. Estera is a sheet two meters by three meters of hand woven bamboo. The bamboo pole is split down the middle. Both halves are then beaten flat and naturally crack lengthwise under the hammering which ensures that they are flexible enough to be woven into sheets.

Starting around 1940, the population of Lima grew rapidly due to immigration from the Andean regions of Peru. The people from the mountains

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migrated to Lima in search of jobs for themselves and education for their children. In the beginning, the immigrants were confined to the downtown slums, but they soon began occupying empty land on the periphery of the city swelling its population. Soon, shanty towns were proliferating on the edges of Lima. The population figure given in 1958 for Lima was 800,000 people. In 2007, the population stood at 7,605,752. In only fortynine years, the population grew by nearly seven million people. Today one third of the entire population of Peru lives in the metro Lima area and more migrants continue their journey to the city.

After arriving in Lima, the migrants toss up their one room dwellings of five sheets of estera.

They then map out the land into building blocks and move the estera to the block assigned to them.

Untreated, the bamboo will last for three years before woodworm destroys it. The task is to replace it with bricks and mortar as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the work is piecemeal, done when money is available.

These shacks have come to symbolize the outer limits of the city. They reside on land without electricity, potable water or sewerage. Water needs are satisfied with 44 gallon drums in the doorways that are filled every couple of days from a water truck for 1.50 soles or U.S. $0.48. Due to the long history of migrants using estera to build their new homes as they work toward a better life, it has become an accepted symbol of poverty. Therefore the dwellers are presumed inferior.

A few upmarket restaurants across town did use estera sheets on their ceilings after varnishing them as an acknowledgement of local building materials and the city’s history. Only once did we think to use estera to build a chapel when cash was short. When we opted to build a chapel from estera, a fellow Columban, Father John J. O’Connell, teased us about setting the mission back 50 years. When he joined us for the inaugural Mass at our Immaculate Conception Chapel and saw the beautiful play of sunlight and shade through the estera, he made a gift of ten benches to the chapel to the delight of our people.

The Immaculate Conception chapel was built on nine Sundays by “worker-bee” labor. Since the www.columban.org

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people building the chapel were the ones who were going to use it, the task gave the people a sense of it being truly their own. The cost savings were large since the chapel was built for U.S. $1,600.00 and holds 100 people. Excitement reigned and when land was lent to us for another chapel, we built with more confidence. The next chapel, Our Lady of Guadalupe, didn’t create the same enthusiasm until it began to take shape. It also cost more although it is larger. Both chapels are beautiful, and it is a pleasure to celebrate Mass in them.

This parish of Holy Archangels is quite large and eventually will have to be divided as more people move into the area. Currently there are five brick chapels and two estera chapels. Two more chapels are in the planning stages, leaving at least four other communities to rise to the challenge. They will, and it will be by word of mouth that they become convinced of the importance to build in estera.

Apart from the natural beauty of the plaited bamboo a chapel in this “poor” material affirms the dignity of our people. Through the worker-bee involvement a sense of community is promoted. Building the chapel is something they have done together for the benefit of their community. The lone, tiny hitch is that the estera has to be sprayed regularly with diesel oil until it is saturated enough to keep out the woodworm. Then it will last. CM Fr. Leo Donnelly recently retired after fifty years of service in Peru. He continues to live in Peru and witness to the strength of the Christian community there. www.columban.org

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U U U U U U U U U

U U U U U U U U U Being Equal in Dignity

Anyone reading the life of Christ in the Gospels does so out of their own life experience. Jesus Christ consciously and deliberately identified himself with “ritually unclean” people who were ostracized and therefore, on the edge of their culture.

This identification with them became the story of his success; it also led to his seeming failure on the Cross. He reached out to people who were denied “personhood”and gave them a sense of importance that allowed them to accept themselves as persons.

People knew, and know today, that as “nobodies” in society they are going nowhere. My experience as a missionary has been almost exclusively with such people. I see a value in being with them. Shared presence teaches us that we need one another. Exclude people, then what meaning does priesthood have?

Our people in Peru see missionaries as persons, just as the “ritually unclean” saw Jesus. Being prepared to spend our lives with and for them is a beginning; most of their own experience of life is of being betrayed. Staying with them, dying and being buried with them is a proven powerful witness. It denies we are there for some motive of our own. It affirms we see them as persons, as equals. The kingdom of God is about being equal in dignity.

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Religious Symbols in the Andes

progressing so they approached the house and called out. When there was no reply they went in to find the food untouched and a beautiful carving of Jesus with his hands tied.

They were very surprised because the sculptors were gone. From that day the sculpture has been described as “a work of angels.”

The Cross

The Search for a Harmonious Combination Between Ancient Symbols and the Church

By Fr. Peter Woodruff

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any devotions of popular Catholicism flourish in Peru, not only in highland towns, but also in the barrios of Lima that have been established and developed by Andean migrants. Through the image of their patron saint, the community puts their own stamp on the Catholicism originally brought from Spain. The patron saint of each town or community is a symbol of the supernatural power present and active in the life of the community, a power with which all want to be on good terms.

This desire inspires the festivities in their honor. In time, a myth of origin emerges along with many accounts of miracles and favors for devotees.

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The Lord of Ayabaca

The image of The Lord of Ayabaca typifies images associated with popular Catholicism in Peru.

The image itself is a carving, the origin of which is shrouded in legend. In 1751 the local parish priest wanted the town to have an image of Christ. A cedar tree trunk was taken from a nearby mountain to Ecuador where, according to the legend, the sculptors insisted that they be given food just once a day at dawn and that nobody should watch them work. The price of the piece would be arranged after it was completed.

In accordance with the agreement, food was handed to the carvers through a window each day. After some time the neighbors wanted to know how the work was

Crosses are placed on hills all over the Andes, and rural migrants who have settled near a hill in Lima have done the same. In preSpanish times Andeans placed stone mounds (huacas) on the hilltops and at the tops of passes between the hills. These sites became places of worship of the spirit of the mountain (Apu). It was there that they made their offerings of food and drink to the spirit.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Spaniards attempted to repress local Peruvian religious practice, but they simply sent it underground.

The cross is a common Andean religious symbol, but does not necessarily contain the meaning assigned to it by Catholic teaching; namely, that through death Jesus of Nazareth came to the fullness of life, and His followers hope to share this journey with Him. Traditionally, in the Andes, religious rituals relating to crosses on hills have two basic purposes: to placate the spirit of the hill and to offer worshippers an opportunity to experience the transcendent.

One can sense the community’s connection with the transcendent during the procession in honor of the cross, especially near the end when the cross is fixed in place at the top of the hill.

On twelve hills looking over the founding barrio of Independencia the first residents placed crosses.

On one occasion, as they prepared WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

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a celebration honoring the crosses, the parish priest asked a lay colleague whether he felt the presence of God more in the church or on the hilltops. The prompt reply favored the hilltops.

At another celebration in honor of the cross a parishioner told me why she and her husband had taken on the responsibility of organizing and financing the celebration. She talked with energy and conviction about how she had been moved as she accompanied the cross in procession during the previous year’s celebration. She felt it was the cross that moved her and spoke to her. She responded by offering to prepare the fiesta the following year.

The customs surrounding the cross, like others that are related to patron saints, Mary, angels and others remain on the fringe of official Church activity. However, it is precisely these customs that convoke people to share and celebrate with others. They carry and express the spirit of the community.

On a bleak, grey day in Lima in 1985 I stood by a cross that had recently been erected on a hill in one of the barrios of our parish.

There are about two hundred and fifty houses in the barrio and one woman, Maria Espinoza, took the initiative to have the cross made and put in place. At the inaugural ceremony were a few adults, some scruffy children and half a dozen dogs. Ten years later, thanks in large part to the patient but determined and committed Maria, the whole barrio was participating in the annual celebration in honor of the cross.

The Pachamama

The spirit of the earth, the Pachamama, has not been symbolically replaced by WWW.COLUMBAN.ORG

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Christianity. Therefore the rites and customs associated with the Pachamama endure in the rural areas. Perhaps some of the popular devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus of Nazareth, harks back to traditional practices and feelings related to the Pachamama. The spirit of mother earth is inevitably a powerful factor in the lives of rural people who understand their lives in terms of a permanent and intimate relationship with nature.

The religious significance of mother earth has been recognized by rural peoples for millennia.

In ancient biblical texts there are hints of this. Psalm 139, a Hebrew prayer written over two thousand years ago, parallels the woman’s womb with the depths of the earth: “It was you who formed my inmost part and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Even my bones were known to you when I was being formed in secret, fashioned in the depths of the earth.”

The psalms often repeat the same idea in different ways in consecutive verses, so one

immediately links “mother’s womb” with “depths of the earth,” the place where life begins and is nurtured. In these texts we can see traces of a God present in the earth and the earthly.

In the cosmology of sixteenth century Catholicism, however, all that is related to the divine is located in the sky, while in the underworld, deep below the earth’s surface, dwell the devil and the fallen angels. In contrast, Andean cosmology locates the divine both in the sky (the sun) and in the earth, be it in the mountain, the hill, the river or the stream. Catholicism supplied the Andeans with more ritual ways of placating the divine above us, and so effectively replaced the official Inca state religion. Andean Catholics continue to search for a harmonious blend of the two traditions. CM Fr. Peter Woodruff first went to Peru in 1967 and has recently returned to Australia.

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On the Mission Trail with a Horse Named “Horse”

Seminarians and Priests Travel to the Rain-Swept Edges of the Peruvian Amazon

by Fr. John boles

“There is rain, heavy rain and Mendoza rain.” That was the warning we received from Father Antonio, the pastor of Rodriguez de Mendoza, before we left the Peruvian capital of Lima for our visit to his parish. Every year during the summer holidays, I accompany our Columban seminarians from Peru and Chile on a month-long mission experience to a different part of the Peruvian hinterland.

This particular year, Fr. Antonio had invited us to his area, a region of great beauty but with one undeniable and unstoppable problem: the rain.

Mendoza nestles in the Northern Andes of Peru, close to the border with Ecuador. It is on the eastern side of the great mountain chain, overlooking the Amazon jungle. It is covered in lush forest and ideal for the cultivation of coffee, one of the country’s main cash crops. But its location also makes it susceptible to huge amounts of annual rainfall.

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Fr. John Boles and Horse making their way along the trail.

moisture. They pick up yet more humidity as they journey over the vast Amazon Basin. As they smash into the natural wall of the Andes, they let drop all this stored water vapor in the form of torrential summer downpours. The worst month is February. And yes, we were going to Mendoza in February, the rainiest month of the year.

We had a dozen students going on the mission experience.

Fr. Antonio split them into pairs and sent them to live in six remote villages. These villages are communities which rarely benefit from visits by the priest or parish workers, particularly during the wet season. Many of the residents of these villages are farmers, or campesinos, subsistence farmers barely eking out enough

food to survive. The seminarians soon busied themselves by visiting the campesinos in their homes, organizing liturgies and preparing people for Baptism and First Holy Communion. My role was to circulate by visiting each village on a rotating basis and celebrating the sacraments.

It was easier said than done.

No sooner had the seminarians established themselves in their respective settlements than the heavens opened. The jeep we had borrowed was no match for the road which had been transformed into a muddy stream. We had driven only a few miles before getting bogged down.

So, we turned to “Plan B.” Antonio managed to get me a horse. It was named, imaginatively, www.columban.org

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“Horse” (caballo in Spanish). Horse was strong but apparently badtempered. Consequently, instead of mounting my less-than trusty steed I stowed my rucksack and Mass kit on his back, donned my Wellington boots, and away we went, guided by a couple of local catechists.

Taking our time, we successfully slopped our way from village to village. We slept in the houses of campesinos and met together in their humble chapels for the sacramental celebrations.

The visit to Nueva Luz (New Light) was particularly memorable.

We arrived a little late since Horse balked at a series of swollen river crossings. It was twilight by the time we were able to join the congregation in the chapel, where we all huddled beneath the single light-bulb. “New Light” turned out to be a rather optimistic name, given the general lack of electric illumination in the community.

Mass had barely started when the deluge began. We had to suspend operations almost immediately. The rain was beating on the tin roof with such intensity that you could barely hear yourself think. Moreover, the waters of a flash flood began to seep into the building, and we were soon up to our ankles. Everyone had to rush out and help unclog the stormdrains of accumulated leaves. Then all hands turned to swishing the water off the sodden floor.

The storm passed as quickly as it had come. With calm restored we resumed the ceremony, only to face a new challenge. Encouraged by the dank night air, clouds of mosquitoes and moths began to assail us. Or more precisely, began to assail ME, as the priest had been given the favored position directly www.columban.org

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under the lone bulb. I continued with the Eucharist, maintaining as much dignity as possible while every few seconds slapping at little blood-suckers feasting on any and all exposed skin.

However, the biggest threat to decorum was posed by the moths.

Some of them seemed to be as big as Vulcan bombers. One particular flying fortress, with wings the size of soup-spoons, decided to plunge into the chalice. We were at the Consecration, and so the cup was uncovered. Flapping desperately in its attempts to escape, our winged friend momentarily had the sacred vessel wobbling on the altar. For a time I think some of the faithful believed a miracle was taking place, until I unceremoniously scooped the bedraggled (but, presumably by now, very holy) insect out of the wine.

All of these adventures made me aware of the enormity of the task that faces the Church as it

seeks to reach out to communities it had formerly underserved, especially at a time when the Latin American bishops are launching what they term a “Continental Mission” promoting evangelization throughout the Americas. I felt proud to have participated in this movement, albeit only briefly.

It was humbling to witness the extraordinary hospitality of the people which extended to the seminarians and me.

Most of all, I was heartened by the effect all this had on the seminarians themselves. It had been a major step in their formation as future Columban missionary priests, capable of taking the Word to all parts of the world, through rain, sleet or snow, and with or without the help of a horse called “Horse.” CM Fr. John Boles is the rector of the Columban South American seminary.

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Escaping the Sheep Pen Indigenous Peruvians Secure Their Status in Society

By Fr. Peter Woodruff

Builders and community members celebrate the standing of the columns.

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oft-spoken and reserved but very much his own man, Simeon migrated to Lima from one of the poorest provinces of Ayacucho, the area of Peru that suffered most from armed conflict between the “Shining Path,” a Maoist guerrilla organization seeking to establish the Communist party in Peru, and the Peruvian State during the 1980s and early 1990s. He lived with his children (his wife had left when I met him) in a poor barrio on the north side of Lima. He identified with the left side of politics not in an ideological way but in a practical way because his bottom line was his and his children’s progress. He worked in a small jewelry business making adornments of silver and jade.

Simeon is one of the millions who changed the face of Peru during the twentieth century. In 1940, Peru’s urban sector accounted for thirty-five percent of the

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country’s population while by the year 2002, seventy-two percent of the population lived in towns and cities. Peruvian anthropologist, José Matos Mar, wrote a book in 1984 describing the grassroots process of mass migration of millions of Peruvians from the rural to the urban sector and their consequent appropriation of urban space in the capital city as a desborde popular, which might be translated into English as the “breaching of the levee.” The levee refers to the structures of Peruvian society erected to keep indigenous Peruvians in “their place,” on the margins of society.

I was in a meeting with Simeon and a few friends, all of whom had migrated to Lima from other parts of Peru, and we were discussing the phrase desborde popular in search of a phrase or term that might reflect the experience of the migrants themselves, rather than the observation of the professional,

albeit sympathetic, academic. We shared many ideas but were not convinced by various suggestions until Simeon talked about a sheep pen in the Andes from which the sheep begin to escape by climbing over a section of the wall that has partially crumbled. Simeon posed the question, “How might the sheep describe their escape from the pen?” Sheep pens in the Andes are enclosures with one gate, bounded by a waist high wall of rocks stacked on top of each other without any bonding mortar, a decided weakness in a zone that is constantly subject to seismic activity.

We also recalled the case of a group of people who illegally settled on an unused industrial site not far from the city center.

They called their new barrio “El Rescate,” the retrieval, thereby challenging the commonly used term—invasion—which reflects the perspective of those who oppose www.columban.org

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Maria at the reed organ in the chapel.

Jose and Eddie at the construction site.

Jesus, community coordinator, right in the photo, at the door of the chapel under construction.

Rosa, community treasurer, at the center with a cane matter chapel wall behind her.

the occupation of unused land by the poor in search of a place to build a small house.

Members of the group began to explore the term desborde popular from the perspective of the escaping sheep or those who had chosen to refer to their new barrio as a retrieval rather than an invasion. Participants spoke of “people of all races struggling with dignity for their rights,” “recovering our identity,” “destroying and building anew,” “retrieving what is ours,” “rebuilding citizenship,” and “securing our rights.” Nora, a retired teacher who remains committed to the challenge of universal, quality education, www.columban.org

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This civic irruption has penetrated all aspects of life and migrants are ever more able to articulate their contributions. argued in favor of the phrase civic irruption, which conveys forcefully what people are doing and saying with their settlement in the capital city. They are not just flooding the city but claiming and exercising citizenship within it. The phrase is also suggestive of assertive, although illegal, occupation of land

by citizens demanding recognition, and of protest against the denial of justice in the sheep pen to which they and their ancestors were relegated. This civic irruption has penetrated all aspects of life and migrants are ever more able to articulate their contributions.

Maria, grassroots leader, wife and mother of four, pointed out the presence of the vicuóa and the quinua tree of the Andean highlands in the Peruvian coat of arms. Maria sees Andeans as a link between the country and the city and points out that there would be no food for the city without the people in the provinces.

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A child enjoys climbing at the construction site under the watchful eye of his mother.

business and so Andeans in Lima are better placed to do business with Andeans in other parts of the country. At times being able to speak Quechua, the language of indigenous Peruvians, is important.

Maria claims with confidence: “We [indigenous people] have become a major influence on commercial production and business, especially through small and family businesses. Much of what we have established may be part of the informal economy, but it is extremely well organized.”

Benito exemplifies the spirit of so many Andeans who have chosen to make their lives in Lima. He arrived poor and remains poor but he knows who he is. He came from a tiny village in the department of Ancash and arrived in Lima at the age of fifteen. In 1967 Benito, his wife and children, came to live in the barrio named for the Inca rebel leader, José Gabriel Condorcanqui or Tupac Amaru II. At that time there were just fifteen families. In the words of Benito himself, “The leaders of the housing cooperative in the lower part of the valley were doing their best to have us removed by force, claiming that they had title to the land. The police were 16

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sent to instruct us to leave but there was a sergeant who quietly told us to organize ourselves in order to resist the maneuvers of the cooperative leaders.”

Benito states proudly, “Most of us who have come to Lima from the provinces have spent our lives struggling to survive. We generally manage because you never hear of anyone dying of hunger. Most

Most of us who have come to Lima from the provinces have spent our lives struggling to survive. of us are self-taught. We look for practical ways of making a living, be it in construction, education, transport, trade, small family business and so on. We always find ways to get by. We develop a community spirit in our suburbs because we get to know our neighbors by participating in the barrio organizations. We hang on to the custom of doing things together and of participating in society by

negotiating for our needs through civic organizations. We teach our children to participate in society by doing so ourselves.”

Another meeting of grassroots leaders shared a sense of being engaged in the processes of shaping Peruvian history and contributing to the life of their country. They spoke of transmitting their Andean heritage within the family and organizing to address needs in Lima and the rural areas they left.

“In the political arena, we migrants from the provinces are constantly organizing among ourselves through our hometown social clubs and negotiating with the central government in order to improve the infrastructure and public services in our places of origin.

“This constant and concerted effort has helped promote the economic, educational and political decentralization of Peru. Some of us came to Lima, found the opportunity for a good education and returned to our places of origin and worked to establish higher educational facilities and business enterprises.

“In Lima we learned about labor organization and returned home with new knowledge and skills. Now there are regional labor movements and strikes. Before, everything was based in Lima and organized from Lima.

“We have learned to become self-employed especially in what is known as the informal economy.”

Obviously, escaping the “sheep pen” is a long-term and complex communal project. CM www.columban.org

5/12/09 4:09:52 PM

I’m Coming Right Now Learning to Live in the Moment

By Ariel Presbitero

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uring my time as a Columban lay missionary in Peru I learned many important lessons.Time, as I knew it before going to Peru, was a way of ordering my days and the rule by which I lived my days. In fact, during the early days in Peru, I often reflected on the following quote from Albert Einstein: “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”

As someone used to the fast pace of Los Angeles, California, it was quite difficult for me to adapt to the less frenetic pace of Peru. In contrast, learning the language and remembering that if I wanted to call my family I had to calculate the time difference was very easy.

Peruvians have a wonderful expression, vengo ya, which literally means “I’m coming right now.” It is a common expression in Peru.

If you would like to invite people to come over, you say “vengo ya!”

If somebody is leaving the house for some errands, he or she will say, “vengo ya!” The expression can be interpreted in myriad ways which leads to significant confusion for those who are not familiar with how it is used. For a long time, I thought “vengo ya” meant “I’ve already arrived” which led to many misunderstandings. www.columban.org

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Moving from a city devoted to the clock denoting work time, play time and sleep time to the Andean culture that valued natural time provided the opportunity to connect the role nature plays in society with how to serve as a lay missionary in Peru. The rising and setting of the sun, the breeze coming from the east, birds migrating to the north, clouds covering the moon and rivers flowing abundantly mark time very effectively and probably more reliably than a clock.

When I started out I would set a time, say for example 7 p.m., for a meeting about parish concerns, and people would start showing up at 7:30 p.m. and continue to arrive until 8 p.m. Local customs dictated that I could not start the meeting until everyone was present, but I could not understand why people hadn’t shown up on time. Hadn’t I stated 7 p.m.? Didn’t everyone know how to tell time?

As it turns out, everyone except the impatient lay missionary knew how to tell time. People arrived for meetings after they finished their household tasks or their work on the farm. The tasks of daily living were attended to first; they were the priority. Crops

need to be planted, watered and harvested, or they will wither and die. Repairs must be made to the roof of the home before the next thunderstorm. Dinner needs to be prepared and eaten to provide strength and stamina for the next day. A meeting can start at any time.

Fortunately, a Columban priest sensed my despair and told me to invest in the relationship with the people, building relationships and enjoying myself as a guest in their country. Once I started focusing on building relationships, being an asset to the community and living in the moment, there was never enough time. There was not enough time to talk and share stories; not enough time to share a meal; not enough time to play with the kids.

When Jesus said, “My time has not arrived yet,” only He knew what was going to happen. None of us knows what will happen next. If God were to say “vengo ya,” are we ready to join Him and follow Him? I say, “Vengo Ya!” Ariel Presbitero is a Columban Mission Outreach Coordinator based in Los Angeles, California.

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Partners In Mission Bringing More People to Mission

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By Fr. Chris Baker

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he whole Latin American Church has been given fresh inspiration by its Fifth General Conference of Bishops held in Aparecida, Brazil, in May 2007. The central theme was a clear call to all Catholics to be disciples and missionaries of Jesus, keen to share in His mission of announcing the good news to all people. Following the lead of Pope Benedict XVI in his opening message to that Conference, missionaries are to honor God’s preferential option for the poor. While the Conference repeatedly urges all disciples to be missionaries, it still urges some disciples to go out from their own country to join “the universal mission in all continents.”

The Columbans working in Peru and Chile were greatly

heartened by the final document that emerged from Aparecida with regard to our Columban Lay Missionaries (CLMs). It so happened that in Peru by 2007 we had already launched into the first orientation program for a group of four Peruvians preparing to go to the Philippines as lay missionaries.

At that time Chile had a similar orientation program running, also with four volunteers.

The day after Christmas 2007 our first group of four lay missionaries left the airport in

Lima heading for the Philippines to take up their assignment in Davao on the large southern island of Mindanao. The team was comprised of Maria Ramirez, Ana Flores, Marisol Rojas and Antonio Salas.

Their departure was the culmination of a year of contact with the Columban lay missionary preparation team, followed by another year of residential orientation and formation. After those two years of preparation the four stalwarts made a contract

Columban Lay Missionaries prepare for the future.

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to work for three years as lay missionaries in the Philippines.

A week after their departure for the Philippines, four Chilean lay missionaries who had just finished a similar two-year preparation in Santiago, Chile, arrived in Lima, Peru. They are Claudia Azerrad, Angelica Soldado, Jorge Ovalle and Teresa Vergara. The new arrivals speak Spanish as their native language which gave them a big head start in Peru. However, Claudia and Teresa have been assigned to Combapata, the parish of Columban Father Don Hornsey in the Andean high plateau not far from Cusco. Claudia and Teresa needed to learn another language because Quechua is widely spoken in that area. For many living in that area, it is their only language.

Angelica and Jorge went to the rapidly expanding settlements along the valley and hillsides of Canto Grande. Fr. Michael McKinnon, a Columban Associate from Ballarat diocese in Australia, has about eighteen different community centers which lay missionaries have helped to establish and maintain. Angelica and Jorge soon found absorbing apostolates among the new settlers

in Canto Grande. It meant really pioneering work both for the struggling settlers and their fellow Chilean “missionary disciples.�

The four Peruvians in the Philippines finished their studies in the Cebuano language and culture after six months in the city of Davao. While living and learning in Davao, they saw and heard the most pressing needs of the people around the area.

Maria is now working in Pagadian with people who have learning difficulties and other special needs.

Marisol is engaged in similar work around the city of Cagayan de Oro. Ana helps with the people coming to the attention of St. Vincent de Paul workers. Antonio has been welcomed to work with Sacred Heart priests in the parish of Dumalinao. All four still work to improve their English, which is widely used when Filipinos with different dialects meet one another. So now they are spreading the Good News and at the same time learning how much it has already influenced the lives of the Filipino people. The constant interchange between the Peruvian and the Filipino Christians is quite

mutually enriching.

It is obvious that great challenges confronted these eight Columban lay missionaries working in countries quite different from their own. With those challenges in mind, the program was developed to provide the training and education they would need as missionaries living in other lands and cultures. During the first year they were able to continue their normal working lives while living in their own homes. Once a month they had a weekend gathering with the orientation team of experienced Columban lay missionaries.

A year of formal live-in orientation in Lima followed the first year’s training. Having been associated with them during their orientation course, I became familiar with its main objectives and activities. In short, the aim was to prepare these missionaries to be ever more deeply committed disciples of Jesus Christ and to remain in His company through prayerful reflection on the Gospel and sharing in the Eucharist. We had a weekly shared Eucharist, followed by a friendly meal, which helped towards intercultural

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living and respect for the cultural priorities of other people. Because English is so widely spoken as a common language among the Filipinos, English also became part of their orientation course.

With their mission ad gentes (to the nations) in view, they came to appreciate the missionary history of the Church. Because they become partners in mission with Columbans, they were helped to appreciate Columban history, charism and current involvement, particularly in the country where they would be working.

They had opportunities to share with Columban seminarians.

The priorities recently stressed in Aparecida are already high priorities for the Columbans: the preferential option for the poor, concern for social justice and protection of the whole created web of life.

Of the four taking the course, Maria and Ana had been working as Columban missionary collaborators, going out on weekends from their own parish of Ermitaó to other parishes just getting established on the outskirts of Lima and beyond.

They attended to the Christian and human formation of children,

youth and adults, depending on the local needs. Marisol and Antonio had both worked as pastoral agents within their own large parishes.

All four are familiar with working in coordination with Columban priests and other pastoral workers in parish ministries.

By St. Columban’s Day (November 23) 2007, they were ready to accept their appointment to the Philippines and sign their contracts as Columban lay missionaries during a festive Mass in the presence of the extended Columban family in Peru. Each received a mission cross as a reminder of the mutual commitment of themselves and the Columban Society. In December there was also a special gathering and farewell meal in the house in Ingeneria where they had lived for most of the year. That evening, they were joined by the four Columban lay missionaries working in Lima as well as five new volunteers hoping to start the live-in year portion of the training and education.

The three home parishes also organized a special missionsending Mass for their Columban lay missionaires who were soon to set off for the Philippines. It gave the parishioners, including

families and relatives, the opportunity to express their friendship and support for those dedicated members of the parish.

The parishes are keen to maintain contact with their own lay missionaries going off to a distant country.

The final farewell was delivered at the airport by a large group of relatives and friends, with time to get more photos of family groups and share a final cool drink before the four boarded their plane. A week later we were out at the same airport to welcome the four new Columban lay missionaires arriving from Chile to take up their appointments in Peru.

Since then the second group of three young Peruvian women, Tonya Alejos, Maria Palomino and Judith Condoró, has finished the live-in orientation course and has gone to Fiji to take up language studies in Suva prior to launching into active missionary work.

We ask for your prayers and support for these and many other Columban lay missionaries who have shown themselves to be truly our “partners in mission.” CM Columban Father Chris Baker lives and works in Peru.

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Landmines Navigating Life’s Obstacles

By Sr. Eileen Rabbitte

I

came to Peru in June of 1971 and with the exception of a couple of periods on promotion in the United States, I have been closely attached to Peru and all it implies since that time.

I have worked in Lima, on the coast of Peru, Recuay, Ancash, the sierra high up in the Andes, and am presently in the heart of the desert.

Throughout my time in Peru, I have worked in religious education with children, young people and adults.

I was visiting a very poor hospital in Ica, Peru, when I met Frank. One day as I was about to go home for lunch, I decided that I had a few more minutes to visit and popped into the surgery unit of the regional hospital. It was there that I saw a young man, 16-year-old Frank, sitting on the side of the hospital bed holding his bandaged hand, or, more accurately, the stump where his hand used to be. He was obviously in complete shock.

Frank had been minding his animals up in the sierra and picked up a landmine, a lingering reminder of terrorist times. He was intrigued with the shiny thing and picked it up not knowing what it was, and in an instant lost his right hand from wrist down. I stayed with him for a while, prayed with him and for him and kept in touch until he left the hospital.

I hoped that he would get the help he needed. He was always on my mind, and one day I received a phone call from him. He was very depressed and ashamed of www.columban.org

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Sr. Eileen Rabbitte with Frank.

his missing hand. He kept it well hidden from the gaze of other people and kept very much to himself. He taught himself to write with his left hand and little by little resumed his studies.

Joanna, an occupational therapist, advised Frank that he should go to the rehabilitation center in Callao, Lima. It took a long time to convince him to go.

Frank was finally convinced of the necessity of rehabilitation and decided that he really wanted to help himself. Eventually, Frank went to the rehabilitation center and met many wonderful doctors and therapists. Many of the other patients were much worse off than Frank. The psychological change in Frank was remarkable. Truly the Spirit was working through the employees of the center to aid Frank.

Once he was committed to his own recovery, we began to see that he needed financial support and help to continue his studies.

Furthermore, he had not been baptized. In preparing for entry to the university he decided to prepare himself for baptism and invited his family to join in the preparation too. I served as his

godmother which was quite special for me.

Finally Frank was accepted at the university in Ica and will graduate in business administration this year. After his accident with the landmine, Frank determined that he would use his brains to earn his living and has been an excellent student. The Columban Sisters gave him a small donation each month as a scholarship, and with some help from his own very poor family he is ready to start his new career.

It has been a very blessed and joyful experience sharing Frank’s road to recovery and success.

Frank’s story is special because of the many obstacles he has overcome through the years. The joy and pride in his expression now are a testimony of the presence of God in our lives and what God can do when we are open to the Holy Spirit. As Christian songwriter Stuart Hamblen wrote, “It is no secret what God can do.”

Living and working in Peru since 1971, Columban Sr. Eileen Rabbitte began a sabbatical in April 2009 which will include visits to the United States and Ireland. She plans to return to Peru.

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News Notes

Driving Into the Future The Pedaling to Live Program Celebrates Three Years on the Road

By Fr. Oliver McCrossan

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n April 18, 2009, the Pedaling to Live program in Ozamiz City, the Philippines, celebrated its third anniversary. The program began when I first met Josefino Bayno, who was stopping to pick up a passenger in his three-wheeled tricycle known locally as sikad-sikad.

Unlike many of the other drivers, Josefino was doing the exhausting job with a severe disability. As a child, one of his legs was terribly shrunken by polio making pedaling a nearly insurmountable feat.

He said, “Because of my disability I am slower than the other tricycles, so I get fewer fares.� I was amazed at his courage and determination and thought, what a courageous man to do this–how can I help him?

Since many of the sikad-sikad drivers rent their tricycles, they are unable to earn enough money to support their families and purchase the tricycles. For a driver renting a tricycle, a day with few fares means that he would owe more in rent than he earned for the day.

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than the cost of the daily rental.

The program started with five tricycles. From that small beginning the project has grown. We now have 62 tricycles in operation.

Of these, 42 are now owned by the drivers themselves. They have completed their repayments.

The others are in the process of being repaid. A driver pays approximately one dollar a day into the cooperative to purchase the tricycle. When the driver has completed his repayments, he takes ownership of his vehicle. Many of the drivers have also been able to open small savings accounts in the cooperative and have applied for loans. As many as 300 drivers have applied to join the organization.

Josefino was one of the first drivers to receive his tricycle in April 2006. Happily, he and his family are enjoying a better standard of living now that he owns his tricycle.

In addition, we have 41 children of tricycle drivers in our scholarship program. They are attending elementary and high school, and we have four students in college.

The program is a great help to the families since education costs more than they can afford.

Furthermore, the drivers have formed their own association and meet once a month to discuss the program. We are continuing the health clinics for the families and family counseling assistance.

Our program does not distinguish

between religious affiliations, and we have drivers of many different faiths.

All of us involved with the program give thanks to God for guiding us on the journey over the past three years and look forward to the future. CM Fr. Oliver McCrossan lives and works in Ozamiz City, the Philippines.

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A Good Place To Be Missionary

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he necessity of travel is part and parcel of missionary life. And much of that travel means that we spend time in airports around the world. In my many travels, especially in the U.S., I frequently pass through Chicago’s Midway Airport. If time between flights allows, I go to the airport chapel where I find a peaceful oasis, a place for silent prayer as well as for worship and liturgies. In that quiet space around which a web of journeys weaves and unweaves itself around me, I do some of my best meditating.

From the Director

By Fr. Arturo Aguilar

On one occasion I heard over the public address system that a Catholic Mass was about to begin. The celebrant was a priest who happened to be observing his 65th anniversary of ordination. Fr. George McKenna’s homily was an inspiring message of love and forgiveness.

Though soon to be 90 years of age, this priest ministered with vitality and a spirit of welcome and acceptance to his very transient “flock,” people who came together from all over the world; strangers, but one at the table of the

Human mobility represents, in

today’s globalized world, an important frontier for new evangelization.

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Lord. Fr. George and others who serve the multitudes in airport chaplaincies offer a muchneeded ministry in a busy, hectic world.

So important does the Church consider its outreach to people on the move that there is an office at the Vatican called the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People. In addition to air and sea travelers and those who provide their journeys, this Council also has as its concern the outreach to migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and itinerant workers, entertainers and artisans.

What a microcosm of our world!

Fr. Michael Zaniolo, chaplain of Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway Airports, reminded those attending the National Conference of Catholic Airport Chaplains that “the airport is fertile ground for ministry to anyone who needs to talk about what is going on in their lives.” And Pope Benedict XVI, addressing the Pontifical Council, said “Human mobility represents, in today’s globalized world, an important frontier for new evangelization.”

The presence of a chapel in an airport and of chaplains like Fr. George and Fr. Michael offers travelers a place to be quiet, to pray and worship, to receive sacraments. But in addition, this unexpected presence is a reminder to me that every place is a good place to be missionary, that even on the journey to or from a mission assignment there are travelers, migrants, refugees and workers who make up the frontier for new evangelization of which the Holy Father spoke.

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Columban Fathers PO Box 10 St. Columbans, NE 68056

NON PROFIT ORG POSTAGE PAID COLUMBAN FATHERS

Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

—Mark 12:31

Columban Mission Exposure Program

An Invitation Calls for a Response We are but clay, formed and fashioned by the hand of God.

From the wall that divides us to God’s love that unites us, the U.S./Mexico Border offers a unique backdrop to understanding our call to tablefellowship.

Join Columban missionaries for a five day transformative encounter with our neighbors in El Paso, Texas and Anapra, Mexico.

October 29–November 3, 2009 For more information, please contact:

The Columban Center for Advocacy & Outreach Attn.: Amy W. Echeverria 1320 Fenwick Lane, Suite 405 Silver Spring, MD 20910 301.565.4547 fax: 301.565.4549 amywe@columban.org www.columban.org

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That is to say, we are weak and vulnerable but with God’s grace we are capable of great generosity and idealism.

Is God calling you to spread the good news?

To a life of ministry among those who are less fortunate and more vulnerable than you are?

We invite you to join this new generation by becoming a Columban Father or Columban Sister.

If you are interested in the missionary priesthood, write or call…

If you are interested in becoming a Columban Sister, write or call…

Fr. Bill Morton National Vocation Director Columban Fathers St. Columbans, NE 68056 877/299-1920 Email: vocations@columban.org

Sr. Grace De Leon National Vocation Director Columban Sisters 2500 S. Freemont Avenue #E Alhambra, CA 91803 626/458-1869

Japan + Korea + Peru + Hong Kong + Philippines + Pakistan + Chile + Fiji + Taiwan + North America

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