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El Resucitado Parish |
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August, 2010 Dear friends, La Parroquia “El Resucitado” (Parish of the Resurrected One) is one of our newest parishes in Peru. Situated to the East of Lima, in the Diocese of Chosica, the parish has a population in excess of 100,000 people. Back in 2006 the Society of St. James was asked if it would consider taking responsibility for forming a new parish in an area known as El Valle de Amauta. St. James priest Fr. David Costello moved there on February 1st, 2006, and immediately began making plans for putting a structure in place so that this new mission area would be formally named a parish. One of the challenges facing a missionary when moving into a new and unknown area is to get to know the people. Fr. David spent almost all of 2006 visiting each of the communities in the Amauta Valley, introducing himself, making himself known and also spreading the word that the Catholic Church would now have a permanent presence in this poor, forgotten shantytown. One year later on February 4th 2007, the local Ordinary, Bishop Norbert Strotmann, together with Bishop Donal Murray from Limerick, Ireland, created the new parish. Fr. David commented that “from the very beginning it was obvious to me that my new challenge would require me to focus on two particular areas of ministry: evangelization and social outreach.” His words describe the heart of mission life. Living and working in an area where abject poverty is so real means that it would be impossible not to be involved in social issues, while at the same time he was very conscious of the fact that his priesthood would have no real meaning if he were not involved in the work of evangelization. However, having been given this enormous responsibility of forming a new parish in such a vast area, he realized that he could not possibly go it alone. With this in mind he set about enlisting the help of two local lay people who continue to share responsibility for these two important areas of ministry. Henry Aranibar is a theology graduate who spearheads the faith formation program as well as preparing 70 volunteer catechists each week, who in turn prepare children and adults for the sacraments. Consuelo Mariscal is a qualified social worker with over twenty years experience. Consuelo spearheads the vast social outreach program which includes three parish based community kitchens which benefit over 300 school-age children who receive a nutritious lunch each day, Monday through Friday. The social outreach program also includes a children’s educational/recreation group, a seniors club, a dental clinic, a cloth making training workshop for women, a back to school program for adults who didn’t previously have secondary education, herb gardens, ongoing formation/self development workshops, a summer school program and more. His fellow Limerick man and St. James priest, Fr. Derek Leonard, joined the parish team just in time for Christmas 2007. Coincidently Derek and David began seminary together back in 1989. While both are priests of the Diocese of Limerick, Ireland, neither of them could have imagined that 20 years later they would work together on mission in Lima, Peru. Thanks to the Society of St. James, the dream of spending some time on mission became a reality for these two young diocesan priests. Both agree that what inspires them most is the faith of the Peruvian people, especially the faith and commitment of the young people in the parish. There are currently 70 catechists teaching religion in the parish, 60 of these are between the ages of 15 and 22. All of these young people have to struggle with the reality of poverty on a daily basis. Sadly for a number of these young people, the raw face of poverty manifests itself in the form of domestic violence and other severe problems in the home. Yet despite it all they give their time and energy willingly to share their faith and pass it on to others. The young people of El Resucitado take a very active role in the administration and decision-making within the parish. One small success story involves two new catechists. Two lads, aged 17 and 18, used to hang out with a street gang in one of the communities within the valley. They were actively involved in using and selling drugs. Fortunately the missionaries were able to encourage them to enroll in the back to school program. Now they teach religion to their peers every Friday night. El Resucitado is typical for the parish areas where the Society of St. James now works. The charisma instilled in us by our founder, Cardinal Cushing, calls us to go to those places where there is nothing by way of church presence or parish structure. We work closely with the local church and with the people of God to build of His kingdom of justice and peace for all. El Resucitado recently celebrated its third anniversary as a parish. While much has been done, there is so much more to do. As the parish continues to grow and expand, its needs are ever greater. Fr. Derek and Fr. David have just welcomed Fr. Tom Keyes from Boston who joined the team at El Resucitado at the end of July upon completing language study in Bolivia. Let us keep this great team of missionaries in our prayers. God bless. Sincerely, Rev. Kevin Hays PS: We would like to extend a special word of thanks to Fr. David Costello and Fr. Derek Leonard for help with the text and photos for this month's issue. For more photos and updates from El Resucitado Parish, visit Fr. Derek's blog: http://my.opera.com/limerickperumission/blog/
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