On March 17th, 2015 the Cork and Ross Mission celebrated 50 years of its foundation with an extraordinary demonstration of gratitude on the part of the Peruvian people. For the earlier missionaries it was wonderful to see those parishes and schools that they had initiated in the sand flourishing and growing. The Cork and Ross Mission was formally closed in 2004 when the last two Irish priests left but the Mercy Sisters continue to work side by side with Peruvian priests, Sisters and laity. I will outline some of our current ministries with an emphasis on four.
Drug Rehabilitation Centre:
Peru is second only to Columbia in drug production so it follows that the use of drugs is a huge problem in Peruvian Society. Sr. Calixta Rodriguez directs the residential centre for rehabilitation which operates in three phases in separate locations – an Open Centre where drug addicts come in from the streets, or jails or places where they consume drugs together, a Residential Therapeutic Community where they stay for 6 months, and finally the third phase called Reinsertion in the Wider Community where they live in but go out to work and are supported by a community. Salaries for the psychologists, therapists etc. for this programme are funded by the Southern Province of the Sisters of Mercy.
Rehabilitation Centre
Mission in the Andes Mountains (Sierra):
The Sierra of Peru has always been somewhat abandoned by Church and State in Peru. So in 1995 the Mercy Sisters decided to open a mission in Mache, a town situated at 9,000 feet in the Andes Mountains. The Sisters built their mud-brick Convent in land behind the Church donated to them by the people and do pastoral work in the town itself as well as the twelve villages scattered around the district of Mache. A priest visits once a month to celebrate the Eucharist and the Sisters and lay pastoral workers celebrate the Liturgy of the Word weekly. Currently, Sr. Cáit Wims is involved mainly in pastoral work and visits the schools in the twelve villages around. Sr. Angelica Gonzalez is the religion teacher in the state secondary school in Mache itself and works with youth groups. In recent years the roads to Mache have been improved and what once was a five hour trip from the coast now can be done in about three hours along the edge of the abyss.
Pastoral Centre
Alto Trujillo:
About twelve years ago, the Sisters decided to leave the developed area of the Cork and Ross Mission and move into the new “Human Settlement” called Alto Trujillo some miles outside the city, closer to the hills. It was like beginning all over again – no roads, no electricity and no water. This new Human Settlement was initiated by the Government to relocate people who had lost their homes in the flooding following the phenomenon of the El Nino in 1997. Today it has a population of 72,000 and continues to grow. Sr. Betty Barry built the first Parish Centre on the south end of the settlement to keep contact with the Catholics who had moved there. It was financed by the Congregation.
A couple of years later Sr. Josephine Keohane built a similar Centre on the north side, called San José. She returned to Ireland and Sr. Immaculata Murphy went to work there. Sr. Immaculata had spent many years working in Boca Raton, South Florida in the parish of St. Joan of Arc. Thanks to the generosity of St. Joan of Arc parish San José is today an independent parish with a pastoral centre, very active library, church and a large technical school. The school was a response to the cry of women “to learn a skill to get out of the poverty”. The sixteen teachers are paid by the government and the school is managed by Sr. Dora Castro. Shoemaking, dressmaking and tailoring (using industrial machinery), computers, hairdressing, bakery etc. are all taught there.
Meanwhile, the other Parish Centre, Our Lady of Mercy, has added a library and classrooms. This project was financed by St. Killian’s School in Dublin. St. Killian’s (German Protestant School) continues to pay the salary of the librarian. Sr. Dora does pastoral work at Our Lady of Mercy on weekends as does Sr. Erika Minano who is the religion teacher in the local very poor state school with 1,500 students.
Technical Centre
Library
Care Centres:
In recent years the German Government has funded large agricultural projects in the newly irrigated deserts south of Trujillo. Buses from the agricultural companies leave Alto Trujillo at 6.00 am transporting mothers and fathers to the fields and factories down south. They return at 7.00 pm. Parents wanted to work yet they were faced with the problem of childcare especially as primary schools in Peru operate from 7.30 am to 12 noon. Care Centres were set up by the Sisters to meet this need and today there are Care Centres for 203 children and a staff of 27 women – co-ordinators, cooks and care mothers. Care Mothers are trained to help the children with the three hours homework that the children receive. Many mothers who come down from the mountains cannot read or write so they appreciate this help very much. When the children finish in school at noon, they go to their Care Home where they get a good dinner, do their homework and are cared for until 5.30 pm.
This project is funded by the parish in Florida and an NGO also from Florida called “The Father’s Table”. They visit annually and see the results of their extraordinary generosity. The Florida parish also pays the librarian’s salary, the registration and the daily transportation of 41 special needs children to a marvellous special school built 25 years ago by the Cork and Ross Mission.
Mache
Sr. Juanita Cueva Rios works in a women’s prison enabling the women to regain their self-esteem and value their dignity, thus preparing them for future reintegration into family and society. She also organises the provision of legal and psychological aid to prisoners and women in need. Sr. Aurea Roldan Santiago works in education, administration, ecology and spirituality. In Lima, Sr. Maureen Kelly works with families in difficult situations, participates in retreat giving, visits prisoners and organises workshops for youth leaders.
So the Cork and Ross Mission in Peru, while officially closed, is very much alive thanks to the generosity of the Mercy Sisters and our many benefactors, especially in Boca Raton, Florida.
Immaculata Murphy rsm
Southern Province
