The parish sisters are in effect “the Church stepping out”
Tell us about the presence of the Congregation in Huaripampa.
The presence of the Congregation in Huaripampa began in February 2012. The brothers arrived: Fr. Pedro Vidarte as parish priest, Fr. Hermann Wendling as superior of the community, along with Br. Wilber Onofre, Franklin Astorga and Isaac Moreno from Colombia. In 2015 I became pastor. For me it was a great learning experience. We have dedicated ourselves to the training of animators. To achieve this objective we started working with children: the Warma Kuyay (Love the Child) group consists of altar boys, children who are in catechesis for first communion and missionary children. In the last few years we have linked the pre-adolescents group that is called Urpi Willay, with confirmation and Youth Ministry. To strengthen these groups, we have asked the Congregation for help with the establishment of the “Damianitos” Parish Ombudsman. We also provide help in two fields: psychological and legal counselling both serving to help the families of these groups as well as all the families of the parish and people in the surrounding area.
In the Parish, the elderly are very important to us. Because of this we started the Caritas Parish team "Beato P. Eustaquio", which cares for around 110 elderly people in dire need. Often, when there are celebrations or parties, things are donated to us for distribution to the elderly people. Moreover, our elderly members have celebrations, meetings, and sometimes go out for a walk. Once a month we host a group of them at our table for lunch.
What characteristics define the SSCC community serving in the Andina plateau?
The Congregation in Huaripampa is characterised by simplicity and humility, having a family spirit, being close to the parishioners, being concerned for their needs and problems. We are sensitive to human suffering, people who are challenged with problems of health, economy and education. Furthermore, we witness to the hallmarks of the Congregation (family spirit, closeness) by making our resources, vehicles, materials and personnel of the Congregation available for evangelisation. The differences of nationality, regions and age complement each other.
You are the parish priest of San Miguel Arcángel. What are the challenges of this parish community?
I have been the parish priest since January 2015. There are a number of challenges that we face: the creation of an awareness of the importance of Christian and human formation; the formation of communities; elaborating pastoral plans; recognising the diversity of peoples with different customs; the difficulty of transportation to hold meetings; celebrating the popular festivals throughout the year; coordinating the two parishes run by the community of sisters; getting across the message that sacramental celebrations are communal and that formation is not only sacramental, etc.
What is the "parochial defence" of rights?
The “Damianitos” Parish Ombudsman's Office is linked to the Ministry of Women and vulnerable peoples of the Peruvian State. It is a primarily a preventative project. Within the psychology field, the objective is to offer the community spaces that favour the prevention of and care for psychological problems, as well as protecting and promoting the rights of children and adolescents, prioritising the emotional, personal and social well-being of the user, to improve their quality of life and their mental health. In the legal field, the office attends to the problems of alimony, family violence, accompaniment in judicial processes, legal advice on property and visitation problems, custody disputes, etc.
In fact, in terms of prevention in both of the areas mentioned above, there is group and individual accompaniment in primary and secondary educational institutions within the jurisdiction of the parish, in health centres and with DEMUNAS (Municipal Defence of for Children and Adolescents) in the towns, among others.
The SSCC religious also collaborate with two other communities of religious sisters who are ‘parish priests’. What is your appreciation of this female ministry?
Along with the congregations of the Daughters of Santa María Reina and the Daughters of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, we practice mutual collaboration and ongoing coordination. They are responsible for the ministry of motherhood in pastoral work as well as organising the parish: they help us to be less clerical and make us understand that the Church needs Sisters and young people and that we are all important in the Lord's vineyard. They are closer to their communities; they put into practice the ‘stepping-out’ Church. They spend more time working in the schools, they are teachers in the schools in their parish areas. We have a good working relationship between the three parishes. Despite the latest document of the Second Vatican Council, we treat them as responsible for the parishes.
Being in Huaripampa, how do you think the pastoral and missionary conversion to which Francisco and our last General Chapter invites us can be applied?
Renewal is understood as a different way of evangelizing, in which the Holy Spirit, that is, spirituality, must necessarily be first. We fail at this. One cannot speak of renewal without recognising that the primary source of newness in the parish is the Master, our Lord Jesus. It is certainly a difficult job. It starts with one person many times. The terrain is arid. There is discouragement, but we have learned to empower youth and leaders. This is of utmost importance. We are certainly not Superman. By involving all the vital forces of the parish, little by little the way of thinking of families and groups is changing. They understand that we are there not only to celebrate sacraments, but also to help in their spiritual and material life, in the human development of the people we accompany.
So far, we have been trying to build a community with a certain structure, for example, we try to link 4-6-year-old children to the elderly. That said, the pandemic has changed our plans. At the moment we are working with a virtual plan, which is to evangelise through virtual means. This is a very big challenge for pastors and also for parishioners because of internet connections, but we are learning and preparing to use this method of evangelisation efficiently.
Finally, the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon has recently been created. What impact can this organization have on the Christian communities of the region?
First of all, our Cardinal, Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno, SJ, is a specialist in Amazonian affairs. The Church in the Amazon affects us who live in the mountains. The care and respect of the jungle is important, since our life depends on the trees, rivers and biodiversity, as well as its inhabitants. This is the voice of the Church denouncing injustice, denouncing the selfish and arrogant large companies, whose purpose is only to extract all the resources so as to fill their bank accounts and feed their obsession with wealth. The Archdiocese of Huancayo covers a part of the Peruvian jungle, to which this document applies. But in the entire Archdiocesan Church, we all have to take care of the land, our rivers and especially our people.
Thank you very much for the interview. I hope it contributes something.
10/11/2020