AMERICA/PERU - “We must evangelise to make known Christ and the beauty of Christian life” says the Bishop Prelate of Juli, a year after his installation in one of the poorest parts of Peru called the Rome of the Andes where the people are mainly Aymara and a few Quechua

Monday, 5 March 2007

Juli (Agenzia Fides) - The Apostolic Prelature of Juli, in southern Peru has a population of 510,000 95% Aymara and 5% Quechua. It is called ‘Rome of the Andes’ because it has four churches with the same names as the four main Roman Basilicas. In the Prelature there are 5 diocesan priests, 4 Maryknoll missionaries and 2 Benedictines and women religious of 6 different congregations. Despite dire poverty the people are deeply religious. The Bishop Prelate is José María Ortega Trinidad (appointed 22 April 2006). Here is an interview on the situation and the pastoral priorities.

Bishop Ortega what are the local pastoral priorities?
Principally to spread the faith, encourage religious and priestly vocations and open institutions for social and charity work to help our people improve their conditions as person and citizens. The Church is always concerned for the material good of the people. As I said at my installation and in pastoral meetings, what is needed is deeper faith, Christian life, and deeper prayer. The Pope in his encyclical ‘Deus Caritas Est’ said prayer is essential so as not to reduce everything to activism. He also said that Christian charity work must be free of political or ideological conditioning.
Do the Aymara people, the majority ethnic group, need special care ?
I think so. On the whole I have found them very kind and welcoming. It is important to get to know them, their way of living and their customs. The Aymara are a people of silence who need much attention. We try to give it to them and we see the results, when they receive attention they approach the bishop and the priest. I have noticed certain customs which can be inculturated with special care. These customs reflect the best of their traditions.
How does one discern whether or not a custom is in keeping with the Christian faith?
There are things which can be accepted but others cannot. However these people posses other values they are determined, hard working, creative. These values are necessary for the life of the country.
Have you had previous pastoral experience in the Andes region?
Thanks to God’s grace and my 29 years of priesthood in the prelature of Yauyos I am very accustomed to the peoples of the Andes. I remember in the beginning I was like a bridge between the first priests who came to evangelise that Prelature in 1957 and those ordained later. I was one of the first local men to be ordained a priest. In those times in some parts of Yauyos people still used to go up a hill to make their offerings. Gradually I told them about the Christian faith and they stopped those customs, but this pastoral work demands time, catechesis, accompaniment. Now when I travel through the prelature of Juli I realise the need for evangelisation to make Christ and the beauty of the Christian life known. We must evangelise with perseverance.
In your pastoral visits how did you find the Christian practice of the Aymara?
We owe very much to the extraordinary work of evangelisation carried out first by the Dominicans and later by the Jesuits. Thanks to God’s grace the faith was sown deeply. Through the centuries the people retained their popular piety. I have visited the five large towns of my Prelature and I found people with sound faith and lively piety. Many asked for a resident priest "we need a priest" they told me. In one parish at 4,200mt above sea level, an elderly grandmother told me: “Bishop we need a priest at least to help us die a holy death”. These people are deeply religious and feel the need for the presence of priests. And there is a danger that without a priest and continual catechesis people may lose the custom of receiving the Sacraments.
In what other fields is catechesis necessary?
On the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Visiting the Lord in the Eucharist and taking care of the church where he waits for us. It is necessary when receiving Communion to remember the conditions to ensure that the Lord to be well received in our souls. This is why we must restore the wonderful practice of confession, so good for the soul and conscience. Catechesis on the Eucharist should orient to Confession and rediscover the meaning of an offence against God. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 5/3/2007; righe 60, parole 819)


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