Friendships renewed

Here follows the second installment concluding my account of my recent visit to Peru with Monsignor Raphael Keyes, and seminarians Francis Doyle and Dylan Schrader.

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It was late when we arrived in Nasca. The Redemptorists, who have care of the parishes of Nasca and Marcona, invited us to stay in the new priests' residence. Our diocese had assisted in having this house constructed, and the main reason for our previous visit was the dedication of this building. The Redemptorists were also away at meetings in Lima, but we were able to see the improvements that had taken place since our last visit.

The parish church at Nasca had been destroyed in an earthquake in the 1940s, before our priests had arrived there. The replacement church was new and thus far has lived up to its specifications to be earthquake-proof, since it has already ridden out a couple of severe earthquakes with relatively minor cracks.

With the construction of the priests' residence next to the church and of a new parish center (paid for by the municipality) behind the church, the city of Nasca is now well underway to enlarge the main plaza using the ground that the old church and other parish buildings used to occupy.

We had a very informative meeting with parish lay leaders and catechists. By the way, these people were very pleased with the ability of our seminarians to converse with them in Spanish. (Their bishop was also pleased to see how our encouragement for our seminarians to learn Spanish is bearing fruit!) We also visited a new building that had been constructed as a center for senior citizens. They serve a daily meal at the center, and provide social activities and medical assistance. They are also developing apartments that will be made available to the elderly.

The next day, I let Msgr. Keyes, Francis and Dylan make their way to Marcona while I remained in Nasca. Marcona had been the parish served by Msgr. Keyes for over 30 years. I had picked up an unpleasant souvenir (I think it came from that lunch in Chincha) and I knew that the joy of the people of Marcona to once again visit with Msgr. Keyes would outweigh any disappointment in my absence.

Marcona is a deep natural harbor on the Pacific Ocean and for many decades has been a "company town" for mining interests. It was those mining interests (from the United States back in 1960) that first greeted our priests from Jefferson City. These days, the owners of the mining operations are from China.

On the positive side, Marcona is growing with new pavement on the streets in the center of town and "pueblos jovenes" or new settlements springing up on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean south of town.

On the negative side, there is apparently much dissatisfaction over working conditions, and frustration in dealing with the directors of the mining operations. And those new settlements are not the result of prosperity but rather of that atmosphere of desperation. The process for the evolution of the pueblos jovenes begins with a family first putting up sticks to demarcate the area where they claim squatters' rights. They then throw up a shelter of straw mats for walls and floor and a tin roof. If they can afford it, later on they build a structure that is more durable - usually adobe.

While Msgr. Keyes and the seminarians were in Marcona, I was able to have a nice long visit with Father David Lopez. Fr. Lopez is the pastor in Nasca and took a day off from his community meetings in Lima to come down and update me on all that has been going on over these past two years.

The next day, we headed back to Lima. There, I was able to meet with Bishop Hector Vera, the new bishop of Ica. He is 45 years old and very energetic. He expressed deep gratitude for the many years of support from the people of the Diocese of Jefferson City. We spoke of our experiences in witnessing the devastation in the earthquake zone.

Bishop Vera then shared with us the unfortunate situation that we heard from many people during the week. While the Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) such as Catholic Relief Services have been very helpful in the reconstruction effort, the largest pool of money supposedly available for reconstruction has not been forthcoming. At the time of the earthquakes, governments all over the world sent millions of dollars to Peru to assist in rebuilding. Thus far, only a fraction of that money has been made available by the government. It is a source of frustration that we can only imagine. (Oddly enough, I recently saw in a hearing on the Department of Homeland Security in Washington that much of the money budgeted for the recovery from Hurricane Katrina has yet to be allocated to the ongoing rebuilding efforts along the Gulf of Mexico!)