News from Peru
Father Daniel O’Sullivan a Priest of the Clifton Diocese and originally
from Bath ministers in Moquegua, Peru. He is a member of the St James
Society, a missionary organisation providing priestly ministry in South
America, since 1982. This is his latest ‘News from Peru’.
The local council said yes, the Van Neste Foundation said yes, Bishop Declan with the support of the parishes of the Clifton Diocese said yes, the St James Society said yes and the Mayor of Moquegua has promised 1000 bags of cement. Do you remember how I started my last newsletter? It began with a series of noes but in six months the Lord has turned it around. He has tested me to the limit and like St Peter I have faltered. ‘O ye of little faith why did you doubt?’ (Mt14:31). So the account stands: The local Council - $,38,500 plus 1000 bags of cement (worth $5000), local fund raising activities plus some individual donations - $13,000, the Van Neste Foundation - $17,500. The St James Society - $20,000. The total is $94.000 (£ 53,714). I announce the joyous news that in January of 2006 we will begin the construction of the parish church of San Antonio, Moquegua. Meanwhile we await the donations from the diocese. If I can build the church here in 2006 and England win the World Cup I would echo the words of Simeon (Lk 2:29).
Bishop Declan has fulfilled his promise made in his visit to us at the beginning of the year. The football kits from Swindon Town Football Club have finally arrived here after a long encounter with Peruvian customs. We thought at various moments that we had the necessary documents in order but Peruvian customs always needed one document more. The kits arrived in Peru last July and only now have I been able to donate them to the children and young people who took part in our football summer school last February. The photos display the delight of the young people here. I thank most sincerely Father Kevin Hennessey who as Chaplain of Swindon Town Football Club facilitated the donation of the football kits.
We have been blessed with a number of visits since I last wrote. Father Peter Slocombe, the Parish Priest of Cheddar and Burnham-on-Sea visited us in September. His visit was brief but pleasant. He brought me up to date news from the diocese of Clifton. Father Darren Reid from the Middlesbrough Diocese visited in May. He hopes to come to Peru in the near future to dedicate a number of years of his priesthood to the Church here. In the same month Mr Peter Ormerod visited us. He was a seminarian with me in Valladolid, Spain in the 1960’s. After first year he returned to England and became a very successful headmaster of a Catholic Secondary School in Middlesbrough. We last met 25 years ago. Perhaps a little rounder with less hair but it was great to see him again.
Miguel Angel Quispe who was confirmed last year and has since worked as a catechist in our programme for children preparing for First Communion has manifested his wish to become a religion teacher. He hopes to study at the University Marcelino Champagnat in Lima. He will study from here but will go to Lima during the summer months to study and take his examinations. To obtain his BA in religious education he will have to study for five years. I need about £500 a year to help him to achieve his goal. He really is a very committed and serious young man who will serve the Lord and our Church in the future. Maybe an individual, group or parish might be interested in sponsoring Miguel.
Our social projects continue to thrive but of course we need finance to continue. Our projects include our parish canteen, workshops, our social and legal office, the bakery for disabled people, wheelbarrows for poor children who work in the local market and mobile stoves so that our poorest women can prepare and sell meals in the streets of Moquegua. Our Bishop Hugo called me in these days to make an order for Christmas chocolates made by our parish workshops. He would like to donate these products to the benefactors of the diocese. Our workshops are beginning to spread its boundaries.
As we come to the end of another year we celebrate First Communions, Baptisms, Marriages and our Christmas Novena and so prepare the joyous feast of the birth of our Lord.
Thank you for your spiritual and material support. I wish you a blessed Christmas and every grace for the New Year.
Father Daniel O´Sullivan
The local council said yes, the Van Neste Foundation said yes, Bishop Declan with the support of the parishes of the Clifton Diocese said yes, the St James Society said yes and the Mayor of Moquegua has promised 1000 bags of cement. Do you remember how I started my last newsletter? It began with a series of noes but in six months the Lord has turned it around. He has tested me to the limit and like St Peter I have faltered. ‘O ye of little faith why did you doubt?’ (Mt14:31). So the account stands: The local Council - $,38,500 plus 1000 bags of cement (worth $5000), local fund raising activities plus some individual donations - $13,000, the Van Neste Foundation - $17,500. The St James Society - $20,000. The total is $94.000 (£ 53,714). I announce the joyous news that in January of 2006 we will begin the construction of the parish church of San Antonio, Moquegua. Meanwhile we await the donations from the diocese. If I can build the church here in 2006 and England win the World Cup I would echo the words of Simeon (Lk 2:29).
Bishop Declan has fulfilled his promise made in his visit to us at the beginning of the year. The football kits from Swindon Town Football Club have finally arrived here after a long encounter with Peruvian customs. We thought at various moments that we had the necessary documents in order but Peruvian customs always needed one document more. The kits arrived in Peru last July and only now have I been able to donate them to the children and young people who took part in our football summer school last February. The photos display the delight of the young people here. I thank most sincerely Father Kevin Hennessey who as Chaplain of Swindon Town Football Club facilitated the donation of the football kits.
We have been blessed with a number of visits since I last wrote. Father Peter Slocombe, the Parish Priest of Cheddar and Burnham-on-Sea visited us in September. His visit was brief but pleasant. He brought me up to date news from the diocese of Clifton. Father Darren Reid from the Middlesbrough Diocese visited in May. He hopes to come to Peru in the near future to dedicate a number of years of his priesthood to the Church here. In the same month Mr Peter Ormerod visited us. He was a seminarian with me in Valladolid, Spain in the 1960’s. After first year he returned to England and became a very successful headmaster of a Catholic Secondary School in Middlesbrough. We last met 25 years ago. Perhaps a little rounder with less hair but it was great to see him again.
Miguel Angel Quispe who was confirmed last year and has since worked as a catechist in our programme for children preparing for First Communion has manifested his wish to become a religion teacher. He hopes to study at the University Marcelino Champagnat in Lima. He will study from here but will go to Lima during the summer months to study and take his examinations. To obtain his BA in religious education he will have to study for five years. I need about £500 a year to help him to achieve his goal. He really is a very committed and serious young man who will serve the Lord and our Church in the future. Maybe an individual, group or parish might be interested in sponsoring Miguel.
Our social projects continue to thrive but of course we need finance to continue. Our projects include our parish canteen, workshops, our social and legal office, the bakery for disabled people, wheelbarrows for poor children who work in the local market and mobile stoves so that our poorest women can prepare and sell meals in the streets of Moquegua. Our Bishop Hugo called me in these days to make an order for Christmas chocolates made by our parish workshops. He would like to donate these products to the benefactors of the diocese. Our workshops are beginning to spread its boundaries.
As we come to the end of another year we celebrate First Communions, Baptisms, Marriages and our Christmas Novena and so prepare the joyous feast of the birth of our Lord.
Thank you for your spiritual and material support. I wish you a blessed Christmas and every grace for the New Year.
Father Daniel O´Sullivan
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