Ongoing Training of Catechists in a Vast Parish in Peru

The Apostolic Vicariate of Iquitos lies deep in the jungle of the Peruvian Amazon region. Even getting to the capital involves having to travel by air or by boat. What might appeal to a holiday adventurer, represents a major challenge for the pastoral workers of the Catholic Church. The parishes are generally made up of numerous small riverside settlements, all of them accessible only by river boat. The possibility of visiting these various settlements depends very much on the river levels and the season of the year. In summer, when there is very little rain and the water level is low, many of the settlements simply cannot be reached.

Consequently, the local catechists play a very important role in the Church, since they can pray together with the people in the villages and instruct them in their faith. In this way they can generally sustain the life of the Church for long periods of the year, given that the priests simply cannot get to every individual village as often as they would need to in order to provide the necessary pastoral care for the people.

Now, in the parish of Santa Clara of Nanay, it has been possible to improve the training of these catechists, thanks to the generosity of our benefactors. Every month in the parish there is a meeting of all the catechists, at which there are workshops and a range of different ongoing training opportunities. At the same time the catechists themselves can exchange ideas, based on their own personal experiences. Thanks to our benefactors, ACN was able to contribute $6,700 towards setting up this program.

Now Father Jacek Zygala has written to thank us: “We sow, and it is God who gives the harvest. But we are happy and satisfied to have been able to make this project a reality. Without the financial support we have received from you our missionary and evangelization work would be impossible.”

He ends with a heartfelt thank you to everybody who has helped!

Aid to the Church in Need commits to invest your funds where they will have the greatest impact for the Church that we serve. Funds donated to Aid to the Church in Need’s projects will be used towards the greatest need in our programs to help keep the Faith alive.

Code: 234-07-79