Peru: Love for Our Lady in the Altiplano

An Irish missionary tells ACN about the love that the Peruvian people have for Mary and how Protestant sects take advantage of a priest shortage in the country and lead Catholics away from the Church.

“Oh, Father, thanks for visiting. I need to speak to you.” These were the words that greeted Father David O’Connor, a missionary priest from Ireland, when he visited 85-year-old Genaro in the Altiplano of Puno in Peru, more than 13,000 feet above sea level. To his surprise, Genaro then said, “I have decided to leave the Catholic Church.” Father David was shocked. He knew that Genaro had been a devoted Catholic for many years.

Father David told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that Genaro went to church for Eucharistic Adoration every Saturday. Genaro suffered terribly from poor health. Because of his arthritis, he could not genuflect but would instead make “a huge profundo bow from the waist.” And one Saturday, Father David overheard how Genaro talked to Jesus: “He thanked Him for his daughter, who took care of him, and for the parish priest, who gave him a daily meal, among other things. He then started to cry and asked to be cured, as his sight was going. He was tired of his chronic arthritis and other pain. When he could not think of anything more to say, he started to pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary. And after about an hour, he stood up, bowed before the Blessed Sacrament, and said, ‘Lord, I will come to you again next Saturday.’”

“I am tired of suffering”

Because of Genaro’s deep faith, Father David was surprised to hear that he was thinking of leaving the Church. Genaro explained that he had heard a Protestant pastor promising that anyone who came to his church would be cured of their illness. “Father, I have been going to the Catholic Church for years, asking to be healed, and I am still very sick. I am tired of suffering,” he said.

A project partner of ACN, Father David knew that Protestant sects were growing in Latin America and trying to convince Catholics to leave the Church. But he also knew that they criticized the veneration of Our Blessed Mother. He didn’t know how to explain to Genaro that not even the best clinic in the country could cure his pain. But being aware of his great love for the Mother of God, Father David said, “But Genaro, they don’t love Our Lady.” Without blinking, Genaro replied, “Ah. So I won’t go.”

“I want my Catholic faith, but it is not available where I live”

Genaro’s story is just one example of Peru’s devotion to Our Lady, especially among the indigenous Quechua, whom Father David mostly ministers to. “I think they often have a closer approach to Our Lady and the saints than we do. They have the simple idea that they can talk to a real person, in a very close and personal interaction,” says the missionary, who left Ireland after completing a degree in computer science to become a priest in Peru. He is now incardinated in the Prelature of Huancané.

Still, as a result of the priest shortage in parts of Peru, many Catholics have joined Protestant sects. Father David remembers asking one Catholic woman why she went to the sects’ services. “Because I want to hear the Word of God, and you are not coming,” she replied. When Father David asked what she would do if her town had a Catholic presence, she said, “Of course I would come back. I want my Catholic faith, but it is not available where I live.”

Luckily, Father David was there to minister to Genaro when he was going through a difficult time. But this is not always the case.

Father David has a request for ACN’s benefactors: “Please pray for vocations, especially to the priesthood, for our difficult but beautiful mission in the Prelature of Huancané in Peru, so we can bring the truth and light of the Gospel to so many suffering souls.”

—Conn McNally