Support for 26 Religious Sisters in Peru
High in the Andes in Peru, in the Archdiocese of Huancayo, 26 sisters from eight different congregations are working to serve God and their neighbors. In this vast region of 6,000 square miles, the size of some small countries, there are no more than 743,000 people, roughly 71.5% of whom are Catholic. As a result, each priest in the diocese has to minister to an average of more than 8,000 scattered faithful.
The sisters work first and foremost among people in the rural regions, most of whom live in extreme poverty, barely managing to scrape a living from their livestock and agriculture. The houses they live in are built in the traditional Quincha style of wattle and daub, and many places lack even the most basic infrastructure. The sisters also have to cover long distances on unmade roads and tracks just to reach the faithful.
Cardinal Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno, the Archbishop of Huancayo, is very pleased with the sisters‘ work and has asked us to support them. He tells us, “There is a lack of vocations. We have fewer and fewer vocations, and consequently fewer priests and religious. Huancayo is a vast territory, and the priests we do have simply cannot cover it all. This situation means that people in the remotest communities, who cannot be reached by the priests, feel dissatisfied and abandoned.”
He also says, “There are sects in these areas of Peru who win over more and more adherents every day and take advantage of the people‘s poverty. Our religious sisters focus their care and their activities on these places, where the priests are not regularly available. They spend two or three days in each community, bringing the people hope and joy, living alongside them and sharing the reality of their lives in order to encourage them and show God‘s word by their living example. The work of the sisters is greatly appreciated, but they do not have the financial resources to cover their own living costs.”
Among other things, the sisters prepare children, young people, and adults for reception of the sacraments, teach them the faith, support local families, and care for the sick. They stand by these people in all their spiritual, psychological, and material needs.
To help the sisters continue their apostolate, we are offering basic support at a total value of $10,800.
Can you help these sisters reach out to the poor and isolated in Peru?
We are sure they will remember you in their prayers.
Aid to the Church in Need commits to invest your funds where they will have the greatest impact for the Church 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: 234-05-39
