Eliane Bispo, a Brazilian missionary of the Pantokrator community of consecrated laity, who works in the Prelature of Moyobamba (in the region of San Martin, in the central jungle of Peru), develops together with her community an apostolate financed by the Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) to transform the lives of young people who live in a reality of promiscuity and lack of family love.
According to ACN Bispo, coordinator of Pantokrator in Peru, her community arrived eight years ago in the region where, especially in the city of Tarapoto, they have seen many problems of alcoholism, drug addiction, wild parties, prostitution and dysfunctional families.
«Where I come from, Brazil, we see that fathers abandon their children, and here we see that it is the mothers who abandon their children and go with other men. This marks many young people that we see here, because they know that their mother left with another man and that they have several siblings from different fathers», said the missionary. She has seen these consequences reflected in her pastoral work in the University of Moyobamba and with the young people who attend the weekly meetings organized by her community, in the town of Morales.
«Something that shocked me was that when I arrived here the young people told us ‘yes I support them’, ‘yes I will come’, but they leave or they don’t come. They think they don’t need anyone, it doesn’t matter if they come or not. It is something that causes us a lot of pain, because they do not recognize their own value and think they are nothing. People have no dignity and this generates a chain of wounds and consequences. Nobody committed themselves to these people, so they don’t know what it means to commit themselves, or to commit themselves to someone else,» said Bispo.
This is why the Prelate of Moyobamba, Monsignor Rafael Escudero López-Brea, «sees that evangelization is very necessary in this area, with all this context. That is why we have been developing this work of formation and orientation to help these young people to discover the meaning of their lives», said Eliane Bispo.
The apostolic work ranges from pre-adolescents to young adults. They have a weekly group called Juventud Fiel Youth, in their Pastoral Center in Morales. They also carry out activities, give talks and create formation and prayer groups at the César Vallejo University in Tarapoto and in various schools in the area. Bispo said that the Moyobamba Prelature also commissions them to organize retreats for young people, which are attended by an average of 150 people.
One of the central axes of Pantokrator’s formation is the Theology of the Body, to counteract the culture of promiscuity in the area; its foundations are the Doctrine of the Church, the importance of the family, the value of life and human dignity, as well as accompaniment for vocational discernment.
With ACN’s support, Bispo said, «we are expanding our work to the other faculties of the university, because we are only in one. We are improving our equipment, making outreach materials and improving the quality of the music we produce, which helps us reach young people. We would also like to be able to have a chapel at the university, so that it can be a space for prayer and attention to young people».
Lives transformed by love
Eliane Bispo shared with ACN some testimonies about how her apostolate has transformed many lives.
«There was a girl from this region who led a very promiscuous life, with whom I talked. She became pregnant and I advised her to take care of that life, but she miscarried. However, we did not leave her, but we continued to pray with her and I asked her to accompany me to the talks I was giving on the Theology of the Body and on love. She told me that all this had touched her soul and she began to get closer to God. Now she lives in Lima (the capital) and is participating in a community called Lazos de Amor Mariano. She is a very good girl,» she said.
Another case was that of a young woman who lived with her boyfriend and, in the words of Eliane, «was subjected to various situations. She began to participate in our apostolate and became aware of what was happening and separated and is now living chastity. Thus we have several testimonies of young people who have decided to live chastity and this is for them an inner healing».
Regarding vocations, Eliane said that in Pantokrator they currently have three Peruvian vocations and three others in the process of discernment. In addition, on one occasion she went on a spiritual journey «When I was at Mass, I recognized a girl who had gone on one of our retreats and the Mother Superior told me that there was another one. They both came from the town of Altomayo. Mother Superior told me: ‘you are sowing and we are reaping’. So it is very good to know that we are sowing and God reaps the harvest at the right time, it is very nice».
Bispo was very pleased to say that «we see that there are fruits of our labor. Perhaps they are not the size of the effort we make, but there are many fruits. We are few, but we try to help the young people in all dimensions: we do inner healing, accompaniment and spiritual direction so that they can have consistency of faith, so that they can have a maturity and thus commit themselves to the faith and to the Church.
Addressing the benefactors, the coordinator of Pantokrator in Peru assured them that with their generosity «you are saving many souls, you are helping many young people to find the meaning of their lives, your help is useful and very necessary. We pray for you and that Christ may help you in your needs. There is a place reserved for you in heaven».If you would like to collaborate with this apostolate that transforms the lives of young people in the Peruvian jungle, click here: https://en.acn-global.org/donate/.