By: María Ximena Rondón
The Vicariate of Yurimaguas is located in the Peruvian department of Loreto, in the north of the country, in the heart of the Amazon. Three rivers converge in the area: the Huallaga, Shanusi and Paranapura. To get there, it is a journey of several hours by boat or by unpaved road from the city of Tarapoto.
In this place, called «The Pearl of the Huallaga», natural beauty, agricultural resources, linguistic richness and cultural diversity abound. According to the most recent census, conducted in 2017, the homonymous city of Yurimaguas has more than 62 thousand inhabitants, of which around 40 thousand are indigenous, who in turn are classified into eleven ethnic groups.
However, this human and natural wealth contrasts with the material poverty of its inhabitants. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI), Yurimaguas is among the six poorest and most populated districts in Peru. The poverty rate is estimated at 53.3%.
The presence of the Catholic Church dates back to the XVII century, with the arrival of the missions. Currently, 26 priests and 12 religious congregations take care of the spiritual (and in some cases material) needs of the faithful of Yurimaguas, distributed over the 72 thousand square kilometers occupied by the Vicariate.
The Vicar of Yurimaguas, Monsignor Jesús María Aristín, expressed his concern to the Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), due to the lack of priestly vocations to attend to the 827 villages under his pastoral governance.
«To get to all that is impossible. Normally, to the big towns you can get there more often, every two or three months or every half a year. But to the small ones you can take two or three years to show up,» he said. For this reason, so that the Catholic faith is not lost, Monsignor Aristín explained that in many localities there are «two or three lay pastoral animators. They are people who every Sunday lead the celebration of the Liturgy of the Word, meet with others and keep the faith of the community alive. It is a constant and permanent presence. Together they collaborate to make church and build the community. This situation gives us the benefit of reaching 80% of the communities.»
When priests come, he continued, they «celebrate baptisms, weddings and first communions, but they leave because they have to attend to other towns.
In view of this situation, the Vicar of Yurimaguas highlighted the support of the ACN Foundation for the formation of nine seminarians of the diocesan seminary «Christ the Savior», support provided in 2020, along with the stipend of more than 780 Mass intentions in the same period, and another 1,350 Mass intentions in 2021.
«There is no doubt that vocation ministry is a high priority, because our future depends on it. In these five and a half years we have had one or two priestly and diaconal ordinations. This has generated joy, an awakening and an attraction of vocations. It awakens the hope that there will be priests. If every year we ordain a priest, it means that in 20 years we will have 20 more priests», he said.
The Bishop added that the maintenance of the seminarians represents «many costs, and the help of ACN is really extraordinary, because it allows us to awaken hope”.
Regarding the charge for the Masses, Monsignor Aristín explained that «unlike other places where alms are given, here the people are very poor and in the cathedral of Yurimaguas you can receive only 20 or 30 soles (about six dollars) from a Mass».
Reconstruction of churches, reconstruction of hope
Peru is a country with a lot of seismic activity, due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire and on two tectonic plates (Nazca and South American). In 2019, an earthquake caused the collapse of the mother church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, in the Lagunas mission, and another church in the Santa Cruz mission. Thanks to the support of ACN, both churches were rebuilt.
Monsignor Aristín commented that the villagers were waiting «with illusion and hope for the day when the work would be finished. Imagine a town of 3 to 4 thousand inhabitants where overnight there is an earthquake and the church falls down. The people of Santa Cruz were left without a church for 3 years. The people were asking: «When will the church be ready», said the Bishop.
Javier Serquén, a worker from the Vicariate of Yurimaguas, pointed out that the community itself participated in the reconstruction work in Lagunas. «They carried the wood and water from the Huallaga River (which was about ten blocks from the site). It was an extraordinary help, because not only the mothers helped, but also the children. The men left their work in their chacras (small cultivation plots) to organize their schedules with the work masters».
Bishop Aristín said that when the churches were inaugurated «all the people were gathered with banners of welcome and gratitude. People were happy. This has also meant an awakening for the parish, and taking advantage of the new church we have placed a parish priest in Lagunas».
The work of religious women
In the Vicariate there are about 50 religious belonging to 12 congregations such as the Canonesses, the Cloistered Carmelites, the Teresian Missionary Carmelites, the Marian Missionary Sisters, among others. Monsignor Aristín explained that they are in charge of about five parishes, «only that of course they cannot celebrate Mass; they give catechesis, evangelize the people and celebrate the liturgy of the Word every Sunday». This work is also done thanks to the support of ACN’s benefactors, whose contribution makes it possible to sustain these religious. «Without them, we would lose five parishes,» said the Vicar.
What little they have, they share
Monsignor Jesús María Aristín told the ACN Foundation that the majority of the population is agricultural and that they have a subsistence economy. «They are hard-working people, because they start at 4 o’clock in the morning and rest at noon. They carry what they extract on their shoulders. They are very sacrificed and very good people, and they deserve all the support and backing.»
He recalled that during the Covid-19 pandemic, «people went hungry», but that farmers in rural areas «spontaneously brought bunches of plantains and cassava in their canoes and gave them to the city dwellers. It was a beautiful dynamic of solidarity. Those details that these people have are admirable, you don’t find them in other places. In my country, Spain, you don’t find this kind of solidarity,» he said.
For his part, Javier Serquén added that «we contemplate their poverty, but they share and do not suffer for what they are giving. What little we have we also share. The precious thing about this is the communion that God is putting in this Vicariate».
Regarding the fruits of service in the area, Monsignor Aristín also thanked ACN for its support to hold the Vicarial Assemblies in 2020 and 2021. He said that these events bring together almost 600 pastoral animators and that «they were impacted for life. They know they are not alone because they know their brothers and sisters in the next town. They know that they all have the same philosophy and the same work of animating the communities in the liturgy on Sundays, and to attend to the most needy during the week».
«If the support disappears, we won’t be able to live.»
Monsignor Aristín indicated that many of the projects and the subsistence of the Vicariate are possible thanks to the help of institutions such as the ACN Foundation, whose work in this area dates back to the 1980s.
In a message to the benefactors, he expressed that «you do not realize it, but it is an immense joy every time you support a project, it is a reason for celebration and hope. This requires us to continue working with more determination, with more strength in this task that the Church has entrusted to us to evangelize this small corner of the world. But if the support of institutions such as yours were to disappear, we would not be able to live here», he remarked.
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The Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need has developed around 20 material and humanitarian assistance projects in Peru between 2021 and 2022, in places such as Arequipa, Amazonas, Ayacucho, Callao, Cajamarca, among others.
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