By Sister Immaculata, Sisters of Mercy
Sister Immaculata · Sisters of Mercy · Alto Trujillo, Peru
I was in about my twentieth year working at St. Joan of Arc Parish in Boca Raton, Florida, teaching a class on St. Luke's gospel to a large group of adults. There is much in Luke about the poor. A participant, Ken Schammel, raised his hand and asked, "What are we doing for the poor?" The group offered various answers — charitable giving, volunteer work — but Ken insisted: "We are not truly involved with the poor."
Finally we decided to pray about it. God answered quickly. The following week I saw a documentary about four Catholics who dedicated their lives to the poor: Archbishop Dom Helder Camara, Dorothy Day, Mother Teresa, and Cesar Chavez. The film moved me deeply.
Soon after, I was invited to visit a migrant labor camp in West Delray — The Pines — and give moral support to a Mexican couple who had just been asked to manage it. That was the beginning. Ken Schammel, his wife Marilyn, and many others from St. Joan's began going to The Pines weekly, running summer camps for 80 children, drawing support from every Christian church in the area. Even Ted Winsburg, a Jewish grower, gave his bus free — filled with gas each day — to transport the children.
"There was a wonderful sense in Peru of building the 'Reino de Dios' — the Reign of God — where there would be justice, peace and love. Somehow these words spoke more to me in Spanish than they did in English."
— Sister ImmaculataOne Sunday, Ferdinand Mafood of Food for the Poor was speaking at St. Joan of Arc and invited me to visit Haiti. I replied: "I do not want to visit Haiti — I want to work there." The idea of starting a mission grew. But God had other plans. At the congregation's chapter meeting in August 1984, I was elected Superior General and had no choice but to return to Ireland after 24 years in Boca Raton. I shed many tears.
As Superior General, part of my duty was to visit the congregation's missions around the world — the Philippines, Kenya, and Peru. The sisters had been in Peru for 18 years. On my third visit, I knew. That was where I was being called to minister.
When my six years in leadership ended, I set out for Peru and language school in Lima. I spent the first five years in the original Cork Mission in the town of Rio Seco. Then, a Peruvian sister and I started a new mission in the Andes at 10,000 feet in the town of Mache — the land of the potato. Following a bus accident six years later, I moved to the coast in Trujillo, where the Sisters of Mercy had begun working in a new settlement called Alto Trujillo.
Why I Stay in Peru and Alto Trujillo
When I first began working in Rio Seco, the Hunger Fund from St. Joan of Arc began to support us. This was later formalized as The Ministry of the Good Shepherd. The support from Boca Raton has been extraordinary — not only financial, but personal. Members visit the mission regularly and provide tremendous moral support.
If you visit Alto Trujillo today — this huge, sprawling human settlement where 50% still live in straw ranchitos — and come to San Jose, the pastoral area where I work, here is what you will see:
At San Jose, Alto Trujillo
- A lovely chapel that is full and alive every week, giving praise and worship to God
- A Pastoral Center offering programs of a religious, educational, and social nature to children, youth, and adults
- A Library and Study Center with a full-time librarian, packed with students every day
- Ten Care Centers where 100 children are fed each day and cared for until their mothers return from work
- A Technical Center giving skills training to 76 adults, mostly women, preparing them to earn their own living
- A bakery employing 10 people
- 26 children who once roamed the streets — now attending Primary School
- 35 children with special needs going to an excellent Special School in a comfortable bus each morning
- 23 young people going to college, sponsored by individuals or groups
- 28 families living in a simple but secure home instead of a straw ranchito
- A Christian community being built on the Word of God
At the Mission in Mache
- A town and several villages that have come alive — spiritually and economically
- A new breed of sheep roaming the hills
- A Technical Institute that has grown from 15 students to 170
- A sister teaching and working with youth in the local State Secondary School
- Young people going to college who would never have had the opportunity
"As long as I can be a link uniting these people with the poor of Peru, I believe it is worth my while staying in this country. I give thanks to God every day for the health and energy to walk the sandy desert roads — and for the generous friends in Boca Raton and Ireland without whose help none of the above could happen."
— Sister Immaculata"I was hungry and you gave me to eat… Welcome into the joy of the Lord."