ANOTHER TOWN FOR THE NEW POPE

 

Not often mentioned,  our new Holy Father, Pope Leo has also left his mark on another smaller  Peruvian city called CHULUCANAS, in the northern province of Piura, about 30 miles east of the regional capital of Piura (where I was to live for several months), where the desert coast begins to rise up into the Andes. Pope Leo arrived at the Augustinian mission in Chulucanas, in 1985, at the age of 30. 

Chulucanas is a town in Morropón Province, Piura Region, Peru.*  It lies in the Piura Valley just north of the confluence of the Charanal River with the Piura River. Chulucanas is the administrative seat for both Chulucanas District and Morropón Province. The town is famous for its pottery. (Our monastery Christmas card featured a Mother & Child with birds and llamas I brought back from here). Photo below: polishing my Madonna.)

Chulucanas is a city of 40,000 inhabitants, whose origins date back to Inca times. In 1532  the Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro is said to have reorganized his troops in the area around Chulucanas before launching his attack against the Inca Empire.

 In 1985, the North American  Robert Francis Prevost arrived as a young jeans-wearing missionary from Chicago with broken Spanish, landing in Chulucanas, Peru at a time when the country was being torn apart by internal conflict.

Chuculanas was not directly affected by the war because it was located far from the Sendero Luminoso's main areas of operation. But everyone living in Peru at the time felt the consequences of the violence. This was especially true for the young priest. Essentially, he had the same "clientele" in mind as the founder and leader of  Shining Path, Abimael Guzmán : the outcasts, the disadvantaged, and the humiliated. The former incited the peasants to violence against the "white" upper class, while Father Prevost tried to help them lead lives of dignity and peace. 

Guillermo Cornejo, Bishop of Lima, said of him: "Whenever there were natural disasters, he took a pick and shovel and went to work alongside those affected. He rode his horse into the mountains and learned Quechua, the language of the indigenous population. He wanted to show: I am here, I can understand you."

 People remember Father Prevost traveling to the adobe mud-brick churches that dot the region, sometimes walking on foot, sometimes on horseback, carrying crucifixes and ceremonial wine, asking altar boys for help with words in Spanish. He would take them on trips to beaches, and hiring karate, swimming and basketball coaches to keep the area’s youth away from crime.

Fidel Alvarado, a priest in the Chulucanas diocese, was a 20-year-old student in the seminary when he met Father Prevost. He recalled a bomb destroying the church door, and threats made to the priests, with the future pope and the other North American priests being told to leave in 24 hours or they would be killed. But they stayed.

 "What convinced them to stay was the people, they had traveled around and felt the love of the people," he said.

*Chulucanas is in the Region of Piura but the Province of Morropon. (See previous Blog for political division of country.)  It is about 1 ½ hour drive by car from the city of Piura where I stayed. The short distance of 38 miles took long due to the poor roads. Roads in this Bog typical, but the main part of the town does have paved roads. One can also see the mud huts people live in.