Congregación de las Hermanas de San José de Carondelet

Transcription

1 Congregación de las Hermanas de San José de Carondelet Jr. Talara 344 Jesús María, Lima 11, Perú Tel. Casa Apartado Jesús María, Lima, Perú Dear Sisters: NOTICIERO OCTUBRE During the month of October, we have contemplated the oddessey that is lived by thousands of migrant families such as the Venezuelan, Honduras, the social crisis in Nicaragua and so many other places in the world. We have been touched by these realities and they have helped us not to be indifferent to them in their need. We have been invited to seek solidarity in whatever way that we are able to respond. By continuing to pray for solutions to these dramatic situations which affect all of us as human beings, we need to contemplate the 2013 Chapter Acts: We believe that unification for the mission with new eyes comes about when: we join others to take a stand in the issues where the human dignity of persons is denied or diminished and the marginalized of society are burdened with the weight of unjust systems. We share with you some of our experiences in the life of the VP to unite ourselves in the life and mission as CSJs. With love, Gloria, Zaida and Maritza WELCOME * We welcome our Sister Teresa Ponce as she returns from her Congregational experience in the Province of Los Angeles. She has shared with us with gratitude and joy how her experience of studies and community have given her a greater knowledge of the life and mission of our sisters there. After a time with us in Lima, she will visit her family in Colombia during the month of December. We wish her an enjoyable time with her family. OUR DEEP GRATITUDE * We are grateful for the time shared with our sisters during our visits to the local communities; for their welcome, for the rich conversations, for the delicious food, for sharing their dreams with us, for the testimony of service that they give to the dear neighbor; all of which makes us realize that the CSJ spirit is present in our lives. Thank you so much, Sisters! 1

2 NEWS FROM THE SAN JOSÉ COMMUNITY (Jesus María) * October 13, Dolores, Genoveva and Gloria, participated in a day of prayer and fasting for the Migrants from Venezuela. It was organized by CONFER s Permanent Commission of Human Rights and Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation. It took place at the Colegio de Jesus. * María Ines spent a week of her vacation time to visit Tacna. She was present for the Anniversary celebration of Fe y Alegría N 40. * Mauricia and Ruth participated in the October 16 meeting Misión Carapongo. They spent time reflecting about the uncertain situation lived by the people who will be forcibly removed from their homes by the legal owners. The State has remained aloof to this complex situation. There are rumors that the government will resume construction in December of the Ramiro Prialé Highway, which is very important to the people of Carapongo. Actually, the people who have lived there for years in this area have invested a lot of money from their savings and bank loans believing it was their property before the floods came, and now the presumably real owners have appeared. At the same time, there is a lot more unrest because of the increase of delinquency during the night. There was a Health Campaign for the Santa Rosa; Nievería; Faustino; Señor de Los Milagros; and, Campo Verde Shanty Towns. This campaign is being coordinated by a Salesian, Sister Rocío, who is also in charge of the postulate of her order. We are very happy that she has returned to the group in Carapongo. 2

3 *Finally, the Project to establish an office for Psychological service in Carapongo has now received the documents required by law. First, the project had to be approved by the Peruvian Ministry of Health, then; they had to obtain the license to function from the City Hall of the District of Lurigancho. * Actually, we are at the stage of letting people know that these services are there for them. So we are making contacts with institutions of the area and distributing flyers to invite the people to come. * Sister Norma Ramos, HSJL and her San Jose Trinitarian friend from Mexico went to Cusco and visited Macchupichu and other tourist attractions. They returned in admiration with their experiences in Inka territory. Congratulations to both Sisters! * Betty, Dolores, Mauricia and Peggy, went to Chaclacayo for their annual retreat. They spent a fruitful vacation with the Lord. We missed them in our community. Welcome back! NEWS FROM THE GRAN AMOR DE DIOS COMMUNITY (Canto Chico) Salón San José As you know, there is scarcely a month and a half left to finish the school year. The children are working hard at their studies, practicing for their exams and preparing their 3

4 projects like the little girl in the photo who had the assignment to create a story to share with her companions. The salón San José children dedicate themselves not only to their lessons but also to learn to be collaborators with other children, cleaning the classroom and learning to care for creation.. Other services to the dear neighbor Our Sister Anne, besides her work in Salón San José, continues visiting the prisoners in San Juan de Lurigancho, and now, in each Eucharistic Celebration she is giving the homily; she encourages the prisoners and helps them reflect on their lives. Anne also continues to accompany Hanna, her husband and Betty.They are the refugees from Ethiopia. Hanna, with her daughter, visited our community and prepared some delicious cookies for dessert. As you can see in the following photos; mother and daugthter are preparing the dough, then, Betty makes sure the cookies don t burn and finally, they wash the dishes they have used. They are a good team. Our Sister Yoli is working on her thesis to graduate in Psychology and she presented an advance segment of her investigation in the Department of Psychology at the Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University. The topic of her investigation is: Social representations of trans-women in their relationships with their families. 4

5 Yoli, apart from her work on her thesis, is accompanying some families in need in our barrio, such as a young man, Raul, who has had problems with alcoholism since he was very young. This has brought him many other problems in his family and with his physical and emotional health. At present, Raul wants to change his situation, thanks to the accompaniment of our Sisters, Anne and Yoli. Commenting on the situation, Anne says: Many times, our dear neighbor can show us a smile, tells us about their difficulties and their hopes as they think about their adverse living situations. Raul, who is a neighbor and who has a serious injury in his head said to them, Pray for me, and this started a process of an integral accompaniment during this time of uncertainty as to the situation of his health. He is hospitalized waiting for surgery on his head. Let us pray for Raul that he may be able to regain his health. Apart from these activities, Yoli has been offering her support to the Listening Center with the program Vive Psicología since February until the 17 of October. She is consultant and supervises the younger psychologists in the province of Jaén. She comments: It was a privilege to collaborate with the supervision of these young psychologists because I could accompany them, dealing with families, adolescents and others who were going through difficult situations and needed help for a better quality of life especially in the emotional area. I finished the supervision and accompaniment having dealt with 9 women and 10 men in various sessions. For this, I am very grateful and joyful because as Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, we aim for the more with reverence and humility as our Patron St. Joseph did. During the same time, our Sister María Elena, continues to enjoy her work experience in the Fe y Alegría Nº 32 school. Besides her classes with the students, she has live-in workshops with the same students on some week-ends. Currently, with her pastoral team, she is preparing a retreat for the graduating class. We wish you a lot of success, dear Sister! 5

6 A Meeting with the religious in our area On October 19, we had a very fruitful meeting with some religious working in our San Cristobal Parish in San Juan de Lurigancho. We had this meeting in our house in Canto Chico, hoping to strengthen our ties with one another and to share about our mission. It was a beautiful experience celebrating the Eucharist together and sharing a delious breakfast. I thank God for so much commitment in the Consecrated Life. As a community, we have also participated in the 175 years of foundation of the Holy Name Sisters, who live and work in San Hilarion, in the same place where our congregation served for many years. The celebration was very special and filled with emotion because the Holy Name Sisters only have three members still working in Peru. However, these three sisters continue to advance the mission with a lot of enthusiasm and they share their charism and spirituality with a lot of people. Visit from the Leadership Team October 29, 30 and 31, we had a lovely visit with our Leadership Team. Their presence among us and their sharing has been very special; it has fortified our spirit of community 6

7 and ministry. We are very grateful for this visit and for all the service they give in the Vice Province. NEWS FROM THE PEQUEÑO PROYECTO COMMUNITY (Las Brisas de Villa) * Our community continues helping the dear neighbor in all that is possible. Each sister, who has other responsibilities, devotes her time between studies and pastoral in projects, such as: - Mary Luz is helping children with speech therapy. Sometines the children come to the house and other times they meet in the Brisas School and Fe y Alegría Nº 34. The truth is that she applies different therapies as she learns them in her own university classes. Our 9 year old neighbor, Aldo, has a lot of difficulty with Reading and writing; his mother doesn t have the economic means to help him. So, Mary Luz took Aldo to the psychologist for evaluation at the University of Champagnat, where Mary Luz is studying for her masters. The psychological and intelligence evaluation will help Mary Luz to begin therapy and help him better his level of learning. Aldo was very excited with the evaluations and he was especially impressed with the university. He said: I hope to be able to study here, it is big and beautiful. If he improves, without a doubt, he will get there. Everything is possible if you have the necessary help. - Every Sunday, Maritza visits Sr. Nelson, Sra. Lucía and a couple who are senior citizens. They share about how they spent their week, and then they share a short prayer. Maritza comments about these visits: I discover, every time we visit, that they teach me with small gestures to be more generous, more grateful and to have confidence in the grace of God. For example, Sr. Néstor can t walk so he depends on his daughters to care for him, and yet he always greets me with a smile and he asks me profound questions about life. He is very faithful to prayer and his faith is really admirable. Sra. Lucía 7

8 laments the fact that she is not able to go to Mass; her whole body hurts her, but she tells me that she came to the conclusion that it is God who visits her every day. She shared her joy, she said, when she realized that she was the recipient of God s visits to her and her happiness is profound. I am very grateful for these special moments of learning and companionship. - Pina is preparing the children for their First Holy Communion in the chapel of Las Brisas. She shares her creativity with generosity and prepares her weekly classes with enthusiasm so that the children will have a significant experience. Sometimes, the catechists share something to eat with the children because some of them come to the classes without even having breakfast. Pina is also encouraging the children to be a part of the choir. Eduarlis is a Venezuelan little girl, who loves to sing and so she and Pina go to choir practice together every Saturday. They also share the love for painting; here are some of the evidences: NEWS FROM THE TRINITARIAN COMMUNITY (Tacna) * October is the month of the school s anniversary and there were a lot of activities related to the celebration. * The night of October 10, the school was host for the Mass celebrated by the CORAJE group (a network of Jesuit institutions) from the Centro Loyola. The Mass was well atended and celebrated by Fr. Emilio who was visiting and who had worked with the group CORAJE in the past. * October 14, the school was at its best and there was a lot of joy because of the arrival of Sister María Inés who came to celebrate with the Family of Fe y Alegría. She will be here from 13 until 17 of October. It was a very welcomed visit. 8

9 * On October 15 we had the Eucharistic celebration in the morning for the Primary grade students and another one in the afternoon for secondary. In the morning the Mass was celebrated by Fr. Juan Manuel who is very dynamic and knows how to get to the younger children. In the afternoon, Fr. Javier gave a beautiful reflection about Saint Oscar Romero. * On October 16, the anniversary date, there was a program prepared by the students. The celebration was very lively. After the toast of honor, the teachers administrative and service personnel went to a restaurant Saber y sabor with a variety of delicious selections, buffet style. * Finally, on October 28 we had Family Day with food, artistic numbers, games, tombola and bingo. Many families came and enjoyed the variety of activities. The tombola, thanks to the many prizes, brought in S/. 4,168. * Together with the moments of joy, we have had moments that required faith; two teachers suffered the loss of a parent; Braulio Aguilar s mother and Jorge and Ruben Ara s father passed away. May they rest in peace. 9

10 UNITED IN PRAYER * For María Inés who begins the second phase of prevention treatment. * For the health of Sra. Isabel, Mary Luz mother and for Sra. Agripina, Pina s mother. * For all the sisters of the Congregation who are ill. * For Sra. Bárbara, Theresa Kvale s sister. May our faith and hope accompany all our families at this time of our lives! We wish you a happy day to all who celebrate birthdays in November 3 Betty Conrad (P) 6 Katty Crowley (SL) 7 Teresa Kim (SP) 14 Liliana Díaz (FSJ Chile) 21 María Hernández (FSJ Chile) 26 Gloria Muchaypiña (Chincha) 10