Province News

News from peru: Testimony from Jim Collins, SJ, on Loyola Academy Delegation to Peru
Monday, July 15, 2002

Jim Collins, SJ, led the delegation of Loyola Academy teachers to Peru.
Loyola Academy Delegation to Peru

By Jim Collins, SJ

During the Loyola Academy Spring Break, a Delegation of eight teachers visited Peru. The mission of this delegation was to honor and dignify the people and institutions that we encountered with our sincere interest and real questions. The delegation went to experience and admire the Jesuit works in Tacna and Lima. The participants were: Sheri Anderson, Mark Chang, Jim Collins, Nichol Hill, Scott Myslinski, Mary Ann Quinlan, Brian Schoonover, and Lori Willer. The ten-day journey, organized by Jim Collins,S.J., was successful and extremely rewarding.

During the five days in Tacna, the delegation spent two days at Colegio Cristo Rey. They engaged in roundtable discussions with administrators, teachers and students to hear what they viewed as the most admirable aspects of their school. Teachers sat in on classes, spent recreation times chatting with students, joined in a class Mass celebration, and toured the impressive facilities. The Loyola Academy teachers were most impressed with the “Tutoria”, the “Mes de Mission”, the breadth of the curriculum, mandatory 3 day Ignatian Retreat for all faculty at the beginning of the school year, and the strong sense of community among faculty.

The students really seemed to have a sense of the importance of their Christian formation in preparing them to displace the corruption and dishonesty in the political leadership of their country. During the roundtable discussion with a group of students, Daniel Meza Mosqueira, a 14-year-old student offered this profound reflection:

“What Colegio Cristo Rey is teaching us is very important in so far as it is teaching us values. Because, what has happened in Peru lately is that there has been stealing within the government. Politicians have been taking money that doesn’t belong to them. There has been a significant lack of honesty.
For this, it is important that our school teach us values. Because in the future Peru has to strive to be something better and we have to contribute to our country’s development. Isn’t that true? However, bit by bit you can see it improving.”

The LA teachers were hosted in the homes of Cristo Rey teachers and were impressed at how well significant relationships were formed in such a short time. They agreed that there is no better way to get inside the Peruvian culture than to live with a Peruvian family. Many admired the sense of extended family and hospitality that they experienced in their host homes.

The delegation also visited the Cristo Rey Center for the Working Child and the Fe y Alegria school in Tacna. The group shared lunch with some of the working children at the cafeteria. The group was most impressed with the beautiful facilities of the Center and the quality and breadth professional assistance that is offered to these children and their families.

The group also visited a paprika farm which is managed by UNISER and alumni of Colegio Cristo Rey and whose proceeds are used to self-finance the various Jesuit works in Tacna. Finally they spent a day at Colegio Miguel Pro, the newest addition to the family of Jesuit works which is located in the Habitat For Humanity neighborhood. Fr. Fred Green, S.J., who has lived and worked in Tacna for over forty years, spoke with the delegation about his experiences and wise perspectives.

In Lima, the delegation stayed at the retreat house located on the grounds of Colegio La Inmaculada. Fr. Kevin Gallagher, S.J., and Fr. Robert Dolan, S.J., offered tours and commentaries of their impressive campus. Fr. Kevin responded to the teachers many questions and shared his insights and wisdom regarding the socio-economic context of Peru.

Fr. Frank Chamberlain, S.J., hosted the group for a morning at his expansive parish in El Agostino neighborhood in Lima. His insights into Peruvian Catholic culture were quite helpful.

No trip to Peru is complete without a visit to Cuzco and to the magical ruins of Machu Picchu. Visiting this ancient seat of the Inca empire helps visitors get in touch with the deep indigenous roots of the culture.

This delegation seems to have met its goal to enlighten the Loyola Academy faculty so as to enlighten their students. They were impressed by the quality and breadth of the various Jesuit works in the Peruvian Province and became more aware of the socio-economic responsibilities inherent in our global village.

The best testimony of the success of our trip was a comment made at the end of the journey by Sheri Anderson, a recent convert to Catholicism, who admits, “I just never realized that Catholicism has this whole social justice component that I’ve not been aware of”. I believe that she made this comment based on her experience of seeing various works of the Church, The Society Of Jesus, practicing “a faith that does justice”. This is the type of ‘enlightenment’ that this delegation hoped to achieve.