Columban Fr George Hogarty writes from Chile where he is now assigned:
This article is about a couple I know from the chapel community of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in an area called Chuquitanta in the parish of Huandoy in the Municipality of San Martin de Porres in Peru. Their names are Maritza and Jorge and I want to share something of their faith and their struggle on behalf of the community to find some land on which to build a chapel. This is a drama of poor people who want to have a chance to live their life of faith and their struggle to make that happen.
Fr George Hogarty with the parishioners of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Photo: Fr George Hogarty SSC
During my recent visit to Peru, Maritza Upiachiwa and her husband, Jorge Sanchez, invited me to celebrate Sunday Mass for the community of the chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Chuquitanta in Huandoy parish on the north side of Lima. When I arrived, the first thing Maritza said was, “Padre, we’ve finally found a home for the Sacred Heart of Jesus!” While I celebrated Mass under the open grey sky that is so characteristic of Lima, I witnessed first hand the deep veneration the community has for the Sacred Heart of Jesus and I gave thanks to God that their faith in the Sacred Heart of Jesus had brought them so far.
Fr Joe Ruys, a Columban Associate priest in Peru from the Melbourne Archdiocese, had originally founded the community along with Maritza and Jorge in July, 2007, and had lived nearby to accompany them. As is the custom in Peru, Fr Joe sought out local landowners who still had agricultural land on the outskirts of Huandoy parish seeking a donation of land on which to build a chapel in honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Meanwhile he worked tirelessly on behalf of the community helping them build their first simple chapel made of estera or woven bamboo on land rented from a land developer named Raimundo. This was a temporary arrangement as Raimundo let it be known that he had other plans for the land.
When Fr Joe’s time as parish priest of the Holy Archangels parish of Huandoy came to an end in 2012 there was still no sign of a likely donor. Fr Joe’s entreaties had fallen on deaf ears! Then when the Municipality of San Martin de Porres finally organised to have water and light put on in the housing estates in Chuquitanta, the value of the land in the area quadrupled overnight. The community realised they would have to find land for a chapel soon or face an uncertain future. It was obvious to all the community that the Sacred Heart of Jesus badly needed a home!
When I took over as parish priest from Fr Joe in 2012, all our missionary team could do was accompany the community and help them keep their hopes alive. During this time, Maritza and Jorge gave generously of their time and energy to build and strengthen the fragile but growing community. But they couldn’t help feeling anxious because the community still needed a secure spiritual home for themselves and their patron, the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
One day Maritza came to me saying, “Padre, what are we going to do? Nobody wants to donate any land to us and I don’t know how we’ll keep going if we can’t find a place for a church?” “Look”, I responded, “if God wants the community to get land for a church, He’ll bring it about! Keep your faith in the Sacred Heart of Jesus alive.” Mind you, inwardly, I too was worried for the same reasons she was!
Knowing that the axe would fall eventually on their tenure of the temporary chapel on borrowed land, Maritza and Jorge next approached another land developer who had sold them the land on which their own home was built. Since they were neighbours they hoped he might favourably consider their petition and set aside part of the green area in front of their house for a chapel. But he adamantly refused. In desperation, Jorge and Maritza asked me to write a letter to the land developer asking him to donate a section of the park for a church. I wrote the letter and gave it to Jorge and Maritza. But soon after, my time as pastor of Huandoy parish ended and I was assigned to do mission promotion in Australia.
You can imagine my surprise on that Sunday morning five years later when I was invited to celebrate Sunday Mass and saw the community with land of their own. Over lunch I asked Maritza and Jorge how they had managed to acquire the site for the chapel. Jorge started off saying: “After you left, Padre, we tried countless times to find land on which to build a church but nobody wanted to donate any. They were only interested in selling the land for profit. Our faith was sorely tested but we prayed continually to the Sacred Heart of Jesus to help us realise our dream.
Then in 2018 the law concerning parkland set aside for educational purposes in new housing estates changed. The land could be used for other uses if there was no need of a school in the area. However, decisions had to be ratified by a joint public Assembly”.
He continued on, “Well as you can imagine, Padre, there was a lot of wrangling over how the land on offer should be used and we the Catholic community were in there fighting all the way. When the day for the Assembly came in December 2018, the land developer wanted to donate the land for a Community Centre. But we held firm and argued that we had been seeking land on which to build a church for a long time and we were not about to give up now!” “Since when?” the land developer retorted. “Then we showed him your letter, Padre, and that convinced him we were in earnest for a long time and the land was donated to the church. And that, Padre, is how we found a home for the Sacred Heart of Jesus!”
Columban Fr George Hogarty has recently returned to missionary work in Chile.
Listen to "A home for the Sacred Heart of Jesus"
Related links
- Read more from The Far East, June 2020
