PERU

PERU
WITH THE EXCLUDED AND THE REJECTED

The Quebec Foreign Mission has been present in Peru since 1956. The SMÉ missionaries present are lay associate missionaries: José Ángel Medina Sánchez, Argentina Saavedra Macawili, and Lilian A. Sánchez Herrera.

THE PRIORITIES OF FRATERNAL LIFE AND MISSION

The mission aims to be an active presence that accompanies, listens to, and encourages individuals and groups in the places where we are engaged: people living with HIV, the excluded and marginalized, youth groups in certain parishes, pastoral and social agents, victims of abuse, etc. Supporting the empowerment of individuals, showing solidarity with less resourceful entrepreneurs, and offering a personal testimony of simplicity and openness illustrate the mission's essence in Peru. Some parishes benefit from their animation and comprehensive and liberating missionary formation in catechesis, celebrations of the Word, and youth groups. Additionally, a member of the local group is connected with people of other religious traditions.

THE MISSION IN COLLABORATION

A group of SMÉ friends has just formed. These friends are invited to support the development of the missionary vocation according to their gifts and abilities, and to keep alive the spirit of the large SMÉ missionary family.

Youth groups form a missionary community and share various apostolates of the local group in Peru. This missionary community is formed to see, hear, and feel the living experience of God present in those whom Jesus called: the little ones of the Kingdom.

Once a month, the young people of the missionary community are sent to different places, such as the hills of Lima, particularly to meet with girls and women living there, or to a home for completely abandoned individuals under the care of the Sisters of Charity. Other activities help them become aware of certain social challenges: beach cleaning, sharing Christmas with the poorest people, animations and conferences in various dioceses, embracing the calls of Pope Francis in his letter Fratelli Tutti and those concerning the urgency of caring for our common home, the Earth, in his letter Laudato Si’.

Not to mention activities related to faith and vocational discernment. After each activity, a reflection on the experience in connection with the Gospel takes place. Thus, the mission is seen as a responsibility of all the baptized, regardless of the location, whether in Peru or abroad. Additionally, the missionary community is led by young people, for young people, and the local SMÉ group is part of this missionary group.