Rural Catechists Retreat in Sicuani, Peru

Sixty-nine Quechua speaking men and women from the four provinces of the Diocese of Sicuani were gathered by Sister Eileen Egan, IHM, for a retreat at the end of January. In her capacity as Chairperson of the Commission for Rural Catechesis, she invited three Quechua speaking priests plus Father Michael McKinnon, a diocesan priest from Australia, to give the retreat and four laymen to handle the breakout sessions.

The retreat themes focused on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, modified to fit the reality of the lives of the people. Many years ago a Columban priest from New Zealand had trained a group of Quechua speaking laymen to run conferences for the catechists who are spread across the Andes mountains in the region where there are dozens and dozens of communities of Catholics with no access to Sunday Mass or instruction in the faith.  

Eileen holds two or three conferences on different elements of the Catholic faith, but this was the first retreat. She works with Father Michael and Fathers Justo Quispe, Olger Cruz and Jaime Sivana to give the presentations and then the participants break up into groups led by four of the lay catechists Roman Quispe, Paulino Champi, Hector Roman and Sixto Zarate.

To close the retreat, the new Bishop, Cesar A. Huerta Ramirez, celebrated the Mass and had the joy of greeting all the catechists and the retreat leaders. The love of the participants for the Scriptures was beautiful to see as they prayed and reflected on God’s Word.

In preparation for an activity using a mandala, Sister Eileen had each participant reflect on the joys and sorrows of their life. Then she played some quiet instrumental music while the participants colored their mandalas. Never having had much opportunity in their lives to color, they loved the activity. One of the other women shared that, “Never in my life have I had a chance to listen to such beautiful, soft music, and when I did, I cried as I thanked God for the gift of my life.” Eileen shared afterward that another person told her, “Sister, now I know that my call came from Baptism to share Jesus’s message with my people.”