Update on the Peru Mission
Dear Friend of St. Jude,
Thanks to you, our Pallottine priests and brothers are able to bring the hope of St. Jude and love of Jesus Christ to the poor and forgotten in the farthest corners of the world.
If ever there was a need for hope, it is evident in the eyes… and faces of the children in Ayacucho, Peru.
Deep in the Andes Mountains, there’s a desolate, isolated place that until recently had no hope. This lost and abandoned community of some 1,400 people had no priest or parish for more than a decade.
Your prayers and generosity helped repair their 300-year-old church, brought two priests into the area and established housing for them, and built up a community of people who had longed to receive the Sacraments. Your support also enabled our Pallottine priests and sisters to rescue a group of orphans and provide care and comfort to them at the John Paul II Orphanage.
Today, I write to you on behalf of these orphans as well as all the impoverished boys and girls in the villages who lack the most basic necessities.
My heart breaks for these children, especially for the orphans who cry for their mothers and fathers that do not come to comfort them.
A recent letter that I received from Sister Maria Chetna describes the sadness and sorrow these children experience: “All the children are from nearby villages, but no one comes to visit them. Sometimes they see their parents or family members at the plaza, but none of them visit. The children feel so lost and abandoned. We love them and try to help them understand.”
Even though these orphans have been rescued and are lovingly cared for by our Pallottine Sisters, you can see pain in their eyes. When I visit them, it gives me great joy to play with them and put smiles on their faces, but we have a long way to go to put hope back into their broken hearts.
Please help me in this most important effort. I humbly ask for your support now to care for these children as well as all those in need in this mission.
Right now we urgently need funds to repair the orphanage roof that is leaking rain water into the children’s bedrooms. Sister Chetna, who serves as administrator, also asks for assistance to buy food, clothes, shoes, vitamins, medicated lotions and school supplies.
Many children in this community cannot attend school, and may never receive an education, simply because their parents cannot afford to buy the uniforms and school supplies required to attend. My hope is to start a school fund and begin sending these children to school.
When you send your offering, please also send your prayer requests. We are honored to pray for St. Jude’s powerful intercession for you and those in your life who need help and hope. Your requests will be lovingly remembered in our prayers, Novenas and Masses.
I thank you for consistently loving a neighbor that you have not met… for being truly compassionate for those who have been stricken by poverty and oppression… and for caring generously for Christ himself who comes to us in the poor.
Wishing you the hope of St. Jude,
Fr. Peter Sticco, S.A.C.
Novena Director
P.S. Your gift today helps support all our Pallottine ministries, particularly our St. Jude Shrine and the poor we serve. Please be as generous as possible and don’t forget to send your prayer requests, so they may be remembered in the prayers, Novenas and Masses at our Shrine and in daily Mass that is celebrated on St. Jude’s tomb in the Vatican.