St. Jude Parish 2018 Annual Mission Appeal
July 21 ^st and 22 ^nd
 
This year, our Annual Mission Appeal will occur on the weekend of July 21/22..  Father Nicholas Harding, of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate will be visiting to acquaint us with his ministry in Peru and to ask for our assistance.  The second collection at each weekend Mass will be for his missionary efforts.  Your generosity will be deeply appreciated.
 
The community has four main mission sites.  He is pastor at Christ Rey parish in Pueblo Nyevo, Chincha Ica, where he ministers with a Peruvian parochial vicar and an 82-year-old Brother from Canada who makes adobe bricks to build houses!  It is a huge parish on the coast, three hours south of Lima.  Many of the people are Afro-Peruanos, descendants of slaves.  Our parish has three zones:  1.  The urban part with our main church and 12 chapels with a population of about 75,000:  2.  The newly “invaded” section which consists of shacks (dirt roads, no running water) with a population of approximately 50,000, including a prison with 2,400 men.  3. The third part is the sierra region and is by far the biggest; many small Quechua-speaking Indian communities and three big towns which are the capitals of the three districts, one of which is a six-hour drive mostly on rocky unpaved roads.  In many places we can only celebrate Mass once a year (on the patron saint feast day).  In the first two sections, people make their livelihood in factories (fish, textiles) and agriculture (esp. vineyards).  In the mountain region, it is mostly mining and subsistence agriculture.
 
Purpose for a Mission Appeal
We have an urgent need for a good reliable transportation.   The parish extends to villages high up (over 4,500 meters [2.79+ miles or 14,763+ feet in altitude] over rocky, dirt roads which in the rainy season are treacherous.
Also, we need to build chapels in the recently invaded part.  They would also be multi-use for catechism and youth gatherings.
There was a 7.9 Richter scale earthquake in 2007 and incredibly, even after more than10 years, there are still houses and churches in ruins.  We want to rebuild the chapel of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe and parts of our retreat center.  Additionally, last year there was devastating flooding due to rivers fed by unusually heavy rains in the mountains.  The rivers desembocan on the coast.  Especially hard hit is the sierra part of our parish.  Additionally, all funds would be used for:

1. Our “Accion Social” pastoral team of ladies in our communities, who know the people and situation well, to purchase:  tarps, food, school supplies, shoes.
2. Evangelization materials:  Catholic Bibles, catechetical materials for catechism classes, rosaries/medals, and apologetic booklets (many anti-Catholic sects are making headway).  I would love to get blackboards for the many classrooms.  We have about 400 confirmations of youth each year.
3. Money to support missions into the remote towns of the sierra
4. For the most poor families we want a scholarship (beca) program to help partially pay for fees, uniforms, school supplies. 

 
        
      
 
   
 
  
         
 
 
 
 
 
 
Thank you for your generosity and for your prayers. 
 
Fr. Nicholas Harding, OMI
 
You make
 
 
“Me Smile”