An Unbroken Catechist

12.01.2010

The side effects of economic poverty are desperation, stress, a sense of social inferiority, even a sense of worthlessness - of not counting in society. Its a blessing if a person, a family, a community, manage to avoid such side effects. Few do. The fact is it needs an outstanding poor person to show others the way. Jesús Rosales Amaro is such a person.

Jesús, the eldest of 11 children, now 48 years of age, is the father of four youngsters. During his whole life, working as a cultivator of potatoes, he has only known economic poverty. He was born on the hacienda of Punray, an annex of Huasahuasi, Tarma, 350kms east of Lima and on the other side of the Andes. His parents had migrated there in search of work on the Andean terraces cultivating potatoes.

Later, in search of better possibilities they were to move to the next village, Chiras, up behind and above Huasahuasi. Regularly beaten by his obdurate father, he had to survive the trauma of watching his mother being constantly belted also. Now the old man is in poor health and it is Jesús, bearing no grudge, who accompanies him to Lima, to the hospital.

Jesús left home at 11 and in this was followed by all his brothers and sisters, escaping domestic tyranny for domestic service in Lima. Jesús didn’t migrate like them but stayed with his grandparents and finished his primary education. He is intelligent, but there simply wasn’t the money nor the paternal interest in further education. In his community he has access to one acre of land and there cultivates potatoes, corn and broad beans, all mostly for their household consumption. He has known illness himself, and, worse still, six years ago his wife Dominga was diagnosed with terminal cancer in the original diagnosis in Tarma hospital.

It looks now she might survive, but it has been a via crucis (Way of the Cross) for them. Weekends they had to leave the children in the care of their eldest girl of 11 years and take a night bus - it is cheaper - to Lima, to be in the hospital queue at about six in the morning. Even the cheapest fares would have cost them about $20 return and this has been a drain on their resources for years. On her diagnosis, they were obliged to sell their farm animals, to cover some of the costs. Neighbours also chipped in by organising social activities to help raise the needed cash.

This activity is a common occurrence among the poor when disaster strikes a family. It helps cover the costs but is also an expression of the solidarity needed to evade the vicious cycle of poverty.

It’s all a bit unreal, but despite his subsistence level of living, Jesús was inspired by an eloquent uncle, himself a catechist, to become a parish catechist. In this unpaid vocation his dedication has been extraordinary and this among some fine and dedicated men and women. He gives a great part of his time to the people of his village preparing them for the reception of the sacraments. He has also put years of study into his preparation as a catechist and this at a diocesan level.

His friends and neighbours simply stand in awe that he is prepared to put so much into their formation while receiving no remuneration for his commitment to them. He really is a living example of what is needed to carry himself and others out of the depressing side-effects of economic poverty.

Fr Leo Donnelly first went to Peru in 1958.