Agathe Hug/org. On December 24th, the morning of Christmas Eve, the Mass will be celebrated in covenant with Peru. Midnight Mass is always a special event at the Schoenstatt Shrine in Lima, one of the two in the country, and it is a great joy that on the morning of that day, the Mass in the Original Shrine will be celebrated for and with Peru.
Peru is Machu Pichu, Cuzco, the mysterious Sacsayhuaman ruins, and the Incan culture… Peru is one of the South American countries with the greatest proportion of indigenous population. It is also Saint Rose of Lima’s country, and the country of the Lord of Miracles pilgrimage, on October 18th.
According to a 2007 statistic – they also have a census, just like the time when Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem – 81.3% of the population older than twelve years old considers itself Catholic. Presently in Peru, just as it more or less happens in South America, there is a great influence of evangelical and charismatic churches, Seventh Day Adventists, Assembly of God, the evangelical church of Peru, Jehovah Witnesses, and Mormons. Schoenstatt has also consolidated itself in this country that has more or less been Catholic since the 16th Century. There are two daughter shrines in Peru: in Trujillo and Lima.
Schoenstatt in Peru
It is not necessary to imagine how Schoenstatt is in Peru. One of the most efficient correspondents of schoenstatt.org, in Trujillo above all in Lima, is untiring in the commitment to report the large or small events related to the two Shrines and the many wayside shrines in the country. The brief and vital stories about Sister Petra’s visit to Peru are still remembered.
At the conclusion of the Delegates’ Conference in October, they chose the motto for the Year of the Shrine current to be: “The Shrine, workshop of the new man.”
