Helping, Planning and Strategizing
Our beloved Fr. Jack MacCarthy travelled to Peru on January 18th. In Peru he plans to complete a transaction, and visit and strategize with medical mission workers at the health center in Santa Clotilde on the Napo River.
His first task is to present documents to government authorities which prove that the Norbertines of DePere, Wisconsin, are in fact, the owners of a house in Lima, Peru. We are trying to donate it to the local parish, but for the past 3 years the state has refused to recognize our ownership because of different names on some of the documents. Fr. Jack felt confident that this time he had all the needed testimony and notarized signatures, including those of Bishop David Ricken and Abbot Gary Neville.
Secondly, he plans to communicate with officials in the national health ministry about the need to support the medical center in Santa Clotilde. Reports are that the health ministry in Peru has been bankrupt and that many of its leaders had been dismissed because of corruption. Doctors and other health workers in the jungle clinic have not been paid by the state for months. Newly elected President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski took office in July 2016 and pledged to invest in health care infrastructure. Just last week the government promised over $900 million to the health ministry for that purpose. Hopefully, the clinic in Santa Clotilde benefits from such investment.
With the help of PANGO (Peruvian Associates NGO), Fr. Jack and others offer counsel, strategize and fundraise. In addition to the health ministry crisis, the health center in Santa Clotilde is undergoing some significant transitions, including the medical director. Needless to say all of these issues have been on Fr. Jack’s mind and heart in recent months as he prepared to travel. Let us all pray that he and his collaborators have success in addressing the various issues.
Another of those issues is the on-going battle with the Zika Virus. Santa Clotilde Health Center is in the state of Loreto. The president of Peru has declared a health emergency in Loreto and 11 other states. The doctors and nurses with whom Fr. Jack is collaborating are on the front lines of the fight against Zika. As many know, pregnant women and the unborn babies are particularly susceptible to this mosquito-borne virus. May God help them!
Fr. Jack will return February 8th. Go to “Pango Peru” in Facebook for photos and more.
Peace Fr. Andy