Aid to the Church in Need: Peru: The Missionary zeal of Bishop Alberto Campos of San José del Amazonas

Peru: The Missionary zeal of Bishop Alberto Campos of San José del Amazonas

Posted by ACN News on 9/6/2009, 3:11 pm
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Peru: THE MISSION TO THE FURTHEST CORNERS

The Missionary zeal of Bishop Alberto Campos of the apostolic vicariate of San José del Amazonas

“The Lord saw fit to fulfil my dream of being a missionary in Africa, but just as He responds to our desires, so we must respond when He asks us to be faithful to Him”.

San José del Amazonas lies in the north of Peru, on the border with Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador. It is the largest and most inaccessible region of the country, some 61,000 square miles (155,000 km ²) without roads, but only a network of rivers. Rivers that the Bishop of this vicariate, Alberto Campos, has to travel by boat in order to bring the word of Christ to his communities.
“There are places where they go for months or even years without the Mass; that is where I am called to go", Bishop Campos told his mother. Even as a little boy he dreamt of being a missionary and travelling through Africa preaching the Gospel. By the end of his secondary schooling he saw that the Franciscans had not disappeared from Mexico and that with them he could manage to achieve his vocation. He received ordination as a Franciscan priest, still with his eyes fixed on the missions. However, 10 years were to pass before he was able to set foot in Africa.

His Order asked him to work with two indigenous communities as a missionary, and he also pursued studies in the social and pastoral apostolate in Colombia, and in Franciscan spirituality in Brazil. On his return to Mexico he was appointed as the priest responsible for the missionaries of the Order and it was from this position that he began to press for them to send him to Africa. He asked to be transferred, but was always refused permission and each refusal was an immense suffering, so great in fact that he seriously thought about changing congregation. However, instead he wrote a letter to the General of the Order and to the Provincial in Africa, telling them of his desire. And so it was that a letter arrived from the Franciscan General Superior, telling his community not to impede him from the missions if they could see that he was suitable for them. "The fact that they had granted me this transfer was a great joy for me and a great suffering for my family. My father was very hurt, thinking that I was going in order to be far away from them, and this caused them a lot of pain, the fact that I would not be there at important moments, but I told them that God would look after them", he recalls.

(Bishop Alberto Campos)

Next came five years in the missions in Uganda, arriving there with high hopes, but immediately finding himself enveloped in difficulties. The most important thing was the language. He couldn't communicate with the people, and the catechists helped him to preach. But thanks to summer school classes and the help of the faithful, he learnt the language. He still says this was the most beautiful experience of his life. The people are very religious and were deeply devoted to him, merely for the fact of his presence. There were five years of arduous work in the missions here, a work that led him to feel a great love for the country, its people and a great sense of satisfaction in his work.

In 1998 the Nuncio in Uganda, Luis Robles Díaz, called him and told him that by order of the Holy See he was to be transferred to Peru, since the apostolic vicariate of San José del Amazonas was looking for a brother with missionary experience and with international priestly connections. Father Campos was surprised that the order should have come not from his congregation but from the Holy Father, and when he asked the Nuncio about it, he replied, "Because you are going to be the Bishop". He could not and would not believe it. "I cannot accept, first of all because I am a Mexican and not Peruvian and secondly, because I do not know what is right. I need some time for discernment", he told the Nuncio, who granted him a week to consider his response.

During that week there was an epidemic of malaria and Father Alberto Campos was confined to his bed. It was an ideal moment to leave aside his responsibilities and dedicate himself solely to discerning the will of God. "It was the biggest struggle of my life; I continued to reject the new mission. With the help of a spiritual director I was able to see two things: that I was rejecting the proposal, and that if God was indeed calling me to this... then it would be the ultimate leap of faith for me".

Nonetheless, he still put up one final resistance to the task that God had sent him. He told himself that if on the day he had to give his reply he was still ill, he would say no, and that if he was better, then he would accept the new mission. God took him at his word, for the night before he gave his reply, he got better.

When he told the Nuncio of his decision, the latter told him: "They are looking for someone who is willing to go to the remotest corners". It was a mission made for him, since he still saw himself as an itinerant missionary.

But the mission awaiting him in Peru was very different and much more difficult than the one he had faced in Uganda. "In Africa we worked as a team, with a great deal of involvement of the people and a great thirst for God. In Amazonia you meet with religious indifference and the people are used to a missionary presence and do not see them as representatives of Christ", Bishop Campos remarks.

Now, with 11 years as a bishop in Peru behind him, he can see the difference between the two cultures, how much it cost him and continues to cost him, having had to take on administrative tasks, which cut into his pastoral work.

(A priest ministering to the sick in Peru)

Given the geographical situation of his diocese, which is vast and without any roads, with 15 parishes and over a thousand communities, Bishop Campos includes all the places on his annual plan and organises which festivals and which dates he will spend with the faithful of each sector. "I like travelling, but I suffer from the lack of time to complete and unite all the areas", he remarks. For the journey time to reach the closest parish is three hours by boat, and to reach the remotest community it takes three weeks. Given this difficulty in visiting them with any frequency, the vicariate has trained lay assistants for each community to lead Celebrations of the Word; they are formally commissioned three times a year.

In the Amazonia region there is no sign of the state's presence, and so the people turn to the Church as a bridge in their necessities. All these administrative tasks are an additional burden for Bishop Campos, given that his mission is a pastoral one. He feels like a grandfather to his vicariate, a father to the fathers.

His work brings with it a heavy responsibility in the face of so much need, and he did not know where to turn to seek help. It was then that he came to hear about the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) which, thanks to the generosity of its benefactors, has been able to help him in his work. Part of this help has consisted in sending material to spread the word of God, part in the reconstruction of chapels and the creation of a centre for catechists, among other things. This help from ACN for the work of moral and religious formation has borne real fruit and been a source of great joy, since as a result of it there have been catechists, pastoral workers, seminarians... and now the first local priest.

Having fulfilled his dream of being a missionary in Africa, and after 11 years in Amazonia, Bishop Campos concludes, "I am conscious that my vocation is a process. As a youth I went where I wanted, and now I go where He calls me".

To help this cause please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org