PERUVIAN JOURNAL
Branching Out Who would have thought that “branching out” for the Ursulines would have meant crossing borders: Kentucky borders, southern and western borders of the country. Every branching out meant learning new faces, new people, their customs, and traditions. In the United States, maybe we were used to thinking of ourselves as a “melting pot.” Nothing was further from the truth. Our differences did
School Mass at the Parish of Santa Angela Merici
not melt together. Sometimes they didn’t even meet or mix.
In Louisville, as in any big city, one could find an Irish parish two blocks from the German parish or the Italian one. We could not even think of worshipping together. In some families, “mixed marriages” were considered marriages between different nationalities. So, branching out to Peru and crossing cultures brought about a particularly unique challenge. Learning a new language was only the first step. More than that was a
16
WINTER 2022 | DOME
strong injection of values, learning what was important to others. And that happened in very small ways: in meetings, encounters, sharing a cup of coffee or tea. And it is a process that is still happening for me. It takes time and a tested openness. It is not an idyllic “now I’ve been there, now I know.” Once you’ve been there and you know that you don’t know, you begin searching other contexts,
Merici School, and the entire year, but especially this quarter, was focused on coming to know the richness of the indigenous cultures in Peru. It was more than their food, their music, their dances that we encountered. The challenges of Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti have invited us into their cosmovisions, trying to understand and integrate their cultural values into our western framework. All of us were
57th anniversary celebration for Santa Angela Merici School
other opportunities, exploring other options, wanting to come up close, feeling, touching, sensing that there are cultural treasures all around that invite a daring immersion.
Such was our experience in going to San Miguel, Cajamarca; Huancayo; Junin and even Huamanga, Ayacucho. On a personal level, I can say I’ve come a long way. On a deeper level, I know in my heart the pains and challenges of interculturality.
Early in October, we celebrated the 57th anniversary of Santa Angela
surprised with the richness of what we discovered in learning how their value system pre-dated—yet echoed—Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti.
Recently, and in keeping with the Church’s Season of Creation, we participated with the Associates of another congregation, along with friends from the area, in a water ritual to save the Rimac River. (The Rimac River is probably beyond saving at this point.) The river carries pollution for miles, from the Andes to coastal populations and irrigated
