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12 October 2003
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Fr John Andersen, parish priest on the banks of the Amazon - Baptism query, then
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Conversation: Fr John Andersen, parish priest on the banks of the Amazon - Baptism query, then it was the barrel of a gun
By Chris Lindsay
Being a parish priest in Peru can be
an unforgettable experience, but for Fr John Andersen there have been some experiences
he would rather forget.
In his case they involve being held up by robbers in his church and serving as a chaplain at a prison for 7000 inmates.
On one occasion two men went to his St Rose of Lima church in the Iquitos region of north eastern Peru on the banks of the Amazon River and asked about baptisms.
Suddenly they pulled a gun and pointed it directly in his eye while they attempted to rob the church. Thankfully for Fr John, some people outside raised the alarm, shouting “thieves”, and the bandits ran away.
But it is his work in Lima from 1982-83 at a parish in the district of San Martin de Porres, which involved being a chaplain at a very large jail in the area with 7000 prisoners that has particularly imprinted some sad details on his memory.
“I would go each week in a group to visit people in different blocks of the prison and preach the word of God,” he says. “I would celebrate Mass and the sacraments and encourage and support the prisoners.”
On one occasion Fr John was asked by a prisoner, who thought his sentence was coming to an end, to get the required court papers so his release could be arranged.
“When I got the papers it turned out the prosecution had appealed his sentence and it had been extended by eight years, but no one had told him,” he says. “I had to take that news to him at a time when he was expecting to be freed.
“Later some prisoners took a couple of warders hostage in protest. The President sent the army and they took 200 prisoners away and just shot them.
“Being a prison chaplain provides human experiences that mark you.”
After Lima Fr John spent three years in the mountains in the South Andes, in the prelature of Sicuani, living at 4000 metres, but his special “Peruvian experiences” had not come to an end.
“It was a very spread out parish with about 30 villages in four districts,” he says.
“I would celebrate three Easter vigils in one day. In some places I was the first priest to visit in 20 years.
“I was the first resident priest for seven years. Some of the people there were very anti land rights for the native people and thought my predecessor was very pro this position.
“So they started rumours that he had been stealing things. This was not true, and the bishop told them that if that was how they acted they could do without a priest.
“When I got there, there were a lot of terrorists in the areas who killed people. I had to take the bodies back to the main town in my jeep.
“When the police would go after them I would be asked to look after their petrol in case they came back and blew up the police car.
“Thousands of people were killed and it was very dangerous.”
Despite all this Fr John, 56, who is home in Sydney for holidays, can’t wait to get back to Peru next month.
“I am very much looking forward to it,” he says. “The people are very friendly, open and welcoming.”
Fr John was born in Chatswood, and went to Paddington Primary School and then Holy Cross Woollahra. He did his secondary education at Marist Brothers schools at Bondi Junction and Darlinghurst.
He came to join the priesthood through the faith of his parents and family.
“I came from a very good Catholic home; my parents provided a tremendous example,” he says. “They were married for 55 years and did a great amount of good. They educated their children in the faith.
“My vocation came from their example as well as an aunt who was a Franciscan Missionary of Mary and worked with lepers in Sri Lanka.
“We also had a wonderful parish priest, Mons Richard Collander, at Woollahra. There were many priests who were great men of God who were friends of the family, including Archbishop James Carroll and Bishop David Cremin.
“We had an extended family of people from religious orders.”
Fr John went to the seminary at Springwood and then St Patrick’s at Manly; and in 1970 he was ordained.
He then spent 12 years as a parish priest in Dulwich Hill, Avalon, Penshurst and Earlwood, was an ecumenical industrial chaplain to the workers at Qantas and worked with the deaf.
However, for some years he had harboured the idea that he would like to work in South America.
“After the death of my grandmother I made a 30-day retreat to discern the will of God,” he says.
“I then decided to be a missionary and asked permission of Cardinal Freeman to follow this course. He assigned me to the Columbans who were working in Chile and Peru. They said Peru was where I was needed most, so there I went.
“I arrived in Peru in 1982 and then spent 3˝ months studying Spanish in Bolivia.”
The Pope visited Peru twice while Fr John was there, in 1985 and 1988.
“He spoke to one million people and said that while the mission of the Church is spiritual and we are not just social workers, it includes working a lot for justice. We need balance and harmony in this,” he says.
“The people of Peru are largely very poor. About half of them survive on less than $1 a day. About 15 million of the 26 million population live in dire poverty, and for many years there was massive inflation and terrorist threats.”
In 1990 Fr John returned to Sydney and made another 30 day retreat while a Peruvian priest took his place in the mountains.
He then spent six months as a parish priest in Mt Pritchard before going back to Peru to Iquitos, which has a population of about half a million people, with 80 per cent of them Catholic.
“When I arrived, Bishop Julian Garcia Centero asked me to work in the parish of St Rosa of Lima,” he said. “There were about 3500 families in the area. I did the usual parish priest things, celebrated Mass and the Sacraments, preached the word of God and cared for the sick.
“We had a library and the women were taught different handcraft skills so they could earn a living.
“The bishop introduced a family-based pastoral plan called Movement for a better world because he wanted to unite us as a vicariate.
“The emphasis is on family life, youth work, catechesis, education, vocations, pontifical missionary work, communication, spirituality, liturgy and Caritas.
“It is very important to respect the culture of the people with whom you live and work. After all, culture is how we organise our lives.”
Fr Andersen says Catholic Mission is performing good work for the people of Peru.
He has had some involvement with Catholic Mission, as he has attended youth meetings in Peru that it funded at a local and national level. “In Jaen, in the north of Peru, Catholic Mission funds a school along the river which works with local teachers and the children of the poor. They do a great job,” he says.
“Catholic Mission runs a home for the incapacitated in Yurimaguas. They are also building chapels and helping run an orphanage. The Peruvian people are very grateful for this help.”
To make a donation to Catholic Mission, you can telephone freecall 1800 257 296 or visit the website at www.catholicmission.org.au