St Philip Neri Primary School Gateshead

Subject: Update on work of H&N Mission...

Just called in to collect fuel & supplies. We had 10 baptisms yesterday morning in a community about 3 hours away along the Amazon & this morning we had 45 baptisms in another, larger community.

I had Mass here in San Pedro tonight. If I hadn't got back the Sisters would have lead a Service of the Word with Holy Communion. There were few people (about 120) as it is raining incessantly since Friday. Tomorrow I have to got to the airport to collect a deacon, James Saenz, who is arriving from the oilfields with chronic malaria, drophim at the hospital, then go to a very active Christian community, Caro Cocha, to baptize 15 chidren, celebrate 25 First Communions & 15 Confirmations (the bishop has given me faculties as he has a lot of commitments with the Episcopal Conference in Lima and when he's here in Iquitos he's always being called to attend meetings with different institutions & organizations in the City). From Caro Cocha I go to the next-door commmunity to celebrate 7 baptisms & the Marriage of the animador.

I get back here on Wednesday to rest, catch up on things, and prepare for Christmas. On Thursday night we will have a Penitential Service (5 priests are coming to help with the confessions-two Poles, a Peruvian, two Spaniards) for the parish then on Friday & Sturday I am celebrating Christmas Masses in communities along the river, getting back at about midday on the 24th ready for the Midnight Mass here in San Pedro. On Christmas Morning we have 65 young people receiving their First Communion, it should be a wonderful celebration.

My friend, Dr.Jorge Sibina and his wife Gloria, have just received the wonderful news that they are to be parents-after years of wanting to have children. I'm going to their house after Mass on 24th to have paneton & hot chocolate with them.

On the 25th after Mass and First Communions I hope to be completely by myself. I think Carlos is invited to his girlfriend's house & Gustavo will go to be with his sisters. The nuns are going to the Salesian sisters and I hope to have a tuna sandwich, a cold beer & a good long siesta, before ringing my mum & dad.

All the missionaries are invited to the bishops' house on the 26th for lunch, where we swop tall stories about trips into the jungle & remedies for malaria, dengue fever and wobbly tummies, talk about the political situation & usually make all kind of suggestions about meeting more frequently, trying to support one another, sharing ideas, but then just go back to our ridiculously large parishes, start of with good intentions for the first few months of the year but then workload, tiredness & lethargy take their toll and we end up lamenting that we never see each other. That's why it's good if you are happy in your parish, enjoy the company of the people and fellow parish-workers and can cope with just occasional gatherings of clergy & religious.

The tribal peles issue has got very complicated with the intervention of several political parties as the elections approach. The bishop, myself & the coordinator of the Vicariate's Human Rights Commission, had a meeting last week where we decided it was best to take a step back until after the elections. Prudence is a virtue...

In the New Year I have to go down to Lima for a course at the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical & Civic University of Lima. Then in April we have the elections for president. The current candidates are very varied, ranging from extreme Maoist-communist left to extreme nationalist right. The nationalist candidate is doing very well in the mountain villages and in the jungle. His campaign is sponsored by Hugo Chavez, the military dictator in Venezuela. He would like to see Peru & Venezuela stand up together against the USA and would take us into a Cuban-style isolation from the rest of the world.

The extreme left groups are very violent and I'd rather not name them in an e-mail but I don't think they really have the political momentum behind them to gain much power.

The other candidates are much of a much-ness, dedicate themselves to mud-slinging & making promises. Should be an interesting time.

We still have no British Consul in Iquitos. When asked by the British Ambassador in Lima, whilst flattered, I turned it down as a conflict of interest (you had to swear an oath of allegiance to HM the Q) and they could not offer me a plumed hat with a braided uniform, (in the style of a Gilbert & Sullivan opera). It also involved finding defence lawyers for British citizens facing legal problems in Iquitos. As that probably meant being woken up at 2am to get people out of police cells after they've tried to buy illegal drugs, a cause I am especially dedicated to, I declined with the greatest possible courtesy.

So, as you see, life on the frontier goes on, between evangelizing, celebrating sacraments & treading a careful political line.

Take care & have a happy & holy Christmas.
As ever,
Joe