Religious forced out of Peruvian parishes

ANTI-CHURCH guerrillas in Peru have forced a community of Irish nuns out of their parish.
Sr Imelda O'Shaughnessy, Provincial of the Mercy order in Ireland, told the Catholic Herald this week that lye of her sisters working in the Trujillo area of Peru would move to Lima by the end of the week. She said the situation had become intolerable for the nuns in the parish, where members of the Shining Path Maoist terrorist group have been deliberately targeting church workers.
Sr Imelda said the nuns had stayed on as long as was possible in their parish, and would very much like to remain in Peru if it was possible. Fourteen Peruvian sisters ten professed and four novices work alongside the Irish Mercy nuns in the country.
Sr Imelda said that she was in touch with the sisters on a daily basis, but the decision could only be made in the light of day to day happenings.
Irish Bishop Michael Murphy, who is in the Trujillo area to as.sess the situation, has already had lengthy meetings with Irish priests and nuns and with Archbishop Prado of Trujillo. As a result of the talks, it has been decided to hand over two of the four parishes which have been in the care of the Cork and Ross diocesan mission to the archdiocese of Trujillo.
Two Peruvian priests have been drafted to the area to help run the parishes left leaderless by the terrorist actions. Four priests from Cork and Ross have remained in the area to help continue running two of the parishes, but their position is under continual review.
The Irish nuns are the latest of a long line of Catholic missionaries to be hit by the actions of Shining Path. In May last year a 52-year-old Australian nun, Sr Irene McCormack, was murdered by the group after being tried by a "people's court". She had earlier been issued with a series of death threats. Sr Irene, who was killed by a bullet to the head, had been distributing food aid to the people of Hausahuari.