Argentine missionaries to be sent to evangelize in the Peruvian Amazon

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Apr 4, 2022 / 16:29 pm

A nun and a priest are the first to be sent on a missionary project from Argentina to the Peruvian Amazon region.

The project is a joint initiative of the Argentine Bishops’ Conference and the Pontifical Mission Societies.

Sister Mayra Monsalve and Father Juan Manuel Ortiz de Rozas are the first missionaries to be sent, out of a total of eight, who will begin an evangelization mission in the Vicariate Apostolic of Puerto Maldonado.

On April 3, Bishop Alejandro Daniel Giorgi, an auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires, offered a send-off Mass at Saint Mary of Bethany parish in the Almagro neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Fr. Jerzy Faliszek, the director of PMS Argentina, concelebrated.

Fr. Ortiz, 43, will be sent to the community in Mantaro. He has been a priest of the Diocese of San Isidro for 12 years and has served as a pastor in neighborhoods in Greater Buenos Aires, and has worked in the addictions ministry of the diocese and in the National Drug Addiction Commission.

The priest has participated in missions in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Neuquén, Catamarca, Salta, Corrientes, and Chubut, and in February 2017 he visited Yurimaguas, in the Peruvian jungle.

Sr. Mayra Monsalve, 43, is a nun of the Congregation of Tertiary Franciscan Missionary Sisters.

She is a professor of Sacred Studies. She has worked in coordinating and furthering the education ministry. The nun was a member of the congregation’s  Living Stones missionary movement with children, youth, university students and adults in the cities of Córdoba, Río Cuarto, Buenos Aires, Villa María, and Villa Nueva in Argentina, and also in Chile.

Sr. Mayra Monsalve has served in homes for minors in rehabilitation centers and has also given workshops in spirituality and music to women and older adults.

The group of eight missionaries consists of a priest, two nuns, and five lay people. Another large group of people is in the discernment and formation process with a view to continuing the mission in Peru.

The Church in Argentina, through the PMS, has encouraged the financial support of the faithful to raise funds and support the missionaries in the mission field along with the first tasks to be accomplished.

The home diocese of each missionary has covered the expenses for moving to Peru and for the immigration procedures.

The missionaries' first task is to build a mission center in Chiriumpiari and another in Mantaro with an approximate cost of $40,000 for both.