History
and Mission
More than
40 years ago, the Diocese
of Pittsburgh began to build a bridge of love and hope between
the people of Pittsburgh and the needy in Chimbote, Peru.
Bishop John Wright, Bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh
at that time, was the first architect of this bridge, and commissioned
Father James Shanahan to be the first bridge builder in Peru,
as the first Pittsburgh diocesan priest to serve there in the
St. James Society.
Father
Shanahan and other priests who followed soon after him - Father
Jules Roos, Father Gerald Lutz, Father John Price - were the founders,
the pioneers who laid the foundations for the bridge in Peru.
A few years later they would be joined by the
Sisters of Mercy and still later by the Vincentian Sisters of
Charity. Soon after Bishop Wright sent the first Pittsburgh missionaries
to Peru, he invited laymen James Ferry and Frank Schneider to
collaborate with him in building the bridge on the Pittsburgh
end by initiating the Peru Mission Dinner, originally called the
Chimbote Founders Day Dinner.
Joined by Andy Goyette and other founders in Pittsburgh, they
worked with their counterparts serving as missionaries in Peru
to complete the bridge. Over the years the bridge has been widened
and strengthened as many have crossed it.
The Social Works Center in Chimbote, Peru, epitomizes the importance
of that bridge spanning two continents. The original Social Works
Center opened as an outpatient clinic and home for the elderly.
In 1966, Monsignor Jules Roos decided to address the poverty in
Chimbote by opening a maternity hospital where mothers could give
birth in clean and comfortable surroundings. The alternative was
for women to continue to deliver their babies in very unhealthy
conditions at home.
Monsignor
Roos sought the assistance of the Dominican Sisters from Grand
Rapids, Michigan, who served as nurse midwives at the Maternity
Hospital. The first facility was very humble and primitive by
today's standards, but it flourished and grew into the bustling
Maternidad de Maria hospital in Chimbote, well-known throughout
Peru.
Today the maternity hospital is a 26- bed facility
which delivers over 300 babies each month. Mothers are taught
the importance of good hygiene and pre-natal care and return with
their babies after delivery to learn healthcare techniques that
will give their babies a better chance to survive in a harsh environment
of poverty and suffering.
Much of the support for this maternity hospital crosses the bridge
linking Pittsburgh and Peru, bringing also an abundance of love
and hope.
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