THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Schools of Mission Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Peru, 1922-2000 A DISSERTATION Submitted to the faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree Doctor of Philosophy © Copyright All Rights Reserved By Annette M. Pelletier Washington, D.C. 2013 Schools of Mission: Sisters, Servants of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Peru, 1922-2000 Annette M. Pelletier, PhD Director: Catherine Dooley, PhD The first permanent mission of the United States Catholic Church in South America was a Catholic private school established by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) in Lima, Peru, in 1922. The IHM Sisters of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sent four sisters to Lima in response to the invitation of Emilio Lisson Chávez, CM, Archbishop of Lima. Cardinal Dennis Dougherty agreed to Lisson’s request to find a religious community of women to teach in a school that the archbishop promised to provide. The IHMs, a diocesan congregation of educators at the time, was elected. The success of Protestant mission schools among the Catholic population of Peru prompted the archbishop of Lima to provide an alternative to the American- style education where instruction in English and a modern curriculum prepared Peruvians of all social classes, especially in Lima, with a modern progressive education. The IHM sisters told the story of their experience of mission in their correspondence, diaries, annals, and reports. Their words and actions reflect attentiveness to the challenges of the new ecclesial context. The North American IHMs successfully established two American-style Catholic schools within five years without the aid promised by the zealous, but impractical, archbishop of Lima. Villa Maria Academy in Miraflores and St. Anthony School in Callao embedded the sisters into two social classes striving to find their place in the national effort to modernize Peru—the working poor, and the rising middle class. Eager for access to American- style Catholic schools where their children would be educated in English and their Catholic identity safeguarded, parents vied to register their sons and daughters in the IHM schools. The sisters’ story details how their educational mission endured through many unexpected events: earthquakes, revolutions, terrorism, epidemics, scandal, and division. This dissertation by Annette M. Pelletier, IHM, fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Catechetics and Religious Education approved by Catherine Dooley, PhD, as Director, Margaret Schreiber, STD, acting director and by John Ford, STD, and James Riley, PhD, as Readers. ________________________________________________ Catherine Dooley, PhD, Director ________________________________________________ Margaret Schreiber, STD, Acting Director ________________________________________________ John Ford, STD, Reader ________________________________________________ James Riley, PhD, Reader ii To IHMs past and present, To Mercedes Rojas and José Antonio Patrón. “Juntos con valor cantemos Con viva Fe y Alegría Por que unidos saciaremos la sed de verdad y vida.” “Himno de Fe y Alegría” iii Table of Contents General Introduction.……..………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter 1: Memoirs and Memories (1922-1925)........……………………………………8 Missions at Home and in Peru: Memoir of the First Years ....……………………….8 Minding the Missions at Home..……………………………………………………13 Patria Nueva: Mission to Modernize the Peruvian Church and State …………….15 Archbishop Lisson: Protector of the Flock………………………………………….17 Archbishop Lisson: First Step to a New Model of Education in Lima.…………….24 Summoned and Sent………………………………………………………………...29 Voyage to the “new Jerusalem”…………………………………………………….34 Arrival and Welcome....…………………………………………………………….37 IHM View of Schools and Schooling in Lima (1922) ……………………………..41 Writing Home……………………………………………………………………….51 Schooled in Mission on the Mission.……………………………………………….56 Chapter 1 Illustrations ..............................................................................................59 Chapter 2: The Mission Unfolds (1926-1946) ………………………………………….70 Expansion and Growth ............................................................................................71 Peruvian Education ....………………………………..……..…………………….74 Progress and Pedagogy .……………………....……..…………………………….77 Transplant or Implant? Villa Maria Academy, Miraflores ..............…..…………...78 Expansion at Callao ..................................................................................................81 IHM Pedagogy in Peru ..……………………………………………………………85 Pedagogy Meets Poverty ..………………………………..………………………...87 iv Minding the Mission………………………………………………………………..95 Dilemmas and Decisions..…………………………………………………………105 From St. Anthony Catholic School to Colegio San Antonio .………………….…107 Telling Stories .…....………………………………………………………………110 Broken Bodies and Brave Hearts .……………………………………………..….112 Religious Women: Link to the Church of America...……………………………..124 The End of the Pioneering Era ....…………………………………………………129 Chapter 2 Illustrations ............................................................................................139 Chapter 3: The Mission Grows (1947-1966) .....………………………………..……149 Continuing the Mission ...........................................................................................149 Growing Schools …………………………………………………………………..150 Mother Maria Pacis’s Desk Journal ......…...………………………………………169 Growing Colegio San Antonio for Girls ...…..…………………………………….185 Growing Demand ………………………………………………………….………191 Growing Hospitality ……………………………………..………………………..199 “We haven’t had visitors all week!”.. ......………………………………………….203 The Elusive “Siesta Hour”....………………………………………………………212 New Voices, New Vocations ………………………………..…………………….216 Blinding Success …………………………………………………………………..224 Chapter 3 Illustrations ..............................................................................................239 Chapter 4: The Mission at Risk (1967-1981) …..…………………….…………………255 New Challenges .......................................................................................................255 Confusing Ideas ……………………………………………..…………………….259 Conflicting Opinions ………………………………………...……………………268 v Disturbing Developments …………………………………………………………274 Wrestling with the “Restless Ones” ……………………………………………….276 Growing Resolve .………………………………………………………………....290 Mending the Mission ...……………………………………………………………291 Chapter 4 Illustrations ..............................................................................................305 Chapter 5: The Mission Transformed (1982-2000) …………………………………….310 Growing Crises ........................................................................................................310 Growing Balance …………………………………………………………………..315 Growing Initiative …………………………………………………………………319 “Where the Asphalt Ends,” Terrorism Begins ….…………………………………326 Growing Fear …………………………………………..………………………….327 Growing Solidarity....………………………………………………………………331 Growing Communion ………..……………………………………………………338 Chapter 5 Illustrations ..............................................................................................342 Chapter 6: General Conclusions .………………………………………………………..349 Appendices ………………………………………………………………………………..358 Bibliography ...………………………..…………………………………………………..425 vi Acknowledgements Without the advice, insight, suggestions, and observations of many of the members of my congregation this research would represent solely an academic pursuit. However, the stories told, the memories recalled and the documents retrieved represent a religious family’s effort to capture a not too distant past. In particular, I am grateful to S. Rose Marie De Carlo, IHM, and S. Lorraine McGrew, IHM, the two general superiors, who released me from apostolic ministry to engage in meticulous research both in the United States and in Lima, Peru. To S. Patricia Fadden, IHM, EdD, the president of Immaculata University and the IHM faculty who encouraged me to persevere to the end, I give thanks. A special thanks to S. St. Michel Mullany, IHM, congregational archivist, Ellen Pierce, Director of the Maryknoll Mission Archives in Maryknoll, New York, and Maria Mazzenga, education curator of the American Catholic History Research Center and University Archive of The Catholic University of America, and Shawn Weldon, curator at the Philadelphia Archdiocesan Research Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Reverend John Carven, CM, Director of the Brother Bertrand Ducournau Archives of the Eastern Province of the Congregation of the Mission, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Bishop Raimundo Revoredo, CM, Director, Archivos de la Causa de la Canonización de Monseñor Emilio Lisson Chávez, San Isidro, Peru. For assistance in ecclesial, educational, and political history of Peru, I thank S. Maria Consuelo Sparks, IHM, PhD, Doctor Margarita Guerra Martinière and Jeffrey Klaiber, SJ, of the Pontifícia Universidad Católica Lima, Peru. Similarly, our congregational historians, S. Marie Hubert Kealy, IHM, PhD, S. vii Marie Angela Natoli, IHM, S. Patricia Daily, IHM, opened my eyes to thread of charism that still holds all mission stories together. And, for the many conversations with numerous IHMs I thank them, particularly, those who endured interviews and emails during the last five years: S. María Teresa Scudellari, IHM, S. M. Barbara Barnes, IHM, S. Honora Marie Johnston, S. Nancy Rivera,