Facing the Cross in Peru

LIMA, PERU -- "Let God tear out their hearts of stone and replace them with ones made of flesh," prayed Peruvian Bishop Luis Bambaren as he stood beside the Bible-laden coffin of the third priest murdered in his diocese in as many weeks.

He was referring to the members of the Communist Party of Peru-Shining Path, who shot Father Alessandro (Sandro) Dordi, 60, on August 25. The chunky, bespectacled Dordi, a native of Bergamo, Italy, was captured as he returned from saying Mass and distributing food near the industrial city of Chimbote, 280 miles north of Lima, Peru's capital.

Sixteen days earlier, a band of about 20 guerrillas murdered Polish priests Zbigniew Strzalkowski and Michael Tomaszek, also near Chimbote. Spanish priest Miguel Company was shot in the face by guerrillas on July 27, but survived.

That puts the number of foreign religious murdered by guerrillas since beginning their war in 1980 at four, all this year, heralding a terrifying new chapter in the Shining Path's campaign to seize power in Peru. Foreign missioners are facing a terrible choice -- remain and risk death or abandon their commitment to be in solidarity with the poor.

A Maoist insurgency, the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) believes that only violence will bring change. Killing local authorities and threatening foreign aid workers is part of their strategy to empty the countryside of competition, thereby winning control for themselves.

In many areas, the security forces have inadvertently helped guerrillas by waging a "dirty war" where the civilian population is the prime target. Since 1982, more than 23,000 Peruvians have fallen victim to political violence, according to the Peruvian Senate, and thousands of others have abandoned their homes.

IN RURAL PERU, THE Catholic Church is one of the few institutions left. For example, a Canada-based group of Oblate Brothers maintains a parish and state-licensed teachers' college in the heart of the guerrilla-controlled Huallaga Valley, where 65 percent of the world's coca, the source of cocaine, is grown. No other state or local authority dares remain.

One Franciscan priest, American Mariano Gagnon, was told by the church to leave Peru's central jungle last year after he began arming Ashaninka Indians to fight back. But as long as religious did not challenge guerrillas directly, they have been left alone.

But that has changed. One longtime missioner, who asked for anonymity, says the recent attacks are a message.

"The Chimbote area has never been known for being a guerrilla stronghold, so the fact that all four priests attacked were foreigners and from there sends a strong political message," he pointed out. "It means, 'We can and we will attack the church. Get out.'"

The Chimbote diocese is famed for its work among the urban poor, under the direction of the charismatic Bambaren, known as "the bishop of the shantytowns." But shantytowns are also where the Shining Path hopes to tighten the "iron cord" that will strangle democratic government.

The "iron cord" is forged of hopelessness, hunger, and hate -- just the things missionaries seek to alleviate. On August 31, guerrillas murdered a well-known community organizer in the Lima port town of Callao. Less than two weeks later, two community leaders in the Lima shantytown called Juan Pablo II were murdered by guerrillas. All three Peruvians worked in grassroots groups that received Catholic relief aid.

The targeting of foreign religious is also meant to underscore the Shining Path's opposition to the U.S. drug war. Both Father Dordi and Australian Sister Irene McCormack, murdered in May, were accused of being "Yanquis," or Americans. One of the threats against Father Dordi that appeared in brilliant red wall graffiti in Chimbote was: "Yanqui, Chimbote will be your tomb."

In place of democracy, what guerrillas want is a totalitarian state modeled on Mao's revolutionary China. According to Shining Path founder and leader Abimael Guzman, Pope John Paul II is a "cooperativist fascist," and the work of missioners "curbs the explosiveness of the masses."

Religious groups are one of the last obstacles that must be eliminated before taking power, Guzman believes. Peru has more foreign missioners per capita than any other country in South America, according to the Episcopal Conference.

NOT JUST CATHOLICS ARE in danger. In May, the Shining Path attacked the interim director of Peru World Vision and his Colombian counterpart. Canadian Norman Tattersall died instantly, while Colombian Jose Chuquin anguished for two weeks before succumbing to the massive injuries caused by automatic weapons fire.

Some foreign religious take these attacks as a spiritual challenge, to be met with wit and bravado -- and a firm commitment to remain.

"If guerrillas think they can sit back with scorn and watch the timid procession of foreign priests leave for the lukewarm security of their homelands, they have read the last 2,000 years of history badly," Father Hubert Lanssiers, a Belgian, challenges. "The tie that binds us with those born here can, with rigorous exactness, be expressed with only one word: love."

One longtime Maryknoll priest, who asked for anonymity, says that this situation makes him think of the experiences of some religious in Central America. "Sometimes, it's true that the only thing you can do is be with the poor, accompany them, and have to shut down other projects," he said.

But for this priest, the situation also throws into relief common conceptions about what it means to be a martyr. "To be a martyr is to be a witness -- not to go out looking for death, but to follow a profound desire to live," he said.

"It's a way of answering the question, 'How do I live fully by faith?' In contrast, the Shining Path preaches a cult of death."

Bishops Conference President Monsignor Jose Dammert says that the church is taking more precautions as a result of the killings, but that "we must take the risk of being evangelizers where there is no way to protect ourselves."

However, some have left Chimbote, or are seriously rethinking remaining in Peru. Commented one missioner dryly, "Death is not our religion, but a natural fact."

Robin Kirk was a contributing editor of Pacific News Service and wrote regularly on Peru for U.S. newspapers and magazines when this article appeared.