Connecting Hearts and Hands with Peru: The Feast of St. Peter and Paul

We had an extremely busy day on Sunday, June 29, because of the very important feast day of Sts.Peter and Paul. The Mass at St. Francis Church was 90 minutes long, a little longer than normal. The church was packed with people. This is not unusual; the weekday Mass is usually packed as well. There was a procession going into church with St. Peter and St. Paul each on a large platform, carried by many men. A band was playing as they entered the church. At the end of Mass, the procession led to the Port of Paita where many groups of people gathered in their decorated fishing boats. St. Peter and St. Paul led a procession of many boats in the Port of Paita. (This is the 3rd largest port in Peru.)

We were invited by a friend of the sisters. At least 60 people were on the fishing boat where we were guest. In fact, one of the guests was running for Mayor. We were sitting in a boat, on the top of this big fishing boat. It took a while to finally get on the way. We sat in the boat for at least 45 minutes until we joined the procession.

Our host served food and drink on the boat and we ate a traditional Peruvian meal of rice and chicken. Once our boat got near St. Peter and St. Paul, a wreath of beautiful flowers were thrown into the water in commemoration of the fishermen who lost their lives over the past year.

The whole procession took about three hours. It was a rich experience we'll never forget.