Amerindians in Guyana celebrate 100 years of Jesuit mission

Some 800 people, the majority of them Amerindians from all over the Interior of Guyana, attended celebrations last month to mark a century of Jesuit ministry in the region. It was in November 1909 that British Jesuit, Father Cuthbert Cary-Elwes SJ, began the mission in Lethem, in Rupununi.

At the start of the festivities, Bishop Francis Alleyne OSB of Georgetown and the Regional Superior of Guyana, Fr Dermot Preston SJ, led a religious formation programme which was followed in the evening by a cultural celebration featuring acts performed by members of the different village communities.  The next day, the bishop was joined by Bishop Roque of Boa Vista in Brazil and many concelebrants for the centenary Mass.  These included the British Provincial, Fr Michael Holman SJ, Father General's Assistant for Western Europe, Fr Antoine Kerhuel, and Fr Joseph Sands who represented the superior of the Amazonia Region, Fr Roberto Jaramillo, and others.

'This was surely one of the largest gatherings of indigenous people ever to have taken place in Guyana,' commented Fr Holman. 'Many of those who travelled to St Ignatius in Lethem had made long and arduous journeys.  Some, for example those who travelled with Fr Paulose from Kurukabaru, had walked for three days and then stood on the back of a lorry travelling over rough terrain for another two.'

The Provincial said he was also struck by the number of children involved and how well organised the weekend was. 'Everyone was fed three meals a day and slept in hammocks strung up around the large, central hut, known as the benab.  The whole event was a tremendous organisational feat for which we have to thank the parish priest, Fr Joachim, and his numerous helpers,' he said.

Not everything went quite as planned though: on their return journey to Aishalton, a group of 45 pilgrims was stranded when the axle of the trailer on which they were journeying snapped.  They had neither food nor water till the replacement arrived later the next day.

Read about the first Jesuit missionary in the Guyanese Interior in the winter 2009 edition of Jesuits and Friends - link below.


 Jesuits and Friends