As a priest of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa, I was given permission by my bishop to do missionary service for five years and was accepted by the Columban Fathers in Omaha, Nebraska. The Columbans assigned me to their region of Peru, and I was appointed pastor of “Parroquia Jesús Resucitado,” where I served from mid-1993 to mid-1998.
The parish is located in the Northern Zone of the city of Lima in the district of Independencia. The area of the parish is known as “El Ermitaño” (The Hermit). It is one of the “pueblos jovenes” which sprang up some 35-40 years prior to my arrival, during a difficult time in Peru when the infrastructure, the roads, schools, etc. of the rural areas were being neglected and many “campesinos” were forced to flee to the city in hopes of survival. After arriving and finding temporary refuge with relatives and others of their rural communities, they organized and sought vacant areas on the edges of the city and “squatted” until eventually being permitted to establish themselves. I recall being told that, during a period of some ten years, rural people were arriving in Lima at the rate of 1,000 per day.
Ermitaño is situated on a foothill of the Andes mountain range, adjacent to other such settlements. The Columban Fathers were asked by the local bishop to minister to these communities shortly after they began to appear. I think there were some 40,000 inhabitants in this settlement at the time I served there. The original squatters were from various areas of the country, and they brought, and sought to preserve, their original Catholic traditions. As a result, “Jesus Resucitado,” the Parish of the Risen Christ, was comprised of people from various rural pueblos and parishes, seven of which had chapels that bore the name of their communities back home. Two of us priests ministered to these people, celebrating weekend Masses in each chapel and offering sacramental formation and celebrations, and social assistance, during the weekdays.
At the time, at “Payet,” the second hillside settlement north of Ermitaño, a group of women in the parish of “Espiritu Santo” (Holy Spirit), worked in a cooperative that created embroidered and appliquéd fabric artworks of various sizes and themes. A religious Sister from England had worked with them for a number of years, and by that time she had returned to England but continued to market their products for them.
In 1998, as I was preparing to return to the United States and to resume ministry in the Archdiocese of Dubuque, I approached this group of women with the request to make “Parroquia Jesús Resucitado” in Ermitaño the theme of an artwork, as a remembrance of my time there. As always, the response was: “Si, Padre, no hay problema.” (Certainly, Father, no problem.)
So I obtained a map of the area and took photos of each chapel. I met with one of the women, showing her the map and indicating the location of each chapel on the hillside. I was quickly made aware that a map was not something familiar to her, so I asked her to accompany me on a tour.
We stopped at each chapel, where I gave her the corresponding photo I had taken. She sketched a bit of the surroundings of each. I also pointed out to her the outline of the rock formations at the mountaintop, one part of which the people call “La Bella Durmiente” (Sleeping Beauty). Some three weeks later, this creation was brought to me. All of the chapels are clearly identified, compressed into their approximate locations in relation to one another. Homes and businesses line the streets, busy with pedestrians and a few automobiles, and “Sleeping Beauty” is depicted as she is. For me, it is a work of art that evokes memories that I will always treasure.
— Father Bernie Grady, October 2015
Fr. Bernie passed away in Iowa on August 29, 2025, at 82 years old. His brother, Peter, brought the image to St. Columbans late last year. We think it is worth sharing with all of our supporters around the world; Fr. Bernie was enriched, the Columbans were enriched, and the people of Peru were enriched.
Columban Fr. Albert Utzig is the regional director for the U.S.
