Annual Peru Mission Dinner set for Oct. 24

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The poor in Chimbote benefit from charity event 

A new mother is photographed with her baby during a 2012 visit to the maternity hospital in Chimbote, Peru, by Chimbote Foundation board member Gretchen Roos, a niece of Msgr. Jules Roos, who served many years in Chimbote.   

By: William Cone

Editor, Pittsburgh Catholic

The 47th annual Peru Mission Dinner, supporting a partnership between the faithful of Pittsburgh and the people of Chimbote, Peru, is set for Wednesday, Oct. 24, at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel on Pittsburgh's South Side.

The event will be hosted by Bishop David Zubik, with Mike Clark of WTAE-TV as master of ceremonies.

A reception at 6 p.m. will feature student exhibits showing some of the Catholic school projects that have raised money for Chimbote. The dinner will follow at 7 p.m.

For nearly 50 years, local Catholics have sustained a maternity hospital, clinic and orphanage in the Diocese of Chimbote. Aid from mission-partner parishioners throughout the six counties of the Diocese of Pittsburgh has created a "bridge of love and hope" that continues to pay dividends for the poor of Chimbote.

The dinner is the mission's major fund-raising event, and all proceeds help support the maternity hospital, where more than 300 babies are delivered each month and mothers are taught good hygiene and health care skills to help their infants thrive.

Proceeds from the dinner, spring golf outing and year-long Catholic school mission fund-raising efforts are allocated by the Chimbote Foundation board for operating expenses or one-time capital and equipment investments for the maternity hospital, clinic and orphanage.

The theme of this year's dinner will reflect on the "bridge of love, hope and faith," relating to the Year of Faith that Pope Benedict XVI announced to begin in October 2012.

The World Mission Rosary, created by Archbishop Fulton Sheen, will be introduced and available at the dinner. Each decade of the rosary is a different color and focuses prayer on a different region of the globe, as in Archbishop Sheen's words, "we must pray, and not just for ourselves, but for the world."

Dinner participants will be urged to focus on the red decade that represents the Americas —North and South America. It is red for the fire of faith brought to the Americas by missionaries.

Individual dinner tickets are $130-$160 per person or $1,300-$1,600 per table. Information is available by calling 412-456-3085.

If you are unable to attend the dinner, consider showing your support for this project with a donation to the Chimbote Foundation. More information about how you can help is found on the diocesan website at www.diopitt.org/chimbote-foundation, or e-mail stewardship@diopitt.org.