Parroquia Maria Reina

The US Adorer's mission in Bolivia began modestly when one Adorer -- Sister Janet Marie Wilhelm -- began collaborating with Precious Blood Sisters from O'Fallon, Missiouri, in Parroquia Maria Reina (Mary, Queen Parish) in La Paz.  By December, 1972, Bishop Andrew Bernardo Schierhoff, auxilliary bishop of La Paz, met with Sister Angelita Myerscough, then provincial of the former Ruma Province of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ.  Could she provide Sisters to work in Parroquia Nuestra Senora de Fatima (Our Lady of Fatima Parish)?  They would be the answer to the prayers of the pastor, Father Valeriano Mercieca, a Carmelite from Malta.

Parroquia Nuestra Senora de Fatima

Sister Angelita could, and she did.  On January 6, 1973, US Adorers Janet Wilhelm and Anne Irose arrived to live in a rented house in Barrio la Merced in the boundaries of Parroquia Nuestra Senora de Fatima.  Two days later they were joined by Sisters Victoria Moreno and Delia Rivera, Adorers from Madrid, Spain, a part of the Province of Rome, Italy.

From this small beginning, the mission of the US Adorers in Bolivia developed as the Sisters discovered the needs of the people and found the resources to work with them.  “There is so much to be done and so few of us to do it,” Sister Janet Marie wrote in early 1974 to the Sisters back home in the States.  “Yet God is with us and what He wants will be accomplished”

Over the next two decades Adorers lived and worked with the poor of Parroquia Senora de Fatima and other parishes in and around La Paz.  When a priest was not available, they blessed the bodies of the dead and consoled the grieving families.  They built up parish life, helped with retreats, prepared people for the sacraments, trained catechists, typed songs for the parish hymnal, formed Basic Christian Communities and trained lay people to lead them.  They helped to meet the physical needs of their people by coordinating the services of the struggling parish clinic, running a breakfast program for the poorest children and adults, helping to find work for women and girls, participating with people from the neighborhood to get physical improvements into the barrios.  They worked with the youth, providing opportunities to learn about their faith.  They assisted the handicapped by establishing a chapter of Christian Fraternity of Persons with Disabilities and giving them assistance with everyday tasks such as traveling by buses ill-equipped for the handicapped.

In 1985, the ASC Associates were established in Bolivia when a group of people of Fatima Parish asked Sister Janet if they could be more involved with her work.  Today, forty members continue faithfully in their growth in Precious Blood spirituality.

In 1986 Sister Anne Irose moved up the mountain to a house in Alto Las Delicias.  According to the Sisters’ annals, “The purpose of her living there is to learn well the Aymara Indian language, to further promote the Basic Christian Communities in the barrios and to insert herself with the very poor as Jesus did.” (Boliva Community Annals, 1986-1987).  By February 18 of the following year, Anne was able to read the Bible in Aymara.

Parroquia San Pablo

In 1990 US Adorers Anne Irose and Marcia Kruse and later Sister Mary Catherine Girrens moved further up the mountain to Rio Seco, for parish ministry in Parroquia San Pablo (St. Paul Parish).  Later the area came to be called El Alto and became a separate diocese and city.  In 2000 US Adorer Janet Wilhelm joined the Rio Seco community.