CARITAS POPULORUM
- ADROP News
- Oct 31
- 2 min read
Report for October 2025
History
CarPop as it is known today has grown out of the missionary work in Peru of Fr. Art Purcaro, OSA and Sr. Jean Faustman, SSJ. Fr Art began his missionary work in Peru immediately following his ordination in 1975 having spent time in Peru dating back to 1971. Fr Art centered his ministry in northern Peru, mainly in the coastal desert town of Chulucanas and the adjacent Northern Andes. Sr Jean chose to take a leave of absence from her position at Chestnut Hill College in 2006 and spent the subsequent three years in Yauri in the Altiplano of the Southern Andes. The two situations could not have been more different in terms of geography and climate, or more alike in terms of culture and needs!
Fr Art invited Ed Purcaro, Dave Winkler and John Faustman to spend a week with him in 2003 touring Peru, from Lima through Cusco and Machu Picchu, then up to the North to the coastal desert to visit Chulucanas (elevation 302 ft) and to the Northern Andes to visit Pacaipampa (elevation 7,000 ft).
In a fortuitous twist of fate, Sr Jean, who had originally sought a missionary position in French speaking Africa, finally accepted a missionary assignment in Spanish speaking Peru. Sr Jean invited her Faustman siblings, Frani, Tom and John, to visit her at her mission in Yauri, high in the Southern Andes (elevation ~13,000 ft) passing up through Cusco, Sicuani and reaching an elevation in excess of 14,000 ft before descending through Arequipa and Lima to complete the journey.
The needs of the Peruvian people both high in the freezing cold Andes in the South and in the stiflingly hot coastal desert of the North were painfully apparent to the travelers. CarPop was established as a result of these life changing experiences.
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