Priest builds with his hands a church in Chiclayo, diocese of Pope Leo XIV in Peru

When a priest says that he is building a church, a school or some work, he usually means that he is the final responsible for the building and not that he is the one who effectively builds it. But this is not the case of Fr. Javier Cajusol Villegas, who is building with his own hands a church in a poor area of ​​the Diocese of Chiclayo, where Pope Leo XIV was bishop.

“In the seminar there is a cycle in which we studied Church history. He taught me an American priest who explained very beautiful, Ricardo Mullen, who said that when the Spaniards came to America, priests came with them who were also architects, engineers and that they were the same who did the churches,” says P. Cajusol in an interview with ACI Press.

This, the priest shared, “I struck me and I began to think why not. I encouraged myself when they sent me to a parish -free parish. I did the Adveniat’s project with the bishop’s endorsement and they sent me the money. An operator helped me and taught me.”

The Peruvian priest, born in Trujillo, city of the North where Pope León was also between 1988 and 1999, thus referred to the Ecclesial Aid Agency Adveniat, based in Germany, which finances projects of the Catholic Church worldwide.

“I liked construction, I only organized me, attended people and when I had days I dedicated me to this and how my brother is an architect I asked some things,” he continues.

“At the beginning it cost me but I was learning how to mix the cement, the veneer, the placement of bricks, the aggregates,” he adds.

Do not neglect the priestly vocation

The priest points out that this construction work, although he likes it, is not above his priestly ministry that is always the fundamental in his life. “Little by little I have been improving without neglecting the vocation. Then it is a double strong work: that of mason that requires strength and skill; and attending to the faithful,” he shares.

Fr. Javier, ordered on August 30, 1997, 28 years ago, highlights that the essential for him is “not neglecting the attention of the faithful, sacramental attention, pastoral attention visiting the houses, dialogue with people”, which collaborates selflessly in this project.

The presbyter, who will turn 58 on September 24, says that he must be about 12 years old as a mason and that everything began in the Andean city of Tarma with the construction of a sports field, when there was Bishop the current archbishop of Cusco, Mons. Richard Alarcón; and then build a parish house in Trujillo.

“And here in the Diocese of Chiclayo the headquarters is called Santa María del Valle, which serves 9 young villages (poor neighborhoods), with more or less 45 thousand faithful and we only have three chapels,” says the priest from the city of Lambayeque.

A possible encounter with Pope Leo XIV

The priest estimates that the construction of the Church will take between 4 or 5 years, working from Monday to Friday from 8 am to 6 pm, “unless I can see the Holy Father to help me. He helped me a lot to do the parish house where I live currently, with an American foundation.”

The place where it is now building the Church and where Mass already celebrates on Sundays, is an area where there is a lot of poverty and crime. “There is a lot of sicariato, robberies and even some bad police officers who collide with them. Sometimes they are administered,” he says.

Regarding the financing of the temple, the priest explains that he has the help of the faithful, who also give him the daily food to him, the main mason and two assistants, but more collaboration is needed to gather half a million soles, about $ 143,000.

Then, he says, a similar amount will be needed to finish the church with the altar, the images, the benches, the sound equipment, among others.

You can collaborate with Fr. Javier through YAPE to +51 959396049 and +5 984941690 of Carmen Puluche, secretary of the parish.