Gathered together

In October last year, during the wake and in the midst of our deep sorrow for Alfredo's departure, we received the news that the new Bishop of Cajamarca, Monsignor Isaac Martínez, wanted to get to know the Rural Libraries. For this reason, on the 25th of January we had an extraordinary meeting with the participation of Monsignor Isaac, Fathers Manuel Salazar and Miguel Garnett, Marco Arana and the central team.

We remember that Rural Libraries came about as a proposal by Father Juan Medcalf, who arrived in Peru in the midst of the Latin American process of Liberation Theology. Alfredo was very aware of that and always urged us to keep in mind that we are not a mere book lending institution. He used to say something like this:

"What we seek in Rural Libraries, what we have always sought, since our beginnings in 1971, is the forging of the new man - who expresses solidarity, who is loving, critical, humble - and of the community. Both are principles that are manifested and reflected in the life of Jesus.

The roots of Rural Libraries have a close relationship with the Church of Cajamarca, in the person of Monsignor Dammert Bellido, with Liberation Theology, and in the person of Juan Medcalf. 

The Option for the Poor, which the Latin American church propagated and promoted in the 1960s, as a result of poverty and repression of the dictatorships in our continent, has always been the driving force and motive for our work.

The lending of books as access to knowledge of the immediate and universal context, the reading circles and also the publication of our own books are only tools for our journey and commitment to fight for the equality and dignity of peasants and for the integral liberation of every human being".

In memory of our founders, Juan Medcalf and Alfredo Mires, and our rural community members, we reiterate this commitment as the principle and cause of our work. If it is possible to re-establish a link with the Church of Cajamarca in any of its manifestations, we welcome it. To regain awareness of this commitment strengthens us spiritually and in our concrete tasks from, with and for the rural communities of Cajamarca. And we will do it, like everything else, happily, with courage and in memory of Juan and Alfredo.