From Cincinnati to Peru

In the spring of 2020, at the height of Covid lockdowns, Spanish teacher Patricia Luehrmann of St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, turned to Peru to fill a void.

“I was in panic mode because my students had to prepare for the AP college exam, where they would have to speak the Spanish language, a skill you don’t develop unless you practice,” she says.

Her students were isolated, and their worlds were shrinking under quarantine. A Peruvian national who had led service trips to Peru for years, Luehrmann responded by creating a Big Brother online tutoring program that connected her students to students in Fe y Alegría schools there.

The exchange started with Andahuaylillas, a rural village near the Andes Mountains where Peruvian children gathered in a church annex after Mass for virtual meetings with Luehrmann’s advanced students. They were proficient enough in Spanish to help the Peruvian kids in subjects such as math, and in return they gained confidence in their language skills by conversing with fluent Spanish speakers. The cities of Paita, Ilo and Tacna were next, where Luehrmann’s students followed the same tutoring model.

“It has been developing little by little because the nuns who work in the Fe y Alegría schools are people I’ve met before, and they love the project,” she says.

Founded by Jesuits and active with the help of partners for the past 58 years in Peru, Fe y Alegría operates nearly 200 schools funded by the Peruvian government. Fe y Alegría also plays a thought-leading role in the nation’s educational system, holding seminars every year to bring stakeholders together to reflect on and debate the issues of national interest and current affairs related to public education.

Fe y Alegría, which translates to “Faith and Joy,” was founded in 1955 to provide education to the poorest of the poor. With schools in 22 countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela), the Fe y Alegría network consists of 41,241 people working in schools, radio stations and alternative-program centers, all in service to 826,356 students. Those students range from early childhood, preschool, primary and secondary education to adults seeking technical and professional training, intercultural bilingual learners, and people with disabilities.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of Fe y Alegría’s founding. In light of that, Fr. Dani Villanueva, SJ, the general coordinator of the International Federation of Fe y Alegría, offers a quote from the organization’s founder, Fr. Jose Maria Velaz, SJ: “Fe y Alegría begins where the asphalt ends, where drinking water does not drip, where the city loses its name.”

Luehrmann credits her sense of mission to Fr. Fred Green, SJ, who founded the Cristo Rey school in her hometown of Tacna. She also credits Fr. John P. Foley, SJ, founder of the Cristo Rey Network in the United States. Both Jesuits were inspired to use the name Cristo Rey in honor of Blessed Miguel Pro, SJ, who proclaimed “Viva Cristo Rey!” or “Long live Christ the King!” before his martyrdom in Mexico in 1927.

Luehrmann met her future husband, Michael, while they were serving at the Center for the Working Child, a Jesuit project in Tacna. After moving to Cincinnati and marrying Michael, a 1983 St. Xavier graduate, she took a job at his alma mater, where she has taught Spanish for 30 years. In her earliest days, she restarted the student mission trips to Peru, which had begun in 1982. Immediately, she knew she was in the right place.

“I was so impressed with the students’ empathy, the sense of compassion,” she says. “I thought, ‘This is the right school for me because if these kids are thinking about others, this is the place I want to be.’”

Although she resumed trips to Peru after Covid lockdowns were lifted, she continued the virtual learning initiative, recognizing the benefits of regular contact for both sides of the partnership. She has also connected other schools around the country, including Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago and Marquette University High School in Milwaukee, for virtual exchanges with Fe y Alegría schools in Peru.

Back in the autumn of 2020, Luehrmann founded St. Xavier’s Fe y Alegría Club, and for the club’s inaugural meeting, she arranged for Fr. Ernesto Cavassa, SJ, to attend virtually. The general director of Fe y Alegría Peru, Fr. Cavassa spoke directly to her students.

“You are welcome in Peru,” Fr. Cavassa said. “Come visit Fe y Alegría to see what you can learn from another culture and another way of life. In the Magis, I say to you all, thank you and welcome.”