Meet Father Perin

Meet Father Perin

Father Isidro Perin, General Superior of La Salette Congregation, was in the Sanctuary of La Salette, (São Paulo state) in 2001, July 7 and 8. He was visiting the Sanctuary, in Santana quarter, and another La Salette community in São Paulo, Vila Paulistana. Taking advantage of his trip to the city, GIS (La Salette Internet Group) requested an interview with the General Superior, so that he could say some words to the visitors to La Salette site.

The interview occurred on 2001 July 08, in a sunny Sunday afternoon. Father Pedro Sbalchiero Neto received us with Father Isidro Perin, in the parochial house of the Sanctuary. Those were pleasant and relaxed moments, in which the General Superior answered the most varied questions, and talked about some information and curiosities about his life and the Congregation. The interviewer, Fabio Eduardo and his girlfriend, Fernanda, were also there. From now on, we will let the interview with the Father Perin available in some passages, following the sequence the questions were asked the priest. For being the General Superior of the Congregation, it is extremely important to us all to know his words, his knowledge, and his lesson of life: as priest, La Salette missionary and man.

GIS: First of all, I´d ask you to tell us a little about yourself, trajectory as priest, La Salette missionary and General Superior.

Father Perin: I’m August Perin, born in the city of Concórdia, in Santa Catarina, in 1940. I came of a family of agriculturists, losing my father very early, in 1946, being the oldest one in the family. I was educated by my mother, until entering the Seminary, in 1953, in Marcelino Ramos, in Rio Grande do Sul. I entered college in Curitiba, until being ordained priest, in 1977, when I went working in Bahia, specifically in the city of Valença. In 1973, I was called to Rio Grande do Sul, to work in the formation of the seminarians that were there, where I stayed up to 1982, when I was elect Provincial, remaining in the position for 6 years. After this period, I was elected member of the General Council, (then) I used to divide myself between Rome and Brazil, staying 6 months in each place, by turns, until being elected General Superior, in 1994, settling myself definitively in Rome, for a mandate of 6 years. In 2000, I was reelected to the position, to remain as a Superior up to 2006.

Translated by Adriana Capuchinho - Guarujá - SP - Brazil