GIS: What would be a General Superior of La Salette Congregation activities? What would be your activities inside the congregation?

Father Perin: As General Superior, I have the mission of co-ordinating all missionary activity in the 24 countries where we work. We are approximately 1,000 missionaries around the world today. Some examples, in South America we are in Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil. In North America, we are in the United States and Canada. In Europe, we are in 12 countries, France, that is our cradle, among them, and Italy that is an important country, where the General House is and co-ordinates the missionary activities in the whole world. In Africa, we are in Angola and Madagascar.

GIS: But are there La Salette parishes in those countries?

Father Perin: La Salette devotion in those countries does not exist. We are in preexisting churches, that had been closed for many years. In those countries, it is always necessary to start by the seed, therefore the culture of the people is different, and the Church was barely present, due to the communism that existed there. We have to start, as they say in English, "very light" (laughs...), or we run the risk of not being allowed to remain in that place anymore.

GIS: Is there La Salette presence in Portugal?

Father Perin: No, we are not in Portugal. We are close to Portugal, inside Spain, 80km from Portugal’s frontier.

GIS: There is a parish named La Salette in a city of Portugal named Oliveira de Azeméis, that, is my father’s birthplace by coincidence.

Father Perin: There are many La Salette churches, in several countries, that are formed by lay people who are there and take the name of Our Lady of La Salette to those places, or by a miracle or the presence of the image. There are many countries where we are not, but La Salette (image) is there. Amongst some curiosities, we could say that in India La Salette arrived in 1870, when we were yet a small group of missionaries. And thus also happened in some countries in Europe, as Portugal, as you said, Germany, Spain. Just a few time after the apparition, La Salette churches already started to appear.