The Irish Columban missionary was shot and wounded in both of his legs by three armed men at his residence in Peru. Fr Gerard then tackled his attackers in a bid to save his parish workers’ wages.
He was in the slum district of San Juan de Lurigancho, outside of the Peruvian capital, Lima.
But as of Monday, the priest, she said was walking and planned to go ahead with his holiday, despite his ordeal.
The Columban missionary had withdrawn the equivalent of US$2,000 from the bank. He drove back to his parish and as he got out of his car to open the gate, a car stopped behind him, and three men, two with guns drawn.
Fr Gerard refused to hand over the money so they hit him with the revolver butt on the head and shot him in both legs below the knee.
In addition to being treated for his leg wounds, the priest got nine stitches in the side of his head but was released from hospital.
“The entire parish was talking about it and there were posts on Facebook with loads of prayers and good wishes; the whole parish was really upset and concerned.”said missionary Sr Maura.
The Columban Sister explained that both she and Fr Gerard arrived in the parish on the same day 22 years ago.
“The poorer people live on the hills, and the parish of Cristo Liberador is enormous with up to 140,000 parishioners,” explained Sr Maura.
Fr Gerry Desmond grew up in Swords, Co Dublin. He was ordained a priest in 1969 and worked in Korea between 1974-1979. He also worked in Canada from 1979-1987, and has served in Peru since 1996.
Edited from CatholicIreland.net
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