Two priests who’ve each ministered four decades in South America visited Mount Saint Joseph on June 13, the place they came as children to visit their aunt and cousin, who were Ursuline Sisters.
     Fr. Harry Peterson, SDB, a Salesian of Don Bosco priest, and his brother, Fr. George Peterson, OCSO, a Trappist priest, said Mass in the Mount Chapel in the morning, joined the sisters for lunch and then visited the gravesites of their aunt, Sister Mary Joseph Peterson, and their cousin, Sister Jean Mark Buckler, in the Motherhouse cemetery. Sister Mary Joseph died in 1976, and Sister Jean Mark in 1983.
    Fr. Harry has served in Chile for nearly 39 years, where he’s the only American Salesian priest. His ministry is to evangelize on 450 radio stations, 120 television stations and through his Spanish language publication, Inspiracion. He began that ministry in 1981, when he was named pastor in Tierra Del Fuego, Chile, a few days before Ash Wednesday, and decided he could increase the faith by using the local radio station.
    “I get sufficient reaction to keep my spirits up, but not too much to make me blow up,” he said to laughter after lunch.
    Fr. George has served in Chile for nearly 42 years, mostly at the Trappist monastery in Rancagua. He is now the chaplain for the Trappistine Sisters in Curico. Early in his time in Chile he met with Ursuline Sister Fran Wilhelm while she was working in Santiago. Currently, Sisters Mary Elizabeth "Mimi" Ballard and Ruth Gehres minister in Chillan, Chile at the Dianna Ortiz Ursuline Center for Women (Casa Ursulina).

    Fr. George is celebrating his 50th year as a priest, and as a special treat, Ursuline Sister George Mary Hagan presented him with Kentucky bourbon balls during lunch.
    Sister George Mary grew up in the same central Kentucky area as the Petersons, and was in e-mail contact with Fr. Harry urging him to visit the Mount. Both brothers were back in Kentucky, so they both made the trip, arriving shortly before they were to say Mass at 11 a.m. June 13.
    During his homily, Fr. Harry said, “We praise God for the Ursuline training our parents received,” in Marion County. Fr. Harry said the message he tries to share is, “Everyone is a beloved child of God, and an instrument to do much good.”
    The Petersons have a long history with the Ursulines of Mount Saint Joseph. Their grandparents, John F. and Catherine Peterson, the parents of Sister Mary Joseph, donated the large crucifix that greets visitors to the cemetery. One of their brothers is married to the sister of Sister Jean Gertrude Mudd.
    The Petersons have another brother who is a Glenmary priest, and they visited with Glenmarys Fr. Dave Glockner and Fr. Tom Kirkendoll at lunch.