Padre Miguel: A Memoir of My Catholic Missionary Experience in Bolivia Amidst Postcolonial Transformation of Church and State

In this wonderful book, Father Michael J. Gillgannon ("Padre Miguel") has shared wonderful stories about his work alongside the people of Bolivia and about his encounters with teachers, artists, theologians, and others. He has also recounted his experience both with the anti-democratic military dictatorship of General Banzer and with the democratic presidency of Evo Morales. (President Morales was elected as the first Native-American president ever of Bolivia, a country whose overwhelming majority is Native American and who in turn suffered for approximately 500 years under European and European-American domination.) In particular, Father Gillgannon's Parish of San Antonio de Padua in the Andes mountains comes alive with his description of colorful annual indigenous fiestas of life, community, and faith. The parish school grows, and its youth encourage him and his close colleague Maryknoll Sister Joan Mury to initiate an extraordinary campus ministry at the State university of La Paz. At age 79, Father Gillgannon returned to Kansas City. There, through engagement with Hispanic Ministry in the United States, he continued to raise ethical questions and to work for social change.