Saturday, February 18.- The Press Office of the Holy See announced the appointment by Pope Benedict XVI of Rev. Fr. Kay Martin Schmalhausen Panizo as Bishop for the Prelature of Ayaviri, in Puno, southern Peru.

The Bishop-elect, Kay Schmalhausen, SCV, is the second member of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae to be named bishop by the Holy Father. The first one was Most. Reverend Jose Antonio Eguren, SCV, currently Auxiliary Bishop of Lima. Of the 24 priests of this 400 members Society of Apostolic Life, approved by Pope John Paul II in 1997, two have been appointed Bishops. Authorities of the Sodalit Society expect 6 young members to be ordained as priests in 2006. Most of the members of the SCV are consecrated laymen, that is religious brothers.

The new Bishop-elect

Rev. Fr. Kay Schmalhausen was born in Lima on July 27, 1964. He is 41 years old. He is therefore joining a group of 4 young Bishops, of 41 years of age, one of 39, and another one born forty years ago. So, that makes Rev. Schmalhausen one of the six youngest Bishops in today’s Catholic Hierarchy.

Rev. Father Kay Schmalhausen, SCV, has been elected Bishop of the Prelature of Ayaviri (Peru) by Pope Benedict XVI

Pope nominates new Bishop of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae. Most Reverend Schmalhausen, member of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, has been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as new Bishop of the Territorial Prelature of Ayaviri (Southern Peru).After living a few years in Munich, Germany, he returned to his country and continued his studies at the Alexander von Humboldt High school, in Lima, Peru.

After discerning his vocation Rev. Fr. Schmalhausen, entered a community of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, in Lima, in February of 1983.

After the period of formation in his Society, he undertook academic studies of Philosophy and Theology, the basic formation to be ordained a priest. He obtained his degrees in the Pontifical and Civil College of Theology of Lima and in the Seminary of Medellìn. On December 14, 1989 he made his perpetual vows in the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae.

On December 16 of 1989 he was ordained priest by Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, then Archbishop of Medellin and now President of the Pontifical Council for the Family. Medellin, Colombia, was the city were the new priest completed his final studies. He was incardinated in the Diocese of Callao (main port of Peru), up until February 2001 when Pope John Paul II granted the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae the faculty of incardinating its own priests.

Since his ordination to the priesthood, Fr. Kay has served as Chaplain and Spiritual Assistant to the Christian Life Movement in the Diocese of Callao, as well as director of the communications office of the bishopric of Callao and adviser to the diocesan commission for the family in the same diocese. For many years he was the Regional Assistant for Spirituality of the Peruvian province of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, having also held other responsibilities in that same Society of Apostolic Life which was approved by Pope John Paul II.

Since 2003 he has been Chaplain and Professor of Ethics in the Catholic University of San Pablo, in Arequipa, Peru, as well as Director of the Institute for Marriage and Family and head of spirituality in the Christian Life Movement’s Nazareth Family Association.

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