From the St. Louis Review
By Jennifer Brinker
On his way home from the airport in New York, the priest was pulled over for a routine traffic stop.
New to the United States, the priest knew that the police in his home country had a history of robbing people and couldn't be trusted. So he did what he thought was the right thing: He fled.
While the story sounds unusual, the idea of a cultural disconnect among international priests living in the United States is not all that uncommon. And a group of priests and laity is hoping to overcome some of those barriers through a special project that they hope will spread across the nation.
The Parresia Project is the brainchild of Sebastian Mahfood, associate professor of intercultural studies at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, and Msgr. Richard Henning, professor of biblical theology at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, N.Y. Parresia, Greek for openness, has been used in the New Testament in describing the quality of preaching in early Christianity.
Msgr. Henning said that the Church needs to develop a more proactive approach in preparing priests from other countries who come to the United States to minister. The Parresia Project, he said, goes beyond just responding to the needs of an international priest and supports the idea of developing a more systematic approach, using a combination of a human-interest angle and technology.
"We feel the burden should not be entirely placed on the priest who is arriving in the U.S.," Msgr. Henning said during a visit to St. Louis last month. "The process should be more mutual. And this is because we're Catholic. When this priest comes here, it should not just be us saying, 'This is the way it is in America, and you've got to learn.'"
"There should be a sense that you are a brother in the Lord and you have left behind your family and friends and your whole life to come serve us," he continued. "Wouldn't it be nice if the receiving community would have some way of learning ... about the world that he's come from?"
By the numbers
The number of priests who come to the United States from other countries is rapidly rising, both Mahfood and Msgr. Henning noted. In 2004, the Seminary Department of the National Catholic Educational Association conducted a study and found that nearly 18 percent of priests in the United States were born outside of the country. But that figure is out of date, said Msgr. Henning.
"We don't know what it is, because we haven't done the research" recently, he said.
Last spring, John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter wrote that one-sixth of the roughly 40,000 priests serving in the United States are from abroad, and about 300 international priests arrive in the United States every year. Msgr. Henning said he believes those numbers may be conservative given the rapid rise in the number of priests arriving in the United States.
The priest noted that the statistics become higher in certain areas. In the Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., for example, about 35 percent of all priests are international, according to Msgr. Henning. The Archdiocese of New York says about 40 to 50 percent it its priests are from other countries.
By contrast, the Archdiocese of St. Louis has much lower numbers. According to the archdiocesan Office of Priests Personnel, there currently are nine priests serving in parishes and four seminarians at Kenrick-Glennon who were born in other countries.
In most cases, said Msgr. Henning, these priests are coming here because of an invitation from U.S. bishops to help serve in their dioceses. Others cases include student priests who are helping serve here during their studies or priests who emigrated to the United States as adolescents and subsequently felt a call to the priesthood here.
An idea is born
The Parresia project was born from previous conversations Msgr. Henning and Mahfood had on seminary formation and an awareness of the increasing number of seminarians from various cultural backgrounds. The two also had been working on another project involving distance learning through seminaries.
"It began to occur to us that distance-learning methods or technologies could be used fruitfully ... in trying to orient a seminarian or priest coming into the United States," said Msgr. Henning.
An anonymous donor awarded the two a $20,000 planning grant, and they spent a year consulting those who provide orientation services to international priests, seminaries and experts in culture, including leaders with the U.S. bishops' Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations (chaired by Archbishop Robert J. Carlson) and the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church. The same anonymous donor has given the duo a $150,000 grant for the implementation phase of the project.
The project is sponsored by the Seminary Department of the National Catholic Educational Association and the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception. Mahfood and Msgr. Henning said that the project also is supported by a small staff and advisory board and about a dozen volunteers.
Msgr. Henning noted that only three national programs that provide a formal orientation to priests who come to minister in the United States: The Vincentian Center for Church and Society at St. John's University in Queens, N.Y.; the International Priest Internship Program, operated by the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio; and the Cultural Orientation Program for International Ministers at Loyola Marymont University in Los Angeles.
But for the most part, there isn't one widespread formal program to prepare priests before they arrive in the United States. There are a number of local programs operated by dioceses and religious communities, but only about one quarter of arriving priests have any opportunity to attend an orientation program, said the priest.
"Some priests may only know about the U.S. from watching movies," said Msgr. Henning. "That's not real, and that's certainly not the Church."
Human connection through technology
In 1999, the U.S. bishops issued Guidelines for Receiving Pastoral Ministers in the United States as a means of providing support to priests from before they leave their home country to long-term mentoring and support. But when the bishops wrote those guidelines nearly 12 years ago, the idea of reaching to a global audience was more far-fetched. After all, technologies such as the Internet were just emerging on the scene.
Today, however, commercial technological resources such as Skype, an Internet-based video chat, are simple methods that can help improve communication between an international priest and his new community even before he arrives.
"When you know Father Joseph is coming from India, why can't the children at the parish school Skype with him before he comes over?" said Msgr. Henning. "So then it becomes a big moment before he arrives. This is simple, easy stuff that technology makes possible in a way that couldn't have been done before."
The two said they hope dioceses will be able to pool resources so that they can launch programs to educate the faithful about the international priests who come to serve them. Multimedia content, including videos, interviews and photos of international priests, will help serve that end.
"We don't want it to be a matter of textbook learning," said Msgr. Henning. "We envision if the parish council has convened before Father arrives ... and they want to learn about life in his world, you don't want to hand out State Department country guides," said Msgr. Henning. "We would like to have a web-based multimedia database of personal interviews, photos and stories about his upbringing. It's that human-to-human contact that people love."
The future
The Parresia Project is expected to develop over a two-year period, at least initially, said Msgr. Henning, primarily through efforts in advocacy and training others. Another long-term goal is to develop a formal orientation program for international seminarians.
"By the end of these next two years, we hope to have many more people" on board with the project, said Msgr. Henning. "This is an issue that's really larger and more fundamental than we had (initially) realized. We love the Church and we love priests, and our goal is to help a priest be the most effective priest he can be."
For more information on the Parresia Project, visit parresiaproject.org.
Showing posts with label Missionaries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Missionaries. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
"Catholic priest first Canadian confirmed dead in Japanese earthquake"
From the Montreal Gazette
MONTREAL — A 76-year-old Roman Catholic priest from Quebec is dead after his car was hit Friday by a tsunami wave in Japan, officials confirmed Sunday.
Andre Lachapelle, who was working as a missionary in Shiogama, is the sole Canadian victim of the 8.9-magnitude earthquake to date.
Working with the Quebec Foreign Missions Society, Lachapelle was in Sendai when the earthquake hit, according to a report posted on the society’s website.
He was en route to his parish in Shiogama — mere kilometres away — when his car was hit by a tsunami wave.
Guy Charbonneau, the society’s superior-general in Laval, said Sunday afternoon that Lachapelle had been identified by his Canadian passport, which he was carrying at the time of his death. Charbonneau said he had been informed of his colleague’s death on Saturday morning.
Lachapelle had been ministering in Japan since 1961, a year after he was ordained, Charbonneau said, and returned occasionally to Quebec.
He remembered his colleague as a refined man with a dry sense of humour and a fascination with Japanese culture.
"He very much liked dialogue with other faiths," Charbonneau said, noting that at one point during his time in Japan, Lachapelle had worked as a prison chaplain with Protestant pastors, Buddhist monks and Hindu priests.
The Department of Foreign Affairs informed Charbonneau about the man’s death through police.
While there are currently 1,773 Canadian citizens registered with the Canadian Embassy in Japan — with very few registered in the affected area — officials estimate there are 10,000 to 12,000 Canadians in the country overall.
It is feared as many as 10,000 people were killed as a result of the quake, which struck about 260 kilometres off Japan’s northeast coast, triggering a tsunami with metres-high waves.
MONTREAL — A 76-year-old Roman Catholic priest from Quebec is dead after his car was hit Friday by a tsunami wave in Japan, officials confirmed Sunday.
Andre Lachapelle, who was working as a missionary in Shiogama, is the sole Canadian victim of the 8.9-magnitude earthquake to date.
Working with the Quebec Foreign Missions Society, Lachapelle was in Sendai when the earthquake hit, according to a report posted on the society’s website.
He was en route to his parish in Shiogama — mere kilometres away — when his car was hit by a tsunami wave.
Guy Charbonneau, the society’s superior-general in Laval, said Sunday afternoon that Lachapelle had been identified by his Canadian passport, which he was carrying at the time of his death. Charbonneau said he had been informed of his colleague’s death on Saturday morning.
Lachapelle had been ministering in Japan since 1961, a year after he was ordained, Charbonneau said, and returned occasionally to Quebec.
He remembered his colleague as a refined man with a dry sense of humour and a fascination with Japanese culture.
"He very much liked dialogue with other faiths," Charbonneau said, noting that at one point during his time in Japan, Lachapelle had worked as a prison chaplain with Protestant pastors, Buddhist monks and Hindu priests.
The Department of Foreign Affairs informed Charbonneau about the man’s death through police.
While there are currently 1,773 Canadian citizens registered with the Canadian Embassy in Japan — with very few registered in the affected area — officials estimate there are 10,000 to 12,000 Canadians in the country overall.
It is feared as many as 10,000 people were killed as a result of the quake, which struck about 260 kilometres off Japan’s northeast coast, triggering a tsunami with metres-high waves.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
"Catholic priest kidnapped in The Philippines"
From Spero NewsBy Martin Barillas
A Catholic missionary was abducted from his home on the evening of October 11 in Pagadian City on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Four assailants burst into the Father Michael Sinnott at his residence while he was strolling in the garden. Dragging him to a waiting pickup truck, he was then trundled into a waiting speed boat at a local beach.
The whereabouts of the octogenarian priest, born in Ireland, are still unknown, while no group has yet to claim responsibility for the terrorist act. There are distinct suspicions that a Muslim terrorist group may be responsible, since priests and other Christian missionaries have been abducted or murdered in the past by Abu Sayyaf – an ally of the al Qaeda terrorist network. Groups such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front have operated for decades in hopes of setting up a separate Muslim state.
Father Shay Cullen, a fellow Irishman and priest who leads PREDA – a child welfare and advocacy organization in the Philippines – called for prayers. Said Rev. Cullen in an email, “Please pray and use all contacts to spread the news and we demand that no violence are used by the authorities but peaceful negotiation be conducted for his release. We are with you Father Michael in Sprit and prayer.”
Father Michael Sinnott (80), a member of the Columban order, is originally from Barntown in County Wexford, Republic of Ireland. Ordained in 1954, he was assigned to Mindanao in the southern Philippines in 1957 following his studies in Rome. Rev. Sinnott served in Mindanao until 1966 before being assigned to the theology staff in Dalgan Park, Navan. He returned to the Philippines in 1976 where he has served in a variety of pastoral and administrative roles. Since 1998 he has been involved with a school for children with special needs.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Address of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to Members of the Congregation for the Clergy (Announcing the Year for Priests)
Your Eminences,
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
I am glad to be able to welcome you at a special Audience on the eve of my departure for Africa, where I am going to present the Instrumentum Laboris of the Second Special Assembly of the Synod for Africa that will be held here in Rome next October. I thank Cardinal Cláudio Hummes for the kind words with which he has interpreted the sentiments you share and I thank you for the beautiful letter you wrote to me. With him, I greet you all, Superiors, Officials and Members of the Congregation, with gratitude for all the work you do at the service of such an important sector of the Church's life.
The theme you have chosen for this Plenary Assembly "The missionary identity of the priest in the Church as an intrinsic dimension of the exercise of the tria munera" suggests some reflections on the work of these days and the abundant fruit that it will certainly yield. If the whole Church is missionary and if every Christian, by virtue of Baptism and Confirmation quasi ex officio (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1305), receives the mandate to profess the faith publicly, the ministerial priesthood, also from this viewpoint, is ontologically distinct, and not only by rank, from the baptismal priesthood that is also known as the "common priesthood". In fact, the apostolic mandate "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole of creation" (Mk 16: 15) is constitutive of the ministerial priesthood. This mandate is not, as we know, a mere duty entrusted to collaborators; its roots are deeper and must be sought further back in time.
The missionary dimension of the priesthood is born from the priest's sacramental configuration to Christ. As a consequence it brings with it a heartfelt and total adherence to what the ecclesial tradition has identified as apostolica vivendi forma. This consists in participation in a "new life", spiritually speaking, in that "new way of life" which the Lord Jesus inaugurated and which the Apostles made their own. Through the imposition of the Bishop's hands and the consecratory prayer of the Church, the candidates become new men, they become "presbyters". In this light it is clear that the tria munera are first a gift and only consequently an office, first a participation in a life, and hence a potestas. Of course, the great ecclesial tradition has rightly separated sacramental efficacy from the concrete existential situation of the individual priest and so the legitimate expectations of the faithful are appropriately safeguarded. However, this correct doctrinal explanation takes nothing from the necessary, indeed indispensable, aspiration to moral perfection that must dwell in every authentically priestly heart.
Precisely to encourage priests in this striving for spiritual perfection on which, above all, the effectiveness of their ministry depends, I have decided to establish a special "Year for Priests" that will begin on 19 June and last until 19 June 2010. In fact, it is the 150th anniversary of the death of the Holy Curé d'Ars, John Mary Vianney, a true example of a pastor at the service of Christ's flock. It will be the task of your Congregation, in agreement with the diocesan Ordinaries and with the superiors of religious institutes to promote and to coordinate the various spiritual and pastoral initiatives that seem useful for making the importance of the priest's role and mission in the Church and in contemporary society ever more clearly perceived.
The priest's mission, as the theme of the Plenary Assembly emphasizes, is carried out "in the Church". This ecclesial communal, hierarchical and doctrinal dimension is absolutely indispensable to every authentic mission and, alone guarantees its spiritual effectiveness. The four aspects mentioned must always be recognized as intimately connected: the mission is "ecclesial" because no one proclaims himself in the first person, but within and through his own humanity every priest must be well aware that he is bringing to the world Another, God himself. God is the only treasure which ultimately people desire to find in a priest. The mission is "communional" because it is carried out in a unity and communion that only secondly has also important aspects of social visibility. Moreover, these derive essentially from that divine intimacy in which the priest is called to be expert, so that he may be able to lead the souls entrusted to him humbly and trustingly to the same encounter with the Lord. Lastly, the "hierarchical" and "doctrinal" dimensions suggest reaffirming the importance of the ecclesiastical discipline (the term has a connection with "disciple") and doctrinal training and not only theological, initial and continuing formation.
Awareness of the radical social changes that have occurred in recent decades must motivate the best ecclesial forces to supervise the formation of candidates for the ministry. In particular, it must foster the constant concern of Pastors for their principal collaborators, both by cultivating truly fatherly human relations and by taking an interest in their continuing formation, especially from the doctrinal and spiritual viewpoints. The mission is rooted in a special way in a good formation, developed in communion with uninterrupted ecclesial Tradition, without breaks or temptations of irregularity. In this sense, it is important to encourage in priests, especially in the young generations, a correct reception of the texts of the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council, interpreted in the light of the Church's entire fund of doctrine. It seems urgent to recover that awareness that has always been at the heart of the Church's mission, which impels priests to be present, identifiable and recognizable both for their judgement of faith, for their personal virtues as well as for the habit, in the contexts of culture and of charity.
As Church and as priests, we proclaim Jesus of Nazareth Lord and Christ, Crucified and Risen, Sovereign of time and of history, in the glad certainty that this truth coincides with the deepest expectations of the human heart. In the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, that is, of the fact that God became man like us, lies both the content and the method of Christian proclamation. The true dynamic centre of the mission is here: in Jesus Christ, precisely. The centrality of Christ brings with it the correct appreciation of the ministerial priesthood, without which there would be neither the Eucharist, nor even the mission nor the Church herself. In this regard it is necessary to be alert to ensure that the "new structures" or pastoral organizations are not planned on the basis of an erroneous interpretation of the proper promotion of the laity for a time in which one would have "to do without" the ordained ministry, because in that case the presuppositions for a further dilution of the ministerial priesthood would be laid and possible presumed "solutions" might come dramatically to coincide with the real causes of contemporary problems linked to the ministry.
I am certain that in these days the work of the Plenary Assembly, under the protection of the Mater Ecclesiae, will be able to examine these brief ideas that I permit myself to submit to the attention of the Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops, while I invoke upon you all an abundance of heavenly gifts, as a pledge of which I impart a special, affectionate Apostolic Blessing to you and to all your loved ones.
Friday, March 27, 2009
"German Elected to Lead Missionaries of Charity"
From ZENIT
Mother Teresa's Successor Steps Down
CALCUTTA, MARCH 25, 2009 (Zenit.org).- German Sister Mary Prema was elected as superior-general of the Missionaries of Charity, the congregation founded by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
The Union of Catholic Asian News reported today that the election took place during the congregation's general chapter, which ended today in Calcutta.
Sister Mary Prema succeeds Sister Nirmala Joshi, who has headed the congregation since the founder's death in 1997.
Sister Nirmala was re-elected for the third time, but UCAN cited sources inside the congregation that revealed she requested to be relieved of her obligations for health reasons, and because she wanted to dedicate herself to a more contemplative life within the Missionaries of Charity.
Some 163 sisters voted at the general chapter, of whom 74 are of Indian origin and the rest are from other countries of the world.
Spiritual exercises
The outgoing superior, Sister Nirmala, was invited to preach spiritual exercises to directors of Asia's diocesan Caritas chapters at a meeting planned for this September in Taipei, Taiwan.
The meeting is being organized by the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, the dicastery responsible for coordinating the charitable activities of the Catholic Church, which already convoked a similar meeting for Latin America in Guadalajara, Mexico, in June 2008.
Sources of the dicastery confirmed to ZENIT that Sister Nirmala has not declined this invitation, and will honor the commitment to preach the spiritual exercises, together with other prelates of the Asian continent.
Mother Teresa's Successor Steps Down
CALCUTTA, MARCH 25, 2009 (Zenit.org).- German Sister Mary Prema was elected as superior-general of the Missionaries of Charity, the congregation founded by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
The Union of Catholic Asian News reported today that the election took place during the congregation's general chapter, which ended today in Calcutta.
Sister Mary Prema succeeds Sister Nirmala Joshi, who has headed the congregation since the founder's death in 1997.
Sister Nirmala was re-elected for the third time, but UCAN cited sources inside the congregation that revealed she requested to be relieved of her obligations for health reasons, and because she wanted to dedicate herself to a more contemplative life within the Missionaries of Charity.
Some 163 sisters voted at the general chapter, of whom 74 are of Indian origin and the rest are from other countries of the world.
Spiritual exercises
The outgoing superior, Sister Nirmala, was invited to preach spiritual exercises to directors of Asia's diocesan Caritas chapters at a meeting planned for this September in Taipei, Taiwan.
The meeting is being organized by the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, the dicastery responsible for coordinating the charitable activities of the Catholic Church, which already convoked a similar meeting for Latin America in Guadalajara, Mexico, in June 2008.
Sources of the dicastery confirmed to ZENIT that Sister Nirmala has not declined this invitation, and will honor the commitment to preach the spiritual exercises, together with other prelates of the Asian continent.
Friday, September 19, 2008
"Fledging Mongolia Church Cautious About Vocations"
From The Indian Catholic
ULAANBAATAR (UCAN) -- Enkh-Baatar is the first Mongolian Catholic to join a seminary, but the local Catholic Church, five years his junior, is not actively promoting vocations.
"It is too early to have this, as those young people, both boys and girls, have still to deepen their faith and practice their Christian living," explains Bishop Wenceslao Padilla, apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar.
Nevertheless, Enkh-Baatar, whose baptismal name is Joseph, left the capital on Aug. 28 for Daejeon diocese in South Korea, where he will first study the Korean language for six months and then begin classes at Daejeon Seminary.
The 21-year-old parishioner of Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Ulaanbaatar, who is preparing to become a diocesan priest for the prefecture, uses only one name, like most people in Mongolia. He recently graduated in biochemistry from Mongolian International University, which Korean Protestants run in Ulaanbaatar.
"I wanted to go to the seminary right after finishing school, but my family and everybody in the mission, including the bishop, advised me to go to university first. I was very disappointed," Enkh-Baatar told UCA News.
"I later saw that my elders were wise," he admitted. "Science brought me to a closer understanding of God's creation."
Despite Bishop Padilla's reservations about rushing into vocation promotion, the local Church leader eventually approved Enkh-Baatar's application, the first. The Philippine missioner also clarified that initial signs of interest to the priesthood or Religious life are encouraged.
The bishop pointed out that St. Mary's Parish in the capital has a group of boys and young men living there for "intensive immersion in Catholic life," even though not all plan to be priests. They attend Mass and engage in other spiritual practices daily, and learn to live by Catholic principles.
Vocation promotion is an open possibility for each of the nine congregations that work in Mongolia, Bishop Padilla affirmed. But if vocations are to be encouraged, they should be for the local diocese, "and not to be members of the Religious congregations," the Immaculate Heart of Mary missioner said. "We have to build up the local Church in Mongolia."
Enkh-Baatar agrees: "If I join a congregation, they may send me to another country. I see myself as a priest in my own land. I am sure this is what Mongolia needs." He pointed out that all priests and nuns in the Mongolian Church are foreigners.
Similarly, Ganzayaa, 24 said she has wanted to become a Missionaries of Charity nun ever since she became a Catholic in 2003, with the baptismal name Susanna. "But then I thought I might be sent to some other country. I want to serve my own people," she continued. The young woman has dedicated her life to serving her St. Mary's Parish.
One of the 12 boys and young men who began the immersion program at the parish last year said he is studying Korean and helps around the parish. "My parish priest told me I need several years more preparation before I can go to the seminary," added Peter, now 22.
The parish priest, Father Stephen Kim, belongs to Daejeon diocese, as do the other two Fidei Donum priests serving in Mongolia. Their presence shows the special relation Daejeon diocese has with the local Church, according to Sister Lieve Stragier, treasurer for the prefecture. Fidei Donum missioners are sent from one mission diocese to another, as Pope Pius XII proposed in his 1957 encyclical Fidei Donum (gift of faith).
Additionally, for 10 years running Daejeon diocese has sent its seminarians to Mongolia for mission work during the summer months, and Bishop Lazarro You Heung-sik of Daejeon has visited three times. Meanwhile, volunteer Catholic groups from Korea -- doctors, priests and nuns, medical and nursing students -- have also been visiting Mongolia during the past decade to serve the poor.
"We do not ask for anything -- no priests or support -- the Koreans just like to give it," Sister Stragier said. The Belgian missioner added that Daejeon diocese will take care of all Enkh-Baatar's expenses at the seminary.
The modern presence of the Catholic Church in Mongolia began with the arrival of then-Father Padilla and two confreres in July 1992. Today it counts 520 baptized Catholics.
ULAANBAATAR (UCAN) -- Enkh-Baatar is the first Mongolian Catholic to join a seminary, but the local Catholic Church, five years his junior, is not actively promoting vocations.
"It is too early to have this, as those young people, both boys and girls, have still to deepen their faith and practice their Christian living," explains Bishop Wenceslao Padilla, apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar.
Nevertheless, Enkh-Baatar, whose baptismal name is Joseph, left the capital on Aug. 28 for Daejeon diocese in South Korea, where he will first study the Korean language for six months and then begin classes at Daejeon Seminary.
The 21-year-old parishioner of Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Ulaanbaatar, who is preparing to become a diocesan priest for the prefecture, uses only one name, like most people in Mongolia. He recently graduated in biochemistry from Mongolian International University, which Korean Protestants run in Ulaanbaatar.
"I wanted to go to the seminary right after finishing school, but my family and everybody in the mission, including the bishop, advised me to go to university first. I was very disappointed," Enkh-Baatar told UCA News.
"I later saw that my elders were wise," he admitted. "Science brought me to a closer understanding of God's creation."
Despite Bishop Padilla's reservations about rushing into vocation promotion, the local Church leader eventually approved Enkh-Baatar's application, the first. The Philippine missioner also clarified that initial signs of interest to the priesthood or Religious life are encouraged.
The bishop pointed out that St. Mary's Parish in the capital has a group of boys and young men living there for "intensive immersion in Catholic life," even though not all plan to be priests. They attend Mass and engage in other spiritual practices daily, and learn to live by Catholic principles.
Vocation promotion is an open possibility for each of the nine congregations that work in Mongolia, Bishop Padilla affirmed. But if vocations are to be encouraged, they should be for the local diocese, "and not to be members of the Religious congregations," the Immaculate Heart of Mary missioner said. "We have to build up the local Church in Mongolia."
Enkh-Baatar agrees: "If I join a congregation, they may send me to another country. I see myself as a priest in my own land. I am sure this is what Mongolia needs." He pointed out that all priests and nuns in the Mongolian Church are foreigners.
Similarly, Ganzayaa, 24 said she has wanted to become a Missionaries of Charity nun ever since she became a Catholic in 2003, with the baptismal name Susanna. "But then I thought I might be sent to some other country. I want to serve my own people," she continued. The young woman has dedicated her life to serving her St. Mary's Parish.
One of the 12 boys and young men who began the immersion program at the parish last year said he is studying Korean and helps around the parish. "My parish priest told me I need several years more preparation before I can go to the seminary," added Peter, now 22.
The parish priest, Father Stephen Kim, belongs to Daejeon diocese, as do the other two Fidei Donum priests serving in Mongolia. Their presence shows the special relation Daejeon diocese has with the local Church, according to Sister Lieve Stragier, treasurer for the prefecture. Fidei Donum missioners are sent from one mission diocese to another, as Pope Pius XII proposed in his 1957 encyclical Fidei Donum (gift of faith).
Additionally, for 10 years running Daejeon diocese has sent its seminarians to Mongolia for mission work during the summer months, and Bishop Lazarro You Heung-sik of Daejeon has visited three times. Meanwhile, volunteer Catholic groups from Korea -- doctors, priests and nuns, medical and nursing students -- have also been visiting Mongolia during the past decade to serve the poor.
"We do not ask for anything -- no priests or support -- the Koreans just like to give it," Sister Stragier said. The Belgian missioner added that Daejeon diocese will take care of all Enkh-Baatar's expenses at the seminary.
The modern presence of the Catholic Church in Mongolia began with the arrival of then-Father Padilla and two confreres in July 1992. Today it counts 520 baptized Catholics.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
The Tarheel Apostle - Fr. Thomas Frederick Price, MM
The following video is primarily of a teleplay produced and aired by NBC on national television some time in the 1940's (we're not sure of the exact date). It shows some vignettes from the life of Fr. Thomas Frederick Price, MM, during his years as a priest in North Carolina prior to founding the Maryknoll Mission Society and leaving for China. To this I have added some information about the life of this truly heroic and virtuous priest.
Below are links to several sources of information about Fr. Price and his cause for canonization:
Cause for Sainthood for Father Thomas Frederick Price Group on Facebook
Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh
Testimonies concerning the reputation of Fr. Price,
as well as credible reports of favors or healings
received through prayer for his intercession
should be reported to:
Fr. Michael Walsh, MM,
Vice-Postulator of the Cause
of Fr. Price at
mwalsh@maryknoll.og
Thursday, June 26, 2008
"Nuns serve the hemisphere's poorest"
From the Catholic SentinelBy Ed Langlois
Sentinel photo by Ed Langlois
Sentinel photo by Ed Langlois
MARYLHURST — If ever she is kidnapped, Sister Denise Desil will tell her captors simply to kill her and be done with it. She cannot stomach the idea of being ransomed when resources for ministry are in such short supply.
“I’ll die for a good cause,” says the 57-year-old Haitian nun with a dismissive wave of the hand.
As high food prices create a maelstrom in Haiti, Sister Denise and her hard-working religious community are hitting a crisis in an effort to feed orphans, disabled children, young mothers and others in the beleaguered island nation.
Despite the troubles, Sister Denise Desil does not despair.
“We have faith,” she says. “We have hope in God.”
She is a member of the Little Sisters of St. Thérèse. Founded in Haiti in 1948, the Catholic religious community is the island’s largest. The aim of the 225-woman community is to provide education and health care to the poorest people in the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. The women walk as many as 12 hours to reach their missions, some of which are in remote mountains of southwest Haiti.
Sister Denise is a nurse and midwife who has delivered easily more than a thousand babies. She offers counseling to mothers before and after the birth.
Her superiors sent her to the United States temporarily to find people who might be willing to support the nuns and their ministry. She will be speaking to parishes in Oakland, Calif. and made a stop in Oregon to visit the Sisters of the Holy Names here.
The small Haitian congregation is busy. They staff 29 elementary schools, four high schools, a teachers’ college and 15 home economics centers. The sisters run prenatal and post-natal care clinics that include food, two nursing homes, 20 urgent care dispensaries, two farms, a residents for AIDS patients with tuberculosis, an orphanage for girls and a program serving disabled children.
They have even launched a building program to construct concrete huts to replace the reed hovels that are often blown away during hurricane season. The sisters also construct outhouses to protect sanitation.
The nuns are also thrifty. With one dollar donation, they can can get milk and nutritional supplements for a child for a whole day.
A $50 check will pay the monthly wage of a high school teacher.
A gift of $1,500 would stock a home economic center with food and books for an entire year.
The sisters purchase milk, beans and vitamins for children and mothers. Students at the schools usually cannot afford tuition or books, so the sisters need resources to help them, too.
At the home economics centers, young women learn to read, cook, raise children and sew, skills vital to survive and thrive in Haiti.
Holy Names Sister Joan Maiers, a Marylhurst University writing instructor, organized a poetry reading at a Lake Oswego chocolate shop to benefit the ministry in Haiti. Sister Joan and Sister Denise met four years ago in Oakland.
As food prices have soared and Haiti has lost stability, the Little Sisters of St. Thérèse face unforeseen challenges.
One stream of donated food dried up and the sisters have been forced to scramble to find nourishment for those they serve.
Many hungry Haitians come to the sisters’ health clinics expecting food, but the stocks have dwindled.
Desperate bandits not long ago kidnapped one of the sisters and the community vehicle. The nun escaped, but the men demanded a hefty ransom for the car, which the sisters paid.
Asked why the dioceses and the government do not support the nuns’ ministry, Sister Denise explains that the church and civil officials have their own problems. The sisters do not involve themselves in advocacy in the halls of government. They try to let their work do the talking.
The cost of a 110-pound sack of rice in Haiti had risen to more than $50, or a fifth of the average worker’s annual salary. But unemployment rates have soared to 85 percent or more.
More than 60 percent of Haiti’s eight million people are malnourished.
One in five Haitian children dies before age 5 because of disease and malnutrition.
The sisters live in conditions most Americans would find rugged. Their beds are packed into small rooms. The high cost of food means there is less to eat.
The sisters have one donated car used for long trips on treacherous roads. One road was so rugged that when Sister Denise got out of the auto, she took a spill and broke her leg.
Many walk six or eight hours to their missions in the mountains of southwestern Haiti.
As the sisters get older, they need serious care, but there is no health insurance.
After making sure everyone is fed, Sister Denise dreams of a new compound for young women in formation as sisters. Now, they sleep jammed into a small room.
Sister Denise grew up in a town near Port Au Prince. As a girl, nuns taught her and she became interested in the life of service and prayer.
She entered the convent at age 18 and began her ministry at age 21 in Baradére, a city of 40,000 about a 12-hour drive southwest of the capital.
Baradére, on the Caribbean, is subject to stagnant water, which means mosquitoes, which means malaria. Sister Denise has had it numerous times, as have most of the residents. When children contract the disease, they often die.
In addition to her medical and fundraising work, Sister Denise teaches first Communion students at St. Peter Parish in Baradére.
Haiti, half of the island shared with the Dominican Republic, is about the size of Maryland. But the roads are so bad, it can take 12 hours to cross it.
Sister Denise will be in California until August. To contact her, send email to denise.desil@yahoo.com
“I’ll die for a good cause,” says the 57-year-old Haitian nun with a dismissive wave of the hand.
As high food prices create a maelstrom in Haiti, Sister Denise and her hard-working religious community are hitting a crisis in an effort to feed orphans, disabled children, young mothers and others in the beleaguered island nation.
Despite the troubles, Sister Denise Desil does not despair.
“We have faith,” she says. “We have hope in God.”
She is a member of the Little Sisters of St. Thérèse. Founded in Haiti in 1948, the Catholic religious community is the island’s largest. The aim of the 225-woman community is to provide education and health care to the poorest people in the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. The women walk as many as 12 hours to reach their missions, some of which are in remote mountains of southwest Haiti.
Sister Denise is a nurse and midwife who has delivered easily more than a thousand babies. She offers counseling to mothers before and after the birth.
Her superiors sent her to the United States temporarily to find people who might be willing to support the nuns and their ministry. She will be speaking to parishes in Oakland, Calif. and made a stop in Oregon to visit the Sisters of the Holy Names here.
The small Haitian congregation is busy. They staff 29 elementary schools, four high schools, a teachers’ college and 15 home economics centers. The sisters run prenatal and post-natal care clinics that include food, two nursing homes, 20 urgent care dispensaries, two farms, a residents for AIDS patients with tuberculosis, an orphanage for girls and a program serving disabled children.
They have even launched a building program to construct concrete huts to replace the reed hovels that are often blown away during hurricane season. The sisters also construct outhouses to protect sanitation.
The nuns are also thrifty. With one dollar donation, they can can get milk and nutritional supplements for a child for a whole day.
A $50 check will pay the monthly wage of a high school teacher.
A gift of $1,500 would stock a home economic center with food and books for an entire year.
The sisters purchase milk, beans and vitamins for children and mothers. Students at the schools usually cannot afford tuition or books, so the sisters need resources to help them, too.
At the home economics centers, young women learn to read, cook, raise children and sew, skills vital to survive and thrive in Haiti.
Holy Names Sister Joan Maiers, a Marylhurst University writing instructor, organized a poetry reading at a Lake Oswego chocolate shop to benefit the ministry in Haiti. Sister Joan and Sister Denise met four years ago in Oakland.
As food prices have soared and Haiti has lost stability, the Little Sisters of St. Thérèse face unforeseen challenges.
One stream of donated food dried up and the sisters have been forced to scramble to find nourishment for those they serve.
Many hungry Haitians come to the sisters’ health clinics expecting food, but the stocks have dwindled.
Desperate bandits not long ago kidnapped one of the sisters and the community vehicle. The nun escaped, but the men demanded a hefty ransom for the car, which the sisters paid.
Asked why the dioceses and the government do not support the nuns’ ministry, Sister Denise explains that the church and civil officials have their own problems. The sisters do not involve themselves in advocacy in the halls of government. They try to let their work do the talking.
The cost of a 110-pound sack of rice in Haiti had risen to more than $50, or a fifth of the average worker’s annual salary. But unemployment rates have soared to 85 percent or more.
More than 60 percent of Haiti’s eight million people are malnourished.
One in five Haitian children dies before age 5 because of disease and malnutrition.
The sisters live in conditions most Americans would find rugged. Their beds are packed into small rooms. The high cost of food means there is less to eat.
The sisters have one donated car used for long trips on treacherous roads. One road was so rugged that when Sister Denise got out of the auto, she took a spill and broke her leg.
Many walk six or eight hours to their missions in the mountains of southwestern Haiti.
As the sisters get older, they need serious care, but there is no health insurance.
After making sure everyone is fed, Sister Denise dreams of a new compound for young women in formation as sisters. Now, they sleep jammed into a small room.
Sister Denise grew up in a town near Port Au Prince. As a girl, nuns taught her and she became interested in the life of service and prayer.
She entered the convent at age 18 and began her ministry at age 21 in Baradére, a city of 40,000 about a 12-hour drive southwest of the capital.
Baradére, on the Caribbean, is subject to stagnant water, which means mosquitoes, which means malaria. Sister Denise has had it numerous times, as have most of the residents. When children contract the disease, they often die.
In addition to her medical and fundraising work, Sister Denise teaches first Communion students at St. Peter Parish in Baradére.
Haiti, half of the island shared with the Dominican Republic, is about the size of Maryland. But the roads are so bad, it can take 12 hours to cross it.
Sister Denise will be in California until August. To contact her, send email to denise.desil@yahoo.com
To help, send donations payable to Congregation des Petites Soueurs de St. Thérèse, to St. John the Baptist Church, 11150 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito, CA 94530.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
"On the Mission of Priests"
From Zenit"Sowing the Joy of the Gospel in the World"
VATICAN CITY, APRIL 27, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the greeting Benedict XVI gave today before praying the Regina Caeli with several thousand people gathered in St. Peter's Square.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
A few moments ago we concluded a celebration in St. Peter’s Basilica in which I ordained 29 new priests. This is a time every year of special grace and festivity: The lifeblood of the Church and society has been renewed and recirculated in them. If the presence of priests is indispensable for the life of the Church, it is also something precious for all.
In the Acts of the Apostles one reads that the Deacon Philip brought the Gospel to a city of Samaria; the people adhered to his preaching with enthusiasm and also saw the miracles that he worked for the sick; “and there was great joy in that city” (Acts 8:8). As I reminded the new presbyters in the course of the liturgical celebration, this is the meaning of the Church’s missions and particularly the mission of priests: Sowing the joy of the Gospel in the world!
Where Christ is preached with the power of the Holy Spirit and he is accepted with an open soul, society, though it be full of problems, becomes a “city of joy” -- which is also the title of a book about the work of Mother Teresa in Calcutta. This then is the wish I have for the newly ordained priests, for whom I invite all to pray: That where they are sent they may spread the joy and hope that flow from the Gospel.
In truth this is also the message that I brought last week to the United States of America, on an apostolic voyage that had these words as its motto: “Christ our hope.” I give thanks to God for abundantly blessing this singular missionary experience of mine and deigning to make me an instrument of the hope of Christ for that Church and that country. At the same time I thank God because I too was confirmed in hope by American Catholics: Indeed, I discovered a tremendous vitality and a decisive will to live and to witness to the faith in Jesus. Next Wednesday, during the general audience, I will speak more about this visit of mine to America.
Monday, April 14, 2008
"Pope: All Vocations Have Missionary Character"
From ZenitSays Married Couples Called to Live Gospel in Every Area
VATICAN CITY, APRIL 13, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Vocation and mission are inseparable and the Church's many vocations should have an "intense missionary character," says Benedict XVI.
The Pope affirmed this today before he led the praying of the midday Regina Caeli with thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square. Today, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, focuses on Christ as the Good Shepherd and is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.
The Holy Father said that St. Paul, for whom "vocation and mission are inseparable," is a model for all Christians, particularly "those men and women who dedicate themselves totally to announcing Christ to those who still have not known him: a vocation which continues to maintain all of its validity."
"This missionary service is carried out, in the first place, by priests in offering the Word of God and the sacraments, and in manifesting the healing presence of Jesus Christ with their pastoral charity for everyone, above all for the ill, the little ones and the poor," Benedict XVI said. "We give thanks to God for these our brothers, who give themselves without reserve to pastoral ministry, sometimes sealing their fidelity to Christ with the sacrifice of their lives, as happened yesterday to two religious assassinated in Guinea and Kenya."
The Pontiff expressed his prayer that there would be "an increasing number of those who decide to radically live the Gospel through the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience -- men and women who have a primary role in evangelization."
"Some of them dedicate themselves to contemplation and prayer, others to a multifaceted educational and charitable work," he said. "All of them, nevertheless, are united in the same objective: to give witness to the primacy of God over all and to spread his Kingdom in every sphere of society."
Benedict XVI affirmed that those called to Christian marriage should also give their lives a missionary flavor.
He contended that "it mustn't be forgotten that Christian marriage is also a missionary vocation: The couple, in fact, is called to live the Gospel in the family, in the workplace and in parish and civil communities. In certain cases, moreover, they offer their valuable contribution to the missions 'ad gentes.'"
"Dear brothers and sisters," the Pope concluded, "let us invoke the maternal protection of Mary for the many vocations that exist in the Church so that they are developed with an intense missionary character. To her, Mother of the Church and Queen of Peace, I also commend the special missionary experience that I will live in the next few days with the apostolic trip to the United States and the visit to the United Nations, as I ask all of you to accompany me with your prayers."
Friday, February 22, 2008
Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration Go Back to France
The following post was written by A Simple Sinner over at Per Christum:You can read all about it here: http://www.olamshrine.com/Troyes/
Not bad for a girl from Canton, Ohio! Then again, you should NEVER underestimate the resolve of Ohio-bred Catholics. To do otherwise is just foolish.
Yes, Americans are now sending back missionaries of a sort to Europe. The sisters in France now, represent the rebuilding of their order, where their order was established.
People need to remember that Mother Angelica founded EWTN, in the heart of the deep South, in a diocese that is located in a place that is 2% Catholic, out of a "studio" built by cement blocks intended to be a garage. Not a very hopeful begining where one would expect success.
They also need to remember that while she built EWTN from that humble begining, at the same time the USCCB was attempting to create a Catholic network beamed by sattelite to places that had a sattelite dish - a very hopeful begining, with their money and clout, where one would expect success.
They utterly and unequivicobly failed - no two ways about it. She has been an unqualified success.
No word just yet as to the future of EWTN en français... but I would expect it to happen sooner rather than later.
I know it strains my charity a bit, but every time dissidents wince at the mention of Mother A's name, I just curl my toes.
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