Eight Years Without a Priest

The crowd was ecstatic. There was cheering and dancing. Little children threw flowers at me, and people reached out for a handshake as I made my way to the welcome arch. This was the jubilant mood the day I arrived at Sacred Heart of Jesus parish in Ulupu in the Diocese of Wewak, Papua New Guinea in October of 2015. At the welcome arch, I was adorned with a garland and shook hands with some of the leaders. Then, there was a procession with singing and dancing. The parish is one of forty-six parishes in the diocese. Like many other parishes in the region, Sacred Heart of Jesus parish had been without a resident parish priest for the past eight years.

During the first weeks I was in Ulupu, I sat in the confessional for hours because the people had not had the opportunity to receive the sacrament of reconciliation for a long time. I celebrate Mass daily in Ulupu now, and attendance is very high. The older parishioners rejoice that they can participate in the Eucharistic celebration and receive the Body and Blood of Christ.

One Woman’s Deathbed Conversion Brought the Faith to Life

About a year ago, my cell phone rang in my pocket while I was in Tamale shopping for my mission, Christ the King parish in Gushiegu, Ghana. The urgent call was from James, our catechist, who told me that an elderly, sick woman named Martha Fusheni was asking to be baptized.

After being baptized, receiving Holy Communion, and receiving the anointing of the sick, Martha’s final wish was to be buried according to the rites of the Catholic Church.

The Catholic community of Zamashiegu surrounded the gravesite. As James led the prayers, Martha’s cloth-wrapped body was laid to rest. A simple tomb with a wooden cross was formed over the site. Finally, everyone departed.

Two weeks later, Martha’s family asked me to offer a memorial Mass. Friends, neighbors, members of the Zamashiegu Catholic community, and Martha’s family gathered for a joyous celebration of her life and faith.

Martha was the first person from the Catholic faith community at Zamashiegu to die and be buried according to the rites of the Church. What an impact Martha had on me and on all the people who shared her journey of faith!

Spreading Peace and Mercy Where There Is Risk and Violence

The Arnold Project in Guayaquil, Ecuador currently serves 71 families from three parishes. The project operates in three parishes in Guayaquil — St. Arnold Janssen in Mount Sinai; and Our Lady of Las Lajas and Santo Hermano Miguel in Guasmo — where we work as missionaries in Ecuador’s most populated city.

The project is a pastoral and professional response to walk with and counsel families, adolescents and children in situations of risk and violence. To carry out evangelization in these city sectors, we must collaborate with experts in social problems to assist vulnerable families who live within and without our parishes and who cannot afford professional assistance. The Arnold Project consists of three clinical psychologists and a family counselor, one therapeutic doctor who specializes in addictions, three teachers for school support, three occupational trainers for mothers, the parish priests, and volunteers.

The project has operated with great success since 2004. The families of our communities see the project as means of obtaining peace and mercy thanks to the Church offering to help their children recover from, avoid and denounce drugs, prostitution, and other social ills.

Preparing Seminarians in Vietnam for Life as a Missionary

Vietnam is one of the places in the world where vocations to the priesthood and religious life are still abundant. A long history of keeping the faith under difficult circumstances has nurtured a high regard for those who dedicate their lives within the Church. Applications to diocesan seminaries and men’s and women’s religious congregations exceed the capacity of these groups to receive and prepare them for service to God’s people.

Divine Word Missionaries is among those blessed with many eager candidates for religious and missionary life. I help in the education of novices in Nha Trang, a midsize, coastal city known for its beautiful beaches. Our novitiate at Nha Trang welcomes young men who have graduated from college. Some have been part of a Divine Word Missionary prenovitiate program. Others are seeking their first encounter with religious formation. A few days of tests, background references, personal chats, and observation by our formation personnel provides the basis for selecting the most promising candidates. In 2015, we began with twenty candidates in the first year and thirty candidates in the second year.

My particular role is to serve as a volunteer English language teacher.