ONCE A MISSIONARY, ALWAYS A MISSIONARY

I started off my priesthood as "home missionary" down in southern Kentucky. As they say, "Once a missionary, always a missionary!" Right after retirement, I volunteered in the Caribbean missions of Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. 

Knowing of my interest and experience as a volunteer missionary in the Caribbean, Father John Judie (a retired priest of our own Archdiocese of Louisville), who volunteers in a couple of African countries brought Bishop Filbert Mhasi of Tanzania over to my condo for coffee and tea on July 26. 

I was especially interested since a good friend of mine, (Father Steven Brown of the Diocese of San Jose, California), had been a Maryknoll Associate in Tanzania for several years. 

I was also interested in giving him a few copies of my book, Intentional Presbyterates: Claiming Our Common Sense of Purpose As Diocesan Priests, which had been translated into the Swahili language. 

We had a wonderful discussion and found that we shared similar experiences growing up and in our lives serving as priests. Father Judie helped moderate our lively discussion about seminary training, presbyteral unity and missionary needs. 

 Bishop Filbert Felician Mhasi - Diocese of Tunduru-Magasi - Tanzania

Bishop Filbert Mhasi's diocese has an area covering 22,730 square kilometers.

The diocese is in the extreme southern part of Tanzania close to the border with Mozambique.

There are now 24 local priests and 19 parishes.

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My last visitor from Africa (July 2019) was Abbott Romain of the Benedictine Monastery of the Incarnation in the French speaking country of Togo. He was a former student of mine at St. Meinrad Seminary over in Indiana. I helped a few of his monks who also studied there when I was a staff member.

Archbishop Jason Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, when he was the Bishop of Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, was the one who first invited me to be a volunteer missionary in his two dioceses, with special emphasis on St. Vincent and the Grenadines, when I first retired.

When he was elevated to Archbishop of Port of Spain in Trinidad, I attended his installation. I even addressed the Antilles Bishops Conference in Trinidad after he was installed at the invitation of the Archbishop of the Bahamas who was President of the Conference at that time.

On July 7, Archbishop Gordon called me and asked if I would come to lunch the next day over in New Harmony, Indiana, where he was making a presentation at a religious convention he was attending. I gladly accepted and made the four hour driving trip. He used to stay at my condo overnight, when he would visit his seminarian from Barbados studying at St. Meinrad Seminary, so I could take him to the airport early the next morning. I also helped him get a few of his books published. We remain friends.

ONCE A MISSIONARY, ALWAYS A MISSIONARY