Pastors Notes from September 17, 2023
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With the diocese assigning each parish a missionary visit annually, we will host Fr. Charles Colling, ordained from the Jaffna Diocese of Sri Lanka. Presently he is providing ministry at Our Lady of Good Health Parish, Toronto, Canada. Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon)—an island nation located some twenty miles south of India—gained its independence in 1948. Of its 22,500,000 citizens of different cultures, approximately 1,500,000 are of the Catholic faith. Buddhist is the predominate religion. In Fr. Charles’ diocese there are 140 active priests and over seventy parishes. In 2009 a brutal civil war ended, with well over 500,000 casualties, primarily innocent men, women, and children. Economically the country of Sri Lanka is experiencing a severe depression, rebuilding following the civil war and the lingering effects of COVID. Sri Lanka does export of rubber, coffee, sugar, but the country's economy relies on tourism, tea export, clothing, rice production. Fr. Charles relayed the following information:
“Mission appeals we made in the U.S. in the past years have played a major role in the reconstruction of our diocese. Besides our efforts on direct evangelization, this mission of love is providing assistance to the needy, touching the hearts of all people struggling. The money collected through this mission appeal will be utilized for the missionary activities of the diocese and for the needs of the formation of the future clergy and religious. We are ever grateful to the Church in the U.S.” We will host Fr. Charles next weekend at our parish Masses.
For your curiosity, the top eleven countries with the greatest number of Catholics are:
Brazil/123,360,000 - Mexico/100,000,000 - Philippines/85,470,000 - United States/69,300,000 - Italy/50,474,000 - France/39,000,000 - Colombia/35,000,000 - Poland/33,037,017 - Spain /30,720,000 - Argentina/28,770,000 - Congo (Dem. Republic)/28,700,000
Those with the greatest percentage of Catholics include: Paraguay/89.0% - Croatia/86.3% - Poland/85.8% - Portugal/84.5% - Italy/83.0%
My first contact with missionaries came from Fr. Gabrielle and Fr. Korea, native Italians who committed their ordained ministry to the struggling people of Western Africa. In a conversation with Fr. Gabrielle he described how proud his mother was to have a son serve as an ordained priest. When he committed his ministry to serve as a missionary she would always insist he return to Italy to serve in a parish. His response each time? “Mother, I love you, but my calling is to serve as a missionary, and I will die in Africa.” Robert C. Shannon, minister and author, aptly describes the calling toward missionary work: “Never pity missionaries; envy them. They are where the real action is -- where life and death, sin and grace, Heaven and Hell converge.” Thus, we are gracious to be assigned and a host a missionary each year, allowing us to grasp the reality of Church within and throughout the many countries, cultures, ethnic groups, and languages. In many areas we are the minority, in other areas the majority; yet Church remains the same: baptized into the Body of Christ, guided by the teachings of Christ and nurtured by the Sacraments we receive.
And the Autumn equinox is upon us this week, a season more beloved as one ages. In the spirit of change this season brings, consider the grace of autumn, ending our summer ‘furlough’: “Two sounds of autumn are unmistakable…the hurrying rustle of crisp leaves blown along the street…by a gusty wind, and the gabble of a flock of migrating geese.” (Hal Borland, naturalist)
We are looking to hire a person to fulfill maintenance/janitorial responsibilities for our Sacred Heart School and church facilities and grounds. If interested or seeking further information please contact the parish office. Thank you.
God Bless, Fr. Tim
FYI: “Autumn:The weather just went from 90 to 55 like it saw a state trooper.” (Unknown, naturally so)
