Propagation of the Faith 2025

 

PROPAGATION OF THE FAITH HOMILY  2025

In my 57 years as a priest, excluding Christmas and Easter Masses, I have never experienced a liturgy in which at 6:00 am on each and every school day 1,000 high school girls in full Catholic school uniform sing the opening hymn with enthusiastic voices accompanied only by one high school girl in the choir loft striking a well-worn drum.  I tell you looking out from the altar at these Tanzanian girls was a mystical moment of prayerfulness and joy.

We were indeed on holy ground.  Father Damian Milliken, a Benedictine priest from Elmira, New York, was presiding at the Mass.  Father Damian is a priest now in his 90’s and has ministered in the last 50 years of his priesthood serving the poorest of the poor in Tanzania, East Africa.  The genuine love and respect that Father Damian enjoys with these young Tanzanians and their families and all who live in the area around Mazinde Ju is so Christ-like and uplifting. 

Equally impressive is a religious community of consecrated women who are such an important part of the teaching faculty.  These are the religious sisters of Usambara.  Dressed in their full habit, these sisters number 500 in Tanzania.  These sisters know in their DNA the joy of the Lord.

About six years ago, six parishioners from St. Joseph’s parish made this pilgrimage to Tanzania arriving in the Mount Kilimanjaro International Airport warmly greeted by Father Damian.  As a side bar, we did not have time to hike up Mt Kilimanjaro but that mountain sure is impressive.   We visited and became part of the community of St. Mary’s School in Mazinde Ju located on the side of a mountain in one of the poorest regions of Tanzania.  This was such a precious God moment for the six of us.  We were privileged to enter the world of Father Damian and the sisters of Usambara and these high school girls who are so very, very grateful for this educational experience that gives them the opportunity to go on to a university and have job opportunities which otherwise these students simply would not have.   For these students come from very poor families.

In a culture that is so different from what I am used to, to be immediately accepted and embraced and loved truly is an experience of a lifetime.

To describe St Mary’s School is a bit of a challenge.  It is a residential school where these students live during the academic year and are able to get three healthy meals each day.  The dormitories these students live in are filled with bunk beds.  Each girl has a tiny cubicle which houses all her worldly possessions including all her clothing.  I have a beautiful niece for whom to put all her clothes in this tiny cubicle would simply be impossible. 

These beloved daughters of God have no sense of entitlement by which they expect people to take care of them.  They are so grateful for every opportunity in life that is given to them.  They are not saddened by the effects of the poverty of the country; they are joy-filled in the opportunity that is given to them as students in this quality academic setting that is filled with so much love and so much spirituality.

Why do I tell you all this?  This weekend is our parish’s annual Propagation of the Faith Mission Appeal in which we are asked to spiritually and financially St Mary’s School in Masinde Ju in Tanzania.   Previously in this annual Propagation of the Faith Mission appeal, Father Damian has spoken in parishes in our diocese.  This year, Father Damian asked me to preach in order to save the money that would have cost for him to make the trip.

For the last several years, I have personally contributed $1,000 which provides a scholarship for a student for a whole year.   I gladly make this $1,000 contribution each year.  I had the profound privilege of spending some time with this young Tanzanian girl I have sponsoring.  I tell you I had to tell myself: “Be still my heart.” when I realized the opportunity I was giving this daughter of God in my prayer and in my tithing commitment.  In all truth, l cannot think of a better use of this money.  The second collection today goes in support of this Tanzanian ministry.  I have talked about St. Mary’s School, our contributions also go to support another nearby high school for schools founded by Father Damian and headed by Sister Christa, another Sister of Usambara.  Father Damian has also founded St Benedict’s parish with an elementary school connected to it. 

Today’s gospel is the very familiar and much-loved parable of the good Samaritan.  The gospel clearly calls us to be missionaries of mercy in the lives of people in need.  We are to be witnesses to the mercy of God to each other.  The mercy of God means sharing with one another acts of undeserved kindness.

In the parable, the scholar of the law asked Jesus the question:  Who is your neighbor?  I would ask you a follow up question:  Who is not your neighbor?

At both St Joseph’s and Holy Spirit, we seek to make a part of the DNA of our spirituality reaching beyond ourselves to help and serve and support and love people in need.  That is the message of Jesus demonstrated in the parable of the Good Samaritan.  Our mission collection today, the second collection, invites us to be Good Samaritans to these Tanzanian high school girls.  Just as you would do everything for your daughters, I invite you to consider these Tanzanian young women as your spiritual daughters.

Yes, we live in a divided, polarized world.  Yes, in some ways, we live in a divided, polarized Church.

But I always go back to the last words that Jesus spoke to his disciples at the Last Supper on the night before he died:  By this all shall know you are my disciples, by your love for one another.

Have a Blessed day.