St Joseph's Advocate Scotland by mhmcorrespondent

Spring/Summer 2017

Six New Beatitudes Proposed by Pope Francis at the Conclusion of his Pastoral Visit to Sweden

are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on • Blessed them by others and forgive them from their heart. are those who look into the eyes of the abandoned and • Blessed marginalised and show them their closeness. are those who see God in every person and strive to make • Blessed others also discover him. • Blessed are those who protect and care for our common home. are those who renounce their own comfort • inBlessed order to help others. Blessed are those who pray and work for • full communion between Christians.

Contents Page 3 Editorial; The Art of Dying Well Page 5 How to catch a plane in the Congo Page 9 The Sleeping St Joseph Page 11 The Miracle Doctor Page 14 Burma to Rome Page 16 Coming Events Page 17 Mission Day 2017 Page 20 Lord you have seduced me Page 23 Women’s Day in India Page 24 How I see St Joseph Page 26 Celebrating 40 Years Page 30 Some Figures to Ponder Page 31 Obituaries

Fr. Bill Tollan, mhm, Editor

The Art of Dying Well

Acknowledgments Contributors: Francis Hannaway mhm, Sr Jane Khin Zaw ODC, Fr Fons Eppink mhm, Fr John Hemer mhm, Fr Nirmal mhm, Fr Bernard Fox mhm Photo Credits: Francis Hannaway, Andrew Mukulu, Fons Eppink, Fr Nirmal, B. Fox. Cover photos: Front: Fr Andrew Mukulu receives a welcoming gift, Congo. Back: Children join in the Women’s Day Celebration, India.

St. Joseph’s Advocate

is the magazine of the Mill Hill Missionaries in Scotland, published from St. Joseph’s House, 30 Lourdes Avenue, Cardonald, Glasgow G52 3QU. Tel: 0141 883 0139. Email: tollanmhm@yahoo.co.uk Registered Charity Number: SCO39809 Produced by: Burns Print Management Ltd., Caledonia Business Centre, Thornliebank Industrial Estate, Glasgow G46 8JT Tel: 07799 645 420 Email: frank.burns@burnsprintmgt.co.uk

Editorial

When I was growing up in Baillieston the Church (and the Parish of St Bridget) was very much part of our daily lives. Among the many different Church societies was a mysterious one called the ‘Bona Mors’ Society. I’ve no idea how often the members met or what they did, but I don’t think many people were involved – and it faded away. Visiting our missionaries in Brazil in the 1990’s I came upon a local version of this mysterious society, and again on my return to Cameroon in 2001 I heard that local ‘Bona Mors’ groups had been established. So what IS this society all about? ‘Bona Mors’ is Latin for ‘good death.’ In the Middle Ages the Church spoke of the ‘ars moriendi’ (‘the art of dying’), and in 1648 the ‘Bona Mors Confraternity’ was founded in the Jesuit Church of the Gesu in Rome. Its aim was simply “to prepare

its members by a well-regulated life to die in peace with God.” Recently the Bishops of England and Wales have set up a website entitled ‘The Art of Dying Well.’ Far from being a morbid concern, there is much for all of us to learn to prepare for the one thing that is absolutely certain, that one day we will die. Lent is a good time for us to dwell on the importance of preparing for a good death, since it is the period when we reflect on the great mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus. In March also we celebrate the Feast of our Patron St Joseph whom we associate with a ‘happy death.’ The Bishops’ website tells us, “… getting more comfortable with the reality of death can both help us spend our time more wisely and better appreciate what’s truly important in life.” For the Christian, dying involves climbing our own Mount Calvary. “As Christ was helped along the way by those who loved him and by compassionate strangers, so it should be for us. As Christ offered his experience of Calvary for us, so we too can offer our Calvary for others.” Fr Michael Paul Gallagher was an Irish Jesuit who spent most of his life making faith real for

people, “especially those who find themselves far from church language or what they once knew as religion.” He was for many years a lecturer in modern literature at University College, Dublin, and subsequently Rector of the Jesuit formation centre in Rome. He wrote many books, and was much in demand as a lecturer. Then in January 2015 he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour. In the following months he wrote what was to be his last book, entitled “Into Extra Time”, in which he recorded his ‘cancer diary’, some autobiographical material, and a number of profound reflections on themes that had occupied him throughout his life. The final entry to his ‘cancer diary’ was made on October 28th 2015. He died on November 6th. His colleague, Fr Donal Neary was with him at the end. “I prayed a bit with him, and said, ‘Let go now – call on the graces of the last months. It’s time, as you said.” Soon after Fr Michael made his final journey – to the Lord. A ‘happy death’ indeed. Fr Michael Paul Gallagher.

How to catch a plane in the Congo by Francis Hannaway mhm Francis Hannaway, Mill Hill Lay Associate, travelled with Fr Stan Bondoko MHM on the river from Basankusu, where they work, to Mbandaka, to fly to Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The increasing decline of the country’s infrastructure has led to this being the only way to travel to the capital city. Things did not go according to plan. Drifting along on the Lulonga River, the occasional glugging of water against our dugout canoe, a solitary hoot from the unspoilt forest at the riverbank ... apart from that, silence, peace, tranquillity. The reason for the silence was simple ... we’d broken down. We were assured that the bandits

who had attacked some travellers with guns and robbed them on the river, had already been caught. With this in mind, we had originally wanted to do the journey in two halves, sleeping at the Catholic mission in the village of Mampoko for one night and continuing to Mbandaka the following day, during daylight. Our flight for

River transport, Congo.

No fuel for the outboard engine.

Kinshasa from Mbandaka had already been paid for and we knew that checkin would close at 12 midday, Saturday. The only option in the end was to start the journey very early Friday morning and arrive in Mbandaka the same day, before it became dark again. Our journey was supposed to begin at 3 in the morning, Fr Stan and myself got up at 2 am. The canoe arrived late, of course, and we didn’t leave Basankusu until a quarter past 5. Stan and I were joined by Sr Vicky’s brother and Sr LaJoie from our local Basankusu convent came along too, but was only going to Bonkita, 18km distance from Basankusu. We chugged along at a moderate pace. The engine was only 15 horsepower, but we were going downstream. As Sister LaJoie left us at Bonkita, as planned, she chastised the two young men driving the boat for going so slowly.

“They’ve got to arrive in Mbandaka by 6 pm,” she said. “You need to go faster than that!” At 9:30 we’d travelled 65km when the motor spluttered to a halt. That’s how we found ourselves drifting on the river in the middle of the rainforest. After several attempts to restart it, a short surge of life took us to the shore. We were at Loanga, a tiny village, 15 km from Bokakata. The people of the village drifted down the riverbank to see what our problem was. After some discussion, one of them declared that he was a mechanic and climbed down to examine the outboard engine. He told us that it needed a spare part and they didn’t have anything like that there. They had a radio transmitter in the village (no phones here) and they could send a message to have a replacement outboard sent. After a few hours, a replacement arrived. It was only an 8 horsepower engine. I suggested to Stan that at this rate we would never reach Mbandaka and that we should send word to cancel our tickets and return to Basankusu.

Francis Hannaway stranded.

As it happened, the new engine was also a dud, - it didn’t work at all. Our drivers told us that they had only been told of the trip at 4 am and had come straightaway with the outboard engine they’d been given. Stan wasn’t sure if that was true or not, but at the same time had a lot of sympathy for workers who are bossed about and given very little pay. We would normally have travelled with a different driver called Paul, but he hadn’t been available. His son arrived with the new engine and he suggested going to the Daughters of Jesus sisters, 15 km away in Bokakata and asking them for their 25 horsepower engine. There was one motorbike in Loanga, the village where we were, so he and one of our drivers went off on that. The riverbank was hard clay and it was quite difficult to climb up the bank to firm ground. I stretched my legs for 10 minutes and chatted to a few people in the village before returning to the riverbank. They carried my chair up from the canoe and as I sat down Stan said he would also like to stretch his legs, and could I stay to watch our bags. I sat there for almost 5 hours. Alone. I wondered what had happened to Stan. Eventually, he returned. “They’re bringing the sisters’ outboard, but on the condition that Paul’s son, Adebruyaka, acts as our driver, and not the drivers we started with,” he said. It was now dark and the motorbike they were using to carry the motor along the forest track didn’t have a working headlight. They had an accident, with the engine hitting Adebruyaka’s head – when he got back

he had quite a lump on his head. The other driver who was helping him had a big puncture wound on his leg just under his knee. The people of the village were very supportive and took us to sit in a house, with bags and all, before we eventually set off at just after 10 pm. We would need to travel all night to arrive before check-in at Mbandaka’s little airport closed at noon the following day. After half an hour on the river – much faster than before, Adebruyaka discovered that one of the big, yellow gerrycans for our journey, was filled with water instead of petrol – we wouldn’t have enough fuel to reach Mbandaka. Stan was furious. “First they fail to carry out any basic maintenance and we break down and now they try to cheat us by selling us water instead of fuel! What else could possibly happen?” The river can be very cold at night; the movement of the canoe generates a constant breeze. I was at the front and although I was well dressed in waterproofs I eventually became so cold that I worried I would become ill with hypothermia. I started to lift my cabin-bag up and down to generate some heat in my body. As the night wore on, we came to a place where we could buy some petrol. At 5 am it was light again and by 7 am we arrived at the last parish of the diocese, the Catholic Mission at Lolanga. It’s at the confluence of the river with the River Congo. They had a phone connection as well and I was able to phone ahead to Mlle Jeanne Marie Abanda, who would drive us to the airport once we arrived in

Mbandaka. We bought more fuel here and met people that we know from the diocese. We were very fortunate that the weather was so fine – no rain at all. We came to where the River Ikelemba joins the Congo. We came into the transmission area for Mbandaka mobile phone networks. I phoned Jeanne Marie to tell her we’d be there in 15 minutes. I’d just finished talking to her, when the outboard spluttered to a halt again. Our fuel was finished. We drifted again. I phoned Jeanne Marie who said she would send someone with fuel. Eventually, not only did we see a group of people in a canoe with an outboard, but Stan knew the person being carried. They sold us 2 litres of petrol – plenty to finish the journey. It was 10 am. We set off again with a renewed optimism. We would be there in time for the flight after all. I happily phoned Jeanne Marie again to cancel our request for fuel. Adebruyaka fed the fuel into the fueltank little by little. He noticed that the engine was drinking it up at a rate of knots. We were in sight of the first little riverside port of Mbandaka. Our fuel finished, yet again. So close, but drifting helplessly again. I was about to ask Jeanne Marie for help again when we passed a young man with a one year-old child in his canoe. “How much will you sell us your paddle for?” Adebruyaka enquired as they came alongside. “2,000 Francs,” he replied. That’s the same as $2 US. So with a paddle in hand, Adebruyaka guided us towards the shore. As we bumped up against the sand, I could see the insignia of Caritas on the side

of Mlle Jeanne Marie’s white pick-up. The owner of our canoe was also there on the beach, working on one of his boats. He was obviously embarrassed. The immigration police took our passports for their important work of writing down the details of all foreigners in a book that nobody will ever look at once the page has been turned, Stan and the boat owner exchanged a few words about the dire journey we’d endured and we were whisked away towards the Caritas office to change our clothes. We arrived there at 11 o’clock. Sr Vicky’s sister had brought along our tickets and, after Jeanne Marie dropped us off at the airport, she helped us through the check-in procedure and (yet again) the immigration police. The plane – as fate would have it – was late. But that didn’t matter. We drank beer and Stan ordered a few plates of omelette for us to share. The plane took off at 3 o’clock and by 4 we were in Kinshasa.

The Sleeping St. Joseph Translated from the Italian by Fr Tom O’Brien mhm Entering the study of Pope Francis to conduct an interview, an Italian journalist happened to see an unusual statue of Saint Joseph. “I notice” he records “that this is not the usual Saint Joseph with staff in hand, looking thoughtful. No, here Joseph is lying on his side, asleep”. Pope Francis explained to the surprised journalist: “The statue comes from South America, I don’t remember if it’s from Argentina, Chile or some other country. I like it very much, because Joseph received the most important and decisive messages - for Jesus and for the whole Holy Family – in dreams. The journalist goes on: “I look

more closely and I see that under the statue there are a lot of folded papers with phrases in tiny handwriting. What are these?”, “These are” Pope Francis replies “my prayer intentions”. I put them all here. I write my requests on them, and Joseph thinks about them.. Pope Francis explained to one of his collaborators: “See, the statue now begins to rise up. No, not by some miracle, but because of the intentions we slip underneath it. You must be faithful. Like any carpenter, Joseph is a bit slow to hear the requests, but sooner or later the grace will arrive, always!”

On board the plane - at last!

In a conversation with some families in Manila in 2015, Pope Francis spoke about his devotion to the Sleeping Joseph, the popular origin of which is linked with the Pope’s personal story, for he loved to pray in the basilica of San Jose de Flores in Buenos Aires: “I would like to tell you something very personal. I love Saint Joseph a lot, because he is a strong silent man. On my table I have an image of St. Joseph sleeping. And while he sleeps he takes care of the Church! Yes! He can do it, we know he can. And when I have a problem or difficulty, I write a note and put it under St. Joseph, so that he can sleep on it! My gesture means: Pray about this problem!” In the meeting with these families, the Pope gave three points for reflection on the figure of Joseph in Matthew’s gospel (2:13-23): first, rest in the Lord; second, rise with Jesus and Mary; third, be a prophetic voice.

Rest in the Lord To know the will of God, says the Pope, you must pray: “If we don’t pray, we will never know the most important thing of all: God’s will for us”. St. Joseph, during his rest, welcomed the Word of God and became attentive to the intimate sound of his voice.

Be a prophetic voice Francis has underlined the importance of “being prophetic voices in our communities”. In taking care of Jesus and Mary, the Pope emphasises, St. Joseph became a model for the child Jesus while he grew in wisdom, age and grace”.

Guardian of the Church “Joseph did what the angel of the Lord told him to do and took Mary as his wife” (Matthew 1:24). “These words already encapsulate the mission that God entrusted to Joseph, the mission of being a guardian. Whose guardian? The guardian of Mary and Jesus: but it is a guardianship that includes the Church, as Blessed John Paul II underlined: “Just as St. Joseph took loving care of Mary and committed himself joyfully to the education of Jesus Christ, so also he guards and protects his mystical body, the Church, of which the Blessed Virgin is the figure and model”. (Pope Francis)

‘The

Miracle

Doctor’

In 2013 Jeffrey Gentleman wrote the following article in the New York Times. At the end of the article the editor has added the latest news about this extraordinary man who has been referred to as ‘The Miracle Doctor’. In 2014 he was awarded the prestigious Sakharov Human Rights prize and has been repeatedly tipped as a favourite to win the Nobel Prize. Dr Denis Mukwege is a native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a gynaecological surgeon renowned for repairing the damage done to thousands of brutally raped women. In 2013 he returned home triumphantly from exile more than two months after nearly being assassinated, possibly for speaking out on behalf of the countless women who have been gang-raped by armed groups that stalk the hills of eastern Congo.

Rise with Jesus and Mary “Like St. Joseph, once we have heard the voice of God, we must shake off sleep; we must be up and doing” says the Pope. “St. Joseph heard the voice of the Lord’s angel and answered the divine call to take care of Jesus and Mary”.

Pope Francis gestures St. Joseph’s Sleep.

Congo, torn by war for years and traumatized by dictators for decades, is desperate for heroes. So perhaps it is no surprise that Dr Mukwege carries such an enormous amount of pride and hope on his rounded shoulders, which are most often covered by a white lab coat. For around 15 years now, he has kept a major hospital running in one of the most turbulent parts of the country, sometimes performing as many as ten operations a day, on women who have been raped so viciously that they stumble in with death trudging just a few steps behind. Susanna Sirkin, deputy director of Physicians for Human Rights, which provides help to Dr Mukwege’s Hospital, said it “stands out as a centre of excellence for others to emulate and replicate across his country and beyond.” For his work, Dr Mukwege has won many human rights awards and is often mentioned as a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize. The American playwright Eve Ensler, who works closely with Dr Mukwege, called him a ‘spiritual force.’ The local authorities say they do not know who tried to kill him. But many of his supporters have their suspicions. A month earlier, Dr Mukwege had delivered a powerful speech at the United Nations in which he denounced mass rape in Congo and railed against his own government which has a record of silencing critics for allowing it to occur with impunity, to the point where the United Nations has called Congo ‘the rape capital of the world.’ He has also criticized Rwanda for

Dr. Mukwege welcomed by children.

Addressing the crowd on his return.

fomenting chaos in Congo. Bukavu, though, is relatively safe. A sprawling, dishevelled city hunched along Lake Kivu, one of the most beautiful bodies of water in Africa, it has a thin blue haze from thousands of cooking fires. But around the city, in just about every direction, lurk men with guns. As Dr Mukwege’s truck pulled into Panzi Hospital on Monday, a crowd

of women – many of them rape victims – burst into song. People yelled ‘Halleluia!’ One delegation of women from an island in Lake Kivu presented Dr Mukwege with all he needed to survive for a few days – a bucket of charcoal, several cabbages, pineapples, onions, and a gigantic pumpkin. Some people who had stood for hours under the sun were now huddled in the rain, waiting to hear him speak. Overwhelmed by the outpouring of emotion, Dr Mukwege mopped his face with his sleeve and stepped to the podium. “The power of darkness will be defeated,” he called out to loud cheers. But he also asked people to forgive, saying: “We must respond to violence with love.” The Doctor’s friends say United Nations officials and the Congolese authorities have reassured Dr Mukwege that he is now safe in Bukavu, which is why he returned to continue his work. The authorities in Bukavu said there is nothing to worry about. “Our methods are invisible, but we will protect him,” said Etienne Babunga, a local security official. “Anyway, who would want to kill him? He’s just a doctor.”

The number being treated each day has fallen from 10 to 7. “These rapes are a true strategy of war” lamented Dr Denis, when he describes what he is dealing with after the most awful violence against women, in which their pelvises are often smashed and horrific violent sexual abuse takes place. Dr Mukwege is now seeking help from the United Nations. The petition he presented was signed by over 200 Human Rights Organizations. The Petition is entitled “No to impunity” and demands among other things that the UN Human Rights office do something about a list of suspected perpetrators of rape and other serious human rights abuses in that part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In an article in the April 21st 2016 issue of TIME magazine, Jill Biden (wife of the Vice-President of USA, Joe Biden) named Dr Denis among the 100 Most Influential People.

LATEST NEWS ABOUT DR DENIS Dr Denis continues his wonderful work. He has treated over 40,000 rape victims in the hospital he founded in Bukavu.

Women recovering from surgery at Dr. Mukwege’s hospital.

Benedict Rogers,

From Burma to Rome:

A Journey into the Catholic Church by Sr Jane Khin Zaw ODC From Burma to Rome is the moving and inspiring story of Benedict Rogers’ journey from first committing himself to Christ as an evangelical Anglican to his homecoming, notably by way of Burma, to the Roman Catholic Church - becoming, ‘not so much a Roman Catholic as a Burmese one’ p.34). However, as he insists, ‘this book is less about me and my

journey and much more about the people - the signposts - he [God] has used to speak to me on the way’ (p.3). Benedict is very much alive to the all-important function of these ‘signposts’, pointing him to the Roman Catholic Church. From the beginning of the gospel story, the first impulse of the believer is to pass on to another his new-found faith: Andrew brought his brother Simon

to Jesus; Jesus throughout the ‘found Philip book, on the and said to him, workings of the “Follow me”’; Spirit in the and ‘Philip found lives of the Nathanael … ’ inspiring (John 1:42, 43, people whom 45). All of us are Benedict has brought to Jesus met in different by those who countries that have already makes it such Benedict with Sr Jane on his visit to Dysart Carmel. found him. As compelling Pope Francis r e a d i n g . reminds us, ‘It is through an Meanwhile his own response to the unbroken chain of witnesses that we Spirit, speaking to him at each stage come to see the face of Jesus’. (1) of his own journey - which is the Benedict’s whole story comes main subject of the book, though it across as something that he wants takes up only half of it - comes over very much to share with us, and most powerfully of all. does share most generously, in vivid Not long after his commitment to detail, just as those ‘brave, inspiring, the Christian faith, Benedict heard amazing people’ first spoke to him, Baroness Caroline Cox, at the time as heart speaks to heart: ‘Through honorary president of Christian their testimony and example, the Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), speak Holy Spirit poured His grace into my at his college about the persecution soul … it was as if I prayed “Breathe of Christians and religious on me Breath of God, fill me with oppression of every kind in Sudan, life anew” - and He did’ (p.3). From Burma and elsewhere. He was deeply the beginning, Benedict’s openness shocked, and gives a vivid to the people he comes to know is description of his reactions: As I striking: his genuine interest in listened, I had the most extraordinary them and where they are coming sensation. The best way to describe from - most of all what religious it is that it was as if God were poking profession or other form of vocation me in the ribs with a very sharp gives meaning to their lives. This is instrument. It made me sit bolt something so personal that it has to upright. I had an overwhelming be freely chosen, and Benedict is sense that I could not just hear the passionate about safeguarding this words and then walk away. ‘Don’t most sacrosanct of human rights. just sit there and listen’, said a For what they each profess, in and voice from within. ‘Do something.’ by their lives, is precisely the Spirit’s (pp.16–17) He spoke to the baroness, and thus own voice speaking to us from the depths of their hearts. It is this focus, began many conversations in which (continued on page 18)

Novena in honour of St. Joseph

LENTEN RETREAT

Saturday April 1st: 10.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. Led by Fr Bernard Fox and Sister Sally Hyland

Mission Day

Join us in our

Novena of Prayer to St Joseph Novena prayers will be said at the 9.00 a.m. Mass beginning on Friday March 10th, ending Saturday 18th March. This year the Feast of St Joseph will be celebrated on Monday 20th March. If you would like to receive a copy of the St Joseph Novena booklet: please send £1.50. This will be the version used in St Joseph’s House for the Novena. Copies of the older (and shorter) version of the booklet are available FREE: phone or write (contact details on page 3).

Saturday June 3d 2017 A day for all our friends and helpers. A day to celebrate Mission • The day will begin with Mass at 11.00a.m. in the Chapel of Nazareth House • After Mass all are invited to the hall at Nazareth House for refreshments • There will then be some talks and presentations on our missionary work

Coming Events: Dates for your Diary at St. Joseph’s House, Cardonald

• First Fridays of the month: Mass for the Sick with the Sacrament of the Sick • Tuesdays: Meditation Group meets at 11.00 a.m. • Wednesday Talks: 7.00 - 8.00, come and learn more about our Catholic Faith. • March 10th: beginning of annual novena to St. Joseph. • March 20th: Celebration of the Feast of St Joseph; Mass at 9.00 in St Joseph's House. • April 1st: LENTERN RETREAT: 10.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. (see opposite) • June 3rd: Annual Mission Day (see opposite) 16

Silver Circle Winners December 2016 (draw A)

December 2016 (draw B)

January 2017

February 2017

131 Fitzpatrick

£25

277 Harris

£25

£25 ?

£25

123 Kelly

£15

178 Scullion

£15

001 Kerr

£10

125 Lundie

£10

Congratulations to them all.

Many thanks to all who support the Silver Circle. Your help is greatly appreciated, and contributes to supporting our missionary work.

he Went with her on a visit to Nagorno-Karabakh, the scene of a civil war in the early 1990s between the majority Armenian and minority Azerbaijani populations, with a team bringing humanitarian aid for victims of the conflict. Seeing the terrible devastation at first hand, he found that his vocation became imperative, as vocations do. ‘I knew that I had no choice but to take up a call to be a voice for those who are voiceless, whose suffering is largely ignored by the world.’ (p.18) After graduating in modern history and politics, followed by a master’s degree in China studies, Benedict was offered a job as a journalist in Hong Kong for five years. He wanted to remain involved with CSW, and his colleagues suggested he establish CSW right there, while focusing on neighbouring areas, beginning with East Timor. He met Bishop Belo, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in East Timor in 1996, ‘developing a deep respect for the Catholic Church’ (p.22). Later, as a human rights advocate and East Asia team leader for CSW, he specialised in Burma, making more than forty visits to the country and its borders, publishing reports on the criminal persecution of Christians by the military regime and writing three books: A Land Without Evil: Stopping the Genocide of Burma’s Karen People (2004), Burma: A Nation at the Crossroads (2012) and Than Shwe: Unmasking Burma’s Tyrant (2010). It was in 2007 that Benedict’s ‘deep respect’ for the Roman Catholic

Church was transformed unexpectedly into something much more profound, when he met Archbishop (now Cardinal) Charles Maunt Bo of Rangoon. Benedict had just published a report called Carrying the Cross: The Military Regime’s Campaign of Restrictions, Discrimination and Persecution against Christians in Burma. The archbishop sent him a message saying he wished to meet. The Burmese government had asked him for a statement about the report; this, which he now shared, Benedict found ‘striking in its brilliance’ (p.26). Thus began their friendship. They met several times in Burma until on one occasion, he asked Archbishop Charles if he could come to the Catholic Mass, and was warmly welcomed. At dinner afterwards, Benedict noticed as they talked that ‘a deeper inner voice was prompting me’, and he found himself asking ‘If a person already a Christian wishes to become a Catholic, what would he need to do?’ (p.28). Simply to accept the teachings of the Catholic Church, was the archbishop’s reply, and then, ‘If you ever find yourself in that position, I would receive you into the Church in Burma’ (p.28). This completely unexpected offer launched Benedict without hesitation ‘on a journey of discovery’ (p.29). He devoured all the books the archbishop gave him: interviews with Pope Benedict, later his encyclicals and books, then the Compendium of Catholic Social Doctrine and the Catechism of the

Catholic Church; subsequently he read many other Catholic authors. Cardinal Bo, who already shared Benedict’s own passion for the rights of oppressed minorities and his desire to be a voice for the voiceless, was far more than a signpost or a witness influencing him: he was the determining instrument God had chosen for Benedict’s conversion. Benedict’s parish priest helped to ground him in the basics of the faith, he attended an ‘Evangelium’ course as an introduction, and finally made an Ignatian retreat in preparation for his baptism in 2013. He found this so valuable to him that he decided later to make it an annual fixture. The two chapters about the first and the second of these retreats are a highlight of the book. Typically, Benedict shares his experience with us to the full. He made both retreats at Campion Hall in Oxford with Nicholas King SJ, as an unobtrusive guide who helped him with suggestions of scripture texts related to where the Spirit seemed to be leading him. Benedict’s times of just listening for God’s voice are fruitful in images and insights, conveying, with the help of his lively imagination, what he needed to know and understand. For a real-life example of this kind of retreat, we could do no better than these accounts. Lord Alton, who writes the foreword to the book, was one of the people who particularly inspired Benedict from the beginning with his passion for human rights and religious freedom. As Benedict’s

sponsor at his baptism in Rangoon, Alton was ‘struck that people from many faith backgrounds - and none - had gathered to wish Ben bon voyage and to celebrate with him’ (p.xlv). For, as Cardinal Bo explains in his preface, ‘His hard work for religious freedom has brought him deep friendships with the victims, an inspiring network of interreligious groups’ (p.xv). In the end, the message Benedict Rogers has for us all, which comes through clearly in this valuable book, can be well expressed in the profound, yet very simple, words of Pope Francis: Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to encourage people to move towards what they think is good …. Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place. (2) (1) ‘Lumen Fidei’ #8 (2) ‘The Pope: How the Church Will Change’, interview between Pope Francis and Eugenio Scalfari, translated by Kathryn Wallace. (From Burma To Rome, Leominster: Gracewing, 2015) pp.328, £12.99.

Lord you have seduced me Story of a vocation by Fons Eppink mhm She breezes in from Mamfe where, I am told, she made her mark at the bishops’ meeting themed on Amoris Laetitia. On her way back to Kumbo where she coordinates the family life movement and a host of related programmes she stays the night at the Mill Hill guesthouse in Bamenda (NW Province, Cameroon). ’You must talk to her, these

nuns are truly amazing’, Fr Nol Verhoeven mhm tells me when we disperse after supper. Sr Sheetal Parmar clearly is quite a phenomenon. We agree to meet and talk after Mass the next morning.

Born into a profoundly Catholic family in Mumbai, India, Sr Sheetal Parmar, was a precocious youngster showing early signs of intellectual brilliance and an ability for science. But circumstances beyond her control made her switch from science to psychology mid-way her schooling, taking Sanskrit as an interesting sideline. A brilliant career in education beckoned. But behind the Sr Parmar with Fr Nol mhm. Cameroon. scenes, deep in her heart, a drama of an entirely different surroundings, including her parish nature was slowly unfolding. She had abandoned the faith of priest, to make her change her ways her upbringing in her teens finding fell on deaf ears. She was not going it impossible to believe in a God to surrender that easily. ‘But God who allowed innocent suffering, kept pulling at me’. Then one day in her early twenties, rampant injustice and sheering inequality to exist in the world she she was invited by her mother to inhabited. She questioned the join a charismatic group retreat at tradition she had grown up in. The the well-known Divine Retreat charismatic leanings of her deeply Centre in Kerala. She agreed to religious mother, the predilection come and found herself tentatively for cloying holy pictures and listening in on the edge of a massive popular devotion in her local crowd of worshipping charismatics Catholic environment put her off. singing alleluias and giving loud testimonies. She heard someone God had vanished from the scene. But her heart was restless. She announce on the public address could not find inner peace. ‘I know system: ‘There is someone among now, that God was pulling at me. us here who does not believe’. Her But I am a hard nut to crack. I was mother sitting in one of the front not going to be seduced so easily!’ rows looked back at her. Could this Her inner struggle, a veritable be about her? She still resisted. Then wrestling match with God, suddenly from deep inside a feeling continued for quite some time. of great warmth came all over her, All the attempts from her her inner turmoil seemed to come

to a boiling point. God pulling her by the scruff of her neck? She surrendered. When she was invited to come forward to testify, she did, without any embroidery - she had come home. A feeling of deep inner peace came over her. But she also knew that this was not the end of the road. God had not finished with her. ‘He kept pulling at me’. Hadn’t her friends told her earlier that she had a religious vocation - to her own fierce denial? So one day she found herself on the doorstep of the convent of the Daughters of the Cross. The way she announced her desire to enter must be among the most unlikely ever heard in this context: “I don’t like you. My past experience of you is very mixed. But deep in my heart I have received a call to join you”. And so she did. Just over a year ago she came to

Cameroon to join her congregation’s community in the diocese of Kumbo. Within no time she got herself involved in the family life movement and related programmes. Bishop George Nkuo, undoubtedly sensing her unusual potential, recently appointed her coordinator for the whole diocese. “God still has plans for me, she says, He is still pulling at me. But I still am a hard nut to crack, a free spirit. I have my resistances and, so my professors told me, am an innovative thinker”. Walking the hard road towards wholehearted surrender Sr Sheetal does not hide her struggle with a seemingly small concession to local Cameroonian custom: wearing a religious habit including a veil. It is something her congregation at home has long since abandoned in exchange for the Indian sari.

From Tobin looking towards the Catholic Cathedral, diocese of Kumbo.

Celebrating Women’s Day in India by Fr Nirmal mhm Ordained a Mill Hill Missionary priest in 2012 I was appointed to a new mission in the northern part of India in the Diocese of Ambikapur where the MHM’s have begun working among the tribal people of that area. In taking up my assignment I had a great sense of God calling me to use my gifts in the service of his people. In spite of many obstacles the mission has flourished; it is dedicated to Our Lady of Good Health, and people flock to her shrine every year on September 8th to seek her intercession. Another big day is the Feast of St Monica on August 27th. St Monica is the patron saint for the women of the diocese. Recently we had a grand celebration on this date – that included prayer meetings, a seminar, and a variety of entertaining games. Our aim was to honour and encourage the women, and emphasize their importance in society. At Holy Mass one woman witnessed to the miraculous healing she had received; the doctors had declared her sickness could not be cured. Traditionally, in this society, women have not been given the dignity due to them, but been

Fr Nirmal with some of his congregation.

regarded rather as part of the material possessions of men. Our aim is to help people to see and value them as God sees and values them. I have now been given an assignment in South India, but I will always remember with joy my time in Ambikapur – and the opportunity to be of service to the people there, especially the women.

Teamwork!

How I See St. Joseph by Fr. John Hemer mhm

You don’t meet as many of them now, but when I was growing up in Liverpool, there used to be lots of men around in our parishes who were like St. Joseph. Many of them were Irish, men who worked with their hands. They were the kind of men who were totally reliable, totally loyal to the Church. You’d never find them at a discussion group but always at Mass, often rosary in hand. If you wanted

something practical doing it was always Paddy or Mick you turned to. They always had a profound respect for the priest. They often said very little, at least in public, and apart from in their own homes and maybe in the pub they were often quite shy. Good, upright, solid, quiet, genuine, holy men. Men who because they said so little and kept so much in the background you might be inclined to think weren’t important. That’s exactly how I see St. Joseph.

Public life is impossible without a more hidden life What we see of Joseph in the New Testament is no doubt just the tip of a very deep iceberg. We know that the little we glean from the scriptures is just a hint of much more; he was a very reflective, prayerful, holy, upright man. He had a deep, hidden life that sustained his public life. With most of us, there is much more going on than what’s seen on the surface, what’s seem in public. Although, as Christians, we often lead very public lives, that public life is impossible without a more hidden life. We can’t be credible witnesses to the gospel unless there is prayer, reading, quiet devotion. We are all called to have a hidden life, a life which feeds and sustains our public life and St. Joseph

can be a great example here. In the Letter to the Colossians, Paul says: you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:3). This means, at least for me, that our relationship with Christ is not something we can easily share about or explain to everyone; its meaning often remains hidden, unavailable to many people. I wonder if anyone in Nazareth or Bethlehem really understood what the Centre of Joseph’s life was. His real life was hidden. So is ours sometimes, although there are, thank heaven, people in all walks of life who share the same hidden life and so can understand us. The Dutch have a very useful word Geborgenheid – it means “hidden-ness” and they use it quite a lot. Every human being needs a degree of hidden-ness, needs somewhere they can be away from public scrutiny and alone with God or just with themselves. That was a feature of Joseph’s life.

Fr. Reilly was a real St. Joseph figure At home in Liverpool for 40 years our parish had Fr. Hopkins. He was a small man, but a giant of a character. A huge voice, a real wit, an extrovert, someone you would always notice in a room once met never forgotten; most people loved him, some hated him, no one could be indifferent to him. In 1981 he was succeeded by Fr. Michael Reilly – you couldn’t have two more different men. Fr. Reilly was shy, quiet. If you listened to his sermons they were excellent, but he usually delivered them in a flat monotonous voice. He seemed in so many ways the opposite of

Fr. Hopkins. But what I came to really appreciate was his quiet c o n s t a n c y. For 23 years he served the parish, was always totally reliable, Fr John Hemer mhm. always there, always truly available. In those 23 years my life took me to Asia and Africa and Rome, through one very major crisis and a couple of minor ones. And all that time there was Fr. Reilly, a still point in my turning world, quietly being an exemplary priest. You’d see him every day in Church walking up and down saying his rosary, often in a rather shabby anorak. Slowly, I came to realise what a wonderful example of priesthood he was - quiet, constant, absolutely faithful and it wasn’t until he died I realised how much I’d come to love him and what an inspiration and example he was for me. When he arrived in the parish the word inspiration was the last word I would have used about him. But that’s what he was, not through anything spectacular, but through his quiet, unremarkable constancy. I came to realise that Fr. Reilly was a real St. Joseph figure and I thank God for him and all the quiet good men like him. I think of the many good Mill Hill Missionaries who quietly worked away in forgotten corners of the world, without fanfare or razzmatazz; they are also embodiments of the gifts of St. Joseph.

Celebrating 40 years of Missionary Adventures by Fr Bernard Fox mhm

Our Mill Hill Missionary motto is AMARE ET SERVIRE, to love and to serve. I have always found this attractive, though the way I have tried to live it out has changed throughout my 40 years as a missionary ... Richard Rohr, the well known spiritual writer, suggests that in the first half of life a young person spends his/her energy “building their tower” doing their own thing. This typically means finding a job, getting married, and starting a family. There is something quite individualistic about this John Wayne approach to life and this idea somehow links neatly with the well known description of MHMs as “rugged individuals”. This mind-set was useful, I suppose,

as in the early days many MHMs ended up in far-flung mission lands where they just had to get on with the work in hand! They often had to live on their own and learn such things as mechanics, building and bookkeeping as the needs of mission presented themselves (I had to deliver twins in the back of a Renault 5 on the road to Foumban - although I only had “Where there is No Doctor!” [a well-known medical book] to guide me!) And so, after my ordination in December 1976 (in St Mary’s Duntocher) and my arrival in Cameroon, I set about “building my tower”. This involved a good deal of building - churches, schools, wells, women’s centres; I did a lot of running around, organising

formation for teachers and catechists and enjoyed going out on my own on safari to the villages in the Tikar plain. According to Rohr the second half of life invites us to run around less, to become more reflective and to accept that, in a world where everything is connected, it is not appropriate to continue playing the John Wayne role. Reality is one huge Cosmic Dance in which the WHOLE of creation participates ... As I look back on it now it was an invitation to move from me to we, to work more with others. As I entered the second half of my life I have been very fortunate in that God has allowed me to cross paths with some extraordinary women and men, ... people who have helped, encouraged and challenged me especially during the most creative part of my missionary life in Bini Dang at the university parish of St Thomas More between 1989 - 2002. Fr Liam Cummins, who arrived fresh from ordination in 1996, descended on the Adamawa plateau like Elijah in his chariot - a

ball of energy and creativity who reminded me and fellow missionaries of the need to be outgoing and joyful in our missionary work! It was a privilege to be with Liam for a full 3 years and we have many stories that keep alive our time together, not least the one about the 10,000 turtles that arrived near Bini Dang and were so special as to be only visible to Fr Liam!

Sr Sally Hyland SJG

If I had to pick out one person, however, who had an even more profound and lasting effect on my life during this period it would have to be Sr Sally Hyland - a John of God Sister who arrived in our wild part of the Adamawa in 1990 to join me as university chaplain and team member. In the next 12 years she proved to be both a wonderful friend but also my most serious source of challenge ... in particular regarding my praying and caring for the poorest in the parish. I cannot remember the number of times we returned from Berem, a large but poor village 80 kms away, with some very sick or malnourished child in the car who would have died had he stayed in the village. Sally’s heart went out to the sick and the

suffering and usually succeeded in overriding any of our rational protestations (“We can’t save everybody”...). We took risks doing the Lord’s work and not everyone approved of this, but as I look back now on those years of missionary work on the Adamawa plateau with Sally and Liam and others I can still feel the tingle of the Gospel flowing through me!. As priests we are not often challenged and this is a great pity because this means that we don’t change or grow. So I would like to thank Liam for his missionary energy and love for life ... and acknowledge and thank Sally for the example she set of caring for the sick and poor and the awkward ones - and for her genuine love and great care for me over all these years. Nearer home I would like to thank my family who sustained and supported me over the years. I want to acknowledge my sister Mary, who died in 2012 and who did so much to support me when I was in Cameroon. Last and certainly not least I want to acknowledge my parents, Paddy Fox, who took me to Lochwinnoch in 1961 and who worked so hard

to keep me there ... and my mother, Josie Fox, a woman of such wonderful faith and generosity. She had two wishes in life: not to lose her mind and to have a priest present when she died. She got both wishes as she passed away in the Royal in January 2010, a few hours after I took over from my brother Pat. May they

Baptism, 1981.

“I don’t want to end up having simply visited this world.” With students and family, university parish of St Thomas More, 2002.

all now enjoy that great cosmic dance that continues after death and into eternity. I am presently back in Glasgow and looking forward to the next phase of my life. There are plenty of “existential peripheries” around me and I look forward to continuing my missionary adventure. With Mary Oliver I can say “I don’t want to end up having simply visited this world.”

On the road to Ilung in Cameroon.

Some Figures to Ponder WORLD POPULATION The world's population grew by almost 67 million people in 2014 The total world population by the end of 2014 was over 7 billion. Population increased especially in Asia and Africa, but also in America and Oceania. Europe was the only continent to show a decrease in population.

CATHOLIC POPULATION Catholic population grew by over 18 million in 2014 The total number of Catholics at the end of 2014 was almost 1.3 billion. The number of Catholics in Africa in that year increased by 8.5 million The number of Catholics in America [North, Central, South] increased by 6.6 million. The number of Catholics in Asia increased by 3 million The only continent to register a decrease was Europe. Overall, Catholics constitute 17.77% of the world's population.

CLERGY AND RELIGIOUS There are 415,792 priests in the world. In 2014 the number of priests grew by over 1,000 in Africa, and over 2,000 in Asia. There was a decrease of 2,500 in the number of priests in Europe. The world average of Catholics per priest is 3,060 There are 5,237 Bishops in the world.

There are 682,729 women religious in the world. There was an increase in the number of women religious in Africa and Asia, and a decrease in the other continents.

LAY MISSIONARIES, CATECHISTS, and SEMINARIANS There are 368,520 Catholic lay missionaries in the world. There are 3.2 million Catechists in the world There are almost 117,000 Major Seminarians in the world; their number is declining except in Africa where in 2014 there was an increase of 636.

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS and HOSPITALS The Church runs 96,283 Primary Schools with 33.5 million pupils. The Church runs 46,339 Secondary Schools with 19.7 million pupils. The Catholic Church runs 5,158 Hospitals and 612 Care Homes for people with Leprosy.

Obituaries LET US PRAY FOR OUR DEAD

Death of Bishop Colin Cameron Davies mhm Bishop Davies died in our retirement home near Liverpool on 8th January 2017, aged 92. Although he came from an Anglo-Scottish family, he grew up in Argentina where the family had settled. He planned a career in civil engineering, but aged 18 came to England to join the Royal Air Force. He trained as a pilot Bishop Davies at our Mission Day, Cardonald, 2014. and pilot instructor in Canada, and as chaplain to the Franciscan Sisters, until in was commissioned as a Pilot Officer, but never 2013 ill health forced his move to our saw active service. After the war he decided to become a priest, and then felt called to be a retirement home in Freshfield. In his last years missionary. He was ordained as a MHM priest he retained his keen interest in our missionary in 1952. After some years teaching in our Minor work, corresponded with many people, and Seminary in Freshfield he was appointed to wrote his memoirs. In June 2014 he presided at Kenya, to work among the nomadic Maasai Mass for our annual Mission Day here in people. He spent the next 45 years ministering Cardonald, and contributed to the presentation to the people there â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as priest and then Bishop. that followed on the martyrdom of Fr John He built-up the Diocese of Ngong, making it Kaiser mhm who had been a priest in the pastorally effective and financially viable. After his resignation as Bishop he remained in Kenya Diocese of Ngong. May he now rest in peace.

Recently Deceased Members Fr Charles Cammack: Fr Cammack studied at Glasgow University after his ordination in 1955, and later spent many years in education in Uganda. He then filled many senior administrative posts in the Societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work in Britain. Fr Michael Ortner Fr Jan Appelman Brother Ted Tolboom Fr Piet Kunst Bishop Colin Davies

Recently Deceased Friends and Benefactors Mrs Margaret Haggerty (sister of Fr James Meehan mhm) Terry Higgins (Howwood) Bishop John Mone Patricia Hedger (Rosneath) Josephine Traynor (Coatbridge: sister-in-law of the late Fr Michael Traynor mhm) Mrs Fay Bannon (Coatbridge) James Mooney (father of Fr Paul Mooney mhm) Mrs Vera Freyne (mother of Fr Michael Freyne mhm) Mrs Rosaleen Beattie (Bellahouston)

St. Josephâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s House, 30 Lourdes Avenue, Cardonald, Glasgow G52 3QU. Tel: 0141 883 0139. Email: tollanmhm@yahoo.co.uk Mill Hill Website: www.millhillmissionaries.com Registered Charity Number: SCO39809