It Was A Wonderful Sunday

It was a wonderful Sunday yesterday. Reconnecting with my very first parish after my priestly ordination where I spent one and a half years 1988-1990. Great community, great memories, great reunions. It makes such a huge difference when the parish priest is a former missionary in Africa himself. He understands the situation of diocesan priests in the missions. He went through the same experience. He did the same rough road, left alone in the battle for too many times. I am happy that I met Fr. Edward there. He is such a fine man, gentle, understanding and caring in his unique subtle ways. Another factor - my friends in Sułkowice, in particular the family of Wojtek Bargieł. They have been such a great help to me for a few years now. I cannot thank them enough. With people like them, the life of a missionary has its sunny side. Thank you, Lord!

That Day

Exactly, on this day, twenty one years ago, I set my foot for the first time on African soil, in Dar es Salaam, upon my arrival to Tanzania, to begin my life and service as a Fidei Donum missionary from Archdiocese of Kraków - for the Diocese of Musoma. I reminisced that day in my autobiography - Między Taborem a Golgotą (Between Tabor and Golgotha), and for those of my readers who don't have this book, I would like to quote the passage from it, describing how it was on January 8, 1991. For those of my readers who do not speak Polish, please use Google Translator (provided in the right column of this blog)...

Applause

One of missionaries in our diocese of Musoma called me the other day, sharing with me his disappointment and disenchantment. He talked for half an hour, complaining that he did so much in his mission, spent so much money, built this and that, brought the Gospel to the people, did this and that...and nobody applauds him, neither bishop, priests, us nor parishioners...

Ur

On this day, exactly twenty years ago I left Europe and the world known to me - my personal Ur - and began my journey via Swissair from Rome to Dar es Salaam via Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, towards the Promised Land - Tanzania. I did not now what to expect and what God had called me for in Tanzania back then. I did not know if I manage to be a missionary in Africa. Twenty years later, the picture is clear and some answers to my questions have been already given...

Bureau of the Mission Security

Yesterday evening I had a wonderful time with a group of people who I call fondly the Bureau of the Mission Security...