Congratulations DOCTOR Andrzej!
He is a Polish priest who has served on three of the five continents on which the Priests of the Sacred Heart (Dehonians) are located. For Fr. Andrzej Sudol, SCJ (pictured above), interculturality is more than terminology, it is a way of life. Helping others to live and minister as members of an intercultural community is a passion for him, so much so that it is was the focus of his thesis for a Doctorate of Ministry (D.Min.) from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. He successfully defended it on Thursday afternoon, April 29. Due to the pandemic, the defense was done via Zoom. Several SCJs, including Fr. Ed Kilianski, were able to view it from their laptops.
The title of Fr. Andrzej’s thesis: “Challenges and Opportunities of Initial Formation for Interculturality in the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart in the United States Province.”
Fr. Andrzej emphasizes that each culture within the congregation makes its own imprint upon its formation programs, but there is a unifying element in all that allows for interculturality: the Dehonian charism and each member’s identity – wherever he is in the world or wherever he is from – as a member of the Priests of the Sacred Heart.
If SCJs are to live and minister as intercultural communities within an international religious congregation, its members must be taught from the earliest stages of formation “what interculturality is, its dynamics, and skills,” said Fr. Andrzej.
It takes more than good will. “Candidates must be trained for interculturality,” he emphasized.
“Most members of the province, of which one-third is international, welcome intercultural living in theory, but are unaware of the consequences,” wrote Fr. Andrzej.
Click here to read more on the province website.
“It is all God’s work!”
Frater Long Nguyen, SCJ – an American of Vietnamese background – is the most recent addition to the multicultural community that serves the Lower Brule and Crow Creek reservations in South Dakota. He joins Fr. Jean-Claude Mbassi, SCJ, from Cameroon, and Fr. Christianus Hendrik, SCJ, originally from Indonesia.
The culture that he left – northern Mississippi – was one that was familiar to Frater Long, who grew up in Thibodaux, Louisiana. “I had a commonality with some of the people who moved up to Mississippi from Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina,” he said. “The rapport that I shared with parishioners was deep and life-giving…
“My previous ministry experiences taught me to have great patience. I always try to remember what a friend reminded me, that ‘it is all God’s work! We are just along for the ride.’ You cannot reproduce what worked in one ministry and expect that it will automatically work in another.”
There is a commonality that Frater Long emphasizes in ministry wherever he is located. “It is presence; what is most significant to me is to always offer the ministry of presence.
“Ministry in the Great Plains is an opportunity to examine and try to understand what it means to be ‘present.’ Being present to people does not necessarily equate to grand results that we can see on paper, but it is one of the most important things that we can offer.”
Click here to read more on the province website.
Covid-19 ravages India
Please keep the people of India in your prayers as they face some of the worst days of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Right now, we have 10 priests and 10 brothers who are infected,” wrote Fr. Michael Augustine, SCJ, a member of the District Council of India. “Two of them are hospitalized, the rest are being treated at home in isolation.”
One of the most seriously ill is Fr. Joseph Thambi, a young SCJ who was ordained just last month.
India has recorded one-day new case numbers of over 400,000, the highest in the world. The country is averaging over 3,000 deaths a day while hospitals struggle to find supplies, and citizens have difficulty getting vaccinated.
Final issue
As we noted last week, Mark Peters, director of Justice, Peace and Reconciliation for the US Province, retired as of May 1. Before packing his bags he sent his final issue of the JPR News, an electronic newsletter from the JPR Office. Click here to access it.
“Retirement beckons, with all its freedoms and possibilities. I’m grateful to the Province for the privilege of being able to devote the last years of my career to justice ministry,” wrote Mark in the newsletter. “I consider myself to have become a ‘Dehonian,’ lucky to have discovered your Founder rather late in life, but amazed at how much he anticipated so much of what this ministry has become since its very beginnings under Pope Leo XIII…
“God bless you all as you continue to ‘follow the Founder… in establishing the Reign of justice and Christian charity in the world.’”
Please remember
+ Bishop Geraldo Dantas de Andrade, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of São Luís do Maranhão, Brazil, and a member of the South Brazil Province, died on May 1. He was born in 1931, professed in 1953, ordained a priest in 1957 and ordained a bishop in 1998. He had been living in São Luís, Maranhão (Brazil) at the time of his death.
Laudato Si’ Week 2021
May 16-24 has been named as “Laudato Si’ Week,” the concluding moment of the special Laudato Si’ Anniversary Year, and a celebration of ecological awareness. The week will also be a moment to “reflect on what the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us and prepare for the future with hope,” state organizers. Click here or on the image above to view Pope Francis’ invitation to commemorate the week and continue to “take care of creation, a gift of our good Creator God.”
Prayer request
Br. Diego Diaz, SCJ, requests prayers for his father, Roberto Diaz, who is to have surgery today in Argentina (Br. Diego is originally from the Argentine Province). Earlier this year Mr. Diaz was diagnosed with cancer related to the colon. His prognosis is expected to be good. Br. Diego thanks the province for continued prayers and support.
Fr. General reflects on visit to Cameroon
The Cameroon Province was the first to receive a General Visitation since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Fr. Carlos Luis Suarez Codorniú, SCJ (superior general), and Fr. Charles Aimé Koudjou, SCJ (general councilor), visited the province from March 9 to April 14.
“The Dehonian province is young, strong, very active and committed in many fields and on various fronts,” said Fr. Carlos in an interview on the general website. “It is open to serving the local church and congregation. They strive to carry out accurate service not only regionally, but also in neighboring countries such as Chad and Nigeria…
“The province has renewed its missionary commitment, especially in the far north, which is very difficult in many ways. A new presence will be opened in a diocese where we are not yet in both northern Cameroon and Chad. The presence in these territories that truly are frontline, authentic human peripheries, as Pope Francis says, is strengthened.”
Click here to read the full interview in English; it is also available in Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese.
Click here or on the image above to view a video of the interview in Italian.
The next General Visitation will be with the South Italian Province.
Looking ahead
The Provincial Council meets Tuesday and Wednesday of this week (May 4-5); much of the meeting will focus on the annual budgets. The meeting dates for the rest of the current administration:
June 8 (advancements in formation)
September 14-15
October 26-27
December 14-15
January 7 (brief meeting with the new administration)
February 1 (combined meeting of out-going and in-coming administrations)
The Provincial Election Assembly will be January 3-7, 2022, at the Provincial Conference Center, and the tentative date of the installation of the new administration is February 2, 2021.
Congratulations!
Among those completing studies this spring is Fr. Paulin Makiala, SCJ, a member of the Congolese Province who has been with the SCJ community in Ottawa since 2018 while enrolled in the Conflict Studies Program at Saint Paul University. Yesterday, Fr. Paulin was the main celebrant at the Sunday Mass, which is currently shared via Zoom with the Dehon Sunday Community.
“Fr. Paulin has been a moment of growth and joy for us,” said Fr. John van den Hengel, SCJ, during the homily. “It has been fascinating to watch how from being a stranger to us – except through the bond that we have as members of the same Congregation – to entering fully into our community… he brought his life-force with him and mixed it with ours and he has enriched us with his care, his joy, his smile and laughter, and his picking up on things that us older guys find more and more difficult to do… He completed more than his studies in these past three years. He became part of us.”
Congratulations Fr. Paulin!
Closing shot
Br. Andy Lewandowski, SCJ, and Fr. Charles Brown, SCJ, celebrated Arbor Day together last week by – what else – planting a tree! They are pictured below.
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