Olly, Makir, and Hugo are three UK-based seminarians who were given the opportunity from their dioceses to travel overseas and experience the missionary Church in Kenya. While they were there, they shared with us the many signs of hope they experienced on their journey. We’re delighted to share what they saw – the signs of hope which YOU create through your donations and prayers.
‘When the opportunity came up to go to Kenya it was just really something say “yes” to,’ says Hugo. ‘I just thought, “this is clearly something that the Lord has planned for me and there will be lessons in this for me”. It was a tremendous opportunity to find out just more about this Church that I’m giving my life to and find out what it’s really like in a context I’d ever experienced before.’
Olly agrees: ‘I wanted to see what Christianity looked like within a different cultural setting and also what a mission looked like. Because I know that ultimately the diocese that I’ll go back to essentially is mission territory. It’s different to the Church that I grew up in in the 80s and 90s, which was a lot more about maintaining the community as opposed to building a community. We’re going to be coming across people today who’ve never heard the Gospel.’
‘I wanted to see the Universal Church,’ says Makir. ‘Catholic means Universal, and whilst I understand that in theory, I really wanted to experience that. So going to a completely different continent and seeing my brothers and sisters in Christ out there – seeing how they express love to the Lord – was something I was very eager to learn about.’
The missionary difference
‘What came across to me really was the closeness of the Pastors and the Church to the community and how involved they are,’ says Olly, who was visiting the urban apostolate in Kisumu. ‘The mere fact that the churches are within the actual slums themselves where the people are… for me that was mission in action.’
Olly remembers a Missio-funded drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinic that he visited: ‘When you see how many people are using the clinic, it really is an inspiration to see such a presence there and how it’s doing so much good for the community.’
Makir and Hugo visited Luanda and witnessed the challenges for mission in rural areas. Hugo shares:
‘There were some Mill Hill Sisters who were administering a centre for street kids. Boys who were from very complex backgrounds and needed a place to live away from away from their homes, or where they’d been living – a lot of them were homeless. That was run by the Mill Hill Sisters, as was the rehabilitation centre for drugs and alcohol abuse, and also a school for deaf children. So, all these fell under the umbrella of projects supported by Missio and so it just goes to show the breadth of the work that Mill Hill and Missio between them accomplish. It was not only the Sacramental and spiritual needs of the people, but some very specific kinds of aid that they were contributing to the community there.’
Makir agrees:
‘It was amazing having seen the Red Boxes all my life and to see that from my Church back in England… we got to visit the young people who had been homeless and were now being rehabilitated and helped. It was amazing to see the Red Box – that one pound or whatever you put in there – and then see how it has now contributed here in Kenya and to see it with our own eyes – it was remarkable.’
‘We saw that drugs and alcohol were a real problem and they’re problems for the kids as well. There were a lot of kids and adults in quite a state. It was an eye-opener, but it was a particular need they had in that area, both for grown-ups and for children; for someone to come in and do something to try and get people away from those situations.’
In Kisumu, says Olly,
‘In addition to the HIV clinic and the Urban Apostolate, there was also a temporary shelter for street kids. Twice a week during the day and once during the night every week they’d go out looking for the kids on the streets. The idea is that they would spend 90 days with them while receiving basic education. Then they’ll try and reintegrate them into their families, or try to find adopted family, and that was hugely inspirational to see. The also offered counselling as well, as they have a professional counsellor there. Again, just knowing that that was paid for out of the Red Boxes that we see in Church, or we see on the mantel piece, really hit home.’
A world without missionaries?
So, what would it be like if there were no missionary presence in those areas?
Hugo muses that missionary parishes would have to be absorbed into the diocesan structures,
‘… but whether they’d have the capacity to keep up those facilities that the Sisters are running – the rehabilitation centres in Luanda and school for deaf children, I don’t know. It’s not what they’re set up for. Missionary Priests have been formed with a wider mindset of what they’re supposed to be doing in the places they serve, so I think they do bring something really distinct to those parishes.
‘Without missionaries,’ says Makir,
‘Some of the places we went to would be so cut off – number one, from the Sacraments; without these missionary Priests they literally would not be able to reach out and receive the Lord – receive forgiveness – which is unthinkable. But also, as Hugo alluded to, the school for deaf children. It seemed that without the Sisters there, who were running the deaf school, those children would be completely cut off almost from society, so they really help facilitate that bond.’
Olly is distressed by the idea:
‘It’s a difficult thing to think about actually, when you consider the needs that they do meet. The fact that 2,000 people rely on the Urban Apostolate for their HIV medication… Another example is primary schools which technically are free but they’re not free, there are small fees that need to be paid to incentivise the teacher – it’s not much, but it still needs to be to be paid – and that’s one thing the Urban Apostolate would do. There’d be a lot of kids who essentially wouldn’t be going to school. It’s not something I’d like to think about, if I’m honest, that the facilities might suddenly disappear.’
Beacons of hope
Because of you, our amazing supporters and volunteers, missionaries are able to be pilgrims of welcome, help, and hope to their communities. Makir recalls:
‘So many times people would turn up to the parish door. They wouldn’t even really ask, but then the Priest would go out and give them what they needed. Sometimes we would travel out to a satellite parish give grain or seeds… whatever it might be needed to support the people there.’
Put simply, where there are missionaries, there is hope. And without you, missionaries can’t do what they do. This is the hope you bring. Thank you so much.