U.S. Catholic Church in mission overseas ® Spring 2021 maryknollmagazine.org Light for the Future FROM THE EDITOR FEATURED STORIES DEPARTMENTS ent in a time of COVID-19. Sadly, we’ve been here before. Little did we know as we began Lent last year that a year later we would still be in the Rediscovering Tribal 2 From the Editor Lgrips of this deadly pandemic. It was not even officially a pandemic then, ‘Earth Wisdom’ 10 and wasn’t until the World Health Organization declared it so on March 11. by Maria-Pia Negro Chin 4 Photo Meditation The death toll and infection rates we’ve seen were unimaginable, as was the impact on our daily lives. Families Working Together 8 Missioner Tales “How we long to go back to that sure safety/ Where bad habits, cool in El Salvador by Carolyn Trumble 18 indifference, and/ Cruel apathy made us blissfully forgetful/ Of death’s sad 16 Spirit of Mission certainty,” writes Maryknoll Father Joseph R. Veneroso in this issue’s photo meditation. A Fond Aloha 30 Orbis Books We have spent the year mourning, not only for lives lost but for our lost by Jim Krupka 24 lives, for all that we’ve missed, from the essential to the trivial, from the 56 World Watch sacred to the mundane. We have coped with sudden unanticipated changes, ‘Welcome Home, Father’ and we have coped with daily monotony. We have suffered. by Sean Sprague 34 Partners in Mission Amid this disruption of the world as we knew it, many of us have also 58 counted our blessings and gained new appreciation for whom and what Readers’ Responses we love. As people of faith, we also have hope—hope that in the worst of We’ll Get Far by 61 circumstances, even in death, there is a tomorrow, a renewal of life beyond Walking Together! 40 our temporal existence. There is a light, a new dawn and a resurrection. by Brenda Noriega Lynn F. Monahan Lifting Spirits, Restoring FRONT COVER: Life in Bolivia Editor-in-Chief 44 Melisiana John and her son Alvini in by Giovana Soria Ndoleleji parish in Tanzania, where Maryknoll Father Hung Dinh is pastor. Seeking Sustainability COVER CREDITS: in East Africa 50 Front: Sean Sprague/Tanzania by Lynn F. Monahan Back: Rafael Carranza/El Salvador “To those who love God, all things ® work together for good...” U.S. Catholic Church in mission overseas Romans 8:28 Editorial Staff: Maryknoll, the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of Raymond J. Finch, M.M., Publisher America, Inc., was established in 1911 by the U.S. Lynn F. Monahan, Editor-in-Chief bishops to recruit, train, send and support American Margaret Gaughan, Editor missioners in areas overseas. Maryknoll is supported David R. Aquije, Editor, Misioneros by offerings and bequests. Maria-Pia Negro Chin, Associate Editor Giovana Soria, Staff Writer Maryknoll (ISSN 0025-4142) © 2021, Catholic Mary Ellen Manz, M.M., Maryknoll Sister Liaison Foreign Mission Society of America, Inc. All rights Joseph R. Veneroso, M.M., Contributing Editor reserved. Maryknoll is available in audio without 10 24 44 Diane Mastrogiulio, Art Director charge from Xavier Society for the Blind: (212) 473- Michael Calvente, Graphic Designer 7800. The title Maryknoll ® is registered with the Marco Gallo, Graphic Designer United States Patent and Trademark Office. Facebook.com/MaryknollSociety Twitter.com/MaryknollFrsBrs Instagram.com/MaryknollSociety Regina Gelfer, Graphic Designer Visit MARYKNOLL online The Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic and the Maryknoll Lay Missioners share the Direct all correspondence to: MaryknollMagazine.org Maryknoll name and charism of commitment to the mission of Jesus Christ, sharing God’s love with people worldwide. Raymond J. Finch, M.M., Publisher MisionerosMaryknoll.org/RevistaMisioneros While these three Catholic organizations often work together in mission, each is responsible for recruiting and supporting P.O. Box 302, Maryknoll, NY 10545-0302 Magazine of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers 914.941.7590 its own missioners. The Maryknoll Affiliates is a movement grouped into local chapters both in the United States and abroad of lay people who seek to reflect the Maryknoll charism within the context of their own lives, careers and communities. 2 SPRING 2021 MARYKNOLL • VOLUME 115 • NUMBER 2 MARYKNOLLMAGAZINE.ORG 3 Photo meditation on Lent and Easter FROMto Easter ASHES By Joseph R. Veneroso, M.M. Called to leave behind slavery To sin and self-centeredness Still we hesitate to cross such a vast, Empty, trackless wilderness fearing Our newfound freedom most of all. Reminders of our mortality haunt every step. Dust we are, to dust we shall return. We know. We know. O would that we did not! How we long to go back to that sure safety Where bad habits, cool indifference, and Cruel apathy made us blissfully forgetful Of death’s sad certainty. CNS/Barbara Fraser/Peru 4 SPRING 2021 MARYKNOLL MARYKNOLLMAGAZINE.ORG 5 At length we reluctantly resolve to forge ahead, Before daybreak we rise to walk Not realizing our prayers and penances Alongside the mourning, myrrh-bearing women. Would lead us to walk his Way. The stone removed, our sadness devolves into despair. But now we are Pilate, we the soldiers, An empty tomb taunts us with renewed doubts. The crowd, the women, Simon, Veronica. Grave robbers? The owner? The wrong tomb? Or... We stand at the foot of the cross and Cannot help but wonder why “Why seek the living among the dead?” Undergo such sacrifice and He says our name. Unspeakable suffering and humiliation. He whom we thought dead now lives again We rush back with Magdalene As if reading our unspoken thoughts, he says, To spread the Good News and henceforth “Do you still not see or understand? To live for him who died and rose for us. Nothing you can do, no sin you can commit Amen Will ever make me stop loving you.” Alleluia And with that he bows his head and dies. Pixabay 6 SPRING 2021 MARYKNOLL MARYKNOLLMAGAZINE.ORG 7 Musoma, Tanzania. This center teaches Missioner Tales young women who have disabilities or are otherwise at risk, such as young single mothers or those living with HIV/AIDS, to t was the Monday of Holy Week quite figure out why this foreigner is learn sewing and crafts so they can have at Ndoleleji parish in the Shinyan- helping her, but she is grateful. a better future. We sell their beautiful Iga Diocese in Tanzania. After the Then there are the children, dozens bags, napkins, cards, etc. of them, everywhere I go. They come morning celebration of the Eucharist, We recently finished the construction of Michael Bassano/South Sudan the catechist told me that a woman running and laughing and sticking our second shop, enabling us to move the named Martha, who couldn’t speak, out their dirty hands. But their hearts first shop to the new location and make wanted to go to confession. are pure gold. the previous shop into a classroom. Right Martha came into the sacristy, I greet them with my limited Pazan- now students are sharing sewing ma- knelt down and sighed profoundly. de, the language spoken here, and chines in a crammed space. She crossed her arms on her chest we all laugh. They practice their lim- One miracle that happened recently is and bowed deeply. ited English, and we laugh again. I that we created a mural for the center. You She pointed to the sky, then bless them and move on. do not see much art around here, so it has clutched her heart. She raised her God is good and I love these walks. attracted lots of attention. The Serengeti fists in anger, then again crossed her Gabe Hurrish, MKLM National Park is not too far from Musoma. arms on her chest and bowed deep- It helped inspire the animal theme of the ly. She repeated this several times or over 10 years, I have spent mural, which also includes women enjoy- with different gestures. the third week of January as a ing each other’s company. As Martha communicated her sor- Fvolunteer Spanish interpreter A friend of mine created the mural. It row and her desire to return to God with a large U.S. and Guatemalan was a labor of love. She spent so many through signs and gestures, I could medical team called Children of the hours working on it, and many others got feel God’s love and mercy powerfully Americas. They go to a different part involved in helping. At the bottom of the alive in that small rural sacristy. of Guatemala each year to do pediat- mural are the Swahili words, “Matumaini I gave her absolution and a sign of ric and gynecological examinations, kwa waketi ujao,” which means “Hope for peace. I experienced as never be- surgeries, etc. Gathering with this the Future.” fore the meaning of the words of the group feels like a family reunion. Angelica Ruppe, MKLM prophet Joel, “Rend your hearts and Last year I was embarrassed when return to the Lord.” both soles of my old sport shoes n my first trip to Bangkok, I was Joseph Healey, M.M. came unstuck and flopped when nervous about the possibility of I walked. It was quite an awkward Obeing taken advantage of in the ven COVID-19 has not stopped evening at the hotel, where they sur- airport. I was pleased to see a prepaid my daily walks on jungle paths prised me with a spontaneous cele- taxi service and took it to our Maryknoll Ein Western Equatoria, Yam- bration of my 80th birthday. center house in the city.