Dear Brothers in the Risen Lord, Advent is a special time of the year ...

y: Greg Helminski, CRKwa jina la Baba, na la Mwana,na la Roho Mtakatifu.Amina.In the name of the Father, and of the Son,and of the Holy Spirit.Amen.Every journey we take in life is one thatwe pray that God will be with us and,paradoxically, that we may also be able tofind the Lord in a deeper way. We start withthe sign of our faith, the sign of the Cross.Then our journey opens us up to new waysof meeting the Risen Christ, much likethose disciples on the road to Emmaus.My month in Africa, specifically,Butiama, Tanzania was a journey (or inSwahili, SAFARI) of faith, discovery,and discernment. Special thanks to ourprovincial council, who gave me permissionto go and explore, to the missionaries withwhom we visited and to Fr. Steve Thoma,CR, who accompanied me on this journey.“What was it like? What was the hardestpart? What was the most enjoyable part?”are some of the questions that I get askedfrom family and friends. Let me try toanswer these questions in the next fewwords and, hopefully, give you a flavor ofthe graced time that I spent in Africa.First and foremost, the image of a Safari,a journey on challenging roads, is anoverarching image. From the time wereached Nairobi, Kenya with wild big citytraffic to the tiny, very bumpy, dirt roadsthrough the rural countryside of Tanzania,we were very much on the move. Even ourfirst Sunday in Butiama was spent travelingto three outpost church buildings, each withits own character of architecture, music,and texture of friendliness of the people.There were weddings at one, a visit to anelderly catechist, who had recently buriedhis wife with the grave in his own backyardat another, and stories about a gold mineand the tumultuous relationship that ithad with the local community in the third.The time we spent in Butiama, our hostskept us moving to see parishes, diocesanoffices, schools, neighboring parishes, thecathedrals, Maryknoll missionaries, bothKARIBUmen and women and the sick and sufferingparishoners at home and in hospitals. Trulywe experienced a rich cross section of theBody of Christ in East Africa.Secondly, My memory holds an impressionthat we minister to a very rural communityin Butiama, Tanzania. Surrounded byfarms, quite far from the big city we werewith country folk. Life was much slowerand simpler than what I am used to inChicago, IL. Sometimes electricity is notavailable. One Sunday someone gave agoat to the Fathers and “Billy” was ourevening meal. Monkeys, almost as plentifulas our squirrels, visit the rectory to thechagrin of the pastor who intimidatesthem with his air rifle. The songs of birdsmingle with the sound of music comingfrom all night wedding celebrations.But this little rural village is not a typicalcounty place for the first President ofTanzania, Julius Nyerere was born there andhis wife continues to be an active memberof the Catholic community. She lives whatmight be seen as a home befitting of aformer First Lady. Walimu (Teacher) is theaffection title of former President Nyerereand he highly revered and respected. Infact his cause for beatification has beenintroduced so there is a real pride amongthe Catholics for their contribution of sucha saintly and respected statesman.For all of its down to earth friendliness,I experienced for the first time in my lifebeing part of a minority. White peoplestick out like—well a sore thumb, so tospeak. One Maryknoller shared that one ofhis colleagues who ministered in Africa foralmost 50 years, when asked what would bea good gift that he could receive from theLord, replied that for 10 minutes he wouldlike to be able to think like an African! Icould concur by only stating that there is somuch to learn about these people and theirculture.Parochial ministry in Butiama iscomplicated with the prevalent languagebeing Swahili and the beautiful traditionsof dance and movement being an essentialpart of the liturgical celebrations. We werepresent for the feast of Corpus Christiand had a rich experience of EucharisticProcessions through villages, some of whichwere populated by many Moslems, whowere wondering what are those Catholicsdoing now. The experience of seeingaltars with roof-like coverings, incense,flower petals being scattered by younggirls dressed in beautiful dresses, parentscarrying children on their backs walkingin procession, and the fervent devotion offaith- filled people expressing themselvesin movement were all highlights of myliturgical experience in Africa. It actuallyreminded me of my childhood experiencesof Corpus Christi that I had growing up inBucktown at St. Hedwigs in Chicago, IL.The singing and reverence was a wonderfulexperience reminding me of the concept ofa safari and the walk of faith that we all takein this life.This was a wonderful way to live out ourcharism as Resurrectionists, walking with theRisen Jesus, accompanying Him and eachother in a spirit of praise and thanksgivingfor the many wonderful gifts that we havereceived.Educational Ministry was the mostinteresting and held the most promise forme. We visited many schools, both publicand private. Just meeting the studentsconvinced me that I would have gifts to sharewith them and that might be wonderfulway to carry my Resurrectionist mission asan educatorThe government has developed a projectto have better education in Tanzania andhas named it the Butiama Project. Theyhave some big plans and have invited theBishop of Musoma to find some religiouscommunity to help them in this endeavor.There are four new schools in the area ofBuitama being built, one of which is a boys’secondary school. The secondary school isconducted in English and the building isready to go. They just need the staff and toassemble a student body. It is to be a modelschool and will involve the local communityespecially in the area of agricultural studiesand farming local land. The CR Sistershave accepted the administration of thegirls’ secondary school and two sisters fromPoland are on their way there, as well as Sr.Stephanie Blaski, CR from Chicago.