I had some time off to visit family, community, friends, attend to various doctor appointments, preach at St. Bernadette Parish in Severn, Maryland and St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Kitchener, Ontario, and participate in a Tanzanian Commission in Waterloo, Ontario for a week in September. I will update everyone about these various events in later blogs, but now I would like to focus on my return to the Formation House in Morogoro.
We have two groups of young men at our Formation House in Morogoro. One group is made up of seminarians who study philosophy and theology at Jordan University College and Br. Michael who studies at Alphagems Secondary School. The other group are aspirants who are part of what is called the Propaedeutical Year—you can thank the Vatican for coming up with a title like this! These 10 young men are discerning their call to be Resurrectionists, while we are also discerning about their suitability to take the next step in formation to begin the Novitiate on August 15, 2025. We also have one young man, Fulgence, who is interested in becoming a brother in our community. After being with us for a few months, he will attend a catechetical school in the Musoma Diocese (near our parishes in Butiama and Buhemba) for two years, and then become an aspirant.
The aspirants are the responsibility of Fr. Daniel, and I have the responsibility for the seminarians and brother candidates. When Fr. Yohana arrives, we will have a total of 29 people in the formation house: 3 priests, 14 seminarians, 1 brother under temporary vows, 10 aspirants, and 1 brother candidate preparing for catechetical school.
Here is a photo of the whole gang together! One small problem we have is that we have only 3 guest rooms, accommodating 6 people. We need to have some spaces for young men who will visit us for “Come and See” time as they discern God’s call in their lives.
A bigger problem is that we might not have enough room next year if we accept ten more new aspirants. We have space for 32 seminarians and aspirants, without any room for guests. There are 26 seminarians and aspirants this year, leaving us with 6 empty beds (3 guest rooms). Next year, only 2 seminarians will leave—Vitalis and Emmanuel will begin their pastoral year—but 10 people finishing novitiate will start their philosophical or theological studies. So, if we accepted 10 more new aspirants, we would have a total of 34 seminarians and aspirants. This leaves us one room (or 2 beds short).
It is a nice problem to have—too many seminarians—but it is a problem, nonetheless. We are working on possible solutions. But, as we always say, “It is not easy!!!!”
My great niece Avery donated some cookies for me to give to some of the children that I see in our village of Tungi. I gave some to the children of one of our Sunday cooks: Mattias and Josephina. Notice that Josephina also has a little stuffed bear which she is carrying like mothers carry their babies and toddlers. The bears were gifts from some friends in Columbia—Ginny and Bob. I used to play hockey with Bob, but that seems ages ago, especially as I live in a place where it is hard to get an ice cube, let alone a sheet of ice in an arena!
One of my first visitors was Gratitude, who is one of the sons of our weekly cook, Pendo. Gratitude is already in 4th grade. Pendo’s youngest son, Good Luck, is often around. I asked Gratitude what is best about having a little brother, and he told me that he always has someone to play with. I asked him what is worst about having a little brother, and he told me “nothing!”
One new development is our purchase and set-up for chickens. I do not always understand everything that is happening, but as far as I do understand, we are raising 50 chickens to eat and 50 chickens to lay eggs. I went with Valentino to buy them last week and over the weekend everyone pitched in to clear and clean a space for our chicken project.
In addition to the chickens, there are some stations for feed (grey objects) and some stations for water (white objects), as well as a grill with burning charcoal (brown object) to keep them warm at night. Valentino is a veterinarian, so he knows what he is doing, and we are lucky to have him around.
The space across from the room that Valentino is standing in is where we will house the chickens when they grow more. It is amazing how fast they grow. My estimate is that they are already almost twice as big now than when we bought them.
These are some of the aspirants at work: Edson, Luis, Patrice, Fulgence, Hillary, Robert, and Desdery.
More to come on www.resurrectionists.ca
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