We have been very fortunate over the last several weeks. We had a great visit with Fr. Raphael Ma, C.R. from the Canadian Province and then a visit with Fr. Eric Wagner, C.R. from the United States of America Province.
Fr. Eric has his Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from the Catholic University of America. I was at the same university about 20 years earlier, but there were still some professors that we shared in our time of study. Fr. Eric currently teaches Old and New Testament at the Aquinas Institute in St. Louis. This means that he gave up his Christmas semester break to be with us! Thanks!
Like Fr. Raphael, Fr. Eric immersed himself in our daily life of prayer, meals, and study. He was able to preside and preach many times during his stay. He also gave a day of recollection to the aspirants.
Philimon and Baltazari sat on either side of Fr. Eric in the chapel. They did a great job of assisting Fr. Eric when morning and evening prayer were in Swahili. I think Fr. Eric has a facility with languages—Greek, Latin, German—and now Swahili! He did very well and picked up many useful phrases for daily communication.
Br. Mosses met Fr. Eric at the airport. They stayed overnight in Dar es Salaam (after two days and many time changes of travel). They took the train to Morogoro the next day. Livinus Galeba, C.R. welcomed Fr. Eric during dinner in his first night with us. We had music, singing, and, of course, ice cream.
Fr. Eric brought each of us a T-shirt, which we are wearing proudly. He also brought three computers, which saved us some money because we needed to purchase 8 computers this year.
In addition, Fr. Eric brought a beautiful vestment from Fr. Steven Bartczyszyn, C.R., the U.S.A. Provincial. This vestment was worn at the concelebrated Mass of Carlo Acutis and Peir Giorgio Frassati on September 7, 2025, which was attended by Fr. Tom Wojciechowski, C.R. and Fr. Bartczyszyn, C.R. in Rome. I wore the vestment throughout the Christmas season. Fr. Steve shared that this vestment has been touched to a first-class relic of Carlo Acutis, making it a third-class relic.
Fr. Eric spent a great deal of time—scheduled and unscheduled—with the seminarians and the aspirants. Working with Br. Mosses, he was able to teach some of the classes for the aspirants, talking mostly about our Resurrection charism.
Fr. Eric and I team taught my Sacraments class on December 24th. The class was on the prefiguration of the sacraments in the Old Testament. He was able to add some great insights from both the Old Testament and the Church fathers. And, of course, Fr. Eric joined us for our Christmas celebration the next day.
Fr. Eric organized a hiking trip to the top of one of the mountains that surround Morogoro. All the aspirants and 4 seminarians left at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 27; they returned at about 6:00 p.m. Everyone made it to the top, but they were very tired!
Finally, Fr. Eric went shopping with me on Fridays, purchasing the chicken, fish, beef, and groceries that we need during the week. It was, as we say, an adventure!
Thanks for a great visit, Fr. Eric!
More to come on www.resurrectionists.ca
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