“Make of the world one family”
Xaverian Mission
Volume 58 - No. 3 |
The Redeemer’s Face Shines in Every Corner of the Earth
T he Holy Father recently published
his message for World Mission
Sunday (October 24,2010). He says that
Catholics, in every parish, are to “make
Jesus visible, to make the Redeemer’s
face shine in every corner of the earth
before the generations, especially
before the youth of every continent.”
The joy in the faces of the
Indonesian children reflects the deep
August 2010
Website: xaviermissionaries.org • MissionBlog: xaverianmissionaries.blogspot.com
spirit of joy alive in every culture and
faith. Joy, after all is a gift the Spirit, a
gift we are all called to share. We can
bear many burdens because of this joy.
In this issue of XMN we want to show
you how the “face of Christ” is being
made visible, in our work from Japan to
Indonesia and from Africa to the United
States.
Newsletter
The Pope enjoins all Catholics: “I
renew my invitation to prayer and, in
spite of the economic difficulties, to
fraternal, concrete aid in support of
the younger Churches.”
Today, as never before, the Church
has the opportunity of bringing the
Gospel, by witness and word, to all
peoples and nations. Join us in support
of this most audacious and sublime
commitment. U
Catholic in a World of Many Faiths

Easter in Japan
X averian Missionaries
Provincial Headquarters
12 Helene Court
Wayne, NJ 07470-2813
Tel.: (973) 942-2975
F r. Renato Filippini (right) and
Fr. Denny Wahyudi (2nd
row right), both studied the-
Fax: (973) 942-5012 ology in Chicago, preparing for their
Email: xavwayne@optonline.net missionary work in Japan.

Xavier Knoll Mission Center Here are photos of the Easter Vigil
4500 Xavier Drive Mass at Fr. Renato’s parish in
Franklin, WI 53132-9066 Musashigaoka, Japan, where Fr.
Tel.: (414) 421-0831
Denny assisted by proclaiming the
Fax: (414) 421-9108
gospel in Japanese. Fr. Renato has
E-mail: xavmissionswi@hotmail.com
been serving at this parish for the
Mission Center & Fatima Shrine past six years.
101 Summer Street
P.O. Box 5857
Holliston, MA 01746-5857
Tel.: (508) 429-2144
Fax: (508) 429-4793
E-mail: holliston.sx@gmail.com

Xaverian Mission Newsletter

Official publication of the
Xaverian Missionaries
of the United States

Coordinating Editor
Fr. Carl Chudy
Editorial Team
Fr. Tony Lalli
Fr. Joseph Matteucig
Fr. Alfredo Turco
Layout Consultant
Diamand Design,
Wrentham, MA The Catholic community gathers to sing after the vigil mass. Fr. Denny.
Printing
Rea-Craft Press, Inc.
Foxboro, MA

E-mail & Web:

xaverianmissionnewsletter@gmail.com
www.xaviermissionaries.org
www.xaverianmissionaries.blogspot.com

Donation:
$5.00 per year

Remember the
Xaverian Missionaries
in your will or help us
with a tax deductible
donation
Contact: Fr. Frank Grappoli, SX
12 Helene Court, Wayne, NJ 07470
Tel: 973.942.2975 Two adults dressed in white prepare for their baptism at the Easter Vigil,
along with the entire parish community.

2 Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2010


Assembly of the Xaverian Missionaries in Indonesia, priests,
brothers and professed students.
O
ften parishioners or friends ask
me how long I’ve been living in
Indonesia. I answer: “Same number of
years Jesus lived on earth”. “Wow” is
there response, but then to be humble,
in the oriental way, I say that some of
our priests have been stationed in
Indonesia for over 54 years.
Looking back at my thirty three years
in Indonesia there are many memories
and feelings, and overall, I can say that
all of them have enormous meaning and
I thank the good Lord for all and each
of them. I experienced working for nine
years in villages along the Malacca
Straits, travelling through the rain for-
ests of the Sumatra Islands to reach a
few communities there, taking care of
lepers, then leading a large parish in
Padang, West Sumatra. After that, I sud-
denly was asked to be the formator of
our Xaverian students in Jakarta, and
that for fifteen years. In between two
periods as Master of Novices, I had a
brief stint as pastor of a large parish on
the outskirts of Jakarta. Now I am back
in that same parish, this time not as
pastor, but as assistant.
Xaverian Missionaries in the World
Fr. Bruno
Orru:
33 Years in
Indonesia
Indonesia is a young nation, a repub- Often parishioners
lic since 1945. I experienced a number
of years under Suharto’s dictator-ship or friends ask me
and also the beautiful days when how long I’ve been
democracy started blooming; up to this
day I very much rejoice in being part of living in Indonesia.
this young and vibrating Church, so well
I answer: “Same
structured and with lay people involved
in all the fields of Church life. number of years
Indonesia is so diverse: over two hun- Jesus lived on.
dred and fifty ethnic groups which
means as many languages and cultures,
one different from the other. In my first
years I had two different parishes which
I served at the same time, 200 kilome-
ters apart one from the other
and so different from one
another culturally. One was
made up of almost exclusively
Chinese people whose ances-
tors came by boat more than
one hundred years before
from Fukien province in China
and spoke the same dialect
as in Taiwan. The other par-
ish was made up of mostly
Tapanuli People from North
Sumatra, along with a good
number of Javanese People:
three languages, two races, Fr. Bruno Orru baptizing a young woman.
(continued on next page)
Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2010 3
 Xaverian Missionaries in the World

Fr. Bruno with friends at the

parish carnival

Interreligious dialogue
Fr. Rafael Bardon (right) with professed students doing a dance
which is going on all prior to the meeting on Xaverian Interreligious Dialogue.
the time fits perfectly
in the tolerant (continued from previous page)

attitude of the three cultures. It wasn’t easy to take in
and adjust to those worlds, but it was
Indonesian people. beautiful. I was all the time on the
road and in continuous contact with my
people, visiting them even though it
took me up to four days to look for and
visit just two Catholic families. Even
though they spoke their language which
I did not understand, we could under-
stand each other beautifully because
we used the same Indonesian national
language, the Indonesia Malay. And this
is the great miracle of the Indonesian
people: in the span of only a few
decades they succeeded in accepting
and using with pride just one language
for literature, books, TV, radio, news-
papers, magazines and church commu-
nication. While some other nations
went through civil war over the lan-
guage problem, the Indonesian people
overcame this problem peacefully.

Making the Gospel known has been

facilitated not only by the use of the
same language but also by the open
and hospitable character of the
Indonesian people, their tradition of
musyawarah untuk mufakat. This means
that they discuss and debate a problem
together in order to reach a single deci-
sion in the end, accepted by all.
Interreligious dialogue which is going on
all the time fits perfectly with the tol-
erant attitude of the Indonesian peo-
ple. U

– Fr. Bruno Orru, SX

A catechist teaching faith in the Mentawi Islands in Indonesia.

4 Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2010


Young girls from the parish of St. Therese at the Chinatown Festival
T
he Xaverian Missionaries left St.
Therese Parish in Chinatown,
Chicago after decades of service to the
multicultural Catholic community
there. Fr. Michael Davitti and Fr.
Aniello Salicone completed more than
ten years of ministry there before
turning the parish over to the responsi-
bility of the Archdiocese.
Fr. Salicone shares: “I am grateful to
the Lord for having lived in the Parish
of St. Therese, Chinatown, Chicago.
I had the opportunity of learning so
much of the Chinese culture. Their
practicality, importance of family, pri-
ority to a good education and respect
for the elderly are noteworthy.
Among the many Chinese families in
Chinatown, few become Catholic if it is
against the will of their family.
I had the opportunity of presenting
the Christian faith to many who were
not Christians. The best occasions for
this first evangelization were at funer-
als and at baptisms.
I also have met Italo-Americans here
whose ancestors were the first to
Xaverian Missionaries in the USA
Xaverian
Missionaries’
Farewell to
Chinatown,
Chicago
establish this parish in the early 20th
century. I enjoyed their popular religi-
osity like processions with statues
through the streets of Chinatown.
Father Michael and I have known
each other since 1962 and in living and
working together in Chinatown we were
able to deepen our friendship. He
helped me in my spiritual life.”
Fr. Aniello is newly assigned as Vice
Rector of our community in Milwaukee
and Fr. Michael is in the process of
being assigned to the missions. We pray
for the community of St. Therese
Parish as they continue their faith jour- A view of the parish of St. Therese
ney in the Archdiocese of Chicago with in Chinatown, Chicago.
the cultures that enrich the parish in
marvelous ways. U
Frs. Michael Davitti and Aniello Salicone
at their departure party.
Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2010 5
 50 Years of Independence in Africa

I

n 1960, 17 sub-Saharan
African nations gained
independence from
European colonial powers. On
this 50th anniversary of inde-
pendence, celebrated this year,
the Xaverian Missionaries con-
tinue to work in two of these
countries: the Democratic
Republic of the Congo and
Cameroon.

Democratic Republic of the

A new generation of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo await their
future.
Congo
We Xaverian Missionaries arrived in
the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) in 1958 and we directed our
attention to form well prepared
Christians. We multiplied the number of
mission stations, built schools, prepared
leaders, and provided for the birth of
numerous Christian communities. Our
first African martyrs, Fr. Didone, Fr.
Carrara, and Br. Faccin, were killed
during the civil conflict in 1964.
The Catholic Church is a major insti-
tution in the DRC. Fifty-five percent of
DRC’s 60 million people are Catholic,
making it the largest Catholic popula-
tion in Africa. In the absence of func-
tioning government structures, the
Catholic Church, along with other
churches, have for decades provided
most of the basic services such as
health care and education for the
Congolese people.
Despite the official end of a war in
2002, violence and suffering continue
to plague the eastern provinces of the
Democratic Republic of Congo. This
conflict has caused over 5 million
deaths since 1998, making it what
observers have called “the world’s
deadliest conflict since World War II.”
In 2009 the violence caused hundreds
of thousands of deaths (mainly from
malnutrition and disease as the health
care system had long collapsed and dis-
placed people had little or no access to
doctors or medicine). Another 400,000
people were driven from their homes,
raising the total number of displaced to
2 million. The incidence of systematic
and brutal rape of thousands of women
and girls in 2009 by armed groups is
reportedly the worst in the world
today.
Helping to end the conflict in the
DRC is an important priority for the US
Catholic Bishops. The Bishops urge the
U.S. government to work with the DRC
government to increase its services to
the people and to help harness the
DRC’s natural resources for the common
good. The U.S. should work with the
international community and the forces
in Eastern Congo to promote a just and
sustainable peace.

6 Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2010

a: The Journey of Faith Continues
Cameroon
Following the massive expulsion of
our missionaries from Burundi in the
1970’s, new Xaverians missions were
opened in Cameroon, as well as other
countries in Africa.
In Cameroon, about 30 Xaverians
work for the formation of the laity and
catechists, for the establishment of
basic Christian communities, and for
the training of our theology students.
In the 120 year history of the
Catholic Church in Cameroon, spread-
ing the gospel has contributed signifi-
cantly to improving the health situation
of Cameroonians. With about 234
health centers and 16 hospitals across
the national territory, the contributions
of the Church to the health of
Cameroonians have been enormous. In
the domain of education, the Catholic
Church has more than 364,000 stu-
dents enrolled in its academic institu-
tions nationwide, besides the Catholic
University of Central Africa with cam-
puses in Nkolbisson and Ekounou in
Yaounde.
Fifty years after independence more
Cameroonians are poorer today than
they were before independence.
Poverty remains the greatest problem
a majority of Cameroonians are grap-
pling with daily. Though President Biya
painted a generally positive picture of
what has been achieved in Cameroon
in his address to the nation on Monday,
May 17, he admitted, however reserv-
edly, that poverty remains the greatest
headache a majority of Cameroonians
are suffering from. He wondered what
political freedom represents, if
Cameroonians cannot eat to their fill.
This means that the Cameroonian
people have to experience an integral
development from the social, political
and economic point of view in the light
of the Gospel. Pope Paul VI once said
that development is a new name for
peace!
The Church is called to become
more and more a “home and school of
communion in its rich cultural and reli-
gious makeup” says Pope Benedict in
his address to the Bishops of
Cameroon. He goes on: “From this per-
spective the work done together in a
spirit of charity, in your Episcopal
Conference composed of French-
speaking and English-speaking Bishops,
is already in itself an eloquent sign of
that unity which you experience, and
serves to carry forward the evangeliza-
tion of your people, marked by ethnic
differences”. The Xaverian Missionaries
continue assist the Bishops in this great
A trader in Cameroon looks to a
agenda. U – CC
prosperous future in the markets
Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2010 7
Eucharist Calls Us to Reach Out to the World
P
Body of
Christ,
Broken
for the
World
Questions or Prayer
and Reflection
before the Eucharist
1) Spend some time reflecting
on the passages from papal
writings in this article. Which
do you find inspiring? Which
do you find challenging? How
might God be speaking to you?
2) What issues affecting your
community and the world
today weigh deeply on your
heart? Spend some time bring-
ing these concerns before the
Blessed Sacrament.
3) During your time before
Christ in the Eucharist, can
you sense His compassion?
Love? Desire to transform all
that opposes human life and
dignity?
4) What gifts has God, the
Father, given you? How might
he be asking you to use these
gifts in the service of others?
5) How might the Holy Spirit
be moving you to join with
others to respond to problems
in your family, neighborhood,
or community?
8 Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2010
onder these key quotes on the
power of the Eucharist and how
it prepares us all for mission in our
families, communities and the world
around us.
We experience the Eucharist as a
community. The Eucharist draws each
of us closer to Christ as individuals, but
also as a community. As Catholics, we
never really worship alone. At the
Eucharistic liturgy, we gather with the
young and old, the rich and poor, as
well as millions around the world and
the saints in heaven, to celebrate
Christ’s sacrifice. This powerful reality
reminds us, in the words of John Paul
II: “A truly Eucharistic community can-
not be closed in upon itself” (Ecclesia
de Eucharistia, #39); rather the
Eucharist challenges us to recognize
our place within a community and the
human family.
As we meditate on the Eucharist, we
experience Christ’s love for us—and for
others. In the depth of prayer, we
become so moved and sensitized to His
love for those who suffer that the
words of St. Augustine become a reality
for us: “the pain of one, even the
smallest member, is the pain of all”
(Sermo Denis).
The Eucharist prepares us for mis-
sion. In the face of the sin and injustice
we see present in our communities and
in our world, the
Eucharist “plants a seed
of hope in our daily com-
mitment to the work
before us, ”challenging
us to live “Eucharistic”
lives and affirming our
role as citizens and as
men and women in vari-
ous professions at differ-
ent levels of society in
“contributing with the
light of the Gospel to the
building of a more human
world, a world fully in
harmony with God's plan”
(Ecclesia de Eucharistia
#20).
The Eucharist propels
us to transform the
world. The Eucharist
“increases, rather than
lessens, our sense of
responsibility for the
world today.” Christ in
the Eucharist calls us to
build “a more human
world, a world fully in
harmony with God's plan”
(Ecclesia de Eucharistia
#14). U
 Become a Partner in Global Mission

Priesthood
in
Cameroon:
An
Interfaith
Event

T
Another Cameroonian though foreign, shared
his formidable who was recently life with the people.
gathering, captured ordained a Xaverian mis- Encourage The
by the above photo took sionary priest is Rev. I was also impressed
Missionary Priesthood.
place in the Cameroonian Richard Nembuoet. with the vision of our
Muslim town of Foumban, founder, Blessed Guido Drop the Question:
Africa. The occasion was He says of his call: “In Conforti, who dreamed
the ordination of a the Catholic school to help make the world “Ever Think of
Foumban native to the where I studied, the ‘one family’.” U Being a Priest?”
Catholic priesthood, an priests often asked:
event which was graced “Which of you would like
by the presence of the to become a priest in
Muslim Sultan of order to share the Word
Foumban, Ibrahim of God?” Since I was bap-
Mbombo Njoya (2nd from tized, the desire to enter
the left) whose lineage the seminary was strong.
has ruled the Bamoun But, I did not have the
since the 14th century. courage to tell my par-
ents. Only several years
A sultan is a Muslim later, with the help of
leader and in Bamoun, my uncle, I explain to my
Cameroon, 17 chieftain- father my desire. After
cies were united in the two long nights of con-
17th century under Islam. versation, Dad gave me
It became a Sultanate in his approval.
1918. His majesty, Sultan
Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya, The mission of St.
the spiritual and tradi- Francis Xavier Parish in
tional leader of the Bafoussam, Cameroon,
Bamoum Kingdom, was was entrusted to the
among the hundreds of Xaverian Missionaries.
Moslems who joined There the priests intro-
Catholics at St. Catherine duced me to pastoral
of Siena’s Parish Church work as a catechist and
to witness the ordination youth coordinator. I was
of Rev. Blaise impressed with the Fr. Richard Nembuoet together with one of our seminarians,
Mbouapegnigni. closeness the Fathers, Martin Alikeke,

Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2010 9

 World Mission News Digest
Brazil
The morning of Saturday,
July 10, marked the close of
the first National Missionary
Congress of Seminarians in
Brasilia, which addressed the
theme of missionary forma-
tion of future priests. As a
conclusion the final message
in part said: “Enlightened by
the Spirit of God, we want
the missionary-priesthood
vocation to be transformed
and transfigured by the will
of God for our time in the
Church in Brazil. We want
to be missionary priests...”
PHILIPPINES
Fr. Polash Gomes, SX,
Xaverian Missionary working
in the Philippines as Mission
Director for the Dioceses of
Novaliches, was recently fea-
tured on the website for the
Pontifical Mission Societies
for the Philippines (pms-phil.
org/). They say: “In his four
years of being a priest and a
Mission Director of the
Catholic girls performing liturgical procession popularly
known as Aroti, during inauguration of new Church.
10 Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2010
World Mission News Digest
Diocese of Novaliches, He
was able to create avenues
for the youth to determine
their life’s vocation. Father
Polash is the brainchild
behind the very successful
“Youth Jamboree” which was
the Diocese’s vehicle for mis-
sion promotion for the young
and for all.”
AFRICA
Earlier this month over
500,000 people gathered in
northeastern Uganda to cele-
brate the feast day of Saint
Charles Lwanga and compan-
ions, who are known as the
Catholic men living in Bangladesh’s Gazipur district are singing
Uganda Martyrs. Catholic
Koster Gun or song of sorrow during Lent.
faithful from around Uganda
as well as Sudan, Kenya,
Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi
SRI LANKA EGYPT
and the Democratic Republic
of Congo gathered at the Religious festivals are playing Catholics in Egypt are seizing
shrine of the Uganda martyrs a prominent role in helping a rare opportunity to build a
in the Diocese of Moroto on Catholics and Hindus live church in a country where
June 3 as part of a pilgrim- together as one community permission normally takes up
age for the annual feast day, instead of being divided to 30 years and requires the
according to the Catholic along spiritual lines. In the signature of the president
charity Aid to the Church Jaffna peninsula, healing himself. Bishop Mina stressed
Need. within the Tamil community that the plans were still in
through joint Catholic-Hindu their infancy but added that
participation in festivals is the scheme looks set to
very much in focus. The move ahead quickly because
Hindu Ratha Yatra Chariot of the exceptions for church
Festival is one example. It structures proposed for new
involves hundreds of people urban areas. Emphasizing a
pulling large decorated char- huge influx of people to the
iots to a local temple. This area – especially the young –
year saw local Catholics, Bishop Mina said: “Our peo-
especially young people, ple are very strong in their
working with Hindus to clean faith and they keep saying
and decorate streets, and they want a church.” U
even pull the celebrated
chariots to the Sadda Nathar
Lord Siva temple in Jaffna.
Interfaith activity is finding a
central importance in the
work of the Church.

News from our USA Communities
Fr. Victor Mosele: 50 Years A Missionary Priest
N
ot that I have
understood the
sublimity of this gift of
God from the very begin-
ning when I first felt the
inclination of becoming a
priest. Oh no! At first, in
my younger years, as a boy
in high school, I was
attracted by a child piety,
and even by vain and frivo-
lous yearnings such as
being important, seeking
adventures, and exotic
traveling. But as I pro-
gressed, in age and wis-
dom, through the prep-
seminary, the minor and
major seminaries years,
first in native Italy, and
then in the USA, God’s
grace took over the whims
of younger years, and
transformed them into a
powerful stimulus toward
Jesus’ Call: to follow Him
and become an “Another
Christ” in a consecrated
life.
I worked in Sierra
Leone, West Africa for
more than thirty years.
While there, I will never
forget the day when I was
invited by the Imam
(Muslim leader) of a
Mosque in Makeni, Sierra
Leone to inaugurate an
Islamic Youth Center by
giving the keynote address
to the assembled students.
I spoke of God’s Mercy in
giving us both, Muslim and
Christians, the great lead-
ership of Ibrahim
(Abraham), our Father in
the Faith.
For 5 years I gave a 10
minutes exhortation in the
early morning, 5 times a
From our USA Communities
Fr. Alfredo with the “2 Daves”
from St. Mary’s, Hales Corners.
week, to groups of 1000 As a 5-month captive
students strong, gathered hostage of the rebels dur-
in the customary General ing the war in Sierra
Assembly of 5 different Leone, I was able to speak
schools in Sierra Leone. to them on several occa-
Most of the students were sions against the violence
non-Christian, yet there I they perpetuated. U
was, called to share with – Fr. Victor Mosele, SX
them the Good News of
May Christ, through the
Jesus. What a tremendous,
priests, continue to reach out
exhilarating experience! to those who do not know Him.
Mission Festival 2010 in Milwaukee
T
Mr. Mic” Frank Mutranowski
with his youngest son and wife.
he 2010 Xaverian Mission Festival in Franklin,
Wisconsin turned out to be a “wet one,” with
rain threatening each day of setup and during
the event. But even the weather conditions did not
stop the many volunteers and friends from coming at
Xavier Knoll at the end of June to celebrate a good
time and support the mission cause.
The Festival Mass, the highlight of our Sunday morn-
ing, was presided by Fr. Victor Mosele who, this year, is
celebrating 50 years of missionary priesthood (see arti-
cle above). Even though it was celebrated under the
main tent because of the inclement weather, Fr. Victor,
with his usual enthusiasm for the missionary life, invit-
ed the “outdoor congregation” to appreciate the gift of
missionaries the world over, to reflect on the goodness
of the Lord even in challenging moments (he referred
to his own captivity by the rebels in Sierra Leone), and
to do our best to extend our hands for the proclama-
tion of the Gospel throughout the world.
Patricia and her daughter
– Fr. Alfredo Turco, SX having fun at the festival.
Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2010 11
 Xaverian Mission Newsletter • August 2010

Spend your life

for the most vital work
needed by the world

Become A
Missionary
a
Fr. Joe Matteucig, SX
(508) 429-2144
holliston.sx@gmail.com

Children participating in a special

celebration to promote mission in a
parish in Dhaka, Bangladesh

The Xaverian Missionaries Are Presently Serving In:

Bangladesh • Brazil • Burundi • Cameroon • Chad • China • Colombia • Democratic Republic of Congo • France
Great Britain • Indonesia • Italy • Japan • Mexico • Mozambique • Philippines • Sierra Leone • Spain • Taiwan • U.S.A.

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