Dear Friends:
Every year the Archdiocese of Hartford welcomes delegates from missionary religious orders as well as delegates from missionary dioceses around the world to come and speak to the people about the work that is being done and the needs that they encounter. They then take up a second collection, the proceeds of which is sent to the order or the diocese to be used for its needs.
This year, two priests from the Archdiocese of Tororo in Uganda, a country in Africa, will be with us. They are Father Felix Hinambona and Father Frederick Masayi. They will speak at all Masses in both churches next weekend, August 12-13. The second collection will be taken for the needs of the Church in the Archdiocese of Tororo. I am aware that next Sunday is the second Sunday of the month, the Sunday on which the monthly collection is usually taken. In light of the special missionary collection, you may want to donate what you would give to the monthly collection to that purpose instead. In any event, we will ask that, when the collection is being taken next Sunday, all parish envelopes, weekly and monthly, should go into the first basket. The basket will then be passed a second time for the missionary appeal.
The Archdiocese of Tororo in Uganda has a population of some 3,600,000 people, of whom 1,200,000 are Catholics. There are forty-five parishes with an additional 984 missions or what they call “sub-parishes” which are village churches with no resident pastor. There are now 123 priests in the Archdiocese and an addition 14 priests from religious orders. A happy note is that there are 335 college-level seminarians and 48 seminarians at the major seminary level, the years just preceding ordination. The priests have the assistance of 1340 catechists who do the important work of overseeing the village churches where there is no resident priest present. Fathers Hinambona and Masayi will lay out more of what their diocese needs and how we can assist them in some way. I am very aware of how generous you, the people of this parish are, and I know that you will do whatever you can to help by making a contribution to the collection next weekend.
Finally, just by way of information, I will be away the next two weeks on a cruise, sailing out of New York, stopping in Halifax and Newfoundland in Canada, followed by two stops in Greenland, ending with five stops around Iceland. I am traveling with a priest friend and classmate I have known for over forty years. We leave this Monday, August 7 and return late on Monday, August 21.
Have a good week!