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mission stories from around the world

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Winter 2019

DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES

update

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Contact us at800-275-0626

for information on bequests orto talk more about different

ways to include Divine Word Missionaries

in your Will or estate plan.

Seek the advice of your financial or legal advisor.

Divine Word MissionariesP.O. Box 6099 • Techny, IL 60082

Have you already included us in your Will?

Let us know so we can Thank You!

Modern communication seems to change by the day.Sometimes by the hour.

Here at the Mission Center we are constantly adapting tocommunicate our message. In the last few years we haveupped our game on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Ifyou’ve been following us (or liking us), we hope you’venoticed our efforts to keep you in the know.

But an organization’s website is the keystone to what theexperts call its “social media platform.” At the start of 2018we took a look at our website and realized it wasn’tconveying our message of mission as much as we wouldlike. We knew that we needed to build awareness with alarger audience and invite everyone in to view our missionstories.

So, we got to work. After months of ideas and meetings andthen more ideas, we launched our new-look website. TheURL is the same—www.svdmissions.org—but everythingelse has changed dramatically. Go ahead and take a look.We are confident you will find it compelling and inviting.

We call our new approach “Mission Impact.” The life worksof our missionaries deserve the widest possible audience.We believe our redesigned site will have a positive impact forour global mission by spreading our story to the world.Mission Impact is our response to today’s call to spread theword about our missions and to spread the word about howtogether we can make an impact on the lives of people whoare continents away—but close to all our hearts.

We also believe our longtime friends will enjoy MissionImpact. The new website makes it easier for to get to knowour dedicated priests and Brothers, to request Masses, togive a gift and to just be part of our team. We have alsoincluded resources to enhance your prayer life.

Don’t worry. Mission Update magazine isn’t going away. Westill need a venue to tell in-depth stories. The magazine willwork in tandem with our website to give you the full pictureof Divine Word Missionaries. We can’t wait to hear what youthink about Mission Impact. And please, share the websitewith your friends!

Yours in the Divine Word,

Bro. Daniel Holman SVDMission Director

Contact me any time, my email address is:[email protected]

Remembering Divine WordMissionaries in your Willis a powerful wayto leave a meaningful legacy

www.svdmissions.orgThe impactof yourkindnesswillchangesomeone’slife forever


Winter 2019 GIVE TODAY @ www.svdmissions.org 1

2

Divine Word Missionaries Mission Center • P.O. Box 6099 • Techny, Illinois 60082-6099The Society of the Divine Word is an international Catholic missionary congregation with over 6,000 members from 84 countries.

Divine Word Missionaries work in over 80 different lands on all continents except Antarctica.

Website: WWW.SVDMISSIONS.ORG

DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES MAGAZINE, Vol. L XII No. 1 Winter 2019 issued quarterly

Divine Word Missionaries • Mission Center, Techny, Illinois 60082

Subscription $20.00 a year

Editorial Team: Bro. Dan Holman SVD • Carmelita J. Linden • Jeffrey Westhoff

When I was a child in Kenya, my family grew coffee. Coffee isperhaps the world’s most preferred hot beverage, but it takes a lotof work to produce every gram of the finished product you enjoyat your breakfast table.

mission stories from around the World

www.svdmissions.orgDIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES

update

18

8 Simple Helpful Skills Lawrence Muthee SVD

To the Humanization of the World

Jeffrey Westhoff

Rebecca Frank

DivineWord

STAYINTOUCH

Breaking the Cycle of Poverty–Changes Lives

12 Nature Never ForgivesMarkus Frädrich

An Interview with Archbishop Michael Blume SVD


2

Written by Rebecca Frank

(Reprinted from the Austrian Stadt Gottes.Translated by Father David Streit SVD)

Rebecca Frank is a fundraiserat Divine Word Missionaries’mission office in St. Gabrieloutside of Vienna, Austria. Herwork takes her abroad on visitsto Divine Word mission sites.

In the slums of the centralIndian city of Indore even theyoungest children have to work.Here Divine Word Missionariesare making it possible forthese children to get theirfirst steps in educationthrough “bridge schools.” To assist older residents,microloans are available tohelp them start smallbusinesses. Bridge schools andmicroloans will break young andold free of the cycle ofpoverty and liberate them froma lifetime of demeaning jobsand living in squalor.

Breaking theCycle of Poverty–ChangesLives



When little Puja held out her small hands to welcome me,I was struck by the roughness of her skin. My own handsdo not feel that rough even after a long, cold winter. This9-year-old girl gained her dry, cracked hands through dailylabor in the brickworks. Every morning Puja and hergrandmother get up every early (she lives with hergrandmother because both her parents are in poor healthand unable to contribute to the family’s income). After afew quick bites of breakfast, the old woman and the girl setoff for the brickworks at first light.

Work starts at about 4 in the morning. At first glance,making bricks looks a bit like baking. Metal forms aredusted on the inside with sand so that nothing sticks tothem. Then, with bare hands, Puja and her grandmotherfill the forms with the soft clay mixture already preparedby other workers. They pat it down, smooth it out andknock the form to loosen the moist mixture. Finally, theylift the form from the newly pressed brick. Then they movedown the line to do it all over again. Puja and hergrandmother repeat this process hundreds of times everysingle day. The bricks they have formed lay row after rowto dry in the sun. Once the bricks dry, workers stack theminto pyramids so that they can be fired.


4

Do not be fooled. This is not at all like playing in the sandbox.The work is hard and difficult. Sooner or later, squatting onthe ground all day long over the brick forms will ruin aperson’s posture. Together, Puja and her grandmother canturn out about 1,000 bricks a day, working 10 hours insweltering heat. And what does that get them? Between thetwo of them, they manage to earn 500 rupees, equivalent toabout $7.50, a day. A foreman inspects the bricks theyproduce, and they are not paid for those that are cracked orchipped or otherwise fail to pass inspection.

Father Roy Thomas SVD, who heads Janvikas Society onbehalf of Divine Word Missionaries, brought us to meet littlePuja. Together with about 30 of his co-workers and helpersin Janvikas—many of them social workers or teachers—Fr.Roy dedicates himself to helping the slum dwellers of thecentral Indian city of Indore.

In recent decades, this city of 1.5 million inhabitants hasbecome encircled by hundreds of shantytown slums whereshabbily constructed apartment buildings overlookone-room houses made of mud that in turn are packedcheek to jowl alongside rickety shacks cobbled together fromstray pieces of timber, metal sheeting, cardboard and canvas.Settlements of tent dwellers have sprung up on small riverislands and on plots of unused land.

Indore has become a magnet drawing an unending streamof small subsistence farmers from outlying villages that canno longer eke out a living from their small patches of land.The lucky ones find work in construction. Many earn somemoney by hiring themselves out as day laborers. Some findwork as servants for well-to-do families. Others collect andsort garbage, searching for recyclable material.

When I saw Puja for the first time, she was sitting with otherchildren from 4 to 15 years of age on the floor of a crudelybuilt brick house. Signs and posters hung on the wallsdisplaying the alphabet as well as various kinds of flowersand fruits. This is the bridge school of the Himmat Nagarslum settlement. The “classroom” is actually the living spaceof a family who makes it available for lessons a few hours

The day we visited the bridgethe public sewerage system.



each day. The same kind of cooperation can be found inother slums where Janvikas operates bridge schools.

The day we visited the Himmat Nagar bridge school, the slumarea was finally being connected to the public seweragesystem. To enter the classroom, one had to jump over anopen ditch dug for the sewage flowing through theneighborhood. Each day about 20 boys and girls gather herefor lessons. “The goal of our bridge schools is simply to givethese children some basic knowledge. They learn theirletters, counting, short rhymes and poems, and also a littleEnglish and some basic hygiene and health care,” says Fr.Roy. For two or three hours a day, the girls and boys hereare able to just be children—and learn.

“Intensive and difficult discussions with the parents are firstnecessary,” Fr. Roy adds. “It’s not always clear to them whythey should give up the work and earning power of theirchildren and allow them to attend school. But the people ofthe slums know us already. Parents here have learned totrust us. Our long-term goal, of course, is that each of thesechildren will eventually have the chance to benefit from aprimary school education in a normal school. The bridgeschool is the first step in that direction.”

In the bridge schools, the littlest ones sit in rows up front,cross-legged on the floor, with their small tablets in theirlaps. The bigger children sit toward the back. Puja is amongthem. Many of the children can attend the bridge school onlypart time because their families are utterly dependent on thechildren’s additional earnings. There’s no point talking abouthobbies or fun. These children have no time to play.

The bridge schools were created to help the youngest ofIndore’s slum dwellers. Janvikas also has programs toprovide economic aid to older residents trying to break freeof the cycle of poverty. “Janvikas has really changed my life,”says Avanti, a young woman about 25 years old (she doesnot know her exact age). “I could only get day labor in achocolate packing factory because the company wanted toavoid having to pay the annoying social benefits that wouldbe due me if I had full employment. From one day to the next

school, the slum area was finally being connected to


6

I didn’t know whether I would be able to buydinner for my six children.” Now Avanti is theproud owner of a small grocery store. Sheobtained the capital to buy the store in the formof a microloan from the credit union run byJanvikas. “What’s my biggest wish? To see mychildren in school,” Avanti says.

Mr. Sima can tell a similar story. Thanks to amicroloan from Janvikas seven years ago, he hasbeen running a small beauty shop that offers skinand hair care, makeup and help in thecomplicated process of draping saris for festiveevents. He is even able to share his success withothers. Sixteen-year-old Shamila had searched invain for a job. Now she works as a beautician inMr. Sima’s salon.

“We want to help the slum dwellers achieve aregular income. Owning even a very smallbusiness can make a person feel independent,”explains Fr. Roy.

Janvikas shows recipients of microloans how tokeep books and helps them deal with thenecessary and administrative and bureaucraticmatters. “We help the rubbish collectors bylobbying together with them in their struggle toobtain fair payment.” Fr. Ray says. “If familieshave a regular income, even though it may besmall, they will manage somehow to find a way tosend their children to school. These children havemuch better chances of finding a decent job andto avoid being sucked into undignified workingconditions.”

And Puja? After her lessons in the bridge school,she quickly runs back to the brickyard to help hergrandmother. They still have a long and busyafternoon ahead of them before she can run backhome at dusk to take care of the family’s twogoats, grab something to eat and get a shortnight’s sleep before beginning another busy day.We hope that someday Puja will also be able tosay: “Janvikas really changed my life!”


Use the QR Code above or ... Call toll free: 800-275-0626or you can also visit our website at www.svdmissions.org

changesomeone’s lifeforever!Give anautomaticallyrenewing,monthlysustainercontributionJoin the Matthew 25 Club

Joining Matthew 25 Club means your generousmonthly commitment in support of our missionprograms will automatically renew each year atwhatever gift amount you choose.

Joining Matthew 25 Club means your prayers willjoin with thousands of others around the world ...changing lives around the world.

Your gift will be sent to our missionsoverseas to be used in some of the most

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7Winter 2019 GIVE TODAY @ www.svdmissions.org

Divine Word Missionaries in IndiaDivine Word Missionaries in Indiawork with the rural population and the indigenous, Tribal people. Our commitment to the poor in theslums of large cities is arelatively new development. In 2001 we formed the charitablerelief organization Janvikas inthe slums of Indore and Palda.Since then, the concept has beenimplemented in other cities throughout India.

at�ew 252017 Matthew 25 Partners for Mission will focus on

the history of our first twelve missions. When establishing

those first missions we were blessed with many

successes, but we also faced many challenges. Through

all of the ups and downs, Divine Word Missionaries hold

dear these profound words from our founder, Saint

Arnold Janssen: “His Mission, Our Mission.”

For the next

twelve months follow father, leader,

and founder

Father Arnold Janssen– Saint Arnold Ja

nssen–and see his vision to proclaim Jesus

by word and example around the world.

China

Our very first mission was to China in 1879 Fathers John Bapti t Anzer SVD and Joseph

January 2017

DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES

M

Your special intentions

will be remembered

each month in a

novena of Masses.


8

Our parents taught my siblings and me the value of hard work—not justwork for the sake of it, but perfect work. My father used to say, “If youwant to do it, then do it well. Otherwise, do not do it at all.” Growing up,every one of my siblings and I were given a portion of the coffee bushesto tend. We weeded, fertilized, pruned and harvested our patch. All thesetasks we learned first-hand, watching how our parents did it.

After every harvesting season, which came twice a year, we were paidour proportional cut of the earnings. This money would take care ofeveryday minor expenses such as buying toothpaste. Our parentstaught us how to earn what we spent.

Apart from the coffee business, we learned a number of other helpfulskills such as animal keeping, carpentry, masonry, mechanics—andhow to repair and maintain almost any device.

SIMPLEHELPFULSKILLS

By Lawrence Muthee SVD

When I was a child in Kenya, my family grew coffee. Coffee isperhaps the world’s most preferred hot beverage, but it takes a lotof work to produce every gram of the finished product you enjoy atyour breakfast table. I know of no coffee-harvesting machine. Everyberry must be picked by hand when ripe. This is an exhaustingand time-consuming process.


9Winter 2019 GIVE TODAY @ www.svdmissions.org

This know-how not only helped us to substantiallyreduce our daily bills, but it also instilled in us theworking knowledge of many fields and the ability toinnovate and improvise. With all this expertisestored in my brain, I felt the need to share theseskills with other young people, especially those whodid not have the privilege my siblings and I had.

When I got my first missionary appointment inArusha, Tanzania, two and a half years ago, Icame face to face with the problems of our youngpeople. Most of them never receive a sufficienteducation to secure a white-collar job and theyhave little or no technical skills to work ablue-collar job.

Some sort of training was desperately needed. Iknew I had a lot of work to do to help these youngpeople. Immediately I set out on a journey.

We began with building self-confidence andself-care skills. Then we built teamwork throughgames such as volleyball. We also gathered in

groups to discuss issues affecting the youth today.

Our latest project is candle making, which Ilearned in Soweto, Nairobi, when I joined DivineWord Missionaries. I built a candle-makingmachine that combines the technologies of a carengine and a brick-making machine.

To save on costs, instead of buying new wax werecycle used candles. Today, many of the studentshave learned this trade well enough to makecandles on their own, without any supervision.

My parents taught me life lessons I continue touse and pass on to those I teach each day. As amissionary I have come to realize that the peoplewe serve remember us—and are mostthankful—for what they learn from us rather thanwhat we do for them. My missionary vocation is aplatform to change the lives of people spiritually,but also to teach them skills for a better future. I sometimes go to bed exhausted … but certainlyhappy and fulfilled.


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Divine Word Missionaries in action.

www.svdmissions.orgWhen founded in 1875, Divine Word Missionaries made an impact on the world.Now, our NEW Mission Impact website brings together powerful stories of service to the poor, the touching photos that tell those stories and a new way for you to connect to those in need.

Mission Impact is a global view that invites you to join us in sending amessage of hope to the most disadvantaged corners of the world. Through our NEW Mission Impact website, we will share stories of hopeand photos of missionary life, offer prayer resources—and much more.

www.svdm

ission

s.orgLook for our NEW website


11

Having a Mass said for a special person, for a special intention, or ingrateful thanks, has long been a tradition in the Catholic Church. Divine Word Missionaries are honored to pray with you for your specialintention. Your Mass will be celebrated by our missionaries overseas. Your offering supports our 6,000-plus missionaries and the people they serve.

www.svdmissions.orgonlineMASS

REQUESTSSee how quick and easy it is to

request a Mass online

Winter 2019 GIVE TODAY @ www.svdmissions.org

Your Mass offering helpssupport Divine WordMissionaries in action.For our priests in the far corners of theworld, Mass stipends are often theirsole source of income.

When you submit a Mass Offering, your Mass is celebrated for your special intentions...your gift goes on to directly support a Divine Word Missionary priest inone of the more than 80 countrieswhere we work.We thank you for your support!

Last year over 11,340 Masseswerecelebrated by our missionaries overseas.


12

By Markus Frädrich(Translated by Father David Streit SVD)

Nature Never Forgives

IIn the Amazon Region of Brazil, Divine WordMissionaries fight against environmentalpolluters—and go head to head withpoliticians and company bosses.

His neighbors often shake their heads whenthey see him. “Why are you making so muchunnecessary work for yourself?” they ask. ButJoaquim will not be deterred and continues toswing his machete. Grass blades fly through thescorching heat. Drops of sweat collect on thecampesino’s forehead.

Joaquim’s fazenda (family farm) is only 240acres on the outskirts of the small Braziliantown of Rurópolis. The town is located 4 degreessouth of the Equator and right alongside thedusty Trans-Amazonian Highway, the famousand never-completed road that stretches 4,000miles from west to east across the jungle. Withlaborious swings of his machete, Joaquimsometimes fights for days against the densevegetation just to clear a small patch of groundwhere he will plant corn, perhaps, or beans.

Sure, he could make life easier for himself.Sure, he could start a controlled burn and thensit back and relax while watching the flamesdestroy everything in their path—including all



the trees standing in the way. Here on theAmazon’s great monoculture plantations, almosteveryone does it. For miles and miles, burningjungle is a common sight. “But I don’t want anypart of that,” says the man with the straw hat andwhite beard as he continues lopping off some fernswith his sharp machete. “When you practiceslash-and-burn farming here, you can only expectto plant crops in this soil two or three times in arow. After that the land is simply exhausted, allthe nutrients are gone.”

Unlike most of his neighbors, Joaquim wants topractice sustainable agriculture on his land andbe in harmony with nature. He doesn’t want tocompletely deprive wild animals of their habitat,and he wants to give the land the opportunity torenew itself on its own. The reward for thisphilosophy of life and work is evident in the richgreen shades that catch the eye everywhere: lushbanana plants, mango trees hanging thick withfruit, perfect cacao pods—just like in the picturebooks. And all of this amid the background noisesthat give a good idea of the diverse animal speciesat home here.

Brother Ludwig Kaut SVD waves to his campesinofriend before steering his white pickup onto theroad back to Rurópolis. In the back of his truck,

the 5-foot stalkof bananas thatJoaquim hadjust given himas a farewell giftbounces intothe air withevery pothole.

The nature-loving campesino was among themany friends the Divine Word Missionary Brother,who was born in the eastern part of Belgium, hadmade during his years of pastoral work among thepeople of this rural community. Although Bro.Ludwig has since been transferred to the distantparish of Alenquer, he still comes often to visit hisfriend Joaquim. “The environment is close to theheart of both of us,” he says. “Joaquim is one ofthose people who are very clear about the fact thatwe are not at liberty to do whatever we want withthe environment.”

Bro. Ludwig doggedly continues to oppose everyaffront to nature here in the earth’s “green lung” ofthe Amazon. Of course, with that stance, it wasn’tonly friends that he made in Rurópolis. Hisinitiatives against politicians and company bosseshave earned him the reputation as a first-classagitator and troublemaker.


“In our community there was one logging company that wasstrip-clearing trees illegally,” he remembers. “I criticized thatloudly and in public. After that, the logger’s wife stopped comingto church and some of the men who worked for the loggingcompany also began to avoid me.”

For many people it was downright uncomfortable to have a man ofthe Church get so involved in environmental issues. “And yet, it’spart of our duty as Church to get actively involved in theprotection of the environment,” Bro. Ludwig says. “In the Book ofGenesis, it is written that we are responsible for the world whichGod has given us. The Church stands for life, not death. And sowe have to throw ourselves into the fight against everything thatproduces death.”

In this way, Bro. Ludwig encouraged the small farmers ofRurópolis to take a stand against the enormous ecological sins soevident right outside their front doors; to bring an end to theextermination of animal species; to fight against the “loggingMafia”; and to preserve what remains of the rainforest. Because,as he says, “God always forgives. Man seldom forgives. ButMother Nature never forgives. On the contrary, she takes revenge.And we’re beginning to feel the effects of that revenge.”

And now, a change of scene…

...to the city of Santarém, approximately 120miles away, where the green waters of the RioTabajós merge with the brown waters of theAmazon. The Casa Central del Verbo Divino,the central district house of the Divine WordMissionaries in the Amazon Region, lies rightat the harbor’s edge. River boats, large andsmall, anchor a few meters from the frontdoor. Local merchants sell bread, bananasand maize under brightly colored umbrellas.

“As men of God here in the Amazon, we arecalled upon to commit ourselves to defendingthe rights of the people and to the protectionof creation, which is God’s gift to the whole of

14



humanity,” says Father JoséBoeing SVD, former RegionalSuperior for Divine WordMissionaries in the Amazon.

Fr. José’s white T-shirt withthe logo of the Misioneros delVerbo Divino flutters in thewarm breeze coming off of theriver. He believes that theDivine Word Brothers andpriests working in Amazoniahave a responsibility to berole models. “Especially,” hesays, “when we, asmissionaries, show ourappreciation and respect forthe traditions of theindigenous peoples, who have learned how to live inharmony with nature.”

Fr. José, a 52-year-old Brazilian, motivates hisconfreres of different nationalities to raise their voices“against the various big companies and the nationalgovernment in the capital, Brasilia, who in the name ofa not-very-human ‘progress,’ work hand in handagainst the interests of the inhabitants of the region.”Automatically, his gaze sweeps into the distance, in thedirection of a structure that has loomed over the port ofSantarém since 2001: the soybean loading terminalbelonging to the U.S. agricultural conglomerate Cargill.

Today the facility loads giant ocean-going freighterswith the yield of thousands of acres of soybean fieldsthat Cargill had clear-cut, burned and leveled withbulldozers. After the terminal began operating, theacreage of the fields planted with soybeans soared fromabout 4,500 acres to more than 86,000 acres.Indigenous people lost their ancestral lands, and theenvironment suffered massive damage. All of that forsoybeans, which Europe’s mills turn into pellets to be

used as animal food forchickens, hogs and cattle inEurope’s intensive massanimal farming industry.

Fr. José is fighting Cargill sovigorously he has receiveddeath threats. “They haven’tmanaged to silence me yet,”says Fr. Jose, who is also alawyer. “I know that God is atmy side even in this difficultsituation.”

Fr. José and his helpers werenot able to prevent thebuilding of the soybeanloading terminal, which was

occupied for a while by Greenpeace activists. Instead,he has been working to push through the creation of“protected zones” or reserves for the indigenous peoplesand for the small subsistence farmers, the campesinos.He is particularly proud of a “collective reserve” that hehelped bring into being on the opposite bank of the RioTabajós. The reservation is home to 70 villages spreadout over nearly 1.4 million acres.

Fr. José glances at his watch, then climbs into his car.His next appointment: a protest march. In recentmonths local politicians from Santarém have hadhundreds of acres of rainforest clear cut—practically atthe front door of the little town of Rurópolis—to openup land for the construction of a residentialsubdivision. Seemingly unaware of the bad taste andthe irony, they named the subdivision Cidade Jardimor “Garden City.”

Twenty-one thousand tiny houses have already beenbuilt, and there are plans to expand the settlementeven further. To do so, the developers plan to divert anentire river as well as drain a nearby lake, Lago do Juã.

“God always forgives. Man seldom forgives.

But Mother Nature never forgives. On the contrary, she takes revenge.And we’re beginning to feel the

effects of that revenge.”


16

“We Divine Word Missionaries, together withother church groups and environmentalprotection agencies, want to put an end to thoseplans,” Fr. José says as he arrives at the protestsite. The first demonstrators have already begunto assemble. “Mother Nature is not a MarketableCommodity,” one of their banners proclaims.

One last change of scene…

…to a nearby community garden. Here thingsare noticeably calmer. A woman volunteer watersone of the neatly laid out plots. “Eupatoriumayapana” is printed in green letters on themarker. “These plants belong to the daisyfamily,” she explains. “The leaves are used as aremedy against headaches, colds andsleeplessness.” Father Eduardo Alfonso SosaGarcia SVD is also an expert in the field ofmedicinal plants. “As we go along, everyone getsto know the ropes,” says the missionary fromMexico.

The garden is one of the many such projects thatDivine Word Missionaries have built up in Brazil’sAmazon Region. “Although it’s very important topreach environmental protection and to bringlawsuits against illegal clear-cutting of therainforest and against dams that are beingplanned,” Fr. Eduardo says, “in doing so we can’tforget that we have to pick up the shovels and hoesourselves from time to time.”

Using organic farming techniques, the community’sgardeners are growing plant species native toAmazonia. The community members have to learnto appreciate the value of what nature can providein their own backyards. At the same time, proceedsfrom the sale of the garden’s produce allow them toearn a bit of extra income.

“In our case, we are raising medicinal plants and preparing herbal medicines from them,” Fr. Eduardo says and opens up a cabinet in thestorage building at the edge of the garden. “QebraPedra” is printed on one of the cartons. Thistincture made from the small, wild plant is knownto help against bladder infections. Next to it on theshelf is Copaiba oil, which protects against skinailments, sunburn and rashes.



“The Amazon Basin is home to hundreds of thousandsof different kinds of plants,” Fr. Eduardo says. “Many ofthem are in danger of extinction. With our projects wehope to make a contribution to their preservation.”A commitment to “Life in its fullness!” That’s the credoand the challenge of the Divine Word Missionaries inAmazonia.

The Amazon Basin...

...is the region of Brazil with the country’s lowestpopulation density. Twelve million people live in an areaof more than 2 million square miles. Although theAmazon Basin represents 68 percent of Brazil’s totalterritory, only 6.5 percent of Brazilians live within thezone. Most of Brazil’s approximately 200 indigenousgroups live according to their ancestral cultures andtraditions on or near the banks of the Amazon Riverand its tributaries.

Divine Word Missionaries in Amazonia

The first five Divine Word Missionaries arrived in theAmazon Region on Jan. 26, 1980. They began by takingon the pastoral care of the parishes of Oriximiná andFaro. With almost no roads to be found, they regularlyvisited the people there, traveling by boat or bymotorized canoe. Today, about 35 Divine WordMissionary priests, Brothers and seminarians of 15different nationalities are engaged in the AmazonRegion, dedicating themselves to working for a justsociety and encouraging the people to adopt arespectful relationship to the environment.

STOPHunger $36.24will feed one child for one month

$434.20 will feed one child for one year

to donate call toll free 800-275-0626

will feed a childfor one week.

$8.35

visit our website at:www.svdmissions.org

Support Divine Word Missionariesin our mission to change lives and

give hope for a better future.

YOUR GIFT WILL MAKE ANIMPACT!


18

To the humanization of the world

Archbishop Blume wasexpecting a new assignment,but wasn’t expecting to be sentto Hungary. In a way, though,it will be a return to his roots.As a boy in South Bend,Indiana, he attended Our Ladyof Hungary parish and school.His mother, whose maidenname was Körmendi, camefrom Hungarian ancestry. “Ifyou say the word Körmendi toa Hungarian, you can almosttaste the goulash,” he joked.

Hungary will be Archbishop Blume’s thirdassignment as an apostolic nuncio, which is theVatican’s version of an ambassador. Prior toUganda, he was the apostolic nuncio toTogo-Benin from 2005 to 2013. He wasordained archbishop by Pope Benedict XVIupon his appointment to Togo-Benin.

The future archbishop was ordained a DivineWord priest in 1972 and served as a missionaryin Ghana from 1974 to 1990. After that he wentto Rome to be secretary general to the Society ofthe Divine Word. He followed this byparticipating in the Pontifical Council for thePastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People,including a stint as undersecretary from 2000to 2005.

During his recent home leave, ArchbishopBlume was kind enough to visit us at theMission Center to look back on his time in

An Interview with Archbishop Michael Blume SVDBy Jeffrey Westhoff

A few days before Archbishop Michael Blume SVD dropped by theMission Center in Techny to discuss his work as the apostolicnuncio to Uganda, some surprising news came down. The Vaticanhad just appointed him apostolic nuncio to Hungary.



Africa and look ahead to his time inHungary. He spoke first about hisexperiences in Uganda, where he becamewitness to one of the world’s greatestrefugee crises.

Shortly after his appointment to Ugandain 2013, civil war broke out inneighboring South Sudan, where DivineWord Missionaries had established amission only the year before. “Any timepeople start shooting, people startmoving,” Archbishop Blume said.

As the fighting intensified, bothsides—the government and therebels—began to attack civilians,including unspeakable acts of savagery.Fearing for their lives, more than 2million people have fled South Sudan,with about half of them crossing the border into Uganda to settle inrefugee camps.

“In the last two years, the issue hasbecome more serious to the extent thatthe population of the north of Ugandahas increased by over a million peopleand is still growing,” Archbishop Blumesaid. “I have not seen anything like it. It takes a lot of time for a million peopleto move from one place to another,especially to cross a border.Unfortunately, since the great worldmedia organizations rarely pay prolonged attention to what happens in Africa, South Sudan remains relativelyunknown.”

The six Divine Word Missionaries inSouth Sudan remained in the countryuntil soldiers occupied the missioncompound in Lainya for several days inJuly 2016. “It became unlivable,”Archbishop Blume said. The confreresleft for Kenya at the end of July.

Archbishop Blumewas instrumental inbringing confreresfrom the SouthSudan mission toUganda to look afterthe refugees. Uponhearing of theDivine Word Missionaries’ evacuation, “I talked immediately to the bishop ofArua [a diocese in northern Uganda] tosee if he would welcome the SVDs fromSouth Sudan. … The bishop was veryenthusiastic.”

Archbishop Blume then visited Rome toask the Generalate to send the SouthSudan missionaries to Uganda. TheGeneralate agreed and Father FrancisJoseph Naduviledathu SVD arrived inNovember 2016, followed four monthslater by Brother Vinsentius KnaofmoneSVD. They were joined by FatherLawrence Llona SVD earlier this year.“We’re expecting the rest of the SouthSudanese community,” ArchbishopBlume said. “There will be things forthem to do.”

The missionaries have been busy. “Our confreres, together with three SSpSSisters, are currently visiting people inthe settlements and camps,” ArchbishopBlume said. One of these camps, BidiBidi, is the largest refugee camp in theworld. Covering nearly 100 square miles,its population is approaching 300,000people. “That’s several suburbs ofChicago,” Archbishop Blume said.

Catholic refugees have built makeshiftchapels throughout the camp. Before Fr. Francis first entered Bidi Bidi,Archbishop Blume told him: “‘You willfind your parishioners there,’ and that’swhat happened.” Fr. Francis’ appearance


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lifted the spirits of these refugees. “It’s importantto see a friendly face in an unknown land.”

Aid workers visit the camps, bringing food,personal items and health care to the refugees.The Church also has a role in the care ofrefugees, Archbishop Blume said. “The Church’srole is to be part of the welcome that should begiven to the stranger.”

The Church’s part of that welcome is pastoralcare, which is something Archbishop Blumehelped formulate as a participant in the PontificalCouncil for the Pastoral Care of Migrants andItinerant People:

“What I did on the pontifical council wasprecisely to encourage pastoral care of refugeesand the response of local churches that receiverefugees with an emphasis on the pastoralaspect. When you think of refugees, you think offeeding, housing, clothing—these are allimportant, no doubt about it, but the pastoralaspect is something that is easily forgotten. Yet itis certainly among the most important if peopleare to be treated as human beings and notsimply as objects of compassion.”

Divine Word Missionaries are exemplars ofpastoral care. “The refugees are our brothers andsisters in Christ, more than just mouths to feed.There is a personal attention that we can offerthat is unique,” Archbishop Blume said. “Thepastoral aspect becomes more and moreimportant as the time of the refugees in exileincreases. Tensions increase, frustration too.They have to make decisions and do not want tospend the rest of their lives in improvisedshelters. … There are many spiritual andpsychological wounds of war that need to behealed. Pastoral-missionary presence isindispensable both now and in the future.”

He added that missionaries help the refugees by“sharing their perplexities and bringing it to theLord, because this is something that should not

be settled simply on the basis of sociology and psychology. We need to have real, real prayer there.”

Altogether, Archbishop Blume has spent 29 yearsin Africa. He is bittersweet as he prepares toleave the continent. “It’s a part of my life, animportant part.”

He strongly believes in Africa’s potential. “Africais a region for the future. Its population is on theincrease, the youngest population in the world.Just think, 70 percent of the population is under25 years of age. … Many good things canhappen, and I have seen them happen.”

Archbishop Blume then turned his thoughts tohis new assignment in Europe. “Hungary is acountry with a strong Catholic tradition.However, so much of it, from what I knowanyway, is very secularized.” He also noted thatthe country “has challenges regarding thereception of refugees.”

His approach, at least to begin with, will below-key. “I don’t come there as someone who hasall the solutions. I come there as someone who inthe first place is going to listen.” He plans to talkwith the bishops, with the priests and theparishioners. Hungary is also a country with anactive Divine Word Missionary presence,including a seminary outside the capital city ofBudapest. “I hope to get to know them,” he said.“That will be one of my stopping points.”

As the Vatican’s representative to the Hungariangovernment, Archbishop Blume believes hisexperience will add a dimension different fromprevious apostolic nuncios. “As an SVD, I bringinto my ministry a certain missionary perspectivethat not everybody has,” he said. “To bear acertain witness to the Holy See is not talkingabout esoteric things, but how our dedication toChrist is really the way in which we make acontribution to the humanization of the world,the humanization of society.”


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