Inside this issue:
The Vincentian Mission In Kenya
Leadville, Colorado ...Revisited!
African Novices Find A Home In St. Louis
Also visit:
From the Provincial
Christmas Giving
Dear Friends,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
I visited my family over Thanksgiving and spent some great time playing with my nephew who turns three later this month. Presuming for some reason that I have an "in" with Santa Claus, he cornered me to help him write out his gift list of what he wants St. Nick to bring him. (At the top of the list was a chain saw . . . but that's another story!)
Working on my nephew's gift list led me to reflect on what I would like for Christmas. Of course, along with everyone, I wish for peace and justice among peoples everywhere. I wish that the world's food supply would be more evenly distributed. I wish that children everywhere would have loving intact families. I wish that no one would be without the resources they need and have a right to have in order to live in accord with their God-given dignity. You know the list. I am sure you share it with me. It goes on and on.
And then there are the lists a little closer to home. In my case, I think about the Midwest Province and what I wish for us. Surely topping the list would be more vocations to the Congregation. That would help us do the second request on my wish list, namely, to ever more effectively follow Jesus Christ evangelizing the poor through our many apostolic works and outreaches in the Province. Of course, I would like the priests and brothers of the Province daily to be growing in the bonds of common life, and I would hope that each day brings us closer into unity not only with each other but with Jesus Christ the source of that unity.
Lest this sound too pious, I would also like more money — not as an end in itself but so that we could undertake some major projects which will help set the direction of our future for years to come. Let me mention three.
We are building a novitiate in Nairobi, Kenya (see story on page one). Having served in Kenya for many years, we realized a few years ago that there were many East Africans interested in our charism as Vincentians and wanting to dedicate their whole lives to the same. In other words, there are potential East African Vincentians. So, we opened a seminary to prepare men to join the Congregation and serve as Vincentian priests and brothers. It has been a breath-taking success story. Each year, dozens and dozens of men petition to join us and through a very thorough screening process, we whittle that number down to seven to ten candidates whom we invite to begin formation with us. After a few years with us, if all the signs are still positive, they are invited to enter the novitiate in anticipation of making vows with us. This past summer, four such Kenyans professed their permanent vows in the Congregation; over the next year or so, they will be ordained deacons and then priests — the first such Kenyan Vincentian priests!
This year, another six men are making novitiate here in St. Louis (since we do not have a novitiate building in Nairobi). All in all, there are some 25 East Africans in formation for the Midwest Province. Since this blessed trend promises to continue for quite some time, we have purchased land in Nairobi and started laying the foundation for a novitiate. We are depending on God's mercy and our benefactors' generosity to help us pay for the project.
A second project focuses on our motherhouse in Perryville, Missouri. Even as we are beginning an East African foundation in Nairobi, so our American foundation began at St. Mary's of the Barrens in Perryville some 185 years ago. It is the place of our birth as a Province; it is our roots and our foundation; it is our history and heritage. There is still a strong community of Vincentians at the Barrens, but that community needs and deserves a new residence, one which can appropriately provide for confreres ranging from those very much active in the apostolates to those who are seniors, those fully retired, and those needing nursing care.
Of course, the campus at St. Mary's is more than a residence for Vincentians. It also is a spiritual shrine and place of pilgrimage for many, and that too needs to be respected and accommodated in plans for the Barrens. Once again, we are depending on God's mercy and our benefactors' generosity.
A third project is in the West — Colorado Springs. We are actively exploring whether to establish a relatively large house of Vincentians in the Springs in order to serve as a kind of center for all kinds of apostolic works by confreres throughout that part of the Province. Such a center would also serve, of course, as a place for nourishing and nurturing common life and prayer for the Vincentians assigned to the western region of the Province. While the focus of our presence would not be a building, we do have bodies(!) and eventually would need a residence which could support common life, prayer, and the apostolate. This hopeful project too looks to God's mercy and our benefactors' generosity. So, you can see that my Christmas wish list has some very specific goals in mind. We are moving full steam ahead on some projects and still discerning other projects. At the least, your prayers of support are needed and welcome.
Some of the spiritual writers of the early Church spoke of Christmas as the miracle of an exchange of gifts: in Jesus Christ we offer God our human nature and God offers us a share in his divine nature. I think it is obvious who is getting the better deal! Such is the boundless mercy of our God.
I have spent this Christmas letter focused on what I would like to receive as gifts, aware that such is only half of the "Christmas equation of exchange." Baptism and vows call me to give. As the New Testament reminds us, "The gift you have received give as a gift." I and the Midwest Province have received and continue to receive so much each day, beginning with God's grace and love and continuing through the many expressions of support and solidarity and collaboration from all of you. I thank you for all you do for the Church and Congregation, and especially during this holy season I renew to you my promise of daily prayers. In the words of Saint Vincent, "I beg our Lord that in all things He may be your all."
Blessings,
James Swift, C.M.
Vincentian is published bimonthly by the Midwest and Southern Provinces of the Congregation of the Mission, the Vincentian Priests and Brothers, to promote the apostolic works of its members and those of the larger Vincentian Family.
Congregation of the Mission, Vincentian
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