Latest News

Dear Friends, At 4:00 p.m. this Monday afternoon the 9th of March, the sun is blazing hot and it is 93’ in my office. I want to do some outdoor work but with the unusual heat I will wait a bit. It is hard to believe that just a week ago yesterday I had Sunday Mass in Gasuma Center and drove most of the way there using 4 wheel drive to get through the mud. It has not rained since and the extreme heat is taking its toll on my garden even though we water it twice a day. The palm

Dear Friends, After having had many weeks of continuous rains it is hard to believe that for 6 weeks or so a very hot, dry spell continues to turn fields brown, including rice fields that once looked like little ponds. As I am writing, some clouds have moved in and the 88 degree temperature in the office seems more tolerable. We continue to pray for rain daily but I have been disappointed that the number of people at daily Mass has not increased. Seems that the worse the dr

Dear Friends, So many things have happened since I wrote to you before Easter that I can’t remember them all. They are already history! I will simply mention two things that have and will take much of my time for the rest of my life. I have many concerns that occupy my thoughts and work every day, however the two that get and need a lot of thought, prayer and time are the Diocesan Shrine of Divine Mercy here at St. Peter Parish and the major development project, the Songamb

Dear Friends, It has been awhile since I finally got enough gumption to sit myself down in front of my computer for any length of time. No inspirations showed up until this great day came along, April Fools’ Day 2011, or as we say here in Kisukuma,“lushiku lwa bajinga”. As far as I know, no one has “April Fooled” me. Nor do I have any plans to do such a thing. Perhaps there are just too many serious things going on to be fooling around. Just now I came back from church wh

Dear Friends, I expect that my news notes will be shorter than the last one because it is 90′ F here in my office as well as in my room. The windows are open but there is no breeze. We don’t mind the heat as much as the lack of rain. Some corn crops are already ruined or damaged. The soil here is not that fertile that it can hold moisture for a long time nor is corn planted so thick that the sun cannot reach the soil. I have a big garden and lots of flowers so it take a

Dear Friends, Today is Sunday, 09 Jan., the feast day of the Baptism of our Lord. As the Holy Season of Christmas comes to an end, we take down our simple Christmas crib and begin the ordinary season in the church liturgy. I doubt that 2011 will be an ordinary/simple year as we have a lot of work ahead of us. By the time you get this we may know the results of the referendum in Sudan that may bring us a new country in Africa. Our prayers are that whatever the results there

Dear Friends, It was 90F or so today. Hopefully, it will cool down some as we just got 1/4“ of rain and it looks like there is more to come. We pray for rain every day, but we did so with special emphasis yesterday and today on being truly sorry for our sins before we dare to ask God for his blessings. I had hoped to get some seeds planted today but it was so hot and dry that I decided to wait. Maybe I will manage later on. It is 5:20 p.m. right now. I just stopped for a

Dear Friends, This will probably be my last news notes before I fly out of Chicago on Thursday 14 Oct. My original plans were to fly out on 29 Sept. and be home by now. However, God had different plans and I’m trying to adapt to them. I wrote earlier that I went to Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. I traveled with Wally Orzechowski who is the executive director of the Community Action Program in Southwestern Wisconsin. We talked with 15 students in the Depa