This week, we had the pleasure of hosting Fr. Denis Treacy,
a Mill Hill Missionary and cousin of Mary Myers from the Pastoral Center. Fr. Denis has been a missionary priest for
over forty years, thirty seven of them in Kisii, Kenya. When he first arrived in Kisii, there were no
local clergy; he served with fellow missionary priests. Fr. Denis told me he considers it one of the
greatest successes of his mission that when he left, the opposite was true –
most of the clergy were Kenyan.
Through his work, and the work of many others, the Catholic
faith had taken root in Kisii and many men had answered God’s call to the
priesthood. They were able to do so with
the help of The Society of St. Peter Apostle, one of our Church’s four
Pontifical Mission Societies and a “brother” Society to the Propagation of the
Faith.
Every year, in mission seminaries worldwide, The Society of
St. Peter Apostle grants $700 scholarships to men studying for the
priesthood. The remainder of their fees
is covered by their home dioceses, many of whom struggle to meet their part. Those dioceses are also faced with a “problem”
we would love to have here in Boston: an abundance of vocations. Unfortunately, due to a lack of funding, some
young men are asked to delay their seminary training or are turned away
altogether.
Fr. Dennis Treacy, mhm and Maureen at the PMS Boston office |
As Fr. Treacy and I discussed his time in Kenya as well as
his work for Missio, the British
version of the Pontifical Mission Societies, he showed interest in our various
mission education materials produced by our office for schools and parishes. As I showed him our Cardinal Cushing Club
donor calendar, he spotted a photo on my desk.
In it, I am greeting two visiting mission priests who were in Boston for
our World Mission Sunday celebration last October. “I know this man!” Father exclaimed. “I helped him through his seminary training in
Kenya!”
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Fr. Peter, AJ, Maureen and Fr. Richard, AJ |
Fr. Richard O'Nyamwaro, AJ, now stationed as an Apostles of Jesus missionary priest in the Diocese of Allentown, PA, had been able to say a
resounding “YES!” to God’s call to the priesthood because a missionary had been
in place in Kenya to lead the O’Nyamwaro family to the Catholic faith. Fr. Richard has become our good friend and
collaborator through mission appeals done here in Boston to support his own mission
work.
This summer, please consider making a gift to the Society of
St. Peter Apostle for the education of seminarians in the missions so that more
“small (mission) world” stories can be told.
-Maureen Crowley Heil