Story by Mary Stadnyk | Associate Editor

Father Peter James Alindogan had an eye opening experience when witnessing the true joy people can find when they give from their means and not from their surplus.

Reflecting on his spring mission visit to three East African countries – Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania – he zeroed in on one particular Tanzanian jaunt to Kigoma, a remote, poverty stricken town that’s more than a two-hour plane ride away from Tanzania’s capital, Dar es Salaam, and borders the countries of Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In Kigoma, Father Alindogan said he and his guide and host, Father Jeejo, a Vincentian priest based in East Africa, then proceeded to drive another 100 miles to Uvinza, a destitute village that has a school which also serves as a dormitory for about 200 children. The village acquired electricity only five years ago and the only running water is not potable; it was tapped just last year from a dark and murky river where crocodiles and hippopotamus inhabit.

“It was quite unusual washing and showering with that kind of murky water,” said Father Alindogan, “but water is so precious for the community.” Precious enough, he said, that the people use gallons of water as their kind of offering for the Church. “They bring gallons of water to church so that Father does not need to bother having the gallons delivered or has to spend money on it.”

“When I was told this story, I imagined water containers lined up in the sanctuary along with the [people’s] local produce during the offertory during Mass,” said Father Alindogan, who then elaborated on the strong commitment the people of Africa have to their Catholic faith.

“The people are so supportive of their priests,” he observed. “They travel quite a distance just so they get to Mass. They have formed basic Christian communities as they study the Bible and develop themselves as a worshipping community. Their living conditions do not hinder them from doing their duties and obligations as Catholics.”

Father Alindogan visited the three East African countries through his role as diocesan director of the Pontifical Mission Societies during which he brought the prayers and good wishes of the people from the Trenton Diocese and, also, experienced the faith and culture of the African people.

The Vincentian Congregation of the Marymatha Province, whom Father Alindogan met on a previous mission trip to Kerala, India, served as his hosts. Reflecting on the Vincentian community, Father Alindogan said that one major component of the priests’ ministry is evangelization and spreading the Good News of Jesus through retreats, counseling, spiritual formation and charitable assistance.

Sharing about his time in Nairobi, Kenya, Father Alindogan, who is also pastor of Our Lady of Hope Parish, West Long Branch, had an opportunity to celebrate one Mass in a retreat center that was filled with about 1,000 people.

“The celebration was quite an inspiration,” he said, noting that the Blessed Sacrament was exposed throughout the day and the people sang, chanted, danced and some of them even shrilled.

Father Alindogan celebrated a second Mass in a nearby parish in Nairobi which was also filled with much singing, dancing and praising, including liturgical dancers participating in the processional, offertory and the Sign of Peace. Though the Mass lasted for more than two hours, nobody left the church, not even with the 20-minute announcement after Communion, Father Alindogan said, adding that he preached his homily mostly in English but also shared a few phrases in Swahili which he learned the day before.

“You could feel the Spirit moving through their lives and in their hearts,” he said.  “All of them were one – spirit, mind and body – in the way they showed their love and adoration to our God.”

In Entebbe, Uganda, the second leg of his trip, Father Alindogan, who was accompanied by two other missionary priests, visited orphanages and seminaries. The priests, he said, always begin their day with Mass and offer prayers for their benefactors. After visiting the equatorial site in Uganda, during which he managed to position himself between the North and South midpoints, Father Alindogan and his brother priests visited the Church of the Ugandan Martyrs, a faith experience which served as a reminder of how not even the king can dissuade those who were willing to die for their faith.

“Like the early Christians, they died defending and professing who and what they believe,” he said of St. Charles Lwanga and his companions, whose feast the universal Church commemorated June 3.

Similar to other mission visits that he has made in the past several years, Father Alindogan said he once again felt “risk and danger” in being a missionary priest.

“Not counting the unfamiliarity of the place, the language of the people, our missionaries selflessly expose themselves to danger, physical and mental health and risks to life,” he said, noting that most of the priests he met in Africa had stories of taking ill from malaria, stomach problems and the dengue virus.

When reflecting on what it means to serve in the missions, Father Alindogan believes the true grace of mission is in the sharing of one’s own basic and human needs without abandoning dignity and respect.

“Most of us are always committed to feeding the hungry and giving drink to the thirsty, whenever and however we have the opportunity. But our Christian duty and obligation, our Catholic mission, should be oriented more toward the future, specifically the future of those whom we have helped. By sharing God’s story, we share his mission. By sharing his mission, we proclaim the Good News, we become part of God’s story.”