Next Week We Welcome Fr. JT Osunkwo, Visiting Missionary

08-27-2023Pastoral ReflectionsRev. Jude Thaddeus Osunkwo (JT)

I am Fr. Jude Thaddeus (JT) Osunkwo, a missionary priest with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston since 2010. I am visiting St. Mary’s Parish this weekend to speak at all Masses about the work of the Church in my home Diocese of Orlu in Nigeria.

Diocese of Orlu is quite a young Diocese of 43 years having been created on Nov. 29, 1980. Most of the parishes are in rural communities. The Diocese is blessed with a committed clergy and an enthusiastic laity. Being a young and rural diocese, it is faced with many challenges as would be expected. In addition to her main task of evangelization, the Diocese struggles with providing social amenities (education, health, clean water, etc.) to the predominantly poor rural communities. In Nigeria, government presence is scarce in the countryside. This puts the local church in the position to become "all things to all men and women."

Special Appeal: One of the challenges currently requiring attention is the building of the “Domus Clero”(Home for Priests) which the Diocese is currently undertaking that will house our sick, retired, senior and aging priests, who will be better looked after in the home. This project has already taken off but needs more funding to complete and equip it with required facilities. My visit pray with you, share in your zeal for Christ and his church in your parish, and appeal for your generous donations towards the completion of this project.

Kindly support my Diocese of Orlu in Nigeria with your prayers and by donating generously to the Domus Clero (Home for Priests) project. Whatever each of you can give will be well appreciated by your brothers and sisters of the Diocese of Orlu in Nigeria. We are grateful to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and the St, Mary’s Parish in Franklin for the opportunity to hold this special mission appeal.

Kindly address any checks to your Parish, with a notation: “Mission Appeal: Orlu Diocese”. Your Parish will send in all the monies to the RCAB Office for the Propagation of the Faith. This Office will make a check out to the Catholic Diocese of Orlu in Nigeria. For your prayers and generous support to this appeal, I am prayerfully grateful.

In Christ,

Rev. Jude Thaddeus Osunkwo (JT), For Orlu Diocese, Nigeria