Parish Ministry Website

Description of Ministries:

St. Benedict and St. Lawrence of Brindisi Parish in Limilunga have been companion parishes since the spring of 2002. Since St. Benedict Parish was staffed by Oblates of Mary Immaculate, at the time, the decision was made to partner with another OMI parish in another part of the world.

We share our faith, cultures, works and needs to grow in love with our brothers and sisters through our everyday faith walk. We listen to the needs of St. Lawrence parishioners and discern how we, as a parish, can best share our faith with them. The St. Lawrence parishioners discern how they can share their faith journey with us.

Description of fundraising efforts (if any):

2002 - Original commitment was made to send $1000 per year to St. Lawrence in financial assistance.

2003 - St. Benedict School conducted a book drive for the children of St. Lawrence

2004 - Solicited donations of baby clothes, diapers, medicines and blankets, which were delivered in person by 2 parishioners.

2005 - Sent $2,500 in the occasion of Fr. Steve's 25th anniversary or his ordination.

2006 - Raised $50,000 through the Annual Catholic Appeal rebate and $5,000 at our Centennial Tea Party to build a Parish Hall at St. Lawrence.

2007 - A parish family on the passing of their mother, Veronica, donated $3,000 for furnishings for new parish hall. We also added scholarships for St. Lawrence parishioners to our Christmas giving tree and collected over $1000. This will be an annual addition.

2008 - We will solicit contributions for St. Lawrence at our annual Parish Tea Party. A 20 minute video is being prepared to be shown at the tea, which will give an overview of St. Lawrence and Limulunga, showcasing their needs in addition to the many ways that they are benefiting our parishioners as our sister parish. We will follow the presentation with an "ask" for donations as well as have envelopes for the guests to take with them and send back at a later date.

We are considering an additional stand-alone fundraiser.

Collaboration with individuals or groups outside of the parish/community:

Corporate assistance in shipping books to Zambia and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

December 2007 Father Freeborn and Brother Barnabas - visit to St. Benedict Parish from San Antonio. These are Zambian young men who are currently living and studying in San Antonio. Fr. Freeborn is finishing his masters work there and will return to Zambia next year, planning to work at Radio Liseli in Mongu, which is near Limulunga. Brother Barnabas takes his vows in May and will return to Zambia. He will be assigned to a church in Lusaka. Our parish members and Fr. Steve hosted them for about 10 days. They attended all of our Christmas services as well as toured the city and were hosted to meals and home visits. They are very lovely gentlemen and we will continue our relationship with them.

Describe visits (if any) between your parish/community and your African Partners:

Our visits from 2004-2007 were reported in detail last year.

To recap: July 2004 - 2 parishioners spent 2 weeks in Zambia experiencing the celebration of St. Benedict's feast day and St. Lawrence of Brindisi feast day.

September 2005 - Fr. Celestino Chishimba and 2 parishioners from St. Lawrence came to Seattle (expenses paid for Fr. Celestino by the Oblates and the 2 parishioners were hosted fully by St. Benedict as part of our centennial celebration).

July 2007 - Fr. Steve led a delegation of 9 adults and 2 teen parishioners to Zambia for the primary purpose of attending the dedication of the new St. Benedict Parish Hall. They paid their own way and held several planning meetings. The itinerary for the visit was created by St. Lawrence parishioners and Fr. Valentine, their new pastor. The group departed after a great send off after mass and our annual parish picnic in July. They arrived in Lusaka and were met by a delegation of OMI priests who hosted them for a brief visit at their center before leaving on a 9-hour drive to the Western Province and St. Lawrence. The parish lies on a large parcel of land in conjunction with a retreat center, managed by the Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate. They stayed at the retreat center and had daily meals there and went on tours of the area with the priests of St. Lawrence: Fr. Valentine Kalumba and Fr. Peter, assisted by Brother Wanke.

The group were extremely moved by their experiences and primarily noted the many ways that the parishioners of St. Lawrence taught them about deepening their faith though connections with others. Their hosts were generous with their time, talents and treasure (each member of the delegation continually received beautiful gifts and handicrafts (even some money) in offerings at the many masses they attended. But it was in the personal greetings that they received by all of the parishioners, old and young (including the children) that the group felt most welcomed and moved to spirituality. In addition, they found the masses, with participation by all ages in both prayer, songs and dance to be extremely inspirational.

One of the group members is a skilled videographer who recorded hours or video to create DVDs of various experiences.

The main event of the St. Benedict feast day mass and St. Benedict Hall dedication was an incredible experience for all. Several hundred parishioners came and there was a beautiful mass, dancing, music and presentations by young and old to thank St. Benedict parish and the group. Some of the group also stayed longer and were invited to the mass celebration of the feast of St. Lawrence of Brindisi, which was also an incredible spiritual experience.

The group brought a large supply of goods (school supplies, clothing, medicines, soccer balls and cloth) for the parish members and for the sister's orphan school. The school is on the retreat center grounds and provides early education and a daily meal for the many orphans who lose parents to aids or mothers to death in childbirth. These orphans are generally taken in by surviving family members but as they are often poor as well and the school provides much needed support for these children.

Daily the group was escorted to outstations or to visit other important sights. There is little transportation available so the priests head out to the outstations to serve mass and other sacraments. There are 18 outstations which might be an actual small church building but are mostly just an open air area next to thatched huts where a meal might be prepared and served for the priest and visitors after the services and sacraments are conducted. (For example reconciliation may be done at the base of a tree a few hundred yards away from the main group.)

The group visited the Mongu Development Center, which exists to help with rice farming and processing. This is run by the Archdiocese of Mongu. There is a lot of potential to tap into this resource.

They were hosted to a visit with a minister of the Chief (King) of the Western Province and were obviously valued guests of the entire area even outside of the parish.

Part of the group visited local crafts workers as well as the public Limulunga Basic School. They were amazed at the huge number of children attending school in 3 shifts due to the capacity of the school. They were also saddened at the lack of amenities, books and supplies that the teachers have to help educate the children.

They group all visited Radio Liseli, the Catholic radio station. Fr. Steve held a mass service which was aired to over 450,000 listeners throughout the area. This is a fantastic resource and the station airs music, farming information, weather reports, educational programs, social commentary and spiritual programs. There were many other wonderful experiences including a visit to Victoria Falls. The country is beautiful and the people are friendly and welcoming. The group returned completely motivated to deepen the relationship and have formed the Friends of Limulunga. This is now our sub-committee which will be responsible for setting structure and creating a long term plan for the sister parish relationship.

They were also moved by the dedication of the sisters to their ministries and support of young mothers and children in particular. They would like to formalize some sort of assistance for them as well, keeping St. Lawrence as their primary focus.

How is your ministry organized and run:

The parish Human Concerns and Social Justice Commission supervises this ministry in conjunction with Fr. Steve and the Pastoral Council. A sub-committee called the Friends of Limulunga has been recently formed which is 100% dedicated to this ministry and reports to the Human Concerns and Social Justice Commission. This is a new committee and they are working out their bylaws and structure as well as working on projects and fundraising ideas.

Describe Youth Involvement (if any):

The youth at St. Benedict school have been very supportive of the St. Lawrence connection. They raised money at their annual jog-a-thon for the school supplies that were taken to Zambia in 2007 and work hard for whatever specific project is being conducted.

Two teenagers visited St. Lawrence along with the adults in July, 2007. They sent letters to selected St. Lawrence teen parishioners in advance of the visit and met the kids over there. They played volleyball and visited and enjoyed their exchanges. However there is not a youth committee member or anyone from the school onboard officially.

Describe areas of expertise that exist in your mission work:

Video filmmaking, project management, legal, marketing, handicrafts and arts involvement.

What other information would be helpful for others or your community to know/learn from:

Economical means for transportation of items to Africa, effective fund raising ideas, destination specific cultural assistance to learn the best ways to help others become self sufficient, agricultural and best farming practices, economic assistance and micro-financing information. How to tap into programs that are already succeeding.

What would you like to see or experience at future conferences:

What is working for others? Best practices. How to best make sure that our African partners know that they are valued and that we are looking for a 2-way relationship. Ways to continue exchanges that are cost-effective. We know that in-person exchanges are expensive but we feel that they are extremely important.