This weekend, we welcome Fr. Maurice Agbaw-Ebai to St. Mary’s for the Annual Mission Appeal.  Fr. Maurice is a full-time professor of Philosophy & Theology at St. John’s Seminary.  He has been instrumental in the establishment of a new institute of education in Africa based on the spiritual and intellectual tradition of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.   The Benedict XVI Institute for Africa will be instrumental in forming generations of priests for missionary and global activities within the Church.  The Second Collection today will help assist in those endeavors.

Dear friends . . . I consider it important to stress that your continent has been blessed by our Lord Jesus himself. At the dawn of His earthly life, sad circumstances led him to set foot on African soil. God chose your continent to become the dwelling-place of his Son. In Jesus, God drew near to all men and women, of course, but also, in a particular way, to the men and women of Africa. . . In Jesus, some two thousand years ago, God Himself brought salt and light to Africa.”        ~ Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

Faithfully Yours In Christ,
Fr. Wayne