Is your parish or diocese experiencing a dire shortage of priests at the moment? If it is then I may have a solution to your problem.

I beg everyone’s indulgence as I have taken the liberty to re-post an earlier discussion of the shortage of priests in North America as a new topic. I have done this in order to help those Dioceses, who are experiencing an urgent shortage of priests. They can more easily identify this thread by its title than the former discussion we had under an erroneous title. They can more easily contact me here, about the possibility of priests coming from overseas to help in their dioceses.

May I introduce the religious Congregation of the Sons of Mary Mother of Mercy. The mother house is located in Nigeria, West Africa. Father Godwin Iheke is the representative for the S.M.M.M. Congregation here in North America. He is presently working as a parish priest in the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall, Cornwall, Ontario.

The Congregation is a Religious Order for priests and lay brothers. The Congregation is aware of the shortage of ordained priests in certain parts of the world. The order was formed in 1970 by the late Bishop Anthony Gogo Nwedo, C.S.SP. for the purpose of serving missions around the world. The charism of the Congregation is to bear witness to the mercy of God expressed in compassion, forgiveness and kindness, following in the footsteps of Christ, our Merciful Saviour and Mary, our Mother of Mercy. Presently there are 45 priests working around the world in various countries (ie. Canada, United States, Peru, Italy, Germany, Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, etc.). I am proud to advise two more priests arrived in a Diocese here in the Province of Ontario yesterday. At present, there are 13 deacons who will be ordained into the priesthood July, 2001. There are 103 major seminarians at different levels of formation and 9 lay brothers within the Congregation.

It is our intention of contact every diocese in North America in the coming months to make them aware of this Congregation and to ascertain if they might be interested in pursuing this matter further. Should your parish or diocese have a need for priests, the Congregation of the Sons of Mary, Mother of Mercy would be very much interested in hearing from you and your particular Diocese can then be moved up in order of priority for contacting your Bishop/Archbishop.

I am assisting Father Iheke in his endeavours and anyone interested may feel free to contact me by e-mail at the address listed below.

St. James and Mary, Our Blessed Mother, pray for all new religious vocations and as always, pray for us!

Ed

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), April 12, 2001

Answers

I am praying that those North American bishops who lack sufficient priests will NOT turn you down, Ed, either because of a misplaced pride or a fear of the orthodoxy of the good S.M.M.M. priests.
JFG

-- (jgecik@desc.dla.mil), April 13, 2001.

In our introductory letter, we give the name and address of my Canadian Bishop who has used the SMMM in the past and is pleased with the results. I won’t lie to you and tell you that every priest who comes from Nigeria fits in and adjusts well to this new world. A small number of these Nigerian priests cannot adapt to our modern world as our Bishop will attest; but usually within 3-6mos. the majority have adjusted quite well. They fill a dire need in dioceses where vocations are becoming extinct.

Each priest has at minimum, a degree in theology and philosophy. These priests, duly ordained by a Catholic Bishop, are well-trained and we have never received a complaint in this area. They tend to be conservative, prayerful and dedicated to service . They are very pious when celebrating liturgies. They are humble, they are not overly concerned with a desire for the goods of this world. I won’t say problems don’t arise, particularly in cultural areas, as they would in any profession where individuals are transported half-way around the world to take up work in an alien society. Overall, they perform a needed service while demanding very little in return.

Let us pray for all priests and for new vocations to the priesthood. Have a blessed Easter everyone,

Ed

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), April 14, 2001.

l need your reply so urgently

-- oha francis n.m (ndumichael2000@yahoo.com), January 28, 2002.

Oha, I will respond to you in private email! God bless!

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), January 29, 2002.