Fr. PAWEL MAZUREK M. Afr.
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Photos de son ordination Sacerdotale et Première Messe
Photos of Priestly Ordination and 1st Mass
le 27 juin 2009 à 9h30 dans sa paroisse d'origine de DABROWICA en Pologne

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Thanksgiving mass
28th June 2009

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Priestly Ordination of Pawel MAZUREK
(27th June 2009)

Texte en français ci-dessous
+ Homily of Fr. Paul Hannon M.Afr. (In English)

In the days preceding the 27th June 2009, many roads led to Lublin to join Pawel MAZUREK, his family, friends and the confreres working in Poland to celebrate his priestly ordination. In the community, we met Jacek WROBLEWSKI, Delegate Superior, Adam CYTRYNOWSKI, Herman CORNELISSEN and Otto KATTO, just arriving to begin his mission there. Only Antoni MARKOWSKI was absent, on account of the wedding of a family member planned a year ago. Confreres who came from outside included Detlef BARTSCH, Provincial of Europe, Joe MCMENAMIN, Paul HANNON and Richard BAAWOBR. The confreres and the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa managed to find place for us; the parents of Polish confreres also came to grace the occasion. This reunion, they told me, would replace their annual family get-together.

The ordination took place on the 27th June 2009 in Dabrowica, Pawel's home parish. He is the first priest from the parish to be ordained in their church. Although there are many Religious communities on the parish territory (12, I was told), there have been no Religious vocations from there. In fact, most communities are there because they send their members to study in the nearby Catholic University. The parish really took over the organisation of the ordination and made us all feel welcome. The small church was packed while Auxiliary Bishop Mieczyslaw Cislo, former Rector of the Seminary our candidates attend and where Pawel also studied, officiated at the ordination. When I thanked him for ordaining Pawel, I presented him with a wooden carving of Our Lady of Africa from Tanzania on behalf of the confreres who wished to offer it to him in appreciation. He was very grateful and said it would find a place in his office, since he already had two ebony candlesticks that had been offered some years ago by Jacek.

The Bishop is said to be very fond of us and gives us a free hand to operate in the Archdiocese. He reminded our confreres that we came a bit late on the Polish scene. If we had been there earlier, according to him, we would have had more vocations. That, however, does not discourage our confreres and MSOLA to continue casting their nets wherever they can.
Pawel, in a very moving speech that brought many in the Church to tears, himself included, thanked his parents for having accepted the sacrifice of letting him go when he felt the call to be a Missionary of Africa. He asked them to continue to support him in his missionary calling.

The Ordination Mass was followed by a meal offered by the parish for the priests and Religious, while Pawel's parents took the remaining guests to their home. We joined them there afterwards for a coffee and light-hearted laughter. In the evening, the parents of the Polish MAfr and the MSOLA gathered in our community for Vespers before the barbecue and sing-song that the rain tried unsuccessfully to disrupt.

As we parted company at the end of the Ordination Day, Pawel assured me that he had sufficiently rehearsed Mass in Polish and was confident about officiating the following day in his home parish, where he had been ordained. Paul HANNON, who came from Sudan via England, was just as ready for the homily that would encourage Pawel and many faithful. Lumimba, in the Lwangwa valley, Chipata Diocese, Zambia, is waiting for Pawel once he has rested and bade farewell to his warm and welcoming parents, friends and relatives.

Richard Baawobr,
1st Assistant General

Ordination Sacerdotale de Pawel MAZUREK
27 Juin 2009

Quelques jours avant la date du 27 juin 2009, plusieurs routes menaient à Lubin pour rejoindre Pawel Mazurek, sa famille, ses amis et confrères travaillant en Pologne pour célébrer son Ordination sacerdotale. Sur place dans la communauté nous avons rencontré Jacek Wroblewski (Supérieur Délégué), Adam Cytrynowski, Herman Cornelissen ainsi que Otto Katto qui venait d'y arriver pour prendre possession de son nouveau poste. Seul Antoni Markowski manquait à l'appel : il assistait au mariage d'un membre de sa famille, programmé une année plus tôt.

Parmi les confrères venus d'ailleurs il y avait Detlef Bartsch (Provincial d'Europe), Joe McMenamin, Paul Hannon et Richard Baawobr. Nos confrères ainsi que les Sœurs Missionnaires de Notre-Dame d'Afrique ont réussi à nous héberger tous, et les parents des confrères polonais avaient, quant à eux, fait le déplacement pour réhausser de leur présence la cérémonie. Ces retrouvailles, m'ont-ils confié, allaient remplacer la traditionnelle rencontre annuelle des familles des confrères Missionnaires d'Afrique.

C'est donc le 27 juin 2009 qu'a eu lieu l'Ordina tion sacerdotale de Pawel dans sa paroisse d'origine à Dabrowica. Nous apprendrons plus tard qu'il est le premier prêtre du lieu à être ordonné dans cette église paroissiale. Bien qu'on dénombre une bonne douzaine de communautés religieuses réparties sur la paroisse, il n'y a, en revanche, jamais eu de vocations à la vie religieuse provenant de ce coin.

En effet, si certaines congrégations se retrouvent aujourd'hui à Dabrowica, c'est surtout à cause de la proximité de l'Université Catholique où leurs membres sont envoyés aux études. La paroisse de Pawel s'est entièrement chargée de l'organisation de son Ordination et nous a fait sentir chez nous. Célébrée dans la petite église remplie de fidèles, la cérémonie d'Ordination était présidée par Mgr Mieczyslaw Cislo, évêque auxiliare et ancien Recteur du séminaire que fréquentent encore nos candidats et où Pawel lui-même avait étudié. Après avoir adressé un mot de remerciement à l'évêque, je lui offris en même temps un petit cadeau : une sculpture en bois d'origine tanzanienne représentant Notre-Dame d'Afrique. Il l'accepta avec gratitude en me rassurant qu'il la placerait sur son bureau entre les deux chandeliers en bois d'ébène que notre confrère Jacek lui avait offert il y a longtemps.

Il semble que Mgr Mieczyslaw Cislo aime beaucoup les Missionnaires d'Afrique, et qu'il nous a toujours laissé le champ libre pour travailler dans son Archidiocèse. Il a tenu à nous rappeler que nous nous sommes lancés un peu tard sur le terrain polonais ; d'après lui, si nous étions venus quelques années plus tôt, nous aurions vraisemblablement suscité plus de vocations. Cependant, cela ne devrait pas décourager nos confrères et les SMNDA dans leurs efforts de continuer à jeter les filets en eau profonde !

Dans un discours très émouvant qui a fait jaillir les larmes de plusieurs fidèles dans l'assemblée -y compris les siennes- Paul en a profité pour remercier ses parents d'avoir accepté, un peu comme un sacrifice, de le laisser partir quand il a senti qu'il avait reçu l'appel de devenir missionnaire d'Afrique. Par la même occasion, il les a exhortés à le soutenir encore davantage dans sa vocation missionnaire.

La Messe d'Ordination terminée, tous les prêtres, religieuses et religieux étaient conviés au repas festif offert par la paroisse pendant que les parents de Pawel s'occupaient des autres invités chez eux à la maison. Nous les avons rejoints quelques heures plus tard pour un café dans une atmosphère de détente. Le soir venu, nous nous sommes retrouvés dans notre communauté avec les parents des confrères polonais ainsi que les SMNDA pour les vêpres, avant de partager dans le jardin un barbecue bien que la pluie tentait en vain, de l' interrompre .

Au moment de nous quitter, Pawel me rassura qu'il avait suffisamment répété la messe en Polonais et que, par conséquent, il était confiant et prêt pour présider sa première messe le lendemain dans sa paroisse d'origine, à Dabrowica. Quant à Paul Hannon, venu du Soudan pour la circonstance en passant par l'Angleterre, il m'a soufflé que son homélie était fin prête pour encourager, une fois de plus, Pawel et ses co-paroissiens.

Lorsque Pawel se sera reposé suffisamment et dit au revoir à ses parents, amis et connaissances, tous très sympathiques et hospitaliers, Pawel sait que quelque part en Zambie dans la vallée de Lwangwa, diocèse de Chipata, sa paroisse de Lumimba l'attend impatiemment…

Richard Baawobr
1er Assistant Général

Traduction en français Georges Kambembo

Homily of Fr. Paul Hannon

HOMILY: THANKS GIVING MASS OF PAWEL MAZUREK: June 28th 2009

`When Jesus had crossed over in the boat to the other side ...' We read these words a number of times in the Gospel accounts of Jesus' work and ministry. Jesus sets out from one shore to reach another - and there, on that other shore, great things happen, miracles occur. He heals a sick woman and he restores a young girl to life. While on his way to raise Jairus' daughter to life, a woman tormented for years by a haemorrhage seizes her chance - she knows Jesus can heal her and she gets close to him and touches him - and she is cured. Her faith wins her healing and salvation. T he faith of Jairus w ill w in him h is heart's desire - his daughter will be cured and restored to life.

But before Jesus performs these two great miracles he pauses on the shore, he stops - confronted by that huge crowd of people among whom are Jairus, the synagogue official, and the woman suffering from the haemorrhage. He stops - `he stays by the lakeside,' Mark tells us. He takes time to look at and to listen to the crowd, to be with them for a moment, to see their needs ... and two of the crowd, a nameless woman who had been sick for years and a frantic father whose child was dying, come to him and touch him. The woman touches his cloak... and Jairus touches his heart. He took pity on both - He who is the Lord of life, `the God who takes no pleasure in the extinction of the living.' He cured the one instantly - on the road - and he raised to life again the other, the little girl who had died in the house of Jairus. In both cases, Jesus mentions that faith which is necessary for healing. To the woman he says, `Your faith has restored you to health,' and to Jairus, `Do not be afraid. Only have faith.' Their prayers were answered.

Our prayers are answered here today. I have come home from Africa for holidays in Britain where my brothers and my sister live. I am privileged and very happy to be here in Poland - to be with Pawel and his family and friends and with all of you on this great day. Pawe1 and I shared a little part of our journey together - three years in Nairobi, in Kenya. I left Nairobi a year ago to return to the Sudan, to Khartoum, to the parish community where I live out my missionary vocation at the service of the poor, displaced people living there. The majority of the population in t his part o f Sudan a re Muslims - a 11 our neighbours are Muslims. Another important part of our work is to seek to promote understanding and good relations with our brothers and sisters whose faith is Islam. In a month's time I shall be back in that parish and not long after that Pawel will take his leave of you all and return to Africa -- to Zambia where

know he will be happy though challenged in many ways. As missionary priests we set out and cross over to the other side - to another shore - like Jesus - and we are not alone. We share our lives with others - in communities which are a great mix of personalities and cultures. We journey together on the road and - like Jesus - we stop and take time to see who these people in front of us are. We listen to them, we learn their language, and we seek to understand their needs, their hopes, their aspirations - to share their sorrows and their joys ... and among these huge crowds who come to pray and to listen to the Lord - like those on the shore :)f the lake - there will be those with special and pressing needs - so many sick, especially those who have tuberculosis and HIV AIDS - so many orphans, so many bereaved.

As missionaries - brothers, priests, Sisters, laypeople - we bring the Word who is life to these crowds ... and the Lord continues his work of healing and making whole, of raising to life and restoring to health. He takes the needy and the lonely and the lost by the hand and raises them. He stands them firmly on their feet and guides them on their way. The Lord listens and takes pity ... `He changes mourning into dancing.' It is this Lord of tenderness, of mercy and compassion, who is here today, present with us in our celebration of joy and thanksgiving at the gift to all of us of a new priest, a new Missionary priest for Africa.

For the Muslims with whom I live and work in Khartoum one of the ninety-nine Most Beautiful Names of God is al-Latüf, a name rich in meaning and difticult to translate. It means the most tender, the most caring, the one who bends down to listen to and to heed the needs of the poor, the lonely, the sick, the frustrated, the hungry, the suffering ... al-Latüf, the most tender one. Let us pray today at this, Pawel's thanksgiving Mass, that he and I and all our brothers and sisters - missionaries everywhere - who cross over to the other side - will take the time to stop, to stay by the shore, to look at the crowds before us - all those placed in our charge - to listen with kindness and care and compassion to all their needs and to give with open hands and heart all that we have received from the Lord of life.

Our prayer today is one of thanks - of deep gratitude to the Lord, the Merciful, the Tender, the Compassionate - for his goodness to us. We thank Him for Pawel, for his family and for this Christian community who have given a new priest for the missions far away in Africa. We ask the Lord's abundant blessings on you all.

Paul Hannon, m.afr.

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