Ken wrote the following in 1997 just prior to heading for Mozambique:

I'm excited. Finally, after 12 years in the United States - six as a member of the Maryknoll General Council and six more as Superior General of the Fathers arid Brothers - I'm going back to my first love, Africa. Heading for Maryknoll's first mission in the Lago district of northwestern Mozambique, I'm excited to be going to a new mission with two brand new missioners - newly ordained Father José Padín and newly professed Brother Edward Redmond. Their zest for mission rubs off on me.

I'm excited because we are, as it were, getting in on the ground floor. Most of the people we will be working with are refugees returning to their home areas after years and years of war. They are trying to rebuild their lives and their communities. We will be starting our parish with them, listening to them, offering them the helping hand of God's great love. Jesus, who returned with his family as a refugee from Egypt, is certainly in their midst. We hope to discover and reveal him there!

I'm also excited because we go with a creative vision of mission. We hope to train local lay leaders to form small groups of committed Christians to bring Christ's message of life and hope to the many people in the Lago district who have never heard those words. Mission, after all, is the responsibility of every Christian by virtue of baptism.

We also hope to bring in some dynamic African priests, Sisters and laity from our neighboring Maryknoll missions in Tanzania, so that from the beginning Mozambicans can see that Christianity and mission are not Western imports like Ford trucks or IBM computers.

Finally, I'm excited because I know that we do not go to Mozambique alone. We go confident in the love and concern of thousands of Partners in Mission, you who support our work by your interest, your prayers and your contributions.

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Ken may be contacted by Email at:   Thesing5@bushmail.net

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Maryknollers in Mozambique