Pallottines search for new 'friends' for Africa mission
Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published July 14, 2006
Wyandotte How does God feed the hungry in the impoverished African countries of Tanzania and Kenya?
Irish Pallottine Fr. Hubert Flannigan, who lives in a missionary center in Wyandotte, knows the answer and it doesn't necessarily start in Africa.
The Pallottines, a missionary order started in 1795, feeds the hungry and provides water, transportation, health care and other basic needs each day through its 20 missionary priests in Tanzania and Kenya. The missionary work is made possible by priests, brothers and lay people stationed in other parts of the world, including Wyandotte.
And, right now, the order is receiving an extra helping hand in the Detroit area.
A nonprofit group called Friends of the Irish Pallottines, also based in Wyandotte, is starting and endowment fund to aid Pallottine missionary efforts into the future.
"The missionaries at home are partners of the missionaries on the road," said Fr. Flannigan, whose current mission in Wyandotte is to help sustain financially the missions in Africa. "Without the friends, the missions can't maintain themselves."
Currently, the Friends of the Irish Pallottines are beginning a fundraising campaign at a time of great need for the missions. With 20 missionary priests in Africa the largest number in recent history plus dire conditions in Africa, where healthcare and clean water are especially hard to come by, every little bit helps the Pallottines help the needy.
C. Duke Hynek, a friend of Fr. Flannigan who has done fundraising in the past for the Jesuits and the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, said the more he found out about the Pallottines missions, the more he wanted to help.
"I can't go to the mission field and work, but this is a dedicated prospect to helping these Pallottine fathers," said Hynek. "I've been blessed with my family and my relatives, that's how I came into contact with the Pallotines, through friends. And I've come to the point in my life where it's time to give back many of the blessings I've received."
Hynek is quarterbacking large and small fundraising efforts from selling tickets to Detroit Tiger's baseball games, to mass mailings, to working with parish youth groups on fundraisers. So far, the Friends have raised about $20,000. They hope to have $100,000 by the year's end and, eventually, an endowment of $1 million to keep the missions going into the future.
"One thing that has always worried me is who is going to do this when we're all gone," said Hynek.
Meanwhile, in Africa, finding resources is a primary concern. In January, news reports of a drought in the eastern part of the continent noted that tens of thousands of lives could be lost.
Fr. Flannigan who has spent years-long stints of his ministry in the African missions can tell story after story of the needs of the African people being ministered to by the Pallottines. He also has many stories about how generous donors have helped those missions.
He's seen donors send checks out of the blue, and reach the missions the very same time a Pallottine priest was praying for a way to pay for food for a starving village.
He's seen a priest, well past retirement age, skydive in order to raise funds for his mission.
And he's seen a Christian faith so strong in the region that it's cut across age-old prejudices. In the end, Fr. Flannigan said, Christians are being called to feed the hungry in Africa no matter where they are.
"Sometimes, people say 'Why doesn't God feed the people in places like Africa?'" he said. "The way I see it, God still feeds the hungry but he needs us as instruments."
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