organwerke Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Hi all, as you probably have noticed, I've been out of phatmass for a long time. If some of you remember, I had a frienship with a phatmass member called Catholic Wing, from Pakistan, who died two years ago for drawning. I am still in contact with his cousin who was ordinated priest some months ago. He is asking me if I know any parish who would like to host him during the summer. He would help with mass, confessions etc., and at the same time he could probably collect some money for his parish in Pakistan. Any idea? I was thinking that this may be more interesting for parishes that are in holidays/touristic areas such as Florida or California perhaps...but of course any other place is good, England too...the only thing is that it has to be an English speaking country. His English is not perfect but this could be a good occasion to learn it better too. Thanks very much to all of you, and please, reply or propose only if there are serious ideas. Thanks (in case you know someone who could be interested, I can give all the informations necessary for contact: FB, email, address, bishop's letter etc etc.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slappo Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Please have him contact Bishop Edward Burns with the Diocese of Juneau, Alaska at bpburns@gci.net. We're a missionary diocese and rely on visiting priests to help provide masses. Often times we have priests from the continental states come up for a few weeks for vacation and cover mass while our priests go on vacation down south to visit family. Also, we recently had one of our priests pass away (one priest is like 8% of our clergy in the diocese) which has left one of our parishes without a pastor. Hopefully we'll have one by the summer, but I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotreDame Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 Alaska is a good idea as well as the nearby Yukon area of Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
organwerke Posted February 25, 2014 Author Share Posted February 25, 2014 Thank you very much Slappo I'll certainly tell him to contact this diocese, it would be really great!! :) keep on posting anyway if you have other ideas too!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlySunshine Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 I'd recommend him checking out some women's religious orders, especially cloistered ones, as the smaller ones often don't have anyone available to say Mass and have to travel to a parish outside their monastery. One in particular that I remember is Our Lady of the Rock in Shaw Island, WA. A couple people have visited and said, at the time, that they don't have a resident chaplain so they have to have a Communion service during the week instead of Mass. Here is more information: http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/118816-our-lady-of-the-rock-benedictine-monastery/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
organwerke Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 Thank you very much Mater, I'll certainly give a look at that thread. For some aspects I think that England would be better because it is a bit nearer and, I think, flights cost less. But also, I think that life is more expensive in England than in America? (correct me if I'm wrong). The important thing is this: the parish should offer for free hosting and food, in exchange for the services. I don't know if a religious community would be ideal even because it would be a matter of a summer, not the whole year. Thank you very much anyway for the interest and I'll surely do at least a try! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineM Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 We host foreign priests here all the time. Our seminary holds inculturization classes for them. Our parish had one from India a couple of years ago. Lots of people here from there too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
organwerke Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 Wow, CatherineM this is great! Do you know if the seminary provides for invitation letters or similar that let these priests obtain a temporary visa? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineM Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Wow, CatherineM this is great! Do you know if the seminary provides for invitation letters or similar that let these priests obtain a temporary visa? The diocese does the visas. The seminary does a two week inculturization for dioceses across western canada. When they are here around holidays, we invite them to our parties. Our pastor raised money for his catholic charities back home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IgnatiusofLoyola Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Just in case your friend has to decide between CatherineM's idea and Slappo's--- The area where Slappo lives, Southern Alaska, is truly one of the most beautiful places on Earth, especially in summer. Magical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
organwerke Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 Just in case your friend has to decide between CatherineM's idea and Slappo's--- The area where Slappo lives, Southern Alaska, is truly one of the most beautiful places on Earth, especially in summer. Magical. Thank you very much Ignatius for your interesting suggestion, I'll keep it in mind, but also I'm very much more trivial and so deciding bettwen CM's and Slappo's idea I will consider the flight price, since certainly I'll help my friend with it...!!! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IgnatiusofLoyola Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Thank you very much Ignatius for your interesting suggestion, I'll keep it in mind, but also I'm very much more trivial and so deciding bettwen CM's and Slappo's idea I will consider the flight price, since certainly I'll help my friend with it...!!! :) I think that is very practical of you--I would do the same. Obviously my suggestion only applied if all other things were equal. An idea: Perhaps if a diocese is in need of a priest, they might be willing to pay the plane fare. I don't know if they would, but it is certainly a suggestion worth bringing up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
organwerke Posted February 27, 2014 Author Share Posted February 27, 2014 I think that is very practical of you--I would do the same. Obviously my suggestion only applied if all other things were equal. An idea: Perhaps if a diocese is in need of a priest, they might be willing to pay the plane fare. I don't know if they would, but it is certainly a suggestion worth bringing up. This would be great of course. Also, even if the diocese couldn't cover the Whole price, at least could cover a part, and me, adn eventually other benefactors I can find (and my friend too of course according to his possibilities) the other one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slappo Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Thank you very much Ignatius for your interesting suggestion, I'll keep it in mind, but also I'm very much more trivial and so deciding bettwen CM's and Slappo's idea I will consider the flight price, since certainly I'll help my friend with it...!!! :) I know in the past parishes in our diocese have actually paid for the cost of airfare to get a priest to come and cover for one of our priests going on vacation. Depending on how long he's staying, and what the needs of our diocese are at the time, the Bishop/individual parish might be willing to cover travel expenses for a priest to come fulfill sacramental needs at one of our parishes. I think we only have something like 12 priests, and one recently passed away, so we take full advantage of visiting priests :). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
organwerke Posted February 27, 2014 Author Share Posted February 27, 2014 Thank you Slappo that sounds really Amazing!! I am already waiting for some informations from CatherineM but even your proposal sounds very interesting. I'll try to compare them and figure which one is more practical. I'll keep you infromed on the process, in the meanwhile thank you again for the interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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