Mission Team 4: Torit 1

The team arrived back in Torit on Monday morning, June 1st. After handwashing our clothes and resting a bit, we presented a program for the participants in the Holy Childhood program who had received Confirmation and First Holy Communion, respectively, on the two previous weekends. After singing some praise and worship songs with the entire group, Carol and Etel did a craft project (a Cross with an image of Jesus embracing a small child) with the smaller children, while Br. Cyril spoke to the older just-confirmed youth (next time you see him, ask him about Kathy Jo Jankowski).

The next morning we headed out as a group to the local market, where in a matter of a few hours we distributed 1600 small hand flyers inviting everyone to the evening program. Combined with those given at Mass the previous Sunday, and those we handed out on subsequent days, nearly 3000 personal invitations were extended to participate in the evenings of evangelization. A late afternoon downour threatened to put a damper on the activities, but amazingly the skies cleared just as the formal program was about to begin.

We started with about 150 or 200 people, singing and speaking from the steps of Mercy House, but as the sound system that Fr. Sylvester brought from Ireland filled the empty lot, more and more people began to gather. I introduced the theme, “Why Be Catholic?,” by saying that it was not enough for us to be Catholic just because our parents or village or tribe may be Catholic; the ultimate reason for being Catholic is the Person of Jesus and His intimate union with the Church, His Body and Bride. Fr. Sylvester followed with a reflection on how the Church offers us the fullness of truth, and Giuseppe on the unity between humanity and God, and unity between people found in the Church. We hung a sheet from the walkway roof to use as a screen on which to project from behind, and by dusk, when we started a film on the life of Jesus in the local Lotuko language about 500 people were there.

It was amazing to watch how people responded to life of Jesus presented in their own mother tongue. Everyone, especially the children, were captivated and amazed. Every time a new character (the Angel Gabriel, Mary, John the Baptist, and especially Jesus) spoke for the first time in Lotuko everyone clapped and cheered. They did the same every time Jesus healed someone, expelled a demon or performed some other miracle, and most of all when He rose from the dead. It was as though they were encountering Jesus and the Gospel for the first time. After the initial wave of amazement, people began to call for their friends to come. By the end of the film we estimate that perhaps as many as 1,000 people had been there for some part of the evening – including some of the local Muslim population. The group was so large that it was almost impossible to capture them all in a single photograph.

The entire team, the local parish priest and even the bishop were completely overwhelmed by the response of the people. It went far beyond what we could have expected.