The Mother First

It is a word that I repeat for the good of us all, in whatever position we may be. It is about time, in our churches, that we repent of individuality and improvisation. We are here, in this expanse whose emptying is required, and which is the origin of the Christian dissemination throughout the entire world. I do value the missionary work and the caring for the diasporas all over. However, I do not understand a ministry that commissions itself or that expands itself over the ruins of the mother churches. I do not mean to offend anyone if I say that the churches of our country, which is wounded for a thousand reasons, cannot tolerate that their people’s poverty be exploited. Their priests were ordained so that they remain in them. This means that transferring the priests from one place to another must not be done in sole agreement with them, whatever may be their wounds, hardships and feeling of our neglect towards them and their churches… This is an insult to the whole Church, especially to the bishop who knows them and their gifts, and to the people who have cheered for their worthiness. These are words that I hope will be read with the same love, they were written in. If abroad, (they) are in need of ministering priests, we can tell them: “you have priests in your own country”. However, here, if we are in need of priests, we cannot tell the faithful: “the priests are abroad”! The “Mother” is first.