There and Back Again

Our seminarians from Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary have been busy this summer. Every year after the conclusion of the spring semester and priestly ordinations, the seminarians are sent to assist at various apostolates, missions, summer camps, pilgrimages or other places where they can be of service. This year, some were sent to lend their hands and minds to our apostolates in the Southern Cross Region comprising Australia and New Zealand – where it is currently winter (we hear the weather was nice).

New Zealand was the first stop, where they were guided in their travels by New Zealander Fr. Daniel Mould, one of our priests who was recently ordained in Omaha and originally hails from Timaru on the South Island. Fr. Mould celebrated first Masses at various destinations around his home country, including Auckland, Hamilton and Christchurch. Bishop Emeritus Basil Meeking of Christchurch was in attendance at one of his Masses, and the group assisted at a Solemn Pontifical Mass with Bishop Meeking at the Trans-Alpine Redemptorist chapel in Christchurch.

Afterwards the seminarians headed up to Australia, five of them covering 2,500 miles over four weeks as they visited the Fraternity’s four apostolates scattered along the southeast coast. They spent a weekend at our apostolate in Adelaide, conducting altar server training, meeting the parishioners and participating in two Solemn High Masses. They toured the beautiful neo-Gothic cathedral in Sydney and attended the yearly conference of the Australia Catholic Students Association (ACSA) in Melbourne, which included informative speakers and fellowship with young Catholics and other religious in attendance. But the best part, according to Mr. Daniel Alloy, who just finished his 6th year at seminary, “…was a philosophy camp we ran for 65 kids in Sydney. I taught the 10-12 year-olds, and I couldn’t believe how eager they were to learn! They asked great questions, and I chuckled as they ran around the sports field, talking about Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.”

While Fr. Mould will be serving his first assignment at FSSP South Bend in Indiana, Australia recently welcomed another of our new priests, Fr. Richard Wallace, who was ordained with Fr. Mould and is now stationed in Sydney. Please keep our apostolates in the Land Down Under in your prayers, as well as the globe-trotting seminarians and their classmates at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary who will soon be starting a new academic year after their summer – or as the case may be, winter – adventures.

Photo captions, top to bottom: Visiting Hobbiton; sunset in Akaroa, South Island; tomb of Australian saint Mother Mary of the Cross; Mr. Alloy holds a koala at a zoo near Sydney. Our thanks to Mr. Alloy for the photos and his contributions to this article.