WORLDCATHOLIC.

US
W W W. X AV E R I A N M I S S I O N A R I E S . O R G

News VOL. 72 NO. 2 MAY 2024

NEWSLETTER OF THE XAVERIAN MISSIONARIES USA

Fr. Alex Rodriguez, sx, in El Salvador
 SUMMARY
3 In The Footsteps of the Good Shepherd

4-5 From America to Italy with Love

6-7 Medical Mission Trip to El Salvador
8-9 There is No Peace without Non-
Violence
10 World News
11 USA News

WORLDCATHOLIC.US News Magazine

Official publication of the United States

4
Delegation of the Xaverian Missionaries
Delegation House
12 Helene Court
Wayne NJ, 07470
973-942-2975
Our Lady of Fatima Shrine
101 Summer Street
Holliston, MA 01746
508-429-2144
Xavier Knoll
4500 West Xavier Drive
Franklin WI
414-421-0831
missionmedia@xaverianmissionaries.org
worldcatholic.us
Publisher
Fr. Mark Marangone, sx
Communications Board
Fr. Carl Chudy, sx
Br. Korneilus Glossanto, sx
Fr. Hery Junianto Mardadus, sx

6
Fr. Rocco Puopolo, sx
Fr. Alex Rodriguez, sx
Editor, Layout, Design
Mary Aktay
Printer
AlphaGraphics, Totowa NJ

Please consider donating to the Xaverian

Missionaries through our Communities
listed above or online at https://www.
xaverianmissionaries.org/support/.
Please also consider naming the St. Francis
Xavier Foreign Mission Society in your Will.
Together we can help St. Guido Conforti’s
vision to “Make of the World One Family”
become a reality.

8 WORLDCATHOLIC.US NEWS 2
Upholding the Highest Standards of
Abuse Prevention
Fr. Mark’s Message:

In the Footsteps of the Good Shepherd

“I am the good shepherd… There are other sheep which belong to
me…”

R
ecently someone shared with me the following newspaper clipping.
“Dr. Jim Kelly was not a celebrity and he was not famous in the traditional sense,
but he was a hero. He was a doctor who served the community for fifty years.
His passing drew an enormous crowd of mourners who stood for hours in the heat and
humidity without complaint, to pay him honor. The funeral home, in business more than
sixty years, said they had never seen such a crowd. As they waited, these people shared
stories about this man, known affectionately as ‘Doc’ and ‘Papa Doc.’
The themes of these stories told of a man who reached into his own pocket to cover expenses for those who could not afford it. A
man who helped to establish a facility for disabled children. A man who bestowed on his little girl patients the title ‘Princess.’ A doctor
who made house calls and worried along with mothers and encouraged them to call him at any hour. The stories told of a man who
made everyone feel like the most important person in the universe from the moment they encountered his compassionate smile and
gentle manner. The nurses and staff who worked with him consistently recalled how he never failed to thank them for their efforts.
Generosity, unconditional love, compassion, and faith were the trademarks of this ‘good doctor.’”
That inspiring letter about that “good doctor” moved me deeply. When people call someone a “good doctor,” they are not referring to his
skill as a physician. Rather they are thinking more of his compassion and loving-kindness. In the case of Jesus, he is the “good shepherd”
so much so that he will gladly die for his sheep. That brings us to the second point about Jesus, the “good shepherd.”
He has come to bring all people into one flock. Scottish theologian William Barclay comments on this point by telling a story from the life
of Egerton Young. He was a missionary to the Native Americans of Saskatchewan, Canada. An old chief once said to Egerton: “When
you spoke of the great Spirit just now, did I hear you say, ‘Our Father’?” “Yes,” said Egerton. “That is very new and sweet to me,” said the
chief. “We never thought of the great Spirit as Father. We heard him in thunder; we saw him in lightning… and the blizzard and we were
afraid. So when you tell us that the great Spirit is our Father, that is very beautiful to us.” The old man paused, and went on… “Missionary,
did you say that the great Spirit is your Father?” “Yes,” said the missionary… “Then,” said the old chief… “You and I are brothers!”
The old chief had put his finger on the second point about Jesus. He has come to teach us that we are brothers and sisters because we
have the same Father. And in this amazing revelation lies the sole hope for the possibility for unity and peace in our world.

A
s we look out across our world we see huge divisions: nation against nation, race against race, social class against social
class. Without the Good Shepherd there is no hope of healing these divisions. There is no hope for achieving unity and peace
between nations, races, or social classes. The only thing that can break down the barriers between nations, races, and classes
is the good news of the Gospel. It is the good news that God is “Our Father.” So, then, what Jesus revealed to us we must live out in our
lives. We must not only preach it to our world by our words but also –and more importantly- by our actions. If there is to be peace in our
world, it must begin with us- in the depths of our soul.
An old Chinese proverb puts it well when it reminds us: “If there is right in the soul, there will be beauty in the person. If there is beauty
in the person,there will be harmony in the home. If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the
nation, there will be peace in the world.”
Let us take heart, roll up our sleeves, and get back to work if we want, together with Our Lady and Our Risen Lord, “to make of humanity
one single family.”
Fr. Mark Marangone, sx, and the Xaverian Missionaries

WORLDCATHOLIC.US NEWS 3
M I S S I O N A RY S P OT L I G H T
From America to Italy with Love...
Fr. Michael Davitti, sx
In
April I left the USA, bringing to an end my
American saga that started in 1998 when I
set foot on American soil after many years in
Africa.
The beautiful time spent together first in Chicago Chinatown
and afterward in Wayne, NJ will come to an end, but I will
treasure those years as the most precious gift God could give
to me.
I am deeply grateful for the many friends God gave me
during this time: Darline Chan, George Lee, Bruno Bertucci,
while in Chicago, and Fr. ST, Carol Bielous, Aurora
Trevor and many more others who brought me joy and
encouragement. Their prayers and their friendship gave me
the support I needed in difficult times. I will keep all of them
in my heart and in my prayers while in Italy. They made a
difference in my life: their dedication to Christ and to the
Church have been for me a source of inspiration and great
joy.
In Italy, I will use the experience accumulated during these
years in USA. While in Chinatown I was made aware of the
complexity of Asia and its rich traditions and cultures falling
in love with it. In Wayne I found how the “holy fire’ burning
in the heart of one person, is contagious and creative: The
Bible Group. It has been growing from the initial five or six
people to a core group of 12/14 people coming faithfully, to
our house every Friday for sessions that have gone from an
initial two hours to now four hours, ending with extended
time in the chapel. I learned that people are deeply thirsty for
God.
We have become not only friends but brethren, who care for
the welfare of each other. We celebrated together birthdays
and other happy occasions such as the Chinese New Year
when we committed ourselves to Family and Life.
WORLDCATHOLIC.US
WORLDCATHOLIC.US NEWS 4
NEWS 4
Gleaning from past events I can say that I have
experienced, almost a physical touch, God’s love for me,
for us. Ours has become a sacred story, where God’s
providence is at work for our good. This awareness gives
me the strength to bid farewell to my many friends with
gratitude and turn a fresh page, most probably the last
one, of my life, in the new setting that God has prepared
for me. The end of something good is the beginning of
something better.
My senior age is the time for rejoicing and singing. In
the words of Scripture:
“He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves
with him.”Ps.126:6
Senior age is the “harvest time,” the time for songs of
gratitude, in the awareness that the fidelity of the Lord,
so evident in past events of our life, is the securest
foundation for our hope.
We can make our own the words of St. Augustine at the
end of one of his sermons:
“I feel that your spirits are being raised up with mine
to the heavens above, but the body which is corruptible
weighs down the soul, and this earthly tent burdens the
thoughtful mind. I am about to lay aside this book, and
you are soon going away, each to his own business. It
has been good for us to share the common light, good to
have enjoyed ourselves, good to have been glad together.
When we part from one another, let us not depart from
him.”
Fr. Michael Davitti, sx

First three photos from top, Fr. Michael’s farewell luncheon courtesy of
Pauline Maria Heizmann; Last photo: Fr. Michael in Italy in 2022

WORLDCATHOLIC.US NEWS
WORLDCATHOLIC.US NEWS 55
‘Helping Hands Medical Mission’ in
El Salvador

S
ome months ago, I was invited to participate in a Medical Mission. I was not sure if I
would have the time to do it, but after managing dates and seeing possibilities, I accepted
the invitation. I am glad I was able to participate in it; just to see the energy and dedication
of those 48 people who were my companions was incredible. They worked long hours and
dedicated the best of their skills to helping people. Of course, I guess that for most of us, the
experience of being with people enriched us, we gained far more of what we could offer. This
is not to diminish the effort and the work, but I guess all of us got transformed by the simplicity
of life and faith of those whom we were serving. Learn more at https://hhmm.org/join-mission/
el-salvador-ateos

The icing on the cake was to have the opportunity to visit the tomb of Saint Oscar Romero.
Loved by many and despised by others, I guess we must go beyond our world. He, by the grace
of God, gave his life as a testimony of his faith and transformation. Remember, being a martyr
is a vocation that not all of us are willing to take on. Therefore, for me, it was a great opportunity
to see the tomb of someone that I learned as a child, was executed because of his faith. It is
always great to be in the presence of martyrs!
Fr. Alex Rodriguez, sx

WORLDCATHOLIC.US NEWS 6
WORLDCATHOLIC.US NEWS 7
There is No Peace Without
Non-Violence by Fr. Mario Menin, sx

N
o war respects the rules
of law. Not the “great
war”: 9 million dead! No
one took responsibility
for triggering it. Everyone felt
attacked. It was enough to raise the
term “defense” to force millions of
young people to appear in recruiting
offices and at the front. And so they
massacred each other for four years
– a useless massacre, said Pope
Benedict XV. Hunger and lack of
resources were more powerful than
weapons. Then they signed a peace,
which was cruel to the defeated
and created the conditions for the
dictatorships and totalitarianisms
of the 20th century, preparing the
conditions for the Second World
War: 70 million dead!
According to the sociologist Marcos
R. Rosenmann, we are facing the
failure of the human species, homo
sapiens is withdrawing from his own
ethical responsibilities, to justify his
holocausts: “I am referring to the
facts… What makes us human, the
recognition of the another... has been
fired in the name of the powerful.
In the last 100 years, human beings
have caused two world wars, dropped
atomic bombs on the civilian
population, developed chemical and
biological weapons with the aim of
imposing a will, whether in favor
of a race, a god or a cultural reason.
Planes, drones, submarines, aircraft
carriers, tanks. Technologies of
death created to generate terror, fear
and submission. The citizens of the

Image by Hosny Salah from Pixabay

WORLDCATHOLIC.US NEWS 8

world protest, raise their voices, take
to the streets, calling for an end to
wars, denouncing the shame of their
leaders. However, nothing changes.
Deaf ears. Dehumanization advances
at a rapid pace. The true winner
of the dehumanization process is
the financial-industrial-military
complex” (La Jornada, Mexico City,
October 26, 2023).
How can we stop the dehumanization
that is advancing and dream again,
with Pope Francis, of “a single
humanity, as wayfarers made of the
same human flesh, as children of this
land that hosts all of us, each one
with the richness of his faith or their
convictions, each one with his own
voice, all brothers!” (Fratelli Tutti
8)?
The only way out is non-violence,
even if you want to make yourself
believe that you are powerless. If
Image on page 2 by Emad El Byed on Unsplash
Image by Ri Butov from Pixabay
instead of denouncing their supposed
failures, we reflected on the victims
of wars? The recent ones, from Iraq,
for example. It was to become the
land of the new democracy, reunify
the country, grant independence
to Kurdistan, etc. What’s left? A
country destroyed materially, torn
even more at the level of religious
confessions. Everyone has before
their eyes the devastations in
Ukraine, Israel and Gaza. But let’s
also think about Afghanistan: tens
of thousands of dead, wounded,
refugees, why? What civil and
social rights have been achieved?
And has the condition of women
changed? While the independence
of India from the British occupation,
or the achievement of civil rights of
minorities in the USA, Solidarność
in Poland, the fall of the Berlin Wall
and the reunification of Germany,
the change in the countries Eastern
WORLDCATHOLIC.US NEWS 9
Europe: all non-violent interventions
that achieved what they promised.
Hence the need to put an end to the
logic of peace only as a truce, with
a winner and a loser, waiting for the
conditions for a revenge to be created.
The non-violent, it is clear, will not
win, but they will convince, along
with the “enemies”, eradicating
the reasons for wars. An arduous
process, which calls for big changes,
demanding small, individual ones:
everyone must move forward
together. It is the terrain of good
politics that is either concretely non-
violent or is a contradiction in terms.
World Mission News “Making of the World One Family...”
EUROPEAN FORUM - COATBRIDGE
CONFORTI CENTER – SCOTLAND
Fr. Filippo Rondi, sx
On Sunday, February 25, 2024, the
European Forum meeting participants
gathered at the Conforti Center in
Coatbridge, United Kingdom.
The meeting was preceded by two study
days - Symposium amid faiths - organized
by the Commission for Interreligious
Dialogue of the Episcopal Conference of
Scotland dedicated to the role of religious
experience in interreligious dialogue.
Professor Will Storrar of the Princeton
Center for Theological Research in the
United States masterfully guided the
Symposium.
In addition, the participants had the
opportunity to listen to our confrere Paulin
Batairwa Kubuya, undersecretary of the
Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue,
who presented the topic “The future of
interreligious dialogue in the life of the
Dr. William Storrar Church.”
Then, on Sunday morning, we met as a
European Forum, reading the minutes
of our last two meetings, namely of
the October 2018 and November
WORLDCATHOLIC.US NEWS 10
2019 meetings (before the COVID-19
pandemic).
From the various contributions, the need
emerged for the FORUM to begin its
service of analysis and open reflection
on our mission in Europe as soon as
possible.
The Forum will soon have a “digital portal”
within the Xaverian webpage and then
proceed to organize a Symposium in
Parma on November 6 and 7, 2024.
In preparation for this Symposium, we
invite all the confreres present in Europe
to a Zoom meeting set for Thursday, May
16, at 8 PM, where we can share our
ideas and proposals.
On behalf of the participants, a grateful
and heartfelt thanks to the conferees of
the UK for their exquisite “Scottish Celtic”
welcome!
Participants: Fr. Mauro Loda, Fr. Paolo
Tovo, Fr. Rolando Ruiz Durán, Fr. John
Convery, Fr. Patrick Duffy and Fr. Filippo
Rondi.
USA NEWS DELEGATION HOUSE, WAYNE NJ
COSUMA
Fr. Mark Marangone travels to Italy in June to participate in the Xaverian Missionaries Intercapitular
Conference of Major Superiors (COSUMA), the formal assembly of the Regionals with the
Superior General and his Council to assess the status of the Congregation; the implementation
of chapter resolutions; and study urgent issues.
Special Visit
Bishop Natale Paganelli,Titular Bishop of Gadiaufala and Apostolic Administrator Emeritus of
Makeni, Sierra Leone, visited the Delegation House in April.
New Documentary Series
From Fr. Pietro Rossini in Italy: MissioNET is producing a documentary series for Netflix in
collaboration with Studio Gambit, of Tbilisi, Georgia, on interfaith dialogue and cooperation
around the world. The Xaverians will cover travel expenses and provide food and accommodation
during filming in our missions. For this reason, we’ve created a GoFundMe Page at: https://
gofund.me/5f1e06db Please consider helping in this effort. View a video that presents our
project at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOPXFew2uuw.
OUR LADY OF FATIMA SHRINE, HOLLISTON MA
Marian Days
From May through October the Shrine will host Marian Devotions on the 13th of each month
commemorating the Fatima Apparitions. (See Schedule on the right.)
2024 Pilgrimage to Portugal
The Xaverian Missionaries will hold a second pilgrimage to Fatima Portugal in September 2024.
Check with the Shrine for more information 508.429.2144.
Bee Project
Our bees are busy producing delicious honey. We now offer flowers and plants for sale. Order
at https://bit.ly?fatimabeeproject
St. Guido Conforti Relic and Devotion
Fr. Rocco Puopolo is facilitating the acquisition of a first class relic for Rev. Daniel Paul Dupre,
pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Santa Fe. Fr. Rocco states: “It is a wonderful story
of how a seminarian, inspired by the life of St. Guido, now has his parish devoted to the saint.”
XAVIER KNOLL, FRANKLIN WI
Mission Festival
Come one and all to the Xavier Knoll Mission Festival June 22-23. Enjoy a weekend filled with
family fun, games, prizes, delicious food and dancing, capped by an inspirational liturgy.
Lay Xaverians
“Missionary Disciples: The Xaverian Way,” shares the basics of who is a Lay Xaverian, what they
do, and how the Xaverian charism has guided people through their lives.

Help the Xaverian Missionaries continue to “make of the world one family.” Either clip this paper and send it to the address below or help the
environment by donating online at: https://www.xaverianmissionaries.org/support/

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12 Helene Ct. □Xaverian Knoll, Franklin, WI; □Fatima Shrine,
Wayne, NJ 07470 Holliston, MA; □Delegation House, Wayne, NJ

WORLDCATHOLIC.US NEWS 11
 Fr. Michael Davitti, sx, leading a Scripture Study group

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