Spiritan missionaries are making a real impact in the margins all over the world. In this Spiritan Journey Video, Fr. John Fogarty, C.S.Sp. describes what it's like to see the Spiritan mission up close and personal in communities across the globe.


Transcript: My name is Fr. John. I'm actually originally from Ireland and I joined the Spiritans many years ago essentially to be a missionary in Africa. I spent some wonderful years in Ghana serving the Ashanti people but for the most part, I've actually spent my missionary life in administration and leadership roles in Ireland, in the U.S., and more recently in Rome.

But this has given me the incredible opportunity to travel extensively and to visit almost all of the 60-plus countries where our confreres, our Spiritans, are working in the service of poor and forgotten and marginalized peoples. But to see firsthand the simplicity of their life the mutual joy and love and esteem between them and the people they serve and their work to enhance the dignity of people, forgotten people, to improve the quality of their lives through healthcare, through education, through development and working with them empowering them if you like to work for a greater a more just society. 

Some of the experiences I've had are etched forever In my memory. I think, for instance, of a trip to Papua New Guinea where I spent the morning with a group of people with various disabilities who were served if you like by a Spiritan Brother. I sat beside a young woman who had lost her  sight but who said to me and pleaded with me "Please Father never take Brother Theo away because without him we would be lost." 

That joy of seeing God's kingdom grow is a joy that can never be taken away and for which I will always be grateful.