Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Dinner at St. Ignatius

Proving that the hospitality of the Jesuits is never exhausted, we were hosted for dinner on the last night of the collaboration by the community of the Jesuit parish in Lusaka.

Not surprisingly, the parish is named St Ignatius, and by all accounts it is flourishing. They have seven masses on a weekend including one in French and a children’s mass. Though we weren’t able to see the inside of the building, before we left we took a few moments to pray at their beautiful grotto of Our Lady of Peace.

Three Jesuits are in residence at the parish: Frs. Joe and John work in the parish – one Irishman, one Zambian, and Fr. Charles lives there while he is doing work in communications with Loyola Productions Zambia.

Fr. Simon from Loyola Malawi, a workshop attendee, is also staying at the residence. Over dinner he remembered with fondness his years at Boston College and Weston Jesuit – though he is Malawian, he has done many of his studies in Boston.


We were halfway through dessert when we realized that the cake we had been devouring said “Happy Birthday Fr. John”. One of the Jesuits was sharing his birthday cake with us, which was just another sign of the extraordinary generosity and humility of the many people who have welcomed us in Lusaka.

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