Celebrating Again, St. Josephine Bakhita
(2026) Four to five times each year I have had the opportunity to share the good news about our Church's Missionary activity around the world. During each engagement I invite choir members of various groups of new neighbors in Buffalo to join me to give our Church's regular population a flavor of the World Catholic Church. In the spring of 2026, while preaching in local churches about the support of World Missions, I invited friends from the South Sudanese Community to assist in the Liturgical worship.
Their joy and spiritual enthusiasm enlivened the celebration and made my preaching message so much more effective. Speaking to them after the celebration we reminisced about the first few celebrations we had in Buffalo in honor of St. Josephine Bakhita. The first was in the early fall of 2001, approximately one year after Bakhita was declared a Saint of the Universal Church in October 2000 by Pope St. John Paul II. The second was held the following year and included a reunion of the "Lost Boys of the Sudan," and his lordship, Rudolph Deng Majak, Bishop of Wau, who was our guest presider. Since then, the church of Rome assigned the optional Liturgical celebration of St. Josephine Bakhita to Feb. 8th each year. Though the Diocese of Buffalo attempted to keep the celebrations going, February is not a comfortable time for weather in Buffalo and the celebrations ceased.
Following our great experience together this past spring, we began to theorize about planning to revive our St. Josephine Bakhita celebrations once more. Many volunteered to be on the planning committee. The date and time was set.
As the weekend drew near we welcomed Deacon Francis Chan from Des Moines IO who both assisted and preached at the mass.
Many committee members worked to organize the food and other community leaders spoke on the occasion. Deacon Chan enriched us with some teachings and lessons for the young Sudancese children concerning the preservation and participating in their cultural backgrounds. We were a small but joyful gathering.
The celebration was worthy of the investment. St. Josephine Bakhita, Pray for Us!
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