Msgr. Zenk takes trip to Uganda
By KATIE LEFEBVRE
Globe staff writer
Posted August 22, 2002

The gift of giving to others can be seen differently by different people. Msgr. Richard Zenk, pastor of St. Patrick Church in Akron, recently took a trip to Uganda, East Africa and the Diocese of Ginja.

Msgr. Zenk's former classmate Joseph Willigers is the resident bishop of the Diocese of Ginja and has been there for about 30 years. Msgr. Zenk went on the trip to visit his classmate and to see what the missions are doing in Africa.

"He showed me around for about 10 days," said Msgr. Zenk. "After he had to go to another meeting, some of the priests in his diocese continued to show me different places which they have missions and parishes."

Msgr. Zenk visited children in orphanages, lepers, a hospital and other places that the missions have helped. He saw women working on sewing machines under the overhang of a building outside.

He noted that from the altar in Mass he noticed the church was separated, men on one side and women on the other.

Another thing that he saw, which wasn't part of the missions, was the Nile River.

The long time diocesan missionary director made the trip to see what the Catholic church is doing in the missionary field in Uganda. "They are doing a great deal of work. There are many things to be done. Presently they have some 40 native priests in the diocese and a few religious. They are making quite an improvement in the whole area," he said.

They have some schools and missions that reach out from the main parish. Some of the parishes have five or six missions that they try to visit each month from the main parish.

"In two weeks, you can't do anything much constructive, you could have built a church, but I am not a carpenter," said Msgr. Zenk. "I was just going to see what was being done."

Missions are there to help people in need and bring them the word and teaching of Jesus.

"The purpose of the missions is to spread the word of the Lord Jesus Christ by so doing lead others to Christ and salvation," said Msgr. Zenk, diocesan director for the propagation of the faith. "Quite often you contact these people through social activities such as health care and schools and gradually leading them to accept the faith and live it."

He primarily went to see what has been done in that area of the world the last number of years. He commented that if anyone would study the history of Uganda, they would find that the 1970s were a terrible time for that country.

"The church there is trying to do traditional work in most places - establish schools and orphanages and homes for the aged and lepers," said Msgr. Zenk. "Also they are trying to have different schools to teach the faith and help people know the Lord."

He added that he encountered people that weren't necessarily starving, but some people were not fed too well or dressed too well. Fortunately, there are quite a few things growing around the area for the people to eat such as bananas and other fruit.

Another place that Msgr. Zenk visited was what people in the United States call a supermarket or grocery store. With one in particular he was surprised at how good it looked and by how much it offered.

"They make kind of a porridge out of bananas and that is a stable food for many people in that country," said Msgr. Zenk.

The country has fertile soil to plant seed. If it had the proper seed and care it would be economically feasible to grow even more food, Msgr. Zenk commented.

"I would say that after being the diocesan missionary director for some 30 years, I think we can always increase our prayers for the success of the missions but also become more and more generous in our financial support as well. Many things can be done with a little more help," said Msgr. Zenk.