BY BRIAN J. LOWNEY, Assistant Editor
BARRINGTON – Parishioners of St. Luke Church enjoyed a very special reunion May 17 when Father Gregory Ramkissoon, the founder and chairperson of Mustard Seed Communities in Jamaica, visited them during a trip to Rhode Island.
The gathering was particularly meaningful because for the past two years, a group of young missionaries from the parish, led by Assistant Pastor Father S. Matthew Glover, has spent spring break working at Blessed Assurance, one of 12 communities operated by Mustard Seed on the Caribbean island of Jamaica.
On April 13, Father Glover led 14 enthusiastic college and high school students on what all agreed was “a life-changing experience.” Another traveler, who had forgotten her passport, joined the group in Jamaica the next day.
This year’s missionaries and their families gathered Saturday afternoon for Mass, concelebrated by Fathers Ramkissoon and Glover, in which three of the volunteers offered testimonies about how the experience changed their lives, and thanked parishioners for their financial and prayerful support of the trip. Other participants shared their heartwarming stories at Sunday Masses.
Mustard Seed Communities was founded in 1978 in an economically-disadvantaged town on the outskirts of Kingston, Jamaica to care for handicapped children abandoned by their impoverished families. Today, the organization cares for more than 400 children with disabilities or who suffer from HIV/AIDS in homes in Jamaica, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Zimbabwe.
Father Ramkissoon thanked the parishioners for their “marvelous spirit” and noted that many of the young missionaries probably still had warts on their hands from all the difficult tasks that they performed at Blessed Assurance.
In his homily, the internationally-renowned priest said the young missionaries had not only taken a plane trip, but also had completed “a movement from one point in their lives to another point in their lives” by making the life-transforming journey to Jamaica “guided by the spirit of truth.”
Father Ramkissoon observed that the students’ work was an inspiring sign “of authentic action. These kids have encouraged me to work in these situations,” he said.
Father Ramkissoon spoke about the abject poverty that has plagued many of the Caribbean islands for generations. He noted that in the Dominican Republic, children in one resort town wait for trucks to deliver garbage from hotels, while in Haiti, youngsters “bake” cookies using melted animal fat mixed with dirt.
In Zimbabwe, an African nation suffering from a pandemic of HIV/AIDS, about 20 percent of all households are run by orphaned children, most of whom have to walk several miles each day to obtain meager rations to feed their younger siblings.
‘There is no shortage of suffering but also no shortage of grace,” Father Ramkissoon told the congregation, adding that people who cannot physically volunteer in underdeveloped countries can still support missionary activities through fervent prayer and financial contributions.
In his personal reflection, Evan Maille, a senior at Bishop Connolly High School in Fall River, MA, noted that the group from Barrington was responsible for “digging a 5 foot deep, 7 foot wide, and 9 foot long hole” which was to be converted into a baptismal pool.
“At first, we thought, ‘No problem, let’s bring out the shovels and get digging,’” he told the amused congregation. “Then we hit a rock, and another rock and yet another rock.”
Becoming serious, the young man told the parishioners that the children at Blessed Assurance taught him about what really matters in life.
“As the week continued the children kept on smiling,” he said. “This puzzled me because these children did not have anything to own or any real property. … The children there were happy because we were there. These children enabled us to look past what was on the outside, past what we had for clothes or how we looked, which to be honest was a good thing because by the end of the day we all stunk, and they saw the true person inside.
“… The children down there can teach each and every one of us something about life,” Maille continued, adding that he learned patience, how to smile and to have fun – all within the span of a few short days.
Noting that the children at Blessed Assurance will most likely spend the rest of their lives in the community and rarely will leave, Maille concluded “if these kids can smile each and every day and be happy, then there is no excuse for me not to be.”
Amanda Pimental, a freshman at Rhode Island College, where she is majoring in elementary level special education, also participated in last year’s missionary trip. She told the worshippers that she couldn’t wait for April to arrive this year, so she could return to her many friends at Blessed Assurance.
“The kids at Mustard Seed have truly changed and blessed my life,” Pimental acknowledged, noting that she plans on volunteering in Jamaica in the future.
“When we arrived at Blessed Assurance, I was home. It felt so good to be back,” she continued. “But what felt even better was to see the group jump right in. ...Throughout the week I watched the group grow so much. The look in their eyes and the happiness that surrounded them was enough for me. They came out of their shells and just let go.”
“Meeting the kids was a life-changing experience because of their different lifestyles and physical or mental handicaps,” said the third speaker, Hayley Grossman, a junior at Barrington High School. “Each day I made it my goal to make a person smile and to spend time with some of the other kids who did not have as many visitors.
“My trip to Mustard Seed reminded me of the simple joys in life and not to take advantage of them,” Grossman continued. “I no longer shy away from others; instead, I try to open myself up and show people who I really am. I enjoy remembering how much a simple gesture can bring a smile to someone’s face and brighten their day. My trip taught me so much and I will always remember the children we met.”
At the conclusion of the Mass, Father Glover presented Father Ramkissoon with a $25,000 check made possible by the generosity of St. Luke parishioners to support Mustard Seed Community ongoing projects.
On Sunday, Father Ramkissoon was awarded an honorary doctorate from Providence College for his humanitarian work during the college’s 90th commencement exercises.
Father Glover noted that St. Luke’s is planning a youth missionary trip to Blessed Assurance for next year, and that he hopes to continue his association with Mustard Seed Communities when he becomes Catholic Chaplain at the University of Rhode Island in July.
This year, Father Glover created an adopt-a child program, so that the Barrington missionaries would be more intimately acquainted with the children living in the Mustard Seed community.
“I was very impressed with the way that each of them served the face of Christ, the poor and the kids of Mustard Seed,” Father Glover concluded.
