Mission Office

Zanzibar to Minnesota -
One Catholic Family

by Rosanne Fischer

Father Thomas Assenga from the Diocese of Zanzibar is currently a student at St. Cloud State University and a missioner to the Diocese of St. Cloud.

Father Thomas Assenga made a clear choice to leave his home on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, East Africa, to be a missionary in the Diocese of Zanzibar, made up of two islands about 25 miles off the coast of the mainland. He chose to go because there were abundant priests in his home area and he felt called to go to a place where there were not enough priests. Little did he know at the time that his missionary call would bring him even further afield to the United States -- to a culture and climate very foreign to him.

In September of 2001, Bishop Augustine Shao, CSSp, of Zanzibar sent Fr. Thomas to Minnesota to take graduate courses in Business Management at St. Cloud State University, and to minister part time at St. Mary's Cathedral. For four years he had been serving as "Diocesan Procurator," handling the finances of the diocese, and will return to that role following his three year course of study and ministry in Minnesota.

Fr. Thomas was pleasantly surprised to see people attending Mass in large numbers in Minnesota. His previous conception of the United States was that people did not attend Mass. In Zanzibar, and Tanzania in general, people spend more time in the church or in neighborhood Small Christian Communities that are connected to their local parish. However, lay people in St. Cloud are much better educated and utilized to a greater degree in parish life.

Education in Tanzania is a privilege open to very few. Uniforms, books and school fees put a strain on family finances already stretched to the breaking point. In Zanzibar, prospects for education are even bleaker than on the mainland. The instruction in public schools is so poor that few students are able to pass the exams required to enter secondary school.

In light of that situation, since his arrival in 1997 Bishop Shao has made "education in every aspect of life and at every level of life" the number one priority in the Diocese. Kindergartens have been set up in every parish, and a Diocesan Primary School was opened. In 1999 Bishop Shao invited two Franciscan Sisters from Little Falls, Minnesota, Sr. Maristell Schanen and Sr. Tonie Rausch to help at Wisdom Center, where students are tutored for the exams they need to pass in order to attend secondary school on the mainland. There has been a high success rate at Wisdom Center, where the Tanzanian congregation, the Evangelizing Sisters of Mary have taken over the Franciscan's work. But even after passing exams, they are finding that many students do not last long at the secondary schools on the mainland because the parents cannot afford the additional costs.

Betty Alvord, Father Thomas Assenga, and Addie Dinndorf enjoy each others company at the Mission Office Christmas Party

Bishop Shao is determined to convert Wisdom Center into a Catholic Secondary School so that the quality of education offered in the Diocesan kindergartens and Primary School can be extended. All that is needed are 3 science laboratories, which are required by the government, to add to the existing buildings at Wisdom Center. The laboratories will cost about $15,000 each. Because the Center is located only a short distance from the ocean shore, the proposed Secondary School would focus on Marine Science in addition to regular curriculum.

Fr. Thomas is hopeful that the training he will receive at St. Cloud State University will greatly serve the Diocese of Zanzibar when he returns. He says there are many unmet needs, especially in the areas of health care and education, which the Diocese hopes to effect. St. Cloud has a great opportunity to broaden our awareness and experience of our global Church through his ministry with us. His presence among us, like the presence of Franciscan Sisters Maristell and Tonie in Zanzibar for 2.5 years, will help us build up the "families of faith that reach beyond our national boundaries" that our US Bishops called for in their 1998 pastoral letter, Called to Global Solidarity