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Latest Missionary News From Around the World, March 2010

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 Dear Mrs. Patti, We thank you very much for the great gift of life. I have received the parcel today this afternoon. It has arrived safely. Once again i say thank you very much, continue praying for you. Two weeks ago, i went to one of our parish here in Windhoek to meet a group of people who were about 50, wanted to hear about the life of Saint Philomena and Pauline Jaricot. They were touched and want to become members of the Universal Living Rosary Association of Saint Philomena (ULRA). God bless, Sr. Elizabeth Haingura Roman Catholic Hospital Windhoek Namibia

Dear brethrens, I wish to express my happiness and appreciation on the good work you have done. Am really touched by the news in the book "the future of the church depends upon the faith and the virtue of our youth." am Zambian and catholic by faith. May the good Lord continue blessing you. In Christ Zambia

Mum i have since built this grotto in different parishes where i worked! Now here in my parish it will make it three! I love our lady and St. Philomena! they are making it but i need you small help to buy cement and iron to protect and i will make a seat where Christians will seat or knell and say they decade! I hope you like it??? You help little!!! It so beautiful!!! Bravo Immaculata!! Bravo Santa Filomena!!! Ave Maria Fr. Patrick Mary Filomena Kenya

Sorry mum! I shared it with you last two years! It was a miracle of St. Philomena! I was a student and a visiting priest by then! I remembered in one occasion i visited the parish i asked the Christians to say novena to St. Philomena just the way i did in Machakos and they did, up till now! And so it happened! Now mum it was a project started before i became the parish priest! I visited them and with faith i told them to say decade and that Immaculata and Santa Filomena will do it! I enrolled those 5 years ago! Then we helped them to write a project and as god hard their prayers and cry then, providentially, last year when i was made a parish priest the money arrived and with the bishop and the Christians we completed the miracle of Santa Filomena! Again i asked another station to pray for a hospital and they did and St. Philomena miraculously gave the money! I engaged people to be doing it while i supervise otherwise i was 2 busy with my exams but now exams are over mum! I can now share everything with you! It was the bishop who kept the money and i just go to collect when i need materials to buy just the way i did with you at Machakos! There are many miracles!!! Yester night a big snake came and stayed at the door of my room at brothers of charity because i do sleep there every Monday before going to the parish! the door was half open but photos and banners of St. Philomena and the oil and cords on my door did not allow the snake to enter and it stand still at the door without moving until i came out and kill it! I did not know why it refused to enter! Photos of St. Philomena and Immaculata were on all parts of my room! Another miracle- a mother told me about a child who was always sick but after anointing him with the oil of St. Philomena and also saying her novena, the child went back to school and even did well in exams but before he never passes any exam! In another occasion some people looking for job and school and i asked them to do novena to St. Philomena and to take a decade and they did it and they got school and job! Another woman told me that the doctor said she will die and also that she will be operated but after using the oil of St. Philomena and cord and novena ...in fact now she is back at her work and so healthy! She never stays a day without saying her decade! Viva Santa Filomena viva ULRA!! Ave Maria Fr. Patrick Mary Filomena Kenya

Dearest Mamma Patti Thank you so much for your understanding me, my situation, and my work I have one meeting with the Catholic TV here, there is one only in Lebanon, we have here one Catholic TV and one Catholic Radio, at the TV, there is a program for the children and youth ,who share with them some stories of the Saints and other prayers and experiences, so I gave them the story of Saint Philomena ,with Her oil and relic and rosary ,and I asked them to put Her story at the TV, and share Her Life and sanctity with the children and others, so they were very happy to know about Her ,and soon they will put Her program and about the Living Rosary and the Scapular Brown at the Catholic TV, who called: Nour Sat TV. I keep you so much in my poor prayers, at the morning mass and the evening mass, with the Holy Rosary, and especially your dear brother Mr. Christopher John and your dear mom and ours. I send you my love and gratitude. note: at our center and home here, I put many photos and statues to Our Lady and Jesus, so I honor one photo of the face of Jesus of Saint Veronica not that one who you gave it to me ,but another one from paper, so I discovered since one week that the little photo is full or contain of oil, and the place where I put it ,is far of the Kitchen or any oil can arrive to it, so I was very happy and I thanked God and Our Lady for this sign who is very nice and consolation to me and our work here, I will take a photo very soon and send it to you. Ave Maria. I keep Dr. Thomas and his wonderful family in all our prayers and we send to him and his dear family all our love and gratitude, I and my sister. Your son, slave of the Immaculata John Kayrouz Lebanon

Monday, March 8, 2010 Dear Sisters Aracely, Raphaela, and Blanca, I wanted to tell you that I was packing a box of items to be shipped to Nicaragua in a month (it takes about four to six weeks to get there). Mrs. Patti Melvin has a wonderful heart for the poor and administrates a ministry here in the United States by the name of "The Universal Living Rosary Association of Saint Philomena." She has sent me devotional items many times over the years that I have taken to various countries, mostly to Nicaragua. She has sent me some items that I was sorting through and packing yesterday with my sister Nora. We were overjoyed to discover that she had sent us a beautiful statue of the "Infant of Prague." That is, Baby Jesus. She also sent several robes for Him, as well as two priestly vestments to take part in the Devotion to Him. There is also a page written in English with the specific devotion to Him on it. MARCOS, PLEASE TRANLSATE THIS FOR THE SISTERS WHEN IT ARRIVES. It will come to Carolina's house. She is a friend who has helped in the past. Carolina, it is marked as to which boxes the statue is in as well as the vestments. It says to go to the Franciscan Sisters in Quezalguaque for their Chapel at the home for the elderly. Sisters, please get Marcos to take a picture of your Chapel with the Infant Jesus in the Chapel when it arrives. Please send it along with your acknowledgement of thanks to Mrs. Patti Melvin at filomena@philomena.org Patti, these are the three Franciscan Pilgrim Sisters of the Immaculate Conception that are now in the house for the abandoned elderly that we have built in Quezalguaque (a poor village in western Nicaragua). They will be working to get together a group of secular Franciscans to care for the elderly. They are devoted to teaching the Catechism and to evangelization in the area at the request of Bishop Robelo Vivas. Carolina, I will be sending more instructions when I return from a trip as to the distribution of the rest of the items. There are some boxes marked "Priority Mail" contained in the big box with religious devotional itmes and literature in them. Please be certain that the Franciscan Sisters get Boxes #1, #3, #5 and #7. They can use this in their evangelization. Sisters and Carolina, BOXES #6 AND #8 SHOULD GO TO THE BISHOP OF JINOTEGA. Please join with me in our deep gratitude to Mrs. Patti Melvin for such a beautiful and unexpected gift! Pax y bien - Dra. Debra Cole

Dearest Patti, Lord, grant us the grace to fear Your Name and Walk in Your Footsteps Amen. This is to inform you we have today posted to you by Air the lists of 1,005 new Universal Living Rosary Association of Saint Philomena (ULRA) members who are to begin their Assigned Decades on March 19th 2010, the feast of St. Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Also the nice packages of Devotional Items we prepared for these new members were posted to them through their respective Leaders in various places, as usual, by Special Express Mail, this morning. Hoping the packages would reach them before the scheduled date/day. Patti, as you already know and have been seeing pictures from here, for over 22 years, since the formation of the ULRA here in Ghana in 1988, we have been preparing nice parcels of Devotional Items and letters to all our newly enrolled members both far and nearby sharing with them proportionally everything available in our custody. In fact this habit has been helping the growth and the nurture of this precious devotion here in Ghana because each and every new member gets his or her Rosary, Scapular, Miraculous Medals, reading materials etc. out of the parcels we mail out to them through their respective Leaders before even they start their Assigned Decades as official members. Of course this habit has helped us to produce staunch and active members throughout the country at all times. We have been travelling throughout the country, going from Diocese to Diocese, Parish to Parish, church to church preaching the Living Rosary Association, the Holy Rosary, Our Lady and St. Philomena and then appointing Leaders to represent the ULRA at any particular place we may be. We always leave the Association at the care of the Leaders we choose, so that the Leaders may send us later the names of the interested members for enrolment at their own convenient time and free of charge. That is why we have so many devoted members in the Association here. They always got to understand the Living Rosary Association, the holy Rosary, Our Lady and St. Philomena before finally submitting their names for enrolment, free of charge. Patti, what is most encouraging is that, for the many thousands of people already enrolled throughout the country everyone received his or her Assigned Decade Card together with Rosary, Scapular, Miraculous Medal, Reading Materials etc. before the scheduled date/ day for their Assigned Decade and this is due to the Packages of Devotional Items we do prepare locally and mail them out by special express. Although such packages of devotional items we prepare every now and then to mail locally to our members do cost so much, it helps greatly the fast spreading of the devotion and generate active and strong members into the Association. Therefore its better we pray so that we can continue with the mailing of packages to our local members. Nowadays, we have been receiving so many names of new members for enrolment through postmen-mail, Fax and telephone from various places through the country, especially Parishes and churches we had already visited. Patti, we are always very grateful and thankful to you and all our dear benefactors for your constant and great support. This encourages us so much for us to continue to work tirelessly and faithfully at our St. Philomena's House, the beautiful Storey Building put up here at our St. Peter's Cathedral Basilica, Kumasi, by our own local funds purposely for the work of the ULRA. Patti, you could remember, some years back, you appointed this our great and famous centre in Africa to take care of many Countries in Africa both English and French speaking ones and I think we did our best. We made thousands of Scapulars and Rosaries to share with many African Countries, all by your great help, directions and encouragement. Then some few years later due to financial constraints we could not continue with the high cost of postages on the many parcels and letters we ought to mail from here to other countries in Africa. However this great appointment made our center a unique one. Also, my visit to some African Countries in 1998 helped me to experience a lot about some Centers and their works. I pray that every country could have a national center where the Association could very easily be located with Representatives working so faithfully to the glory of God. Patti, thank you so very much for the honor done our Center here. It is really unforgettable. May God bless you!! Now Ghana like any other African country is facing economic crises but at the moment very critical. Patti, I think you may be surprise to hear that last month (February) after paying out our telephone, water, Electricity and other Bills at our Centre, St. Philomena's House, what we were left with could only be used as postage to mail out packages of Devotional Items to only 1,005 members we have just enrolled. For that matter we have to leave over 2,000 more names of new members unregistered as there are no more funds at the moment to post them their packages when they are registered. More over too, we may need so many Rosaries and Miraculous Medals before we can do with them. Patti, as I had already informed you, things are getting worse and worse in our country. Bills, postages and essential commodities have been badly increased, some of them about 300%. It is our prayer that we get enough funds every month so that we can enroll so many people and to be able to mail out their packages as they are so eager to them for this has been our practice for good 22 years. Patti, how funny, sad and shameful to hear that even Vehicles applying on our roads were charged to pay 08Gp at each toll booth but just two weeks ago it has been madly increased to 50Gp by the Government in power. What fraction or percentage is this?? Patti, remember, as our center was once caring for many countries in Africa, we may still have correspondence with many. Even now as I am writing this one, I have just received similar letter from one rev. Fr. Theabald Mwanisawa from Mbeya-Tanzania, east Africa, requesting for 1,200 scapulars from our center here in Ghana. It is good to help him but how can it be; as according to the poor situation at our center now. Anyway “God’s time is the best “We hope to do our possible best at all times. We Know, "To Philomena Nothing is refused". And with God all things are possible!! Patti, by all means you have to send us so many more Rosaries and Miraculous Medal to continue with the precious work at the most possible time. Thank you for your great understanding, Love and generosity. May God bless and reward you more abundantly. Peace is to you, Patti. Yours in Jesus and Mary Anthony Foster Oduro Ghana

Dear Miss Melvin and all those who work with the ULRA for God's glory through our Dear Saint Philomena, Thank you so much for the decades, the chaplets, the cord, oil and medals. My mother and sister and I pray our decade together daily (on our chaplets) and I have my cord on and have not taken it off since receiving it! My family became Catholic a few years ago while I was "away" from them for a while due to issues we'd had, but now that I am back I am starting towards becoming Catholic myself, slowly but surely, and having our decade to pray together each night has been wonderful. It is an amazing thing to know our prayers are joined with the prayers of so many others around the world! We became aware of Saint Philomena due to a dear baby with many, many health problems being born to some friends who named her Philomena Rose. All your prayers for her and her family would be appreciated. In the love we share for Christ, our Mother and their beloved little Philomena, Jenn United States

Dear Patti Melvin Thanks immensely for your prompt response to my request which inflamed me with great delight and the joy of going out to capture more souls for Jesus and Mary. Accept my heartfelt gratitude. I am indeed grateful. May the Good Lord reward you abundantly for the wonderful and great work you are doing for the greater glory and honor of His Name. I received the box on the third of March 2010. It was in tack as you parceled. It was OK. You can airlift a larger box by the same address that is my address. Please, Patti, accept my heartfelt condolences on the occasion of the loss of your Sister, Mary Francisca. On first Friday the 5Th I prayed the Stations of the Cross, and I prayed the fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary for the Repose of her soul. I will continue to pray for the repose of her soul. As you rightly said, to die is to fall in the arms of Him who loves us most, so, with this in your mind be consoled that death is not the end, it is only a passage to Our Heavenly Father, our home land is in heaven. So, know that Franciscan is in Heaven. Dear Patti, you have a wonderful gift, keep it flourishing for the greater honor and glory of Our Lord Jesus Christ. I do enjoy and admire the enriching and soul searching reflections you write in the Dedicated Decades and also in the leaflets and pamphlets. Thanks so much for all. Thanks for the Saint Philomena Oil, Dedicated Decades, the 2010 Calendar that carries wonderful reflections for every month, Rosaries, pamphlets, leaflets, the ABC Rosary, etc. Thanks for your letters, and for the sacrifices you make every day for the people of God. Courage! I will continue to pray for you. Thanks to all the Priests and all those who are working with you and to all our benefactors. May God bless and reward you all. I will keep praying for you all. May God continue to bestow on you strength, wisdom and knowledge, and all the graces you need to continue to carry out His work. Thank you a million times for all. I am praying for the healing of your mother. Let us hope and trust that Our Lady Health of the sick will channel our request to Her Son Jesus Christ. Please, Patti, are the Rosaries you sent already blessed or I still have to give them to a priest for blessing before I give out? Another question that people are asking is about the Luminous Mystery, will it be added with time? Wishing you a very wonderful and fruitful Lenten Season. Stay well. God bless. Sr. Mary Florence Angwe (Tertiary Sister of St. Francis of Assisi)

Monday, March 1, 2010 Dear Director, I just received the two parcels of religious articles from Bangkok. They are beautiful and much appreciated. As I am going for pastoral tour I will be able to share to people. These will make them happy and more prayerful. Villagers always love to have something from their bishops and these are the best gifts. How much I love to give an item to each of the many Catholics. I thank you very much for this beautiful participation in my Mission, works of evangelization. I know the troubles you are taking in gathering, packing and mailing. Many thanks also from each of the recipient of your gifts. Now that I have an Auxiliary we will be able to share and give to people. Yours in deep gratitude and appreciation, God bless you and continue to give health and peace! Mary protects you and help in all your undertakings. Sincerely yours, + Sotero Phamo and Auxiliary Stephen Tjephe Bishops of Loikaw Myanmar