The whole world of Consolata missionaries had celebrated the thanksgiving Mass for the Canonization of St. Joseph Allamano, except the New Jersey community. This is why on March 22, 2025, the Consolata missionary community of this part of the US, organized this feast.
By Peter Ssekajugo *
For this ceremony to be well done, the Superior delegate of DCMS, Fr. Peter Ssekajugo, involved many people in the preparation. These were the Consolata Missionaries living in New Jersey, together with the regional office team, St. Augustine parish team led by the pastor, Fr. Bob, the Knights of Columbus of O’Grady Assembly, of which Fr. Peter was a Chaplain, the Cornerstone men’s group and the Consolata prayer group.
The Mass which started at 11:00am, was presided by Bishop James Checchio, of Metuchen Diocese, was concelebrated by various priests and permanent deacons of the diocese. The bishop asked Fr. Peter to give the homily so that he could preach better about St. Joseph Allamano.
One of the elements that made the Mass so lively was the participation of the Kenyan choir of Metuchen Diocese and the Mary Immaculate Sisters of Nyeri, founded by Bishop Filippo Perlo, who have communities in New Jersey, New York and Georgia. According to the parishioners of St. Augustine Parish, this was the first time that such a beautiful Mass was celebrated there. There was a mixture of songs, English, Swahili and Kikuyu, which brought about the diversity and catholicity of our Church.
In his speech, bishop Checchio thanked the Consolata Missionaries for inviting him to celebrate this Mass and praised them for their long presence in the diocese. Fr. Bob thanked the Consolata Missionaries for their support to St. Augustine and other parishes and for bringing the joy of Allamano’s feast to his Church.
Allamano was a channel through which God has worked
In his homely Fr. Peter Ssekajugo told the congregation of Joseph Allamano, the founding of the two institutes, our mission, the miracle and the canonization ceremony last October in Rome, and the feasts that followed in Turin.
“The joy that was experienced in Rome and Turin during the canonization pilgrimage was an affirmation that just as the joy of the good news is shared, its fruits are also shared in community, in the Church. The Consolata missionaries could not and cannot live this joy alone. Just as they shared the Gospel, they must share its joy.
Allamano’s canonization, for us his followers, is an affirmation from God that his charism and mission are gifts that God gave to the world through our Founder. That means that Allamano was a channel through which God has worked missionary wonders in the communities evangelized by us. What Allamano preached was inspired by the Holy Spirit. The founding and the sending of the Consolata missionaries was the first miracle, then the cure of many sick people, like that of the Indigenous man in the Amazon Rain Forest in Brazil”.
Allamano did God’s will
Now, God is telling him: ‘Joseph Allamano, the good you did you did it well. Come to the altars. Come to the place preserved for those who do my will’. His canonization invites us his followers to be where, our head is, for invites us to be ‘first saints, then missionaries.’
The fact that the miracle that led to the canonization of Allamano took place in one of our big missionary options, the indigenous peoples of the Amazon Rain Forest, is a reminder that God never forgets the lowly, the forgotten, the least, the children, the women of the world. That the Word of God continues to assume flesh and camp among his people. Still, the happening of this miracle in the Amazon people is a reminder that the evangelization can be done from the periphery to the center, from the Amazon to Rome.
After Mass, all the participants were invited for lunch in St. Augustine’s cafeteria.
* Father Peter Ssekajugo, IMC, Superior delegate of DCMS.
