Msgr. Roger J. Landry
National Director, The Pontifical Mission Societies
Journey to Nigeria Day 5
March 9, 2026
Here is the video of today’s reflection.
The YouTube generated transcript for today’s reflection is:
I’m Monsignor Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the US. I’m coming to you on day five of our mission pilgrimage to Nigeria from the minor seminary of the sacred heart in Enugu , Nigeria. This is a place where almost 300 seminarians are preparing to be priests. There’s so much future here. There’s so much hope. We just had mass here in the chapel that you see behind me. It was a beautiful mass in which we were able to ponder together the whole calling of the priesthood to be the love of the sacred heart of Jesus in the middle of the world that Jesus beats with love for us. And one of the ways that he responds is through the ministerial priesthood. And how can we not be thrilled that 300 boys are packing this place in order to receive what they would need one day to be future priests? It was an edifying experience for me. This is the second seminary on our five first five days here and I see so much of the future here. So many of these Nigerian seminarians are eventually going to be ordained and many of them are likewise going to become missionaries like those who are already in the United States of America. I know as I was looking out at these faces that were wrapped in attention at the word of God and at the word made flesh on the altar that some are going to bring that faith to be able to nourish us in the United States. This work is made possible through one of the four Pontifical Mission Societies that I have the honor to run. It’s the Pontifical Society of St. Peter the Apostle which funds the education of seminarians in missionary territories because most of these seminarians come from families that the families would never be able to pay for their upkeep in a place like this. Even though it is poor and simple in lifestyle they just wouldn’t have the money. Most dioceses that the Society of the Propagation of the Faith are upholding with ordinary subsidies we call it their ordinary budget which pays most cases 50% of all their expenses throughout the world. They don’t have what’s left over in order to be able to pay for the upkeep of seminarians. And so as we look at some of the future of the world in these young men and also our future in the United States, we remember that we are co-responsible for the growth of the missions. And it’s because of the support of Catholics in the United States that these places are able to survive. Last year, Catholics in the United States, you gave $2.6 million to the Society of St. Peter the Apostle. And a large chunk of that money came to pay for seminaries like this one. Sacred Heart in Ondo. So, thank you for all of that generosity. Please join me in praying for these seminarians here that God’s work in them might be brought to completion. And please hear their prayers for you in gratitude. There was so much thanks expressed today just for our visit because we represent hope to them that they’re going to be able to pay their bills here and continue on toward the altars as they represent so much hope to us. God bless you.
I’m Monsignor Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies. It’s day five of our missionary pilgrimage to Nigeria. And we’ve come to a really special and sacred place, St. Patrick’s Church, St. Patrick, the great Irish saint. He is not just venerated in the United States, but also here in Nigeria. And I am with Father Augustine Dada, the vice president for the Society of St. Peter the Apostle in the Pontifical Mission Societies and this place is particularly special for him. Why?
Thank you very much Monsignor for coming here. This is St. Patrick’s Church. The church where I had my first communion, where I had my confirmation and where I had my first mass as a priest and uh just coming back in here uh into this church which is the first in the dioceses and so many other priests have um have grown out of this parish. I just have uh memories coming back to me of walking up this altar to have my first communion and uh coming back for confirmation when I was in the minor seminary and eventually being ordained being able to uh serve the community offer mass for them for the first time surrounded by my uncles and my family my brothers and sisters and my brother priests as well and we’ve had several uh family celebrations here when my father died I offered the mass for him right in this church. Both my sisters were married here and my brother as well. So, uh this is very very all ideas I have about the faith and the lovely community which the church offers are grew from here. If you go out of the church, you will see the the mango tree outside. Uh that is also the center of our of our community. So when we finish mass on Sunday, we go right under the mango tree and socialize and uh as children we pray the block rosary, the rosary, we we do that there. And uh all our holy childhood activities were also under that tree. So coming back here and seeing them is just uh it’s like I’m relieving this experiences all over again. So it was about 2 hours for us to get here today going up into the beautiful mountain regions of um of the diocese of Ondo. And so it’s great for us to be able to come back as this church is being renovated. They’re worshiping someplace else. They’ve got a new church built, but the church is always being renewed. It’s always being renovated. And this is the place in which living stones are made to be pillars on the base of which the whole church can build. We’ll continue our pilgrimage soon. I’m Monsignor Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States. We continue on day five of our missionary pilgrimage to Nigeria. You’ve just seen the beautiful cross at the top of a mountain that can be seen for miles all in this mountainous region. It has some of the relics of the true cross of Jesus within the sign of our great triumph. the ladder that lifts us upward to heaven. We’re in the shrine dedicated to our lady of Lord, our mother, who continues to pray for us, including prayer for the types of miracles we need, not only of body, but of spirit. This is a place where Nigerians come especially in the month of February around the feast of our lady of lord to ask her for her help not just for their day-to-today struggles and the types of prayers that they would always be asking but also so that they could continue on the journey up a mountain much deeper than this the celestial Jerusalem following Jesus or son all the way to the father’s eternal right side as we come here on this pilgrimage to this u beautiful Marian shrine that all Nigerians come to. Please know of our prayers for you through our lady’s intercession, for all the good you do in trying to spread our faith, and for all you likewise do in supporting the Pontifical Mission Societies, so that we’re able to turn that generosity over to strengthen the building of the church throughout the 1,130 missionary das territory across the globe, especially the many dioceses here in Nigeria that need our help and are so grateful for it. We’ll be continuing the pilgrimage soon.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download