Father Gordon Rees from South Africa shares his missionary journey and experiences.
I am the fourth child of seven (4 brothers and 2 sisters), I am also blessed with 5 nephews and 4 nieces, as well as 6 great-nephews and 2 great-nieces. All my schooling and tertiary studies were done in Pretoria. I worked for 2 different companies for a total of 15 years as a computer programmer, systems analyst and project manager. I enjoy nature, gardening, 70’s & 80’s music, cooking and watching international rugby, football, athletics and cricket.
After a year of discernment and a guided retreat, I responded to the Lord’s call to the priestly missionary life and entered the Comboni postulancy. After completing my studies in philosophy, I was admitted to the novitiate of Namugongo, Uganda.
During this time, I also did pastoral work in a reformatory and with street children in Kampala and taught English in a school in Kasala for 3 months. There were 12 of us who took our first vows in May 1998. I was sent to Rome for my scholasticate, studying theology at the Gregorian University and later pastoral theology at the Angelicum.
In January 2002 I made my perpetual vows and in March I was ordained a deacon with 5 other confreres. I was ordained a priest on 17 August 2002 by Archbishop George Daniel in the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Pretoria.
My first missionary assignment was to Colombia (South America), where I arrived in November 2002. I worked in Aguachica, Cesar, and at the end of 2003 I was sent to open a new mission among the Afro-Colombians in Tumaco, Nariño, founded in 1570 and famous for a Eucharistic miracle that took place on 31 January 1906.
At first, we lived with the Carmelite Fathers. Then we rented a small house near the new parish of the Resurrection.
We lived among the people, sharing their daily reality of lack of basic services, violence, killings, gangs and drug trafficking. We had no personal transport and did all our own housework. We gave priority to spiritual and human formation and set up an after-school study centre where the children could come and do research for their homework and assignments on the computers or access the many books in the library.
We organised a large Campaign for Life (and Peace) in the diocese and especially in all the barrios (sectors) of the parish. We trained “Missionaries for Life” who visited each house in the parish, explaining the campaign and inviting them to make a commitment for life and peace. Each house was invited to put the stickers and posters of the Campaign on their doors and walls.
We also paid for adverts on all the local radio stations calling for peace and respect for human life, and had large banners and flags made calling for respect for human life. We also set up an Afro-centre to promote cultural identity, where Afro music, dance, theatre, art, handicrafts, sports, etc. were presented or taught. We have also given priority to the training of catechists, youth and the group of missionary children (4 to 14 years).
I returned to South Africa in 2012, first working as the administrator of WorldWide magazine, before being appointed by the Vatican in July 2014 as the national director of Missio for South Africa, Botswana and eSwatini. From the outset, I have endeavoured to change the common perspective of Missio as just another collection, to that of an instrument of formation, information and promotion of the universal mission of the Church, enabling each Catholic to actively live his or her missionary discipleship.
My visits to the various dioceses and meetings were meaningful and I was able to appreciate the hardship and poverty experienced by so many communities. It was truly uplifting to see the relief, hope and transformation that Missio projects have brought to the lives of so many. Our annual face-to-face meeting with Pope Francis was always special; I was fortunate to be able to communicate with him in Spanish and he kindly agreed to sign his book ‘The Name of God is Mercy’ during such a meeting. As National Director of Mission, I spent a month with a family of the Phom tribe in the north-east of India.
The remote village of Longleng is beautiful, with seemingly endless hills, gorges and jungle, and thick clouds cover the valley in the morning. Most of the houses are built on the hillside and made of bamboo and corrugated iron. The majority of the inhabitants are Baptist, with only about 30 Catholic families. I attended the ordination of a young man from the tribe and enjoyed the inculturated liturgy.
It seems that I was the first foreign missionary who had ever come to live with them. It was so enriching for me to live with people who struggle so much and have the bare minimum in life, yet are so joyful and willing to share what little they have, even with strangers.
From July 2019 I was Provincial Treasurer until June 2023. My missionary work has taken me to many other countries (Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, eSwatini, Zanzibar, Zambia and India) and I have learnt a lot from their different missionary realities.
Finally, last June I was appointed as assistant priest in a Comboni Parish, St Joseph in Roehampton, in Archdiocese of Southwark (South London). Pope Francis rightly says: “The Mission is at once a passion for Christ and a passion for his people”, without passion one cannot be a real missionary. With this same spirit I look forward to working in the UK, learning from this multicultural society and sharing my mission and faith experience with others. (Photo: Fr Gordon with young people from the 2024 Summer Camp).
