The ‚Canons Regular of Jesus the Lord‘ is the title of a new congregation of priests and brothers. Its members are especially active in the prison ministry – an important pastoral apostolate in the Church. Through the encounter with Christ – who died for all sinners – many former offenders have thereby found the strength to begin a new life. Once they are able to acknowledge their sins, repent and ask Our Lord for the grace of inward healing, miracles can often happen in the lives of such people, many of whom have gone off the rails already in their youth. Some have never known anything but violence; strangers to mercy and sympathy until they themselves were able to experience this mercy, to understand that God himself is love, through encountering people who treat them with genuine respect and sympathy. And equally, for the families who have suffered greatly as a result of one of their members breaking the law and being imprisoned, the support of these prison chaplains has been an enormous help. At the same time these priests and brothers also work in the parishes, giving religious instruction in the schools and teaching young people basic skills, for example in gardening and agriculture.
Since the year 2014 the congregation has enjoyed the full recognition of the Indonesian diocese of Maumere. It has 60 members today, many of whom are still undergoing formation. They strive to support themselves by hard manual labour, growing fruit and vegetables and rearing cattle.
Nevertheless, this young congregation has had great difficulty covering the cost of the formation of its 25 seminarians currently in training. And so their Superior, Father Yohanes Marinus, turned to ACN, confident of our support. And thanks to the generosity of our benefactors, we did not disappoint him but were able to provide 10,000 Euros so that his seminarians can continue their studies. Now Father Yohanes has written on behalf of them all to express his heartfelt gratitude for your generous support.
