I thought some sort of explanation might be necessary for my absence from the Ink Desk over the past ten days or so. It was due to a recent trip to the ghettoes of Kingston, Jamaica, to gather research for a forthcoming book on Father Richard Ho Lung and the Missionaries of the Poor. For those who are not aware of the work of the MOP, their charism is “Joyful Service to Christ on the Cross”, a painful paradox that encapsulates the work they do with the poorest of the poor. Founded in Jamaica in 1981 with only three brothers, the MOPs now have around 550 brothers in missions in India, the Philippines, Uganda, and even, oddly enough, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

During my trip, I visited several MOP centres for the sick, the handicapped, and the dying, in the midst of the crime-ridden ghetto in which the Brothers have their monastery. I attended a centre for handicapped children who had been abandoned, many suffering from Down Syndrome and autism. I also visited a centre for older children and adults with similar disabilities, a center for the elderly, and a hospice for those dying of AIDS.

Whilst I was there, the new Holy Innocents center was inaugurated, which will house mothers and babies. In his homily at the inauguration Mass, Father Ho Lung made an impassioned plea that Jamaica resist the efforts by secular fundamentalists to promote abortion in the Caribbean island. It is to be hoped that the new centre will save the lives of many children who would otherwise be slaughtered on the altar of convenience erected by the hedonistic Herods of today’s culture of death.

I return to Jamaica in a little over a week to record interviews with Father Ho Lung and other MOP brothers. I’d be most grateful for prayers that my work with the MOP might bring forth a fruitful harvest.