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Mongolia
Rest In Peace
It
began in 1992 with an invitation. A new government in Mongolia said
they would once again "welcome the presence and work of Catholic
missionaries."
Father Wens
Padilla led the group of returning CICM (Congregation of the Immaculate
Heart of Mary) priests, who had been first entrusted with evangelization
in the country back in 1864. His first task, he told MISSION magazine
in a telephone interview those two-plus decades ago, was to start a
catechetical class to respond to those he found in Mongolia who were
"searching for God and for holiness."
On September 25, Bishop Padilla died at the age of 68, following a heart attack. He
leaves behind his "little flock" of 1,500 Catholics, several new
parishes, health and education facilities, and the country's first
native born priest, Father Joseph Enkh-Baatar, whom he ordained in
August 2016.
The story of
the "world's youngest Catholic Church" in Mongolia was the feature for
World Mission Sunday 2014. Bishop Padilla also participated that year
in a Mission Month webinar for our Diocesan Mission Offices and media
that year, live from Mongolia.
More about
Bishop Padilla is found in the FIDES link below. More about the Church
in Mongolia, 25 years after Bishop Padilla arrived, is found in this link.
"Reach out," Bishop Padilla was quoted for World Mission Sunday 2014. "It summarizes everything that I want to do as a priest,
as a bishop, and as a Christian — to reach out to others. And
Pope Francis is very strong on this, ‘Go out, go there and do something
for the people especially the poor’… Because that’s what I wanted to do,
reaching out to people, to the poor.”
May he rest in peace!
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