Catholic Connection – July 26, 2013 – Hour 1

Fr. Christopher Owczarek, a Salesian of Don Bosco, was ordained priest in 1987 in Poland, the same year he got his Masters degree in Theology from the Catholic University of Lublin. He asks his superiors to be allowed to work as missionary in Africa. His request was accepted, but he was to go first to Rome to do his biblical studies there with the view of his future work in formation of seminarians studying for priesthood. He got his degree in Sacred Scripture at one of the most prestigious Catholic schools — Pontifical Biblical Institute, and left for Kenya in 1991. After four years of work in Africa, he returned to Rome for his doctorate studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University, which he completed with a dissertation on the Love of Enemies in the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. Fr. Chris has taught Scripture in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and even in Rome and Jerusalem. He has also done pastoral work “in missionary trenches”, two years in a mission parish with 16 outstations and two years in a junior college in semi-desert of the central Tanzania.