Sulpicians: Emmaus Spiritual Centre, Zambia

Emmaus Spiritual Centre, Zambia

Fr. Timothy Chikweto

Sulpician candidate Fr. Timothy Chikweto has been a priest in the diocese of Kasama, Zambia. He is joining the Sulpicians because of his keen interest in the formation of local priests as a contribution to the local Church. He says, "I believe formation work can best be done within the context of a team, a family with a common goal and under the same guiding principles."

Fr. Timothy has had a distinctive seminary education. He attended Libushi Minor Seminary in Kasama; St. Augustine Major Seminary and St. Dominic Major Seminary. He also received a BD in Scripture from Rome.
From his perspective as a family member – he is one of six children – he highlights the importance of the ministerial priesthood to the life of the Church. "To form a good priest is to affect and shape the life of the Church positively. We should strive to form Zambian priests who are sound in mind and spirit."

While in the diocese, Fr. Timothy has been a chaplain of Santa Maria Mission Hospital, taught 12th grade physics and English, and been part of a district AIDS task force. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, volleyball, and teaching Math.

"For me, the most rewarding thing about being a formator is to know that I have been part of the spiritual growth and discernment process for seminarians," he says. "Even more gratifying would be to see a good number of them serving in future as good and effective priests."

One lapse of a bishop's memory changed his life
Fr. Ed Frazer, a former Sulpician Provincial and current spiritual director and advisor at Theological College, remembers being attracted to Africa long before he went to the seminary and was ordained in 1961. But he began his life in the priesthood in his diocese in Montana, far from the heat and challenges of Africa.

"My bishop was planning to send me to a Benedictine seminary," he recalls, "but he forgot to reserve my place, so I ended up with the Sulpicians, which has made all the difference. One lapse of the bishop's memory changed my life."

Fr. Frazer believes the 10 years he spent teaching and serving as a spiritual advisor at two of the three seminaries in Zambia changed his view of the world. "Zambia is one of the poorest countries in Africa and there are so many people dying of AIDS, leaving grandparents to raise many, many grandchildren," he explains. "I came away from my experience much more aware of poverty and our need to help those in its grasp. Now I am an active member of the social justice committee at Theological College." He also points to other changes in his day-to-day life. "I'm less materialistic then I was. I can't bring myself to waste money on a new car. That money can be put to better use helping people in need."

Helping men to become much-needed diocesan priests
Back in the mid 1980s, Fr. Frazer was asked to go on an exploratory trip to Africa to find out how the Sulpicians could support the African bishops. After visiting the three seminaries in Zambia and talking with the faculty there, he returned to the U.S. and recommended that the Sulpicians go to Zambia. "Working in the seminary in Zambia was a good way for us to start, not just filling a gap, but working toward the long term goal of welcoming Zambian priests into the Sulpicians so they can lead their own seminaries."

"In Zambia, they can't ordain priests fast enough to replace the missionaries who had served as parish priests and in many other capacities. They are a dying breed," he continues. One of Fr. Frazer's former students at Emmaus Spiritual Center posed the challenge succinctly: "There won't be good diocesan priests in Zambia until we have good diocesan priests on the seminary faculty." That transformation has begun.