Learning, studying, learning, studying...

Missionary, always learning

“Why should I still go to school?” - asked once a grade 6 student. Now I have got a perfect answer. The answer is not simply a sentence but it is a person – Fr Irek OMI. Fr Irek is a Polish Oblates who has spent most of his priestly life in Hong Kong and China. He was ordained 20 years ago. 18 years ago he came to Australia where for 2 years he was learning English and then he moved to China where he learnt Cantonese and later Mandarin. One could say that a lot of learning. Well, it is indeed but Fr Irek has got a simple answer: “It is for the people I serve. If you love them you learn for them.”  Even now, after a couple of decades of being a priest he undertook studies to get Masters in Counseling so that he could do a new ministry the Oblates want to start in China. I find it an example of faith. He didn’t do it for himself but for others. Very often people go to do courses because they are interested in the subject or they want to get their qualifications improve. But Fr Irek shows us a different approach, learning new things because you love people and you want to give them the best.

This week we have said a good bye to Father as he returns to his Mission. He is leaving us but he is also leaving us an example of humility and love. In the final days of his stay in Melbourne he was at a retreat with the pupils of our Mazenod College. He could easily excused himself for being busy with packing and stuff but he didn’t. He was spending his final hours among the people he was ministering during his time in Melbourne. I went to help him one day there and I could say how much he loved serving those boys. He is the man of the present day. He doesn’t think about the future if there are things to do today.

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