The John-Henry Westen Show - January 12, 2024


Tanzanian boys are becoming devout Catholic leaders — With your help

Topics
Tanzanian Catholic project worthy of support
Hosted by
John-Henry Westen
Mentioned
Christopher Wendt Mary Antonius Maria Gospel Puma
African leaders reject Biden's anti-family neo-colonialism： Africa Life Forum LAUGHABLY PRO-LIFE： Watch The World's Only Pro-Life Comedian

Episode Stats


Length

17 minutes

Words per minute

147.17

Word count

2,566

Sentence count

230

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

5

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode of the John Henry Weston Show, we talk with Christopher Wendt, a priest and founder of the Diocese of Dar es Sala, about the need for Catholic education in Africa, and how the diocese can help.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 I just felt called by Our Lady to make a climb of the Kilimanjaro. It sounds kind of crazy.
00:00:06.440 My whole life has been a story of crazy ideas, and I just felt called to it. The Kilimanjaro,
00:00:11.620 as everyone knows, is the fourth highest mountain of the world. And I thought,
00:00:15.000 you know, I like to hike. I like to climb. I can take that
00:00:17.320 God-given talent and try to help this place out.
00:00:20.060 Hey, my friends. It's not all that often where you get to see an effort in the developing world
00:00:32.560 that you really, really want to fund. There are a lot of things that, you know, UNICEF does,
00:00:37.380 for instance. They give you pictures of these little children who look like they're starving,
00:00:42.680 and you can help, and they name them, and so on. And then you look into those things,
00:00:47.440 and lo and behold, UNICEF is promoting abortion. They're promoting contraception. All of these 0.79
00:00:54.280 things that are so inimical to what we want to do to help these children. And they're almost using
00:01:00.920 those children as a front in order to collect donations into a scheme that is really anti-Christ
00:01:07.880 and anti-life. So it's very difficult, then, to find a project, because we do want to help
00:01:17.240 especially good projects in the developing world. We're blessed to live in a land of plenty. So we
00:01:22.680 want to be able to share how do we find the good organizations, the good groups that are running
00:01:29.100 programs that are authentic, that are authentically Catholic, that are authentically good and helping
00:01:35.000 the poor. LifeFunder has been around to do exactly that. But I've just come back from Africa,
00:01:43.460 Africa. And in Africa, I was able to see a number of these ventures that were so worthy of support.
00:01:51.460 And as you might know, I was in Kenya, Uganda, in Rwanda, and Tanzania. In Tanzania, I found such a
00:02:00.400 group that is so good and so worthy of support. I wanted to focus specifically with you on that one.
00:02:09.140 It's a group that runs a school for boys, another school for girls, a hospital for the poor,
00:02:19.380 and also a house of studies for those considering the priesthood. It is so faithful. It is so amazing.
00:02:28.120 But it's a work that needs your support. They've got 250 boys in their school, 60 new applicants.
00:02:37.960 They're needing to build a new building just to house them. In terms of the girls' school, it's there. 0.99
00:02:44.200 It's got like 170 students in it. And then there's the hospital for the poor. They need your help.
00:02:49.980 They want to do this house of studies for seminarians or people considering.
00:02:58.340 You know, this is a great work. And with us today, we have one of the people who also was in Tanzania,
00:03:05.420 who can tell us more about it. His name is Christopher Wendt. Stay tuned for this episode of the John
00:03:09.540 Henry Weston Show. Welcome to LifeSite League. What are we? We are change.
00:03:19.980 We are a voice for the voiceless. We are prayer warriors. We are journalists. We are activists.
00:03:49.980 As citizen journalists, we, members of LifeSite League, contribute stories to LifeSite news from across the world.
00:03:59.640 Christ is calling you. He is calling every single one of us to fight. To fight for truth and stand on the front lines
00:04:08.560 with our greatest weapon in our hand, the rosary. The world we are living in is encompassed by evil.
00:04:15.680 It is mocking God, killing babies in the womb, and burning down our churches. And what are so many 0.81
00:04:23.620 of us doing? We are standing by in silence. Or worse, we are compromising and joining the devil's army
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00:04:59.980 Christopher Wendt, welcome to the program.
00:05:01.960 Thank you for having me on, John.
00:05:03.000 Let's begin as we always do with the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father,
00:05:06.520 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
00:05:09.580 Amen.
00:05:10.360 Christopher, you are actually doing some fundraising for this venture already. You're doing a climb
00:05:18.020 of Mount Kilimanjaro. Tell us about that.
00:05:21.260 Sure. I was in Tanzania this summer, and I got to see the place there. Like you said, the school,
00:05:30.500 the hospital, the boy's school, the sisters. And I was struck with what a beautiful picture of the
00:05:37.880 church and how authentically Catholic it was. And I saw the need. And I see the growth, the future.
00:05:46.320 And I just felt called by Our Lady to make a climb of the Kilimanjaro. It sounds kind of crazy.
00:05:53.280 My whole life has been a story of crazy ideas, and I just felt called to it. And the Kilimanjaro,
00:05:59.040 as everyone knows, is the fourth highest mountain of the world. And I thought, you know, I like to
00:06:03.260 hike. I like to climb. I can take that God-given talent and try to help this place out.
00:06:10.240 Beautiful. What was it that really struck you about this work in Tanzania? And what do you think
00:06:17.600 really gave you that fire to go ahead and do this fundraising effort?
00:06:20.760 I was there for a week, and just seeing a picture of the whole life of the church,
00:06:27.100 of how it could be. You have sisters, you have brothers, you have priests, you have the children,
00:06:33.180 you have—they're mostly farmers there. And it's just good people, and so on fire for the faith,
00:06:40.860 the true faith, the ancient faith that we believe as Catholics. And I just—there was a remarkable
00:06:47.180 charism. It is so as it ought to be. Like, it just resonates with our understanding of what the
00:06:53.660 true faith is. And you see it lived out and expressed that way. And I think that really
00:06:59.380 struck me. And then just seeing the mountain and the possibility and the challenge of that. And
00:07:05.720 I thought, if that mountain's so big, maybe if we can get some visibility of that and climb it,
00:07:11.960 have a Catholic climb up to the top of the mountain and really claim it for Our Lady,
00:07:18.600 claim the reign of Mary from there, and see if we could get people to sponsor the climbers so that
00:07:25.020 we can help. In particular, as you mentioned, there are some building that they need to do. They're
00:07:29.700 overcrowded because of the growth. They're not only authentically Catholic, but they are
00:07:33.500 booming and growing. And all they need is us to give a little bit from our own blessings,
00:07:40.360 and that will actually be huge for them. Indeed. Now, you're still looking for climbers
00:07:46.940 as well. This climb's going to happen in July. So I think there's still time to sign up, is it?
00:07:52.620 Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. So we're probably going to cut it off at about 20 people. And so far,
00:07:58.640 we have about five or six people signed up. We haven't really pushed it. We're trying to push
00:08:02.020 it a little bit by being on with you here, John. But if you are interested in supporting,
00:08:07.060 like you said, John, an authentically Catholic cause, one that will really mean a lot and really,
00:08:12.720 really grow the church and really help true Catholics out, and you love a challenge and you
00:08:18.320 want to figure out who you are before Jesus and Mary and do something that's won a chance of a
00:08:23.880 lifetime and do it for a great cause, then consider it. You can go to livefatima.io slash climb
00:08:32.220 and go there and find out information. You can reach out to us there. You can register. But there's
00:08:38.480 time for you to consider it. Take a look at this. This is an interview that I did with Father Antonius
00:08:46.440 Maria, who is the head of the work there, and just talking about and showing us the school,
00:08:53.880 the plans for the building of more school buildings and more buildings to house the young boys there.
00:09:02.220 Um, because as you can see in the video here, the housing conditions are very, very crowded indeed.
00:09:08.760 And these are all poor kids. So they're not ones who can afford lots of things. This is a real work
00:09:15.080 of charity. And it's a work of beauty because their foremost thing is not only to feed the bellies
00:09:23.360 and provide these children with a place to say, it's to feed the souls. And really, this will be the seed
00:09:32.000 of the rebirth of the church in our day. Take a look.
00:09:35.340 So Father, if you can tell us right now, how many properties do you have and what are they used for?
00:09:43.820 Well, we're having some lands. We have schools in them. We have hospitals in them. And also we are
00:09:56.680 a formation house in them. We are having small children cared in one of the convents you didn't see
00:10:04.640 today because we are just running quickly, quickly. But all in all these lands, we are trying to save
00:10:14.640 the needs of the church. Everywhere we are starting a mission, it's for the need of the place. So in the
00:10:21.280 lands we visited, as you saw, there is a need for mission for young people. There is to care for the
00:10:29.120 poor in the hospital who can't go to the very expensive hospital. So we are trying to care for them.
00:10:38.080 And all this.
00:10:39.920 Great. And how many sisters are here in the community? 0.86
00:10:45.120 In this convent in Puma, more or less 70 something.
00:10:50.400 70 something.
00:10:51.440 Yeah.
00:10:52.080 Okay. And then you also have priests and monks as well. How many priests and monks do you have?
00:11:00.640 Here in Tanzania, we are having eight priests. But we are having priests also in Brazil and
00:11:08.320 somewhere in Italy. And one joint in Germany is working with our sisters in Germany.
00:11:16.400 Yeah.
00:11:17.920 Yeah.
00:11:18.240 Beautiful. And how many brothers do you have here?
00:11:21.040 Brothers, we are having here in the Monk Convent you visited, 16 of them. And others are in
00:11:30.240 Brazil and others are in studies somewhere.
00:11:33.120 Good. And then in terms of what you do for the schools, how many students do you have?
00:11:40.240 We are having 252.
00:11:42.880 Wow.
00:11:43.840 Okay.
00:11:44.720 That's a big number.
00:11:45.920 Yes.
00:11:46.880 That's a big number to feed and to give for sleeping and everything.
00:11:51.440 Yeah.
00:11:51.920 It's too much.
00:11:53.360 So you also have dormitories for them and things like that.
00:11:58.400 How are you sustained to do all of this?
00:12:02.640 Well, some friends were helping us, but now they are more and more
00:12:06.960 coming down because they are friends of our mother's founder and they are of her age.
00:12:15.600 So as those people who are friends or schoolmates, they already died also.
00:12:21.680 The new generation in those countries, like in German, are fewer who are seeing to the mission countries. 0.51
00:12:31.120 Now still we have good doctors who are coming, but the ones who are just donating for mission countries,
00:12:37.840 they are more fewer and fewer.
00:12:39.200 So now some parents are trying to help at least a quarter of the costs some parents are doing,
00:12:47.360 but we have to look for funds too for these boys.
00:12:50.480 Because we see that there is a vocation, there is a future of these boys.
00:12:53.840 How many girls are in your girls' school? 1.00
00:12:57.040 We are having now 191 girls.
00:13:02.400 In addition to the 252 boys, there are 191 girls.
00:13:06.000 And still we have a primary school, from preschool to primary school, we have 67.
00:13:14.400 Just a new school now.
00:13:16.000 So all together we are having 570 students to feed and give them to sleep.
00:13:22.320 Okay, okay.
00:13:23.840 And so far it's working, but it's crowded.
00:13:26.160 Yeah, it's crowded.
00:13:27.520 Yes, it's very crowded.
00:13:28.720 There's no way, there's no space.
00:13:31.600 We are looking how to expand it, especially the boys.
00:13:35.760 There's no way to put them.
00:13:37.680 We saw today the sleeping quarters, they're as tight as tight can be.
00:13:43.520 And then the crowds of them, you're going to send us photos and video of the crowds as they're there.
00:13:50.480 You also have something of great interest, and that is you are unique in that you are celebrating Latin Mass.
00:14:00.160 Is the Latin Mass wanted in Africa? 0.99
00:14:02.800 I think it's a question that people wonder, why, who, who, the Africans wanted Latin Mass.
00:14:09.040 Is that really true?
00:14:09.920 Well, you can imagine and you can think that maybe in Africa they are all looking for dance. 0.97
00:14:17.120 Do they think that dance is good for Africa?
00:14:20.240 Well, dance is good for Africa, but outside the church, not in the church.
00:14:25.040 But they think that everywhere we have to dance.
00:14:28.720 No, dance is in our blood, but not in the liturgy.
00:14:35.360 So there is a good question I asked this many places and in meetings with the bishops.
00:14:41.120 I said, you know, there is a wrong idea about inculturation.
00:14:49.200 The word sword talked about the inculturation.
00:14:53.280 To inculturate what?
00:14:54.720 To inculturate the gospel or to evangelize the culture.
00:15:02.320 So if you make a wrong definition, you have another word.
00:15:07.840 To inculturate the gospel, that means to put culture in the gospel.
00:15:13.760 Gospel need nothing, need nothing.
00:15:17.440 Gospel is from above.
00:15:20.720 Christopher, if you could give us your final thoughts on this beautiful movement in Tanzania.
00:15:27.360 If you came and saw what I saw, you would come to the same conclusion that you'd either want to climb
00:15:32.640 the Kilimanjaro and you would feel called like I did to do it.
00:15:35.840 Or you would, if you can't do it, you would want to give whatever you have,
00:15:40.640 $50,000, $100,000, $50,000, even $100,000, maybe stock options.
00:15:45.200 I mean, there are vehicles to do that and you would clearly see the need and you would see,
00:15:54.160 as we have with the interview, and you would also just know that your money is being well used.
00:16:00.800 I've seen them do projects and they are, they work hard.
00:16:05.360 Like the, both the, you know, everybody involved, they're very efficient.
00:16:10.160 Like to build anything like that would be cost 50 times the amount of money.
00:16:16.400 And here they're doing it at a fraction of the cost and very frugally.
00:16:21.200 And your donation will go a very long way to really support the future of the church and
00:16:26.800 bless these people, these fellow Catholics in any other place of the world.
00:16:32.640 Absolutely beautiful.
00:16:33.440 Thank you, Christopher.
00:16:34.640 For all of the Lifesiders who want to support this very, very worthy initiative,
00:16:39.120 please go to lifefunder.com slash Kilimanjaro.
00:16:42.160 And there you will be able to support this incredible initiative.
00:16:46.080 I could not give it any more powerful endorsement.
00:16:50.800 God bless you, Christopher.
00:16:51.600 Thank you so very much.
00:16:52.960 Thank you, John.
00:16:54.000 And God bless all of you.
00:16:55.680 And we'll see you next time.
00:17:07.360 Hi everyone, this is John Henry Weston.
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00:17:24.320 Thanks for watching and may God bless you.