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June 27, 2025Seminarians at the Pontifical North American College in Rome typically spend their first summer abroad – studying a language or doing mission work. Here are two reflections from seminarians on their experiences during the summer of 2024 and the 2025 summer seminarian assignments.
Learning from a military chaplain in Japan
By Jakob Pohlman | Special to The CFP
The lands of sunrise and sunset you fill with your joy (Psalm 65:8).
The harmonious singing of cicadas in the afternoon, ancient temples with incense burning to strange deities, the mottled-gray of steel-clad warships.
Japan has always been for me the sort of place which I read about in books growing up, more legend and mystery than reality. But last summer, I entered into the land which I had often dreamed of visiting in order to shadow a Navy chaplain, Father René Pellessier, LT, CHC, USN. Father Pellessier was the Catholic chaplain assigned to Command Fleet Activities Sasebo, one of many United States Navy installations on the island of Japan.
Throughout the summer, I followed him around, learning about the life of a Navy chaplain. As a seminarian co-sponsored by the Archdiocese for Military Services, I am on-track to serve as a chaplain in the Navy for a few years following my ordination. There are currently less than 50 Catholic priests serving in the Navy worldwide. While most dioceses have 1 priest for every 1,250 to 1,500 people, the military statistically has one priest for every 25,000 service members.
Some Catholics in the military will go for months without the sacraments.
Thanks to Father Pellessier’s generosity, I spent three months learning about his lifestyle and ministry and the great flexibility and discipline required from a chaplain. We rose early each morning to pray a holy hour and workout before reporting to the office. Father celebrated Mass at noon, and we continued working until the evening, either cooking dinner or finding something in the town. From learning a bit of Japanese, teaching English in Japanese elementary schools, leading the base-chapel choir, inputting sacramental records, to attending meetings, I was constantly busy during the summer, finding different tasks and adventures.
We celebrated Mass on top of Mt. Fuji, stayed with Augustinians in Nagasaki, and brought gifts to Missionaries of Charity in the hot-spring town of Beppu. I am exceptionally grateful to Father Pellessier for the opportunity he provided me, and I learned much from him. Most of all, I was impressed by the vitality of the faith on the base and in Japan. Even though the communities are small, they and the priests who serve them are mighty in spirit and steadfast in faith.
Please pray for all chaplains currently serving in the military and for an increase in vocations to America’s Armed Forces.
From Central Mass. to Tanzania
By Christopher Tillotson | Special to The CFP
Three summers ago, after daily Mass at Mary, Queen of the Rosary Parish in Spencer, I met Father Andrew Mlele Mtaki, a priest of the Archdiocese of Tabora in Tanzania. Tanzania is an African country located on the continent’s East coast, just below the equator. Father William C. Schipper, pastor, introduced us and told me that Father Andrew had never been to the area before and that I may be interested in showing him around the local area. Another friend and I got to know Father Andrew when we took him fishing on Lake Lashaway in East Brookfield and then shared lunch at the 308 Lakeside restaurant. We had a wonderful time, and at the end of the meal, Father Andrew thanked me for showing him around and said, “You must come to Tabora someday. You would be most welcome.”
I was intrigued by his offer but realistically thought that it would be a stretch to visit anytime soon with the schedule of seminary formation.
From left, Worcester seminarian Christopher Tillotson, Father Peter Kulwa at Ussongo Parish and seminarian Laurent.
You can, therefore, imagine my surprise in July 2024 when I was on a flight after a layover stop in Cairo, Egypt, bound for Dar Es Salam, Tanzania. I was headed to a remote part of the Archdiocese of Tabora to assist as a seminarian at Ussongo Parish. I learned that the Tanzanian people are amazingly friendly, and making guests feel welcome is deeply ingrained in their culture. I was determined to understand why the Church was vibrant and growing in Tanzania, mirroring the growth elsewhere in Africa. The answers to that question emerged slowly, but the vibrance was immediately recognizable.
On the first day in Tanzania, the rector hosted me at a minor seminary with over 250 young men from around the country who were in seminary formation. I was impressed.
The next day, I found myself on a turboprop plane bound for Tabora with an archbishop emeritus and a priest from the parish I would be assisting. They both were returning from the Eucharistic Congress in the United States. When we arrived in Tabora, I met the pastor and drove to the parish down dirt roads for about two and a half hours.
Ussongo Parish was not just alive but thriving with the sacramental ministry. The people were welcoming and ready to share their resources with me – a stranger. Within my first days, I partook in Masses of thanksgiving for two newly professed religious sisters and a Mass of thanksgiving for a new deacon. I attended the anointing of the sick and served many funeral Masses at family homes. Additionally, I gave conferences to hundreds of students at the St. Thomas Aquinas Parish School.
While there, I understood a very special feature of the Tanzanian parish structure. While there is one parish with 3 priests, there are 10 or more outstations where the people come for the Holy Mass because many in the parish boundary live too far away from the church building. Few families owned cars, but many rode bikes or motorcycles. In each outstation, there are groups called small Christian communities. These groups allow families to come together under a saint’s patronage to pray and share their joys and struggles. This openness to sharing the faith and supporting one another, I think, is a key way that God’s action is made manifest in the parish.
I am thankful to God for the kindness of my new and old friends in Tanzania, and I was very encouraged by their faith.
2025 SUMMER SEMINARIAN ASSIGNMENTS CAN BE FOUND HERE