I have read that the Church considers a country to be a “mission” if it cannot provide its own clergy.
We have quite a lot of Nigerian priests here in Oregon. Mostly they do a good job. They don’t like muzzies at all.
Yes. We spend the summer on an island in Penobscot Bay. There’s a small Catholic Church that has been open in the summers for Sunday Mass since it was first build in the 1890s—by Irish maids who worked for the summer people. Oddly, according to the foundation dates, they finished building their Catholic Church a year before the wealthy summer people finished building the Episcopal Church.
When I first went there, they usually had Priests, who took his vacation on the Island, and did the Sunday Masses. Then, when the Priest shortage grew, they used to send Priests over from the Mainland for a Saturday Mass, which the Bishop said was OK for the weekly obligation—although that may have been questionable.
More recently, we have a priest every other Saturday, alternating with a Deacon, who can say part of the Mass and distribute Communion of Hosts consecrated the week before.
The last several years, the visiting Priests have been Africans. The African Church has its problems, including persecution by Muslims, but for the most part the Catholics there are more faithful than they are in Europe or the U.S. Less perverted by the Spirit of Vatican II.
Our visiting African Priest is very pleasant, and a pleasure to speak with briefly on the porch after Mass. The Deacons are nice, too, but it’s disappointing not to have a full Mass with consecration.
Ping.
So our diocese had a Nigerian over 30 years ago. A number of Indians here now and over the years. This the middle of USA.
We have a priest who had a hit put out on him by Boko Haram. He’s terrific.