At a recent celebration, Fr. Robert Fortin, A.A. was honored by the Northeastern Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem of which he has been a member since August 28, 2002. The occasion was to recognize and to thank him for the work he did in Jerusalem.

After a Mass in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit at Assumption College, the award ceremony took place during a reception for the Knights and Ladies of the Worcester area at the Tatnuck Country Club in Worcester. In the presence of H. E. Robert McManus, Bishop of Worcester, and of more than 50 guests, including several Priest-Knights of the diocese, the award was presented by H. E. John J. Monahan, Lieutenant of the Northeastern Lieutenancy.

I first met Evariste Misigaro two years ago. Though he told me that he was from Burundi, I immediately noticed how he was fluent in Swahili, a language not spoken widely in Burundi. So I asked him where he learned Swahili. And boom! Everything came out: a painful story of a life of which more than half has been spent on the move.

I know I am lagging behind Fr. Dennis' account but·I have so much to say.

Tuesday was a traveling day for us. After breakfast with the seminarian community, we had enough time to clean our room and we left at 10:30 AM. We rented a car so that we could stop along the way to see some of my friends who now serve as pastor or assistant and to visit some of my family’s friends who have been with my family in all the many difficult moments of life. When we said good bye, the director of studies told Dennis that it was a mistake when Dennis let me plan the trip. It only takes 3-4 hours to drive from Da lat to Phuong Lam; but if Dennis was coming with me, we would need a day…because I had to make so many stops…. I did not tell Dennis too much about this, but I thought that he would give me enough space in which I could be myself in this context and that he wouldn’t mind having another new adventure.

The Assumption Language Center started along side the delegation’s Martin Yen Residence Program for Asian seminarians, religious and priests in July 2009 by providing English language training to the Martin Yen residents. Since then, the center has extended its services to other religious, seminarians and priests of other religious congregations and communities due to a perceived need to provide contextualized language training for this specific clientele.