Fr. Francis

Let me paint you all a quick portrait of Fr. Francis Sedhu Sessay, my assigned priest and pastor of Holy Spirit parish in Makeni, Sierra Leone. He was born here in Makeni and passed through its junior seminary before continuing his studies and eventual doctorate in Rome. While an intellectual, he very much has his feet on the ground. He is quite active in the parish and its surrounding outposts. He’s almost forty (but “not yet”), and plays volleyball and soccer with the kids on Sunday evenings.

He drives a truck, he loves beer, and he

blasts reggae music as we drive around town. He’s like me, but in African-form. After listening to some contemporary Christian music on our multi-hour trek through the village outposts one Sunday afternoon, he abruptly ejected out the CD. He leaned over and told me, “Ok, it’s getting too religious,” and promptly put in “The Best of UB40.” It was awesome.

He likely will not be nominated for sainthood anytime soon, but it doesn’t matter. I have seen that Fr. Francis is a sincere man of prayer with a devout love for the Eucharist. He’s constantly poking fun at the other priests and getting the Bishop to laugh. The youth all look up to him, and I don’t think I could have been assigned a better (and more laid-back) priest for this African adventure.

-Bob
written 06/01/11