Leaving their Mark

In this issue of Sandal Prints, we take you to the missions, via Appleton, Wisconsin. St. Fidelis Friary in Appleton is home to our senior friars, with full ADA accessibility as well as on-site health and elder care specialists. While today our friars serve in the domestic missions of the Province on the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations in Montana, many of the friars living at St. Fidelis ministered in the missions in Latin America and the Middle East.

These are their stories of joyful service in the midst of challenging, yet rewarding, circumstances.

Friar Proclaims Gospel to the Ends of the Earth

Br. John Francis Samsa was invested in the Capuchin habit 70 years ago, having entered formation at 18 years of age. His first assignment was in the Latin American missions, ministering for 15 years in Nicaragua and 25 years in Honduras, with about 33 of those 40 years among the indigenous Miskito people. He became proficient in both Spanish and the Miskito language. After retiring from the Latin American missions, Br. John Francis spent the next 10 years helping out in Guam and the Middle East, followed by another six years ministering in the Hispanic parishes in the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona.

“As I say, I have no regrets and it was a very blessed life. As I recall the scriptures, I often think of how the Lord says: ‘you give up family, mother, father, wife, children and land, you're blessed a hundredfold,’” said Br. John Francis. “I can say that I've been blessed a hundredfold. To this day, I've got good health still at 88 and I'm still driving and still helping out... Helping at St. Paul's Home three times a week, Sunday Mass, and also one Mass every Sunday in our Capuchin parish, St. Joseph's Parish (in Appleton). It's been a beautiful life.”

Travel as a missionary in rural Nicaragua was difficult and sometimes even very dangerous. Br. John Samsa recalled seven- hour journeys through muddy roads by mule through the backcountry, and perilous boat journeys making visitation to chapels scattered around the mission territory. But the most harrowing experience was being struck by lightning while repairing a fence in Nicaragua.

“I remember the date, November 17, 1977. There was a rumble on the sky. There were big fluffy clouds. It didn’t look like a storm, but there was a rumble far off... Then there was just a bright light. And Jose, our worker, who was helping me repair the fence, just disappeared before my eyes. And I don't know if I said it or was thinking, what's happening? It was so bright I couldn't see him. And all of a sudden, I felt something on this arm pulled me off the wire. I flew back about 10 feet and I was paralyzed. The heat was coming out my extremities, the hands and the feet. And I looked up at Jose, he was still hanging on a wire. I said: ‘Thank God you're okay. I think I'm paralyzed.’ And all of a sudden, I saw his eyes and I smelt the burning flesh. And he was being electrocuted. And then he went down and I forced myself up and I couldn't resuscitate him. I ran over and got the nurses, but they couldn't resuscitate him. And he died the next day.”

Prior to that, Br. John Francis had made a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico and prayed for the protection of the Blessed Mother, to which he credits his survival on that day.

St. Lawrence Seminary Shapes Friar's Life of Service

Friar Niles Kauffman’s vocation journey was shaped by his years in Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin at St. Lawrence Seminary. “I went to the Seminary at Calvary, those four years were just so formative,” said Kauffman. “To see the wonderful men, Gerald Walker and all the different priests that were there, they were so inspiring.”

Br. Niles ministered in the Latin American missions as a young friar, first arriving in El Salvador to evaluate its suitability as a center for a Capuchin Novitiate. Political instability at that time made the country unsuitable, so Br. Niles moved on to his next assignment in the remote eastern regions of Nicaragua. “I worked in the Lagoon area for six years and that entailed going up from Bluefields on a boat, on my own motorboat, and visiting seven or eight different parishes, mainly English-speaking, a few Miskito, all around Big Lagoon, beautiful area of Nicaragua,” said Br. Niles. “I loved it. And it took me out to go down and visit one community on the ocean too, on the Caribbean.”

After 17 years in Nicaragua, Br. Niles worked forming the next generation of Capuchin friars in Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama. He spent his last year in Latin America in Guatemala. With sojourns in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama and Guatemala, Br. Niles ministered in every Central American country with the exception of Belize.

Following his ministry in the Latin American missions, Br. Niles was called back to the United States to serve as pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Church in Milwaukee for six years. “And when I got there, there was a great movement going on in 1980s for the development of the lay ministry program,” said Kauffman. This led to teaching lay ministry formation for six years at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee. “We had been very involved in that in Central America and so I started promoting the idea of having that in the Milwaukee Archdiocese... and I got involved in that for six or eight years doing a lot of lay ministry formation,” said Kauffman. This was during the years following the Second Vatican Council, as local dioceses around the world sought to implement the many reforms that came from Vatican II.

Friar Moves from Leading Retreats to Leading Middle East Churches

Friar Ben Markwell recalls being told he was as “handy as a bent nail” in his early formation to religious life. But his many years preaching around the world prove just the opposite. Through his priestly ministry, he has brought the Gospel of Jesus to thousands. With a plainspoken simplicity, Br. Ben’s love for the Lord can’t help but draw others nearer to Jesus.

Br. Ben began his Capuchin ministry preaching retreats in Michigan. First in Saginaw and later in St. Clair, Michigan about an hour northeast of Detroit. “So I just loved the experiences, meeting new people all the time. And meeting a lot of young people,” said Br. Ben. “I probably did retreats for about 30,000 teenagers in those 10 or 11 years that I did that ministry. I have wonderful memories.”

From there, the Province called Br. Ben to serve at the other end of the world in the Middle East, where he ministered to Catholic expatriates working in the Persian Gulf states. Ministry in the Islamic world has ties that date to the time of St. Francis of Assisi, who in bold humility crossed the battlefront of the Crusades to encounter and pray with the Sultan of Egypt. Francis moved the warlike Sultan with this prayer: “You are Good, all Good, supreme Good, Lord God, living and true.”

Parish life in the Middle East is quite different from in the West. Mass is celebrated in a building that doesn’t resemble typical Catholic architecture. In a way, the experience gets to the root of the Greek word for church: ecclesia, which literally means “the gathering.”

“Where you've got a church, you're going to a church. But we're a Church gathered in this room or in this building or this whatever," said Markwell. Br. Ben recalls his time in the Middle East with fondness. “I loved the different experiences. And most of those people outside of my compound were Filipinos or Indians from India. And precious people, very devout. And it brought them much joy my coming there and I left with a lot of joy as well,” said Markwell.

Br. Ben continues to preach, helping out at worship sites in the Green Bay Diocese.

The Province gives thanks for the ministry of these friars over many years, and their critical role in shaping our identity as missionary disciples of Jesus and followers of St. Francis of Assisi. Peace and all good!