Dear Friends, 
I did not expect to be writing this message quite this soon, however, over these years, you have become very special to me, and I have news I want to share with you. My six years in the United States of America have become amazing, but the time has come for me to return home. This parish has become like a second home/family to me, so it is not going to be easy for me to really say goodbye. I have a strong attachment to the people in the parish as well as the place. For this reason, I promise that I will stay in touch with you and come back. 

My life in America began on Sunday, August 03, 2014 when I first touched the American soil in Cleveland at 7pm after 21 hours of flight.  I was given a warm welcome in Our Lady of Peace Parish in Cleveland. After a time of adjustment and orientation, I started school in the Fall of 2014 at a Jesuit University, John Carroll University in Cleveland. I graduated on May 22, 2016 with MA in Communication. My area of concentration was in the use of social media. I researched the use of social media in the Catholic Diocese of Moshi with a thesis titled “The Analysis of Social Media Among Youth in the Catholic Diocese of Moshi and the Implications for Youth for Faith Sharing.” 
In 2016, I moved to Pittsburgh. I am ever grateful to the parishioners of St. Joseph Verona where I lived shortly before moving to St. Bartholomew, Penn Hills. While in Pittsburgh, I pursued a Ph.D. program at Duquesne University with special emphasis in the use of modern technologies. I successfully defended my dissertation on March 27, 2020 and was awarded a Ph.D. in Communication and Rhetoric. My interest at this point is how to integrate the Catholic message by bringing a Catholic voice in the use of Smartphones in Tanzania. The title of my dissertation is “Catholic Ethic for Smartphones in Tanzania.” 

I was planning to return to Tanzania on June 30, 2020 but due to COVID-19 I was delayed. However, the right time which God knew in his eternity is that I will return to Tanzania on August 27,2020. Detachment is not easy, but it is part and parcel of our mission as priests. On Thursday, August 27 at 8:30 the memorial of St. Monica, will be my departure from Pittsburgh to Washington, Dulles Airport then to Ethiopia before I land in Kilimanjaro on Friday, August 28 at 5:20pm.  The only reason that I can be happy is that I am returning home to share the knowledge and experience which I acquired in the States for six years for the betterment of the Church in Moshi and the Tanzanian community. 
For these six years, I have met so many wonderful people. I thank God who brought you all in my life. I am so indebted that I have no enough words to express my appreciation. You are precious gift of my life. If I begin to mention names, more than the litany of the saints! Please, feel my gratitude and know that “you mean so much to me.” This gives me a reason to promise that I will come back. 

I now join the psalmist in his words “What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me?” (Ps 116:12-13). I thank the almighty God for his constant and unfailing paternal care. He sustained me over these years. Without Him nothing could be accomplished. I still wonder and remain speechless and repeat the words of my souvenir-ordination remembrance holy card when I was ordained 16th years ago: “Who am I Lord God, and what is my house, that you brought me thus far (2 Sam 7:18). 

Having stayed in America for 2,216 days, I am leaving here today with a wealth of knowledge that I will always treasure. To be here has been a fantastic learning experience and I am thankful for the skills and exposure I’ve acquired. I am ready to go and share my learning with my people in the Catholic Diocese of Moshi and Tanzania. 

I am ever grateful to the priests and deacons I have met here in America. They have been to me not only brother priests/ deacons but friends. May God continue to sustain each of you in your ministry. When we celebrate the table of the Word and the table of the Eucharist may we remained united in prayer. Let’s pray for each other that our clergy life becomes more and more a source of joy and peace to the people we meet.  Always in our ministry, let us hear Jesus telling us “Do not be afraid” in light of all the many or daily challenges and difficulties. Thank you for all your support. To the Christ the Divine Shepherd parish, thank you for a nice stay you gave and now I am returning home from your good hands. May God, bless you ALL. 

Our world today is full of negativity. There is a need to stand out and say “BE POSITIVE” and know that “What you tell yourself is very crucial for good or worse.” Know that “the darkness of night cannot stop the light of morning” and always believe that “there will be a good day tomorrow.” 

I love you all! 
I will miss you!
I look forward to seeing you here or in Africa. Know that there is someone you know in Tanzania! I will be honored and blessed to have you come over to Africa and explore its beauty. 

Remember, I will come back, and I leave you with these words “I thank God as remember you constantly in my prayers” (2 Tim 1:3).

Gratefully and lovingly,
Padre Faustine