Father John Barnabas Stephan CMM. Mariannhill Mission Wuerzburg Germany. * 1944 in Herne Sodingen, Westfalia, Germany
Photo 1920
Photo 1972
This house is the place where I grew up.
Here are some pictures of my hometown
Herne Sodingen in Westfalia,Germany 1900!!! Verlag P. Stracke, Sodingen Nr. 5716
View from Gysenberg 1955 Sodingen (Herne Sodingen)
Elisabeth Kranenberg in 1933. The Kranenberg farmhouse was built in 1542.
St. Joseph's Hospital, where I was born. The Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, where I was ordained a priest May 10, 1972.
Josef Rembold, Gerther Strasse, Herne Sodingen
The last ancestor I found was Leonhard Buser, who was born in Kuebelberg, Kusel, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany in 1645 and died in 1720; in 1670, he married Magdalena Hampel (also born in 1645)." Buser, Leonhard was a SHEPHERD and FARMER"
Barnabas led a youth center in Wuerzburg, Germany, for 25 years--from 1967 to 1992. The young people called him BARNY. Since 1993, he has worked in the Medical Mission Clinic and with the Medical Mission Institute, both in Wuerzburg.
The Medical Mission Clinic and the Medical Mission Institute, in Wuerzburg.
The Medical Mission Institute (MMI) is the German Catholic Consultancy for international health work. Founded in 1922 as an initative of Christian lay people, it since trains medical professionals for work in tropical countries (priority: Africa). In addition, it advises and supports Church health services and project partners worldwide. Through lobbying and information in Germany it does advocacy work regarding the human right of health and healing for all people.
Photos: Harald Mueller Wuensche / Wuerzburg
Chapel Missio Clinic Wuerzburg
Mariannhill in the USA
First monk in the USA The experience at Dunbrody taught Abbott Francis Pfanner that to establish a monastery in South Africa he would have to rely on the material and financial support of overseas benefactors and that to increase his number of monks he would also have to recruit new members overseas. And so already on January 4, 1883, only nine days after the foundation of Mariannhill Monastery, he dispatched a monk to the United States to raise money and draw new members.
Permanent presence For three years this brother traveled about without a place here to call his home. For only a short while two others succeeded him, but when in 1899 another one arrived, it was the beginning of Mariannhill’s continuous presence in this country. Operating from a rented apartment in Detroit, Michigan, this brother traveled widely too, personally visiting Catholics in their homes, a technique of soliciting their prayers and alms in support of the African missions after the personal example of Abbot Pfanner traveling in Europe that became traditional with us here until well into the second half of this century. He also began to sell Americans our German and Polish mission magazines printed in Europe. The brothers who succeeded him continued this work.
Printed publications When in 1920 Mariannhill severed its last monastic ties and began in earnest to assume the shape of a modern missionary institute, it expanded its American base. The first priest arrived the next year to join three brothers already here. They purchased their first residence (Detroit, Michigan) and immediately made plans to produce their own mission magazine. From its very beginning Mariannhill learned from Abbot Pfanner the advantage, even necessity, of the printed word to publicize its mission work and garner wide support of it. It also saw, when World War I interrupted the flow of magazines from Europe, the necessity to print its own American magazine. Mariannhill Missionary began in 1922 with four editions each a different language: English, German, Polish and French. Within two years the French and German editions were discontinued because of insufficient subscriptions. The magazine was renamed The Apostle after three years and gradually changed its viewpoint to that of a Catholic family periodical. The Polish edition ceased in 1968, and the English the following year. In 1938 Mariannhill began a second publication, Leaves magazine, a bi-monthly devotional periodical. Popular with many American Catholics from the start, today it counts almost 250,000 subscriptions.
Missionary training In 1923 already, when it purchased a farm near Brighton, Michigan, Mariannhill entertained the hope of opening its own training center for Americans who wished to become members. Not until 1936, when the Diocese of Sioux Falls, S. Dakota, made it an attractive offer for starting a minor seminary there, was its hope realized. But before it could begin, Mariannhill assembled a teaching staff mostly of its own priests from Europe. The number of members here more than doubled in two years: from thirteen to thirty. They were enough to become in 1938 the American province.
23715 Ann Arbor Trail, Dearborn Heights, Michigan 48127
School began at St. Bernard Seminary in 1937. When the diocese sold the school building to the American government at the end of 1943, Mariannhill moved its staff and students to temporary quarters in Brighton. Six years later the seminary was in a new building in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. In 1943 Mariannhill also began its own instruction of its major seminaries in Brighton (St. Benedict Seminary), but twelve years later it ended this. In 1969 it also discontinued St. Bernard Seminary. The first American novice, a brother candidate, opened the novitiate in 1937; the first American-born priest was ordained in 1948.
American region today The house in Dearborn Heights, first opened in 1934, includes the magazine and publicity office, the office of the vocation director, a formation center for future priests and brothers, and a youth retreat center.
The challenge today and tomorrow Since 1899 and 1938, significant beginnings in our province, our ways of supporting Mariannhill’s overseas missions have in many ways changed, but basically our work is still the same: training new members and presenting them for service in mission lands, publicizing their work and supporting it with our prayers and alms. The needs of today call for new methods more so than ever before. Confident of God’s guidance, we adapt to the times so that we may be effective tools in His hand for extending His Church to the ends of the earth.
Monastery Mariannhill in South Africa Natal
Since you have asked, here is my daily schedule:
Weekdays I get up in the morning at 4:40. 5:30 A cup of coffee or tea, some bread and marmalade. 6:00 Prayer, Bible study, meditation. 7:30 Breakfast. 8:30 Team meeting. 9:00-11:30 Visit and talk with the patients in the clinic. Noon Prayer, Lunch, newspapers, a little walk outside. 1:30 Tea. Prepare the sermons and the services for the hospital chapel. Reading, writing letters. Build a web site. 4:30 Prayer and meditation. See patients. Go to those who are near death. 5:30 Supper. Some television. 7:00 Church service with the patients. Night prayer. 9:00 Rest and sleep.
Sundays I get up in the morning at 4:40. 5:30 A cup of coffee or tea, some bread and marmalade. 6:00 Prayer, Bible study, meditation. 7:30 Breakfast. Look through the sermon. 9:00 Church service. Afterward send communion to the patients into the rooms. Visit and talk with the patients in the clinic. Noon Prayer, Lunch, newspapers, a little walk outside. 1:30 Tea. Prepare the sermons and the services for the hospital chapel. Reading, writing letters. Build a web site. 4:30 Prayer and meditation. See patients. Go to those who are near death. 5:30 Supper. Some television. Prayer. 9:00 Rest and sleep.
Mondays, I have a day off.
From August 1st to September 15th, I have holidays.
I like the Island Norderney. Norderney is one of the seven populated East Frisian Islands off the North Sea coast of Germany. The island is 14 km long and about 2.5 km wide, having a total area of about 26.3 km² and is therefore Germany's tenth largest island. Norderney's population amounts to about 6,200 people. In 1946 Norderney gained municipal status and belongs to the Aurich "Kreis" (county). On the northern side of the island lies a 14 km long sandy beach.
I like my work. I do it for our Lord Jesus Christ.
I was telling someone at work about being at the 33rd Field Hospital and now I know where to go on web to show pictures of it. I didnt know it had closed. I was there early 70s. I may have heard about the Agape coffee house, not sure. I know young people were kind of lost souls around that time period. I wasnt interested in religion so wouldnt have gone but have a lot of respect for what I see was occurring there.
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Just as a way to revive my Mariannhill appetite as a 'run-away' Brother, I logged on your website and has never found anything so inspiring and interesting. Thanks for keeping the spirit of Abbot Francis, which I must say many Mariannhillers have discarded in both works and words. Reading about your work fulfils the initial urge I had upon joining the Mariannhillers, and even now that I subsequently left the congregation, I stay feel drawn to its mission and spirit. There is a lot of soul-searching to be done with Mariannhillers around the world but specifically those in Africa, and most importantly those in South Africa( This is where IT all started.
Kabelo Cornelius Maduna
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Leider habe ich damals das originale Agape Coffee House nicht kennen gelernt. Aber ich freue mich zu sehen, wie das Agape Coffee House hier auf diesen Seiten ein neues Zuhause bekommen hat. Viele liebe Gruesse an alle Coffee-Trinker des Agape Coffee House. Insbesondere an Larry Barton und seine Familie (Wie geht es Laura?).
Andre
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Hallo, Andre. Wie gut, von Ihnen und von Karl zu hören! Laura wohnt in Sacramento, Kalifornien, mit ihrem Ehemann und zwei Kindern jetzt. Meine Frau besucht sie im Augenblick. Ich bin noch in Minnesota, den Hoch Shule unterrichtend. Bester Respekt zu Ihnen und Segen vom Gott!
Larry
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Ich freue mich und bin sehr erstaunt ueber das Werden und Wachsen dieser Web-seite. Ich gruesse alle Leser und Betrachter der Seiten. Viele Gruesse besonders an Larry Barton. Karl, Marliese, Theresa, Johannes und Anna Stoerlein!
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