Damien Diouf from the Hull (England) community shares about his ministry:
Since 2023 I’ve been preaching for the missions in England. Dioceses and deaneries are assigned to congregations yearly by the Catholic Missionary Union and this allows me to visit various parishes and talk about the Marist charism and our missionary apostolates. At the end of Mass, I stand at the door with a basket and envelopes collecting funds which are ultimately distributed through the General Administration in Rome.
My background in Africa as well as our historical documents such as the edited letters of missionaries are of great help. Despite their small size and advanced age, parish communities show a real interest in missions, and this gives an opportunity to meet and share with parish communities and their pastors, who are often alone, not far from retirement and with health concerns.
Last April, Fr. Kevin, our Provincial, asked me to get involved in the area of vocations in England. In August, I joined a youth festival in Ampleforth, in northern England, and met the coordinator of the National Vocations Office of the Catholic Bishops' Conference in England and Wales. This enabled me to participate, in November 2025, in a national meeting of vocation promoters that he organised, with an interesting presentation given by a Spanish Claretian. At this meeting, I joined the northern network, which regularly reflects on the vocation ministry of religious members accompanying young people in university chaplaincies. I later joined our Marist team in London and we are preparing an exciting vocation weekend for young men to be held in early September 2026 at Notre Dame de France.
Damien Diouf sm
