LIVONIA, Mich. — The Eastern Christian Formation students at Sacred Heart Byzantine Catholic Parish heard from a speaker with first-hand knowledge of serving in mission territories.

Brother Ken Kalinowski, a member of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, also known as the De La Salle Brothers, spoke about his three years in Papua New Guinea, the one summer he spent in Nairobi, Kenya, and yet another summer he spent serving in Haiti.

Brother Ken grew up in Detroit, was taught by the Christian Brothers, and felt called by God to join them. Currently, he is on the faculty of De La Salle Collegiate High School in Warren, Michigan. Brother Ken told many anecdotes about his experiences. He got a laugh when he told the students that, after he requested to go to the brothers’ mission school in Papua New Guinea, he was told to get his mother’s permission. He said he protested because he was an adult, but was told that his mother would be the one to miss him the most, so he needed her permission.

Brother Ken told of teaching a class of 50 students with the only textbook being the one held by the teacher. He spoke of the eagerness to learn on the part of the students, with more than 200 students coming in on a Saturday to benefit from more teaching. He also told of the time a large snake came into the classroom and the male students casually killed the snake, as if it was not a big deal.

The places where Brother Ken taught were very poor in material goods, but filled with a love of learning and of God, he said. He would love to return to one of the missions, but was told he would again need his mother’s permission. She is still thinking about it, he said. While she thinks about it, he is teaching at the high school and will be leading a group of students to Appalachia this spring to work with Habitat for Humanity.

The Sacred Heart students will be donating half of the profits from their upcoming bake sale to benefit the students that Brother Ken worked with in the missions. The other half will go to the University of Michigan’s Hearts for Hope program, which offers assistance to heart patients and their families. One of their classmates benefitted from the Hearts for Hope program last year.
 
Caption: Detroit native Brother Ken Kalinowski (back row, far left), of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, poses with the students of the Eastern Christian Formation program at Sacred Heart Parish after speaking with them about the missions. (Photo: Marianne Nagrant)
 
As published in Horizons, April 21, 2019.
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