So far this week has been great. And it is ABOUT time.

I went to see The Passion of the Christ last evening with my friend Debby Dobrzynski, from Blessed Trinity. It was moving. It was violent. There were a couple of messages that I didn't get. There were more that I did. I sensed the compassion of Pilot, his wife and the Centurian. I was shocked at the violence of the temple guard and the Roman soldiers. It is not a movie one enjoys, one experiences it and it is painful.

When I got home, I had a message from my cousin, Fr. Mike Shea. I am sure I have mentioned him before. He is a Redemptorist priest and a missionary in Thailand. I will attach the biography I wrote about him as it has been months since I mentioned him and it has most of the information about him and his AIDS kids. Anyway, I contacted the Elizabeth Taylor Foundation because I knew she is interested in AIDS causes and the foundation, after due consideration, is sending $10,000 to Sarnelli House. I knew she was a good woman and loves children too, so figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. And it didn't.

I wish you could see those beautiful children that Fr. Mike's mission takes care of. Perhaps I can get Jim to scan a picture in for me to send to you.

Here is the biography. Say a prayer of thanks for goodness and generosity in this world of ours. And a special prayer for Elizabeth Taylor.


Fr. Michael Shea

Fr. Michael Shea was born in Armstrong, Wisconsin July 30, 1938, the eldest child of John W. Shea and Eileen O’Conner Shea.

He was ordained a Redemptorist priest on July 2, 1964. Two years later, on January 31, 1966, he began his ministry in Thailand. His first challenge was learning the language. Then, for nine years, he cared for 12 villages strung along the Mekong River and inland.

His next assignment was in the Loei province, tending some mountain villages and also Hmong refugees in the Vinai refugee camp for six years.

In the early eighties, he built and staffed the Prince of Peace minor seminary, completing the building in 1982 and staying until 1984 when he returned to the Mekong River, staying until 1996 when he became rector and director of novices in Nongkhai in northeast Thailand.

Currently, Mike pastors four parishes. He has also established a hostel for Aids infected children called Sarnelli House in Don Wai. There are 36 Aids infected children in the hostel. Along with the Aids hostel he has a boys home called St. Patrick’s with 17 boys and a girls hospice called Viengkhuk Girl’s Hospice with 36 girls. These 53 healthy children have been orphaned and abandoned, usually because their mothers, dying of Aids were forced out of their homes because of fear of the disease.


The following is a paragraph from Fr. Mike’s Christmas 2002 letter to his friends and family.

“After 3 years with our kids, I have come to the conclusion that God made Christmas especially for children. Each year, after Midnight Masses at our four churches, kids in our hostels perform Christmas skits at the parties. This morning the Vienkhuk hostel girls told me excitedly that they are already having play practice. In their plays, the baby Jesus gets separated from His parents and never sees them again. He wanders from home to home, and the people refuse to invite Him to eat or stay with them. This achingly mirrors their lives before being taken in by us.”


Mike brings photograph albums of the children whenever he comes home, pictures of the children all dressed up for plays or playing or in school. They are all scrubbed and wide-eyed and beautiful. Someone asked him why he doesn’t show pictures of the sick children or as they arrive to invoke sympathy like some ministries do. He said that he lets the kids put the albums together and they want to put pictures of themselves and their friends looking good. Wouldn’t your children?



Last count, Mike said there are close to 100 children under his care now. The government is starting to send them now.

Have a good Wednesday. I'll be thinking of you.

Mary