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As soon as I opened the envelope and saw the newspaper article my Dad had sent me I began to get angry. The photos just said it all: In one, a fat, well dressed African man in a black leather jacket who also happened to be the nephew of our president: in another, a line of emaciated African workmen. My blood began to boil. My eyes then moved down to the bottom photo: eight of the fleet of seventeen vehicles owned by the president’s nephew in all their glory. Jaguars, Porsches – you name it.
This man was the owner of a large gold mine in South Africa. The overworked men in line were the workers at his mine who hadn’t been paid for three months. This you must to witness to actually believe and understand why Africa is the way it is: Total greed and corruption that dulls the consciences of leaders who started off promising their own people hope for a better life.
A conviction that has been forming in my mind and heart over the years as I think about my beloved continent is the fact that it was never completely evangelized. At the time when Europe was at the height of Christendom, Africa wasn’t even on the map and then passage was totally cut off by the Muslims who conquered the North; afterwards in the great age of exploration and evangelization, missionaries would try their best to penetrate but could not survive against the diseases and lack of funds from their congregations. Consequently much of Africa remained without the seed of the Gospel and even more basically – of the Christian virtues that have been the foundation of law and order in the West for centuries. No matter how bad many may think Barak Obama is, I am sure he thinks he is acting for the good of the American people. In Africa, it’s all about how much the leader can get out of it.
In Zimbabwe, the dictator Robert Mugabe sits in luxury and has an entire street patrolled for his safety while his people are literally starving, have to wait three days in car lines to get gas, and toilet paper is a sought after luxury on barren store shelves. He who promised his people he would speak for them and improve their way of life has crippled a once beautiful country and has left to rot fruitful farms whose owners were driven off by thugs with machine guns.
It is possible to steer an independent African nation out of misery. Christian president Paul Kagame of Rwanda proves it. He emerged out of the genocide with hope and conviction that Rwanda could be rebuilt and because of his Christian values did away with the race distinctions and is striving to serve his people – a rare quality among African leaders. Hope is possible, but evangelization is needed to form the future leaders of Africa.
Our Lord came “not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” and until African leaders realize that to lead means to give their lives for their countries and not to fill their pockets with all they can while they are in office, Africa will remain what she is today; but should they follow the example of the Lord, Africa can become the gem God created her to be.
“It is trust and only trust that brings us to love” St Thérèse of Lisieux
Little Adrienne often saw her grandfather’s car parked outside the parish adoration chapel. Daily adoration of his Lord in the Blessed Sacrament was as natural as breathing to grandfather Rolwes. He passed on his love for Christ and his Catholic faith to his fifteen children – the sixth of which was Adrienne’s father. In turn, as the oldest of ten, Adrienne grew up in St. Louis absorbing the traditions of the daily family rosary, Mass on Sundays, and devotion to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Her grandmother’s favorite phrase, “The family that prays together stays together” still rings clear for her today.
In Adrienne’s 6th grade (1992) her grandparents and parents were instrumental in founding a small Catholic school in St Louis. Her father’s unshakeable belief in the integral formation program of the school in forming his children in the faith was the bedrock of her attendance at the school all the way until senior year. When asked why she didn’t send Adrienne to one of the other prestigious catholic schools her mother replied:
“When I get to heaven God will not ask me if my daughter was on the soccer or debate team; he will ask me if she is here.”
As it turns out Adrienne had many leadership opportunities -founding the school newspaper and sports teams and playing lead roles in school plays.
In her 7th grade Adrienne met the consecrated women of Regnum Christi. Heidi Seubert became Adrienne’s spiritual guide throughout high school. Adrienne always felt very close to Jesus and had even heard him whisper his call to her heart but she tried to push it aside with activities, a boyfriend, plans for a happy marriage like that of her grandparents and parents, and finally a year at Franciscan University of Steubenville studying English literature and high school education.
During freshman year at college Adrienne was invited by a consecrated woman to become a Regnum Christi coworker – a volunteer for one year to serve the Church. Adrienne found herself in Rhode Island the next summer for her training. During six weeks of intense prayer her relationship with Jesus blossomed. And during her eight-day silent retreat she switched from the coworker program to the Candidacy program – trading a year of volunteer service to a lifetime of poverty, chastity and obedience. November 26th 2000, the feast of Christ the King, was the day of Adrienne’s consecration to Jesus. As a college student, she had fittingly received “spousal love for Jesus” as the virtue on her patron saint card of St Thérèse of Lisieux on Christmas Eve. St Thérèse had always been a faithful friend to Adrienne and a spiritual role model in her growth in holiness.
“I feel that God treats me the same way he treated her. I identify myself very much with St Thérèse and I feel like she understands me. Her simplicity and radical trust in God are what I love most about her. My favorite quote of hers is, ‘It is trust and only trust that brings us to love’.”
After her consecration Adrienne studied at Mater Ecclesiae College and Monterrey, Mexico. Since then, she has worked at Mater Ecclesiae, Overbrook Academy in Warwick, RI and the Highlands School in Dallas.
When asked what has helped her to persevere in her vocation these eleven years– especially in these tumultuous times for the Regnum Christi movement – thirty year old Adrienne with her beautiful smile and blue, blue eyes replied:
“Jesus proves over and over again that he is faithful. My whole life he has made it so evident that he is faithful so I couldn’t not trust him now. I feel like God is giving me the gift of faith in abundance in these times so as to share it with others. I have a lot of peace about our process of renewal because my love for and trust in the Church and our Holy Father has always been very deep in me, so if they are telling us to go ahead then I am fine. I also feel a strong call to pray and to pray more. It is in prayer that we receive the virtues of faith, hope and love. The weeks I pray more, take extra time for adoration, it’s easier, and I am able to see things with faith. The weeks I pray less are more difficult. The more Jesus transforms me in prayer the more ready I will be for what he will ask of us. Maybe it should be harder for me than it is but if God is giving me the gift of peace I am not going to stress.”
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