HIGH in the mountains of Timor Leste a monastery is taking shape with support from missionary volunteers and donations from Brisbane parishioners.
The Missionaries of the Poor (MOP) monastery is literally rising through the clouds that often blanket the tiny community of Saburai near the peak of a 1600m mountain in the country’s western ranges.
“It really is a marvellous project,” Brisbane volunteer Tony Harris said.
He is a parishioner from St Rita’s parish in Victoria Point, lending his expertise as a fitter, plumber and water consultant.
“”When I am working I look around at the mountain and I think this really is God’s country.”
In 2015 MOP priests arrived in Timor, invited by the Bishop of Dili to offer corporal and spiritual support to the many disadvantaged and destitute families in the Saburai region, including villagers abandoned by their families because they were suffering leprosy.
Tony Harris and other Brisbane-based volunteers visit regularly to lend their skills and also to help in MOP outreach to poor villages.
“We take food parcels, medicines and blankets,” he said.
“We go with local chiefs and distribute the parcels.”
On a recent trip another Brisbane parishioner, Dr Helen Sadumiano lent her medical expertise to carry out health checks and treat village patients.
“It’s very basic. There is no infrastructure at all,” Dr Sadumiano from St Benedict’s Parish, Mango Hill, said.
She carried out health checks in a community hut, and confirmed that some villagers who had walked for hours to see a doctor showed the remnant signs of leprosy that had now healed.
“They were skin and bones, so malnourished,” she said.
“It’s a surprise that on Australia’s doorstep such poor health conditions still exist.”
Dr Sadumiano said she would like to return with more equipment and medications to carry on her work.
The Saburai monastery will house up to 50 seminarians when it is completed in the second half of 2024, providing a contemplative sanctuary for study and spiritual growth, as well as a base for MOP support to mountain villages.
The project will include a chapel, dormitories and a clinic.
MOP brothers have enlisted local residents to help build the monastery – providing them with regular work and also the opportunity to learn construction skills.
A rock breaking industry has sprung up with the local labourers supplying tonnes of stone for the foundations of the building.
Priests are also working with villagers to diversify their crops with the aim of one day providing a variety of local agricultural produce.
Mr Harris said support from Brisbane parishioners was helping to change lives in Saburai.
“It’s donations from mums and dads – the rank and file that fill the pews each week,” he said.
“MOP brothers use their former professions and skills to do God’s work.
“The project is helping the whole economy as well as enriching spiritual life.”
Mr Harris will use his plumbing skills to deliver mountain spring water to the seminary, and when he returns to Timor Leste later this year he said he hoped to build a 10 foot high grotto.
“I’ve got to find a six-foot Mary,” he said.
