The Passing of Fr. Victor Mosele: The Worldwide Heart of a Missionary

Fr. Victor Mosele meets Pope John Paul II after being freed from captivity in Africa

 On August 23rd, around 4 pm, Fr. Victor Mosele died of Lou Gehrigs Disease in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  In September 2010 he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as ALS, a progressive, degenerative disease of the nervous system. He was in a nursing home since August 3, 2011. In November he would have turned 77 years old, born in San Bonifacio, Verona, Italy.

The Early Years

He entered the seminary with the Xaverian Missionaries in 1946. He studied theology in Franklin, Wisconsin where he was ordained a missionary priest Jan. 6, 1960.He remained in the U.S. until 1976, engaged in missionary and vocational animation, particularly in the communities of San Jose, California, Holliston, Massachusetts, and Franklin, Wisconsin.

From 1971 to 2000 – excluding the two years spent 74-76 Franklin, he worked with great intensity and zeal in the mission of Sierra Leone, West Africa. There he was director and teacher in the Seminary, pastor of the Cathedral of Makeni, parish priest in the parishes of Kambia and Kabala and then, Rector of the main center in the capital city of Freetown.

 The War Years in Sierra Leone
 The Xaverian Missionaries arrived in Sierra Leone in 1950. We started out in the north where the population is predominantly Muslim and therefore the Gospel finds it hard to make inroads. There we concentrated our attention on schools, cooperatives, health care, and the victims of leprosy.

 The Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002) began on 23 March 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), intervened in Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government. The resulting civil war lasted 11 years, enveloped the country, and left over 50,000 dead.

Children whom Fr. Mosele tried to educate were among the thousands kidnapped and forced into the rebel army during the civil war in Sierra Leone. Up to 7,000 children from ages 6 to 15 years old were drugged and trained to conduct acts of violence.

Some of these same soldiers later kidnapped Fr. Victor.  “I was captured by children,” Mosele said. “I was more afraid to face a child soldier than an adult soldier.” Adult soldiers were easier to reason with, where a child soldier was more unpredictable, he said.

The second time Fr. Mosele was captured, the child soldiers help him escape.  Mosele ran for 20 miles, and was carried for 20 miles when he could no longer walk, to reach the U.N. peacekeeping forces.  “As long as the United Nations is there in force, there is hope,” he said. The picture below shows Fr. Victor being taken to freedom.

Last Eleven Years of his life in the USA

Fr. Victor with others at a FOCUS conference of young people

In 2001 Fr. Victor was assigned to the USA to promote the global mission of the church among the youth. “Why working with the college student?” Father Mosele said. “Because that’s where the young people are who tomorrow will be leaders in our society.”

In developed countries like the U.S., the focus of the Xaverian Missionaries – an exclusively foreign mission order – is to bring about a greater awareness of the missionary nature of the church and to promote vocations for missionary work, Father Mosele said. This is a way he can do that. “I am not here to recruit, specifically, I am here to be a promoter of missionary understanding in the church,” said Father Mosele. “And yes, in doing so, if someone is inspired by God to join to the missionary church, here I am and I am ready to help in that line.”

In his work with college students Fr. Mosele eventually became a regional chaplain of Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS). Here he worked tirelessly through the midwest area in the support and training of students involved in this special  program through many colleges and universities nationwide. Answering the Church’s call for a new evangelization, FOCUS, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students, is a national outreach that meets college students where they are and invites them into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and the Catholic faith.

During these years Fr. Victor wrote the account of his captivity and the plight of Sierra Leone during the war years. Reading his book one experiences his courage and the triumph of the human spirit in the face of fear and evil in his account of his time as a Catholic missionary in Sierra Leone, West Africa. The true story of his capture, how he survived two harrowing kidnappings and the risks ordinary people took to save him are testaments to belief in human compassion and love. His book is available at Amazon books HERE.

At this sad occasion of his death we wish to not only mourn the loss of a great missionary of the Church, but to celebrate the selfless and zealous way he lived his life as a missionary of the Church. In everything, he gave his all. We hope to his legacy is an inspiration
for others.