The gentle and loving spirit,
tempered with wisdom and an Australian accent take you by surprise when he
speaks. There is a sweetness that only the love of Jesus can bring in this big
chocolate black bear of a man.
Damacius Francis hails from Papau,
New Guinea, Although his Catholic father married a Lutheran, Damacius was
raised and schooled Catholic alongside his brothers and sisters. Damacius says
he never heard the teaching of repentance until many years of turning his back
on the church and living a very sinful life. He practiced confession regularly
throughout his youth but after high school the allure of partying and the wild
life had a much stronger pull on him than being holy. He followed the way of
the world and chose drugs and sex to fill the void in his heart.
A self confessed womanizer, in 1992
Damacius was invited to a renewal retreat by friends from his old parish. He
agreed to go because he had his eye on a certain female who was to attend.
There the Lord began to deal with him and his lack of conscience. He was
confronted with the message of repentance and forgiveness and holy living. God
began to claim him for his own.
He says in his youth he only
learned the catechesis of the Catholic church by memory and rote not by
relationship He had no personal relationship with his priest and although lay
people were appointed to serve in his area, they really didnot have the heart of an evangelist or the
concern of a caregiver to those they were appointed to serve.
The parish priest did not preach
against sin or the message of repentance. There was not personal holiness. The
old people came to church but did not interact with the youth. The linking of
the generations spiritually never happened.
In Papua, the culture is under
heavy modernization. The pull of money, schooling and wealth to bring about a
better lifestyle is rampant. The church is new there as well but as Damacius
demonstrates, if the local parish priest and the congregation are not alive
spiritually, the church will continue to lose its youth.
Thanks to the intervention of a wise and Godly
spiritual advisor, Damacius was encouraged to continue in his pursuit of youth
work. This spiritual advisor found K-teams and Youth With A Mission in Sydney
Australia. He attended his Discipleship Training school in 2004 at age 37.
He hasn’t quit training or growing
in the Lord himself. In 2005, sixteen youth from the Sydney base came to spend
2 weeks with him in Papua, New Guinea, to help encourage the youth of the
church experience a deeper and fuller relationship with the Lord. About 3,000
youth came to hear the YWAM team and experience the power of God. They were
anxious to hear the teaching but also share their culture in a “traditional
night” talent show.
Arch Bishop
Carl Hesse in Papua New Guinea has seen the fruit of this and gotten
behind what Damacius has been doing.Damacius says “Vatican I priests” and sisters never go for what he is
doing but the majority of the “Vatican II priests” are behind him. They are
encouraged about how the youth respond to the Lord and the Church. There is
great strength when the youth see and experience a hunger for the Lord and the
Church grows stronger. Many parishes have weekends established to lead the
youth in a “Life in the Spirit” type seminar. All night prayer meetings
followed up by weekly prayer groups help to strengthen the youth and teachings
supply them with the tools they need to grow in their faith.
Damacius Francis continues to see
the Lord lead him in new ways. He has been adopted by a clan in another part of
Papau, New Guniea. There they have given him land next to the church where he
is in the process of building a discipleship house.
This big gentle man’s message to
the locals is that true repentance will bring a deeper understanding of brotherly
love and Christian fellowship under the Cross of Christ.
This article was written at Youth With A Mission’s Kerygma
Teams Leadership Training held in Pune, India in January 2009.
Gentle Bear
