Paolo Manna was born on January 16, 1872 in Avellino, Italy. As a student at Gregorian University, Paolo felt drawn to the priesthood and went to Milan to become a seminarian at the Institute for Foreign Missions and eventually a priest in 1894. About a year later, Father Manna started his ten years of missionary work in Burma (currently known as Myanmar), only interrupted by bouts of sickness.

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By: Julie Bourbon

Jhoanna “Jao” Resari was looking for a job after graduating from college in Manila, in her home country of the Philippines.
 
“Something meaningful,” she said. “Not just any job.” She prayed for clear direction because, she said, she didn’t know what direction she was going in.
 
“By coincidence or maybe divine providence, I went to a church where they were promoting lay missionaries,” she recalled, but was told she needed three years of work experience before she would be considered for a missionary program.
 
Disappointed but undaunted, she found work as a graphic artist and continued to volunteer in her spare time. Feeling that perhaps she was being drawn to become a religious sister, Resari inquired with the Carmelite missionaries and went on a retreat, but that didn’t seem to be the path for her, either.
 
“It was a commitment I was not ready for at the time,” she said.

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USCMA receives complimentary books about missiology, theology, and spirituality for review. Our feature book this month is Becoming New: Finding God Within Us and in Creation. For this book or a current listing, email Nichole Petty, the USCMA Office Manager.