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43 DENVER CATHOLIC | APR-MAY 2024 H I S WO R K In 2013, Deacon Downey and Mart y officially retired from Lalmba, but their ministry to the Afri- can people wasn't over yet. They shifted their focus from the poor, orphans and widows to another sorely underserved group of people in Africa: Priests. Along with Monsignor Ken Leone, who served as pastor of Spirit of Christ at the time, he and his wife discerned starting yet another ministry that the Lord had placed on their hearts. "The three of us sat down and said, where is this going? What's God doing to us?" Deacon Downey said. "We needed to empower the African people. So what we decided to do was find people that you can trust and empower them with either knowledge or money to improve the lives of the people they serve. We started a foundation called His Work, because it's not our work, it's his work." Right now, they work with 44 different priests in Africa doing development work. They help to build churches, schools and roads, dig wells, and provide grants to priests to help them acquire various sup- plies to help them carry out their ministry. Deacon Downey recalled one priest who approached His Work for money to buy a horse and a pack saddle to he could ride into the rainforest and share the Gospel with the tribes living there. "That's exactly what we're about," Deacon Downey said. There's a striking parallel bet ween the lives of the people in Africa and the people who lived during the time of Jesus, Deacon Downey explained. "When I read scripture, I try to put myself in the lives of the people that are being spoken about," he said. "Whether Jesus is calling a guy to climb a tree, or whether he's multiplying loaves of bread, I try to have a feeling that what we're doing is exactly what he wants us to do. That's why we call ourselves His Work, because it's got to be his, or it never would have succeeded." So what keeps Deacon Downey and Marty going back to Africa after all these years? It's not the beauty of the land, the majesty of the wildlife or the thrill of living in a foreign country. It goes much, much deeper than all of that. "Africa is a beautiful place with beautiful people and wonders. The first time I ever saw a herd of elephants in the wild, it took my breath away. But that's not what Africa's about. Africa's about the people," he concluded. "The people there are different than we are. They look different. They dress different. They smell different. But what they have is something that we don't have. "They've been good teachers. When you go to the university to study, It all fits in your mind. When you go to live in Africa, it all fits in your heart." Be inspired. Be informed. Subscribe online at denvercatholic.org @DenverCatholic Be a Denver Catholic subscriber.