October 2011 - Familia Comboniana 690

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

General Secretariat

The General Secretary extends his sincere thanks to all the confreres who sent him their details regarding their academic qualifications and the languages they know. Those who have not yet done so are kindly asked to reply as soon as possible.

Holy Redeemer Guild

October              01 – 15 P               16 – 31 RSA

November           01 – 07 SS            08 – 15 TC          16 – 30 T

Prayer Intentions

October – Let us pray that we may increasingly conform our personal lives and our missionary service to the life-witness of our Founder, Saint Daniel Comboni, as we confidently invoke his intercession with the Father. Let us pray.

November – That by remembering our deceased missionary brothers and sisters at Mass and at prayer, we may keep alive the memory of their lives, their works and their witness of fidelity and perseverance to the end. Let us pray.

BRASIL DO SUL

A Comboni Missionary at a session of the Court of Human Rights

The Comboni Missionary, Fr. Saverio Paolillo, who works in the field of Ministry to Minors in the Archdicese of Vitória, Espirito Santo (Brasil), at the invitation of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights went to Bogotá on 25 August, 2011, to describe the situation in the juvenile prisons of Vitória, following a judicial process, initiated by the Comboni Missionaries, which culminated on 25 February last, with the Court compelling Brasil to adopt precautionary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological safety of juveniles in prison.

Brasil and the State of Espirito Santo had asked the Court to abolish the precautionary measures, maintaining that all the problems had been solved, but the Court rejected their request and, having attentively heard the arguments presented by the Centre for the Defence of Human Rights in Serra, decided upon an adjournment of thirty days to examine the evidence presented by the two parties and to make a final decision.

The State, in order to avoid the trial in the Inter-American Court, had adopted the method of mass transfers, thus reducing the number of juveniles from 200, at the start of the year, to 37 at present. Today, both in the old prison and in the new ones, there have been dozens of accusations of physical and psychological violence against the juveniles. Because of this, we have asked not only that the measures are kept in place, but that they are also applied in all the juvenile prisons of Espirito Santo State, especially in those where the minors, formerly in the Vitória prison, were transferred.

The report of the Centre for the Defence of Human Rights in Serra, presented 84 violations during the period alone in which the measures were applied. The more serious accusations regard juveniles handcuffed to the bars of the cells with arms outstretched, and the case of Jefferson, a boy of 13 years who, during the entire period of his imprisonment, was subjected to sexual abuse and other forms of torture by those with whom he shared a cell, while the authorities failed to take action.

“By adjourning its decision, the Court indicated that it believed there are questions to be answered. For us, this is not yet a victory. Our purpose is to compel all the institutions to really commit themselves to resolving the problems and to eradicate the practice of torture. We are ready to continue to provide financial aid and to cooperate in attaining the objective of creating a social and educational system which will help these adolescents to break away from their involvement in crime and to become part of society as citizens exercising their rights in harmony with those of others”.

COLOMBIA

Assembly of the Treasurers of America and Asia

From 15 to 21 August, 2011, the Assembly for Treasurers from the provinces of America and Asia was held at Bogotá (Colombia). Among the themes discussed there was that of the implementation of the Chapter decisions and especially the practice of the Total Common Fund.

The Assembly marked an important moment in the development of the Comboni Missionaries in the continent towards greater sharing and responsible witness.

Various representatives of different civil organisations from Colombian society gave their contributions on the theme of “An Economy of Sharing”.

CURIA

Comboni Year of Ongoing Formation

The 15^th edition of the Comboni Year of Ongoing Formation (CYOF), commenced on 23 September, 2011, in Rome, at the Centre for Ongoing Formation of our Institute, located in what was once the scholasticate. This is the first time it is being held in Rome. The previous editions, attended by 232 confreres, were held in Mexico City (8), and in South Africa (6).

The last General Chapter decided to establish the CYOF in Rome and to alternate it with the Comboni renewal Course. In this way, a new stage in this initiative of ongoing formation is commencing and is open to all Comboni Missionaries who have completed 10 to 15 years of missionary service.

There are at present nineteen participants of whom eleven are from Latin America, five from Africa and three from Europe. Fifteen of them have worked in Africa, three in America and one in Macao, China. The coordinating team members are: Fr. Danilo Cimitan, Bro. Guillermo Casas Rosell and Fr. Siro Stocchetti. With Fr. Manuel João Pereira Correia they make up the Central Commission for Ongoing Formation.

At the opening meeting, each participant, besides introducing himself, described how he felt as he began the Course and what his expectations were. Most said they were happy and grateful for the opportunity, a gift of God through the Institute. After years of intensive missionary work, they all said they felt the need for a break to regain their physical and psychological energy, to deepen their spiritual lives, to rediscover their initial enthusiasm and, where necessary, to heal the wounds which are part and parcel of missionary life.

Some explained that they had not planned to do the Course but, since they were here anyway, they wished to take advantage of this Sabbatical Year to grow spiritually and humanly. The Eucharist of the official opening was presided over by Fr. Antonio Villarino, assistant general, who welcomed the participants on behalf of the General Council, inviting them to make the best possible use of this period for their own benefit and that of the mission.

ETHIOPIA

Emergency in Ethiopia

Mark Banga, Comboni lay missionary (CLM-NAP) working with his wife Maggie in Southern Ethiopia, sent an update on the emergency programs being implemented by the Vicariate of Awassa.

“I am part of the emergency taskforce asked to plan the response of the Catholic Church through the Awassa Catholic Secretariat, the main coordinating office for the Vicariate. Another CLM-NAP, Tracy Doyle, a new arrival to the province, is also a member of the taskforce. We completed and participated in three different needs assessments, and now we have finalized our plans to begin implementing three emergency programs beginning immediately. My wife Maggie, who is a health professional, will be heading to Dadim health centre, in the Borana area for the next couple of months to assist the launching of the emergency feeding programs for children and pregnant/breastfeeding mothers. The Sisters of Charity working there are truly wonderful and they have a big task ahead, so they asked Maggie to come and help as best she can. As for Tracy and me, we will carry on to work on the administrative and management side here in Awassa.”

In their report, these three CLM have expressed their gratitude for the donations they have received and they thank the efforts made so far to help our brothers and sisters in need.

ITALIA

In memory of Fr. Pietro Zuani

Thirty years after the death of the confrere Fr. Pietro Zuani, on Sunday, 11 September, the community of Peri (Verona) – in whose cemetery Fr. Pietro is buried – held a memorial celebration in his honour. His family members and friends, who have not forgotten him, requested that a Comboni Missionary preside at the celebration. As a result, during the Sunday Mass, Fr. Elio Boscaini, from the Mother House, briefly remembered in his homily the figure of this missionary who, in Uganda, among the Madi, gave the best of himself in visiting and forming Christian communities. The Institute initially had asked Fr. Pietro to serve as novice master at Ardrossan (Scotland), then as formator of postulants at Alokolum, in Uganda, and, finally, as father master. Unfortunately, he was unable to take up his post as, just at that time, the first signs of the illness which would end his life on 10 September, 1981, at the early age of 45, started to appear. Fr. Elio reminded the congregation that the village families of that time, mostly poor small farmers, were well aware that the greatest gift they could give to the people of Africa was the gift of the Christian faith. And how many missionaries were given by those families to the missionary Church!

Fr. Pietro never forgot his peasant origins: not simply in his love for the fields, the flowers and the trees, but also in his ability to wait patiently and his sense of that Providence which comes in its own good time.

In conclusion, prayers were offered that the Lord should continue to call the youth to follow him in the missionary service.

KHARTOUM

Comboni School opened in the outskirts of Khartoum

On 9 September, 2011, the Archbishop of Khartoum, Cardinal Gabriel Zubeir Wako, blessed a large primary school built on what was once a dump for rubbish and manure, in the outskirts of Khartoum. It was remarked that nothing grows on diamonds but a manure heap can produce beautiful flowers and even a big school like this one at Izba. The project goes back some years, originating in a vast pastoral plan of restructuring and reorganising the parish of Khartoum North and its centres. The Comboni Missionaries carried out the laboured process, overcoming many obstacles, some of which still exist. The Sisters of Charity of Saint Giovanna Antida have taken up the challenge of running the school, built to serve the people of this marginalised area (Mostly Nubians and Darfurs), both Christian and Moslem). Faithful to the inspiring vision of St. Daniel Comboni, the project’s purpose is to promote the regeneration and development of the poorest and most abandoned of society.

Some may be surprised at this news since, following the independence of South Sudan, some people believe that, since the Christians have left for the South, the Comboni schools – those of the Church – should be closed and transferred to the South.

It is, in fact, true that many Christians have gone to the South and many of the schools that were built for them (when they came to the North because of the long 1983-2005 civil war) are now closed. However, not all Sudanese Christians went to the South and there are still about fifteen primary and secondary schools and a university college still open in the North, both to Christians and Moslems. It is to be hoped that the government does not place obstacles in the way of this experiment in ethnic, cultural and religious pluralism.

Consecration of the Archdiocese to the Sacred Heart

Following a tradition which goes back to our Founder, St. Daniel Comboni, Cardinal Gabriel Zubeir Wako, during a great Eucharistic celebration attended by faithful from all the parishes of the capital, renewed the consecration of the Archdiocese of Khartoum to the Sacred Heart. He recalled that the consecration made by Daniel Comboni concerned the whole of Sudan and should therefore be renewed and kept alive in all the dioceses of Sudan.

The ceremony took place on 11 September, anticipating by a few days the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. In his homily, Cardinal Zubeir explained the meaning of the Consecration and how every Christian may live it in their daily lives. He also recalled how Comboni carried out this gesture of confidence in times that were truly dramatic in the life of the Church, not far removed from the present times of the Church and Christian people in Sudan. Despite the great exodus towards the South in recent months, the people attended in great numbers and with immense devotion and participation in the joyful and well-animated celebration.

MOÇAMBIQUE

Commemorative year of Comboni Presence in Mozambique

On 24 August, the Comboni Missionaries inaugurated a commemorative year of the their presence in Mozambique, the conclusion of which will be celebrated on 24 August, 2012, the twentieth anniversary of the death of Bro. Alfredo Fiorini, a Comboni Missionary doctor killed by guerrillas in 1992. Fr. José Luis Rodríguez López, provincial superior, wrote to his confreres asking them to take this opportunity to consolidate the missionary spirit by commemorating the historic events of the Comboni presence in this country on the shores of the Indian Ocean.

Fr. José Luis addressed his missionaries in these words: “Every moment we spend in the mission we are travelling on a journey and writing our history. Naturally, these experiences remain impressed upon our minds and, especially, on our hearts. We need to strengthen our provincial communion through the events which have marked the outlines of our work during our missionary presence in this Mozambican Church from the beginning.

As was pointed out during my visits to the communities, next year (on 24 August, 2012) we shall celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the death and martyrdom of Bro. Alfredo Fiorini. We have chosen this event to consolidate our missionary spirit and to ensure the continuity of the historical and charismatic memory of our province, presenting it as a means of animation and formation (Chapter Acts, 2009, no. 12.3). For these reasons, we wish to begin a year of prayer and provincial communion, keeping the memory of the historical events of our missionary presence in Mozambique”.

Meeting of the CML working in Mozambique

The meeting of the lay missionaries working in Mozambique was held this year from 28 to 31 July at the Comboni house in Cabaceira, a short distance from the “Ilha de Mozambique”, north of Nampula. The meeting dealt with various topics including The CLM Vocation, presented by Fr. Alfredo de Sousa; the reading of the reports of the CLM communities of Maputo and Carapira; the revision of the CLM in the Mozambique Directory; the formation of Mozambican CLM; the election of the new coordinator of the CLM in Mozambique; participation at the First Meeting of CLM of Africa to be held in Uganda in December and, finally, new arrivals and departures of CLM.

We wish to underline the following two points among the others mentioned above.

1. Activities of the CLM communities. The community of Carapira is made up of Lourdes Vieira (Brasile Sud) and Carlos Barros (Portugal) and their priority is the Trade School. The community of Maputo is composed of Vanessa Pereira (Brasile Sud) and Liliana Ferreira (Portugal). Vanessa works in the Escolinha Comboni-Marinette, while Liliana teaches information technology at the Escola Comunitária S. Francisco Xavier.

2. The formation of Mozambican CLM. It was deemed necessary to revise the CLM Directory so that it takes into account not only lay people coming from other countries but also lay persons from Mozambique. A plan of formation for Mozambican CLM was made which involves two years of formation and a one-year experience in one of the CLM communities.

PORTUGAL

Silver Jubilee of Ordination

Fr. Luís Filipe da Costa Dias celebrated his 25 years of priesthood on 28 August, in communion with his confreres, his friends and the parish community of Gosende, Castro Daire (Portugal). Taking part were a good number of the faithful from the parishes and the diocese of Aveiro where the missionary exercised his priestly ministry for a year. It was a manifestation of appreciation and friendship. During the Eucharistic celebration, Fr. Luis Filipe called to mind his vocational journey during these past 25 years and thanked God for His faithfulness. At present, Fr. Luis Filipe is working in missionary animation at the community of Famalicao, in the north of Portugal.

Together with Fr. Luis Filipe, the Comboni priest Fr. Avelino Goncalves da Silva Maravilha was also ordained and celebrated the Eucharist in thanksgiving for his 25 years of missionary priesthood on 21 August, 2011. The location chosen by him was his first parish in the missions, Doba, in Chad, where he was parish priest from October 1993 to June 1996. “During these 25 years there have been problems, difficulties and stormy times but all these were overcome and were transformed into grace. The goodness of God is indeed great!”. Fr. Avelino, who was born at Penude, Portugal, on the occasion of his 25 years of priesthood, wrote to his friends inviting them to join him in thanking God for his priesthood: "It was on 30 August, 1986, in the cathedral of Lamego that I was ordained priest. Now 25 years have gone by and it seems as if it were only yesterday! The beauty of youth and strength of body have waned, the beard is whiter – almost entirely white, in fact, as is my thinning hair, but it is with even greater joy, energy and enthusiasm that I carry on and thank God for the gift of my priesthood".

Provincial Assembly

The theme was “The Comboni Community as Promoter of Vocations”, as the Provincial Assembly of the Comboni Missionaries working in Portugal was held at Maia, from 5 to 8 September. Besides the Priests, Brothers and Novices, some lay people, representatives of the former Comboni students, of mission promotion, youth and vocations ministry also took part in the meeting.

The first day was devoted to ongoing formation and was directed by the Jesuit master of novices Fr. Carlos Carneiro for whom “that which generates the possibility of the call is the vocational witness the religious community gives of itself”.

The Portuguese Province is in the process of making a profound reflection on vocations ministry at a time in which the Church in general and the Institute in particular, are facing an ever greater reduction in the number of vocations. It is in this context that it was launched the Comboni Vocations Year, an initiative which draws the attention of the Christians and the Comboni Missionaries themselves to the problem of vocations. The aim of this Year is not to bring about vocations but to help the Comboni communities to examine themselves as to their coherence of life and their vocational witness. In this it is considered important and necessary to improve relations within our communities and to strengthen more brotherly community bonds among the confreres. The fact that this year, 2011, two young men have been admitted to the postulancy and a further three have entered the novitiate at Santarem, bringing the number of novices from Portugal, Spain, Italy and Poland to seven, is a good and hopeful sign for the Comboni Institute in Europe.

The Provincial Assembly reaffirmed its desire to involve the laity in the activities of Comboni mission promotion. The provincial superior, Fr. Alberto Silva, exhorted the missionaries to create and accompany “Cenacles of Missionary Prayer” and parish missionary groups since these are already among the priorities of the province of Portugal for the current six-year period.

SOUTH AFRICA

Meeting of coordinators for Ongoing Formation

The coordinators for Ongoing Formation (OF) of our fourteen provinces and delegations of Africa gathered in Pretoria (South Africa) from 1 to 6 August, 2011. It was the gathering of the “Continental Council for Ongoing Formation”. The participants were sixteen: one representative for every circumscription and two members for the Central Committee of Ongoing Formation (Fr. Siro Stocchetti and Fr. Manuel João Pereira Correia). The main purpose of the meeting was to give a new impetus to enhance the work of Ongoing Formation and to foster the provincial committees for OF, as called for by the General Chapter.

The meeting was opened and moderated by Fr. Girolamo Miante and Fr. Tesfamariam Ghebrecristos W., the continental coordinators for OF for the Anglophone and Francophone Africa respectively.

The program, after a day of introduction to view the reality of the individual provinces and delegations, proposed a reflection on the two main themes: the Comboni spirituality and community promotion.

The meeting was fraternal and very fruitful. There were also some practical difficulties, such as language barriers, as the confreres were from three different language contexts (French, English and Portuguese).

The participants departed with a great desire to do their best to animate the respective provinces and delegations, trusting to find in their superiors and provincial or delegation councils active collaborators in this sensitive service that the General Chapter has described as “the cornerstone of our renewal” (AC 2009, n. 137).

Visit of the Superior General and of Fr. Tesfaye Tadesse

We Comboni Missionaries in South Africa have received the visit of our superior general, Fr. Enrique Sánchez González, and of his assistant Fr. Tesfaye Tadesse G. Their visit started with a preached retreat by Fr. Tesfaye from 5 to 11 September in Pretoria. Their visit was enriching and a sign of communion for us.

From the onset Fr. Tesfaye made it clear that he was going just to remind us of what we somehow already knew and were living. The retreat centred around the theme: “Through him with him and in him”. He helped us to see once again the life of Jesus Christ and that of St. Daniel Comboni as our life model. Furthermore, in a simple yet profound way he led us to appreciate our vocation as a gift, something to be celebrated and to be shared with the people. His sense of humour had a great bearing on what turned out to be an invigorating retreat.

After the retreat, Fr. Enrique addressed us. The first part of his address was formative while the second touched on the reality of the Institute at present and in its future development. Notwithstanding the difficulties, he acknowledged that many positive things are happening and that there is a loud cry within the Institute for radical renewal, so as to enhance our missionary life and service.

Finally, he outlined four points that might facilitate the much needed renewal: prayer, community life, evangelical counsels and mission (an ad extra mentality). It is a call to go back to the basics of our being missionaries.

During their visit to the province, Fr. Enrique and Fr. Tesfaye have also presented the priorities of their administration and how these should be implemented at local level. We feel blessed by their presence and we want to face together the tasks ahead with courage and faith.

Le us pray for our beloved dead

THE MOTHERS: Ana María, of Fr. Gerardo Díaz Jiménez (M); Prassede, of Fr. Giorgio Giboli (MO).

THE BROTHERS: Fr. Leo, of Fr. Marco Martinelli (I); Teodoro, of Fr. Armando Ciappa (I); Gianni, of Fr. Alessandro Pizzi (†).

THE SISTER: Amalia, of Fr. Ramón Arturo Orendáin Camacho (T).

THE COMBONI MISSINARY SISTERS: Sr. Vittoriosa Moretti; Sr. Teresa Rosa Corti.

THE COMBONI SECULAR MISSIONARY: Teresina Gasparini.