The community of Carapira welcomes two new CLM

Márcia Costa, who is Portuguese, already worked for two years with the CLM of Mongoumba (picture on the right), in the Central African Republic. On May 20 she left again, this time headed for Mozambique. She went to strengthen the international CLM community of Carapira, where there remained only Flavio Schmidt, a Brazilian, and Liliana Ferreira, from Portugal. In Carapira, the lay missionaries, besides helping in pastoral activities, help the Comboni brothers in the formation of the students of the Technical School, where they can attend technical-professional courses for mechanics, iron workers, electricians and carpenters.

Concerning the sending Mass of Márcia, which took place on May 12, Pedro Moreira, a Portuguese CLM, wrote: “The small chapel of Fetais, in Camarate, where Márcia has lived for the past three months working on the social project “Despertar,” became suddenly big when I became aware of the cultural variety it held. We could not have represented in a better way the richness of the Church, than in this missionary departure Mass, in which African rhythms mixed with different Portuguese accents and Latin American smiles.”

To the point that person responsible for the CLM in Portugal asked himself: “Will the Kingdom of Heaven be like this, overflowing with souls of different colors and happy, praising the Lord, wishing that everybody may someday take part in this most pure and unending joy?” Pedro took the occasion to thank all those who had taken part in preparing this send-off and wished to Márcia, in the name of all CLM, a new stage filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit, together with the people of Mozambique. “I hope – he said – that you will be able to love them as Jesus loves them, and that you will be the visible part of a missionary body to which we all belong. Because we, on our part, will continue to be united with you in prayer and with all that will be needed, so that the Kingdom of God may reach the hearts of all people.”

 
Meanwhile, another Mexican CLM is getting ready to leave for Carapira. She is Beatriz (picture on the left), a native of Sahuayo, Michoacan, who arrived in Portugal on April 5, to attend a three month course in the Portuguese language. Beatriz is studying in the Comboni community of Maia, but she stays with Sandra Fagundes, a CLM, who has worked in Carapira for several years. Sandra, who went to pick up Beatriz at the airport, wrote: “Despite the tiring journey and the difference in time zones, she arrived full of enthusiasm for this new stage, which is part of the journey towards Africa and, more precisely, towards Mozambique.” Sandra then added: “It gives me great joy to realize how the CLM movement is growing and how it ever more united at the international level.”

Eucharist to send Márcia off to Mozambique.

 
Eucharist to send Márcia off to Mozambique.

Eucharist to send Márcia off to Mozambique.

Márcia Costa just before leaving for Mozambique.

CLM: Susana Vilas Boas, Beatriz Sánchez, and Sandra Fagundes.