Familia Comboniana 718 - April 2014

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

24^th Consulta – 3-27 March 2014

GENERAL NOTES

From the Ongoing Formation Centre

During the March Consulta, a meeting was held with the members of the coordinating team of the Centre for Ongoing Formation to share information on the work done and on that planned for the coming months. The Comboni Year is coming to a close and will end within the next few weeks, after the spiritual exercises which, for some, will last a month. Towards the end of this year the Course for the over-seventies, lasting two months, will be held and, early next year, the biennial Renewal Course will be held.

We wish to invite the Provincials, Delegates and those interested to contact the coordinators of the Centre and let them know who will be taking part.

150^th Anniversary of the Plan for the Regeneration of Africa

Plans are being made for various initiatives, at the provincial and delegation level, for the celebration of the 150^th Anniversary of the Plan for the regeneration of Africa. We, as the General Council, wish to encourage all to live out this celebration as an opportunity to deepen our missionary commitment.

In the same capacity and, in collaboration with some confreres of the General Administration and the Italian Province, we are planning two events which we hope may be a privileged time for again making our own the missionary intuitions of St. Daniel Comboni.

From 15 to 19 of next September, a workshop will be held in Rome for about thirty participants from all the provinces and delegations, with the purpose of carrying out a reflection that may help us to understand better the challenges and commitment that the mission demands of us today.

In March 2015, a symposium is to be organised in Rome to make known the Plan and its relevance to a wider public, beyond our Comboni environment; it will seek to make of this anniversary an opportunity to express the missionary urgency of our time.

Meeting of Provincials and Delegates in Rome

In February we had a two-week meeting of provincials and Delegates with the General Council. As on other occasions, it included a time of sharing information on the exercise of authority, as well as time spent getting to know one another and in brotherly sharing. The final evaluation was positive and a number of Provincials appreciated that there was time for dialogue and informal sharing of information with all the superiors. An important part of the meeting was the group and assembly work on the theme and preparation of the next General Chapter.

Journeying towards the next General Chapter

Even though it is early days, we have already begun to take the first steps in preparing the next General Chapter. During the meeting of the Provincials and Delegates, a possible theme, the methodology to be used, the type of document we would wish to present at the end of the Chapter, the work to be done on the Statutes, etc., were presented. In accordance with the mandate of the XVII General Chapter, we proposed Bro. Enzo Biemmi as the eventual facilitator to prepare and accompany the work of the Chapter.

During this March Consulta, the General Council received the work done during the meeting of Provincials and delegates and proceeded with the work of drafting proposals to help us to begin the work of the coming months.

During the June Consulta, it is expected that the next General Chapter will be convoked and the process for the election of the delegates who, together with the Provincials and ex ufficio members, will make up the Chapter Assembly, will be started.

We invite all the members of the Institute to start preparing right away for this important event in our life and our mission. During the coming months, useful preparation material will be sent out while inviting all to pray that the Lord may accompany us at this time.

New Comboni Bishop for Uganda

On behalf of the General Council and all the members of our Institute, we wish to congratulate Mgr. Damiano Giulio Guzzetti on his nomination by Pope Francis as Bishop of the diocese of Moroto, in Uganda. Let us ask the Lord to grant him the gift and the grace of a fruitful ministry, according to the example of St. Daniel Comboni.

More prayers asked for Central Africa and for South Sudan

We would like to ask the whole Institute to continue to accompany the difficult and painful situation of our presence in Central Africa and in South Sudan. The situation is still one of violence and threat of war in these two countries. Every day, our confreres have to live in a situation of great tension where it is difficult to keep up their missionary service. For some, the daily tension causes them great suffering and requires much patience to carry on sharing this dramatic time with the people.

We pray to the Lord for the gift of peace and strength for our confreres so that they may courageously continue their service and their missionary witness, despite the limited personnel and assistance the Institute can offer.

NAP Vice-provincial appointed

During the March Consulta we received the results of the votes for the election of the Vice-provincial of the NAP: Fr. John Michael Converset has been appointed to the post.

Commitments and journeys of the GC

Fr. Enrique Sánchez G.

1-24 April: Mexico

4-25 May: Brazil

7 July – 15 August: Mexico

17-23 August: spiritual exercises (in Italy)

24 August – 13 September: Mozambique

Fr. Alberto Pelucchi

17-23 August: spiritual exercises (in Italy)

Fr. Tesfaye Tadesse G.

2-26 May: NAP, visit and two courses of spiritual exercises

2-29 July: Kenya, meeting of local Superiors and spiritual exercises;

                 Ethiopia.

17-23 August: spiritual exercises (in Italy)

Fr. Antonio Villarino

23 April – 20 May: Asia (visit and spiritual exercises)

10 July – 5 August: Spain

17-23 August: spiritual exercises (in Italy)

Bro. Daniele Giusti

10-27 May: Kenya, scholastics’ course;

                   Uganda, ordination of Mgr. Guzzetti

31 July – 12 August: Malawi-Zambia

17-23 August: spiritual exercises (in Italy)

Vatican Appointment

On Sunday, 30 March, the L’Osservatore Romano published the appointment for five years of our Superior General Fr. Enrique Sánchez González as a member of the Department of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

On 28 March, Fr. Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot was confirmed as Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

Annuario Comboniano 2014

The Secretary General, Fr. Umberto Pescantini, wishes to inform all the confreres that the new Annuario Comboniano 2014 has just been printed and that the required copies will be sent to the Provinces and Delegations.

Perpetual Vows

Priestly Ordination

Holy Redeemer Guild

April                     01 – 15 CN                16 – 30 EC

May                      01 – 15 ET                16 – 31 I

Prayer Intentions

April – That both men and women Comboni Missionaries may live so deeply the encounter with the sufferings and resurrection of Christ, that they transmit the great joy of Easter to all. Lord hear us.

May – That Mary, the welcoming woman, may obtain for us from the Father the gifts of allowing God to dwell in us ever more deeply and of remaining faithful to our missionary vocation, happy to serve the peoples so that they may have life in abundance. Lord hear us.

Publications

Fr. Renato Kizito Sesana, Tutti i cuori del mondo, EMI, December, 2013. “Short stories from the outskirts”, meetings with African boys and girls taken from the streets and welcomed into the communities he set up. “Every child – says Fr. Kizito – is more than just a person with rights: they are the icon of that irreducible Other who is God himself … every child is a sister or a brother of that little bundle that Mary cared for in the stable of Bethlehem”.

ASIA

Ordination in the Philippines

Fr. Albarina Moises Rellon was ordained priest on Monday,10 March 2014, in his hometown of Roxas (Zamboanga del Norte). Fr. Albarina is the second Comboni missionary coming from the Diocese of Dipolog in the North-West part of Mindanao, after Fr. Raul Tabaranza, ordained priest in 2004 by the same bishop, Mgr. Jose Manguiran.

Fr. Albarina was accompanied by almost all the Comboni Missionaries working in the Philippines, by a good number of diocesan priests and by his family, friends and hundreds of people from his own town and the neighbouring towns.

In his homily, Bishop Manguiran underlined the blessing of missionary vocations for the diocese and for Asia, where Fr. Albarina will be working during his first missionary assignment.

The same day, in the afternoon, Fr. Albarina presided over a thanksgiving Eucharist in his own parish and the following day in the cathedral of Dipolog city, in a celebration attended by relatives and a number of students from a nearby college.

Silver Jubilee of World Mission Magazine

On March 15, St. Daniel Comboni’s birthday, a joyful crowd of about 200 people gathered at the Comboni Mission Center in Sucat, Paranaque, Metro Manila, for the celebration of the 25 years of existence of our missionary magazine “World Mission”. A copy of the first issue, which came out in March 1989, was brought to the altar during the solemn commemorative Mass, together with the most significant of the many awards received, the Trophy of the entrance in the Hall of Fame.

The Superior of the Delegation, Fr. Miguel Ángel Llamazares González, presided over the Eucharistic celebration, together with all the other seven confreres present in the Philippines as well as many diocesan priests from the neighbouring parishes and the local bishop’s secretary.

After the Mass, a new statue of Comboni was unveiled and blessed to mark the link between World Mission Silver Jubilee and the unceasing presence of the Founder’s charism in the commitment of the magazine which, for the quality of its contents and the many awards received, can be considered an important achievement of the presence of the Comboni Missionaries in Asia.

DSP

Book on Paride Taban

“Ein Afrikanischer Friedensstifter – Bischof Paride Taban aus Torit in South Sudan”. This is the title of the German edition of a book describing Bishop Taban as an African peacemaker. In 2011 the English edition was published with the title “Peace deserves a chance – Bishop Paride Taban, a Sudanese Shepherd”.

The author of the book, Alberto J. Eisman, describes the South Sudanese Bishop as a peacemaker, acting accordingly in his native country of South Sudan. Paride Taban had to experience violence practically from birth. As an old man he succeeded in realizing “Kuron Peace Village”. Moreover, he was a member of a high-powered group that was to find conditions of a truce within the fighting parties in South Sudan in January 2014. Missionaries working in Sudan and South Sudan, as well as people who know something about the country and the Comboni Missionaries, will be interested in this book.

Diocesan opening of the “Misereor Lenten Campaign”

The nationwide opening of the German “Misereor Lenten Campaign” took place in Berlin recently. In the Archdiocese of Bamberg there is the tradition to have the campaign – whose motto is: “It takes courage to give when all take” – opened in one of the parishes. Thus the opening took place in Nuremberg, in the parish of St. Kunigund where we Comboni-Missionaries are present with the new provincialate.

Archbishop Dr. Ludwig Schick presided over the Eucharistic celebration. In his homily he explained the meaning of the motto to give to others which means to establish a better quality of life.

At the event there were two guests: Mrs. Harriet Nakasi and our confrere Roberto Turyamureeba who works as a missionary in the Archdiocese of Bamberg. In the afternoon they both took part in short panel discussions, helping the participants to better understand the situation in Uganda and the projects that Misereor intends to implement or support.

Between one panel discussion and the other, youth from the place provided music. These young people were an image of the population living in the areas around St. Kunigund, where the people live in harmony, though the colour of their skin has different shades, due to immigration.

ECUADOR

First parish named after St. Daniel Comboni

Neither the unending rain nor the heat succeeded in dampening the joy on the faces of the people of San Lorenzo, Esmeraldas, when they gathered for the consecration of their new parish dedicated to St. Daniel Comboni. Mgr. Eugenio Arellano Fernández was present, together with the Provincial of the Combonis, Fr. Rafael G. Ponce, and around thirty missionary and diocesan priests, religious of various Institutes, representatives of the local civil authorities and the faithful of the parish.

The date of 15 March was chosen to mark the birthday of St. Daniel Comboni and the birth of the new parish placed under his protection. The Bishop named a number of Comboni confreres and Comboni Sisters – the last of whom was Fr. Luigi Zanini – who with great generosity dedicated their lives to evangelisation and to the social development of the people. Meanwhile, the older people present nodded their appreciation. The younger participants, instead, contributed to the beauty of the Eucharistic celebration with dances derived from their Afro-Ecuadorian roots.

There are many challenges – the abandonment of religion, violence and poor formation – that await the new diocesan priests, Fr. Julio, of African origin, and the newly-ordained priest Fr. Nelson. They know they can count on the support of the nearby Comboni community comprising Fr. Paul Idra, Fr. David W. Bohnsack, Fr. Séraphin K. Kakwata and Bro. Umberto Martinuzzo. San Lorenzo was a town of 10,000 inhabitants which grew into a city of over 40,000 people, largely due to immigrants from Colombia and also from within the country. The feast ended with prayers to Our Lady on behalf of these children of hers who are starting their journey as a Christian community.

Translation of the mortal remains of Fr. Vittadello

On the same day, 15 March, 2014, in Quito, the mortal remains of Fr. Alberto Vittadello were translated from the parish of Santa Teresina, run by the Carmelites, to the chapel of the private Association of lay faithful “Mary, Mother and Queen of Unity”, co-founded by Fr. Vittadello.

Fr. Claudio Zendron, as the official witness, signed the acts and presided at Mass for the more than 120 members of the group. Fr. Giovanni Battista Bressani also took part in the ceremony and contributed to the increasing reputation for holiness of Fr. Vittadello among the many people who knew him.

ITALIA

Course participants on pilgrimage to Limone and Verona

The second phase of the Comboni Year of Ongoing Formation (CYOF) began with a pilgrimage, from 8 to 20 March, to important places in the life of St. Daniel Comboni. The purpose of this final stage of the CYOF is to allow the Comboni participants, after 10-15 years of priesthood or perpetual vows, to experience even the physical journey of Daniel Comboni by visiting Limone sul Garda, where he was born, and Verona, from where he set out.

During their time in Verona, they visited the Institute founded by Don Nicola Mazza which used to take in and educate poor but promising youths, to eventually find them a place in society. Comboni, as we know, was accepted by the Institute: it was there that he first came into contact with the “moretti” and it was there that young Daniel saw the departure and return of missionaries who ventured into distant and fascinating lands. It was at the Mazza Institute that the love for Africa grew in him.

It was especially beautiful and important – all agreed on this – for them to meet the elderly and sick confreres and Comboni Sisters who are the living history of the mission. “Through their witness and through their eyes – it was stated – one can see how beautiful it is to offer one’s life for the Lord through the mission”.

Decennial of the canonisation

On Sunday, 16 March, 2014, at the parish of Arancio, Lucca, the Comboni family closed the celebrations for the tenth anniversary of the canonisation of St. Daniel Comboni.

Fr. John Baptist Keraryo Opargiw, Secretary General for Formation, presided at a Eucharistic celebration in which all the confreres of the community of Lucca, the Secular Comboni Women from the community of Carraia and the people of the parish took part.

In his homily, Fr. John Baptist said: “My presence among you today, a missionary priest from Uganda, far away in the heart of Uganda, is a small sign of the catholicity of the Church. The message of salvation is addressed to all. Missionary commitment involves the entire Church. This is the prophetic universality that St. Daniel Comboni always tried to practise. Comboni sees Africa as a resource for the world as it is for the Church. He really believed in Africa and the Africans at a time when prejudice against the continent was widespread. In Comboni we find a model of total and permanent identification with those to whom his message was addressed. A fantastic and up-to-date missionary method! Comboni made common cause with the Africans just as Pope Francis teaches us when he speaks of the true shepherd with the odour of the sheep about him”.

After the Mass and having thanked the Superior of the house, Fr. Antonio Patanè, the gathering continued with a fraternal meal at the house of the Comboni community.

MEXICO

Silver Jubilee of Ordination

On 2 March, 2014, we joyfully celebrated the twenty five years of priesthood of Fr. Francisco Munguía Granados, at the parish of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, at Sahuayo, Michoacán.

The family of Fr. Pancho lives close to the Comboni seminary so the procession started there – with about twenty priests and many people of the area – and accompanied Fr. Francisco to the place of the celebration.

The church was full with friends and family members. The Mass was presided over by Mgr. José Luis Amezcua, Bishop Emeritus of Colima, who, as a young priest, worked as curate to this Christian community, following the footsteps of the confrere being celebrated.

The Comboni seminarians gave a missionary tone to the celebration with lively songs and various signs of universality. The faithful took a full part, thanking God for having allowed one of their sons to represent them for many years in Kenya.

Missionary feast

An endless line of people came and went to the Comboni seminary of San Francisco del Rincón, Gto., to celebrate, as is done every year, the great feast on behalf of the missions.

During the days before the feast, various people took on the task of visiting factories and businesses in the neighbourhood, asking for a contribution and inviting people to come and take part. The concelebrated Eucharist was presided over by Fr. Fernando González Galarza, the formator, who happily announced he would shortly be returning to South Sudan.

Another memorable moment was the testimony of Fr. Pedro Pablo Hernández J., a missionary in Ethiopia, who also had set up a display of photographs of missionary scenes, an initiative that allowed the people to approach this population of brothers among whom the Comboni Missionaries have been working for many years.

Golden Jubilee of Perpetual Vows

Coincidentally on the feast of St. Joseph, various members of the Comboni community accompanied Bro. José Godínez Pérez as he celebrated fifty years of perpetual vows. The ceremony was carried out in the chapel of the continental novitiate of Xochimilco, in the presence of family and friends who joined in the joy of the elderly missionary who dedicated thirty years to the missions of Kenya and has now returned home for reasons of health.

The Mass was presided over by Fr. Erasmo Bautista Lucas, Provincial Superior, who referred to the 150^th anniversary of the Plan of Comboni, noting that the figure of the missionary Brother is part of the charismatic intuition of our Founder.

During the celebration, Bro. José shared his memories of the first years when the Comboni work began in Mexico and its remarkable development in subsequent years. He also spoke of the challenges he had to face such as that of learning the languages and the times of suffering and sorrow caused by the violence that marked some periods of his missionary life.

PORTUGAL

Week of Missionary Animation

From 10 to 16 March, 2014, the Portuguese Comboni family organised a week of mission promotion in two parishes of Viseu to celebrate the ten years since the canonisation of St. Daniele Comboni.

The participants – CLM, Seculars, Sisters, Brothers and Priests – enlivened the parishes of Nossa Senhora do Viso and Rio de Loba, organising meetings with children of catechism groups and the school, Masses, vigils, missionary rosaries and other activities on the theme of “With Comboni on a prophetic mission, today”.

People were asked to cooperate in the Zo Kwe Zo project to provide water, medicine, food and other essentials to the pygmies of Mongoumba, in the Central African Republic, and to buy missionary books. All the participants considered the week of mission promotion as a very important and historic event worth repeating annually.

SOUTH SUDAN

Fifty years on from the expulsion from South Sudan (1964-2014)

“Fifty years have passed from the expulsion of the missionaries, men and women, from South Sudan. We would like to make a memory of this ‘sacred history’ and celebrate the wonders God has worked out. In the most painful situations, God was able to make something good for the salvation of his people. We remember this event in the context of the celebration of the 150 years of the Plan of St. Daniel Comboni for the Regeneration of Africa”. These are the initial words of the letter written by the two Comboni Provincials of South Sudan, Sr. Giovanna Sguazza and Fr. Daniele Moschetti. The letter commemorates the events before and after 1964 and shows how events so traumatic for the Comboni family and for the Christian communities of South Sudan have become “clear signs of the ‘history of salvation’, helping us to look with hope and love also to the present history of South Sudan”. It is a letter that intends to instil confidence in tragic moments like those in which South Sudan is presently entangled, because, undoubtedly, “the South Sudanese people will come out of this crisis stronger than ever, ready to face the challenges that history and life entail”.

Provincial Assembly

From 17 to 22 March, over thirty missionaries working in the different regions of South Sudan gathered for their Provincial Assembly at Juba. The Assembly had been scheduled for January but had to be postponed due to the armed conflict which broke out in mid-September, 2013 and spread to several regions. Also present were three confreres from the province of Kenya while some confreres from South Sudan - two from Mapuordit and Wau, one from Ayod (Diocese of Malakal) and two from Old Fangak – could not participate for lack of security and means of transport. An effort was made to “re-think the mission in South Sudan today” and to define the path to be followed. I fact, one of the missions was attacked and sacked.

The missionaries followed the Lenten campaign launched by the local Church, “Forty days of fasting and charity for justice, peace and reconciliation in South Sudan”.

During those days, the Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and Vatican spokesman for social questions, was visiting Juba to take a close look at the situation of violence and war that torments the country and to bring a message of peace from Pope Francis for South Sudan. Apart from the faithful and government authorities, he also met Church leaders, including the Comboni Missionaries.

TOGO-GHANA-BENIN

Perpetual Vows and Priestly Ordination

On 24 March, at Lomé Cacaveli, the Togolese scholastics Christophe Kadira Bamana, Salomon Apéleté Agnata Badatana and Fabrice Giovanni Komlan Dzitri Agbetiafa made their perpetual vows before Fr. Girolamo Miante, the provincial superior. On the following day, 25 March, the solemnity of the Annunciation of Our Lord, they were ordained deacons at Adidogomé by the Archbishop of Lomé, Mgr. Denis Amuzu Dzakpah, together with six Franciscans. The Province is celebrating this year the arrival of the first eight Comboni Missionaries in Togo fifty years ago, in January 1964.

Let us pray for our beloved dead

THE FATHERS: Alfredo Janito, of Fr. Janito Joseph Aldrin Palacios (C/RSA); Pedro, of Bro. Santos De la Cruz González (M); Emilio, of Fr. Angelo Giorgetti (EGSD).

THE MOTHERS: Maria Elisa Pique, of Fr. Celestino Seabra Invaha Namaneque (I); Guadalupe, of Fr. Enrique Corral Carranza (E).

THE BROTHERS: Luigi, of Bro. Roberto Moser (I); Celestino, of Bro. António Almeida Borges (P); Franz, of Fr. Alois Eder (C); Patricio, of Bro. Agostinho Jamal (EC).

THE SISTERS: Suor Pilar, of Mgr. Eugenio Arellano Fernández (EC); María del Socorro, of Fr. Juan de Dios Martínez González (M); Pierina, of Fr. Pietro Settin (I).

THE COMBONI MISSIONARY SISTER: Sr. M. Veronica Morris.