Fr. Enrique invites his confreres to make courageous choices

In his detailed report Fr. Enrique Sánchez, on behalf also of the General Council, presented a critical and realistic situation of the Institute from 2009 up to now.

Among the main points of the report it appeared very clear the decrease in the number of the members of the Institute due to aging, the number of confreres who left and the decline in vocations, situations that all contrast with the desire to maintain the same pastoral commitments of the past.

Since 2009 the Institute has decreased from 1693 members to 1582. A positive and new aspect is the increase in the number of vocations from Africa and the increased internationalization that makes us an Institute increasingly characterized by interculturality.

The great changes in the paradigm of the mission of the Church urge us to discover God’s hour, to redefine our evangelizing mission according to the Comboni charism and to identify the concrete priorities. “During our service – said Fr. Enrique – we could see and touch a reality that allows us to speak of an Institute of modest size, yes, but with many potentials and, above all, with a strong desire to maintain the mission among the poorest at the centre of its own interests and as the only priority.”

The Superior General insisted on the need for a spirituality nourished by a personal encounter with the Lord as the foundation of our missionary vocation. He then invited us to dream of a mission that is “a joyful presence of people able to transmit the beauty of an encounter and the passion for the least who are the first in the Kingdom.”

P. John Baptist Opargiw.

P. Fermo Bernasconi.