Familia Comboniana 741 - May 2016

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

Perpetual professions

Holy redeemer Guild

May                 01 – 15 ET           16 – 31 I

June                01 – 07 ER           08 – 15 LP              16 – 30 P

Prayer intentions

May – That Our Lady may lead us to a deeper and more intense encounter with God, our Father and Mother, who, in his Mercy, regenerates us. Lord hear us.

June – That the members of the Comboni Family may be the seed of a new Ministerial Church that proclaims the Kingdom and builds a better world. Lord hear us.

Publications

“Moi, je reste”. Vie et enseignements du P. Sergio Cailotto, missionnaire combonien en RD Congo, Fr. Tonino Falaguasta Nyabenda, Afriquespoir, Kinshasa, 2016. A booklet of 96 pages, it is on sale in the Congo for 1,500 Congolese Francs ($ 1,5).

ASIA

Perpetual vows and deacon ordination

After two years, the Asia Delegation has again celebrated an ordination to the diaconate. The Filipino scholastic Margarito Santiago Garrido III took perpetual vows on 21 March and was ordained deacon the following day. The ceremonies took place in Taiwan where he is assigned and is at present learning Mandarin.

Mar, as he is generally called, professed his perpetual vows in the presence of Fr. Miguel Llamazares, delegate superior, in a simple celebration on Friday, April 21, in the morning. Present were some representatives from Mar's family, including his father, friends and some Comboni missionaries.

The ordination to the diaconate took placed on the following day, Saturday 22. The presiding Bishop was Msgr. John Hung, Archbishop of Taipei. Among the concelebrants was also Msgr. Sladan Cosic, the new Nuncio in Taiwan and a friend of the Comboni Missionaries, whom he got to know where was in Chad, his previous assignment.

The small Christian community of Wugu was fully involved in the celebration and lived the moment with joy and gratitude for the gift of Mar's life to the Church and the missionary service. The liturgy was embellished by the dances of the aborigines, the Amis, with their colourful costumes.

In his final remarks Msgr. Hung thanked the Comboni Missionaries for their service in the Archdiocese, for being close to the people and for their availability to serve in Wugu and Huilong, two simple and challenging communities.

Taking into account that the Catholics in Taiwan are only 1% of the population, we can say that the ordination of Mar acquires all its missionary value and relevance.

CURIA

Conclusion of the CYOF

The 17^th edition of the Comboni Year of Ongoing Formation (CYOF) came to a close yesterday with a Mass concelebrated together with the other communities of our General Curia in Rome, Italy. For the 20 participants in the CYOF it was a solemn moment of thanksgiving and praise to the Lord.

“With this celebration we want to thank God for all the gifts he has given us during this time we spent in Rome in a spirit of brotherhood – said Fr. Bruno Nzigiye at the beginning of Mass – and we invite you to pray with us and for us that the Lord may continue to guide us and enlighten our journey in the mission that awaits us.”

Some members of the group will end the course with the spiritual exercises, while the rest will take part in the Month-long Retreat of St. Ignatius. Twenty Comboni Missionaries from 12 countries on four continents attended the course, which began on October 19, 2015.

DSP

Fr. Karl Wetzel celebrates his 95th birthday

On 16 April, 2016, Fr. Karl Wetzel celebrated his 95th birthday. Fr Karl is a veteran of the Province. Despite his advanced years, he enjoys fairly good health, takes part in all community acts, reads his favourite newspaper without the help of spectacles and follows with interest developments in the Church and the activities of Pope Francis.

The morning celebration of the Eucharist was followed by a gathering in the Centre for Elderly Confreres during which the relatives and friends of Fr. Karl also took part in a shared meal with the community and expressed their best wishes. In the afternoon, everyone met in the Comboni Hall to watch a short video on the life of Fr. Karl, produced by a relative of his.

The beautiful celebration concluded with music, some songs, poetry recitations and birthday greetings ad multos annos by everyone present.

ITALIA

Spiritual exercises

Spiritual exercises in Limone

15 – 23 June

Guided spiritual exercises

Fr. Pierpaolo Monella

A personalised journey of prayer and reflection in the light of our missionary experience and of St Daniel Comboni. (max. 8 people)

17 – 23 July (lunchtime)

Preached spiritual exercises

Fr. Teresino Serra

Theme: On mission as Samaritans. To love other’s pain.

Note: Spiritual exercises in Limone start in the evening and end on the morning of the indicated dates, except for the preached retreats.

Spiritual exercises in Pesaro

26 June – 2 July

Them: “Deep, longstanding and extraordinary vocation” (W 6983): praying for our sequela today.

Preached by Fr. David K. Glenday.

30 October – 5 November

Fr. Teresino Serra

Theme: On mission as Samaritans. To love other’s pain.

Note: The exercises start on the Sunday evening and end on the Saturday morning.

Limone Symposium 2016

Forty Comboni Missionaries and Comboni Sisters working in the provinces of Europe took part in the Limone Symposium 2016, an event organized by the European Group of Theological Reflection that took place at St. Daniel Comboni’s birthplace on the shores of Lake Garda in Limone, Italy, from March 29 to April 2. The topic for this year was, “Migration and Mission.”

Refugees ad migrants must be treated as brothers and sisters and seen as an opportunity for building a more pluralistic society and for strengthening interreligious dialogue. The European Union should stop the sale of weapons and should instead foster an end to injustice and war.

Facebook Nigrizia

In April the number of followers on Facebook reached 12,000, thus doubling the number in two years. This is the result simply of the activities on Twitter and Facebook social networks. This cost us not one cent and it means Nigrizia is popular and appreciated.

“Citizen of the World – Naz”

This ninety minute docu-film is the work of the young Cameroonian director Blaise Essoua who lives in Bari. It touches upon extremely important and sensitive themes such as identity and cultural diversity. It is an invitation to look at part of our humanity through others’ eyes. He presents the people of Bari as a kaleidoscope of ethnic groups and a breeding ground for multi-culturalism. The Nigrizia Foundation contributed towards the costs. The DVDs will soon be available from our Italian community of Bari, which gave excellent support to the production, and from Nigrizia Foundation, Verona.

Cartoons in Verona

From 15 to 30 April, the civic library of Verona held an exhibition entitled “A panoramic view of Veronese cartoons”. The cartoons of Piccolo Missionario (PM) were also exhibited. The exhibition was also sponsored by the Commune of Verona and Foundation Nigrizia.

Life on the margins

Due to last from 3 May to 2 October, 2016, the African Museum has opened a photographic and study display that helps to understand not only the difficulties of life in a shanty town but also to appreciate the resourcefulness of the people who live there. The photos are by Mr. Francesco Cavalli, vice-president of Amani.

KENYA

Ordination to the diaconate

Sunday, 10 April, 2016, was an important day for the Comboni Missionaries and especially for the diocese of Lodwar: three scholastics, Abramo Sireu Ang’Irotum, Benjamin Avoga and Ahiro David Khayesi were ordained deacons. The Mass was presided over by Msgr. Dominic Kimengich, assisted by Fr. Joseph Maina, provincial superior, various diocesan and missionary priests including the confreres who work in the missions of Lokichar, Amakuriat and Kacheliba.

Many of the faithful from various parts of the diocese of Lodwar and other parts of the country came to the parish of the Resurrection in Nakwamekwi to take part in the ceremony.

Abramo Sireu Ang’Irotum, from the parish of Amakuriat, in West Pokot, did his missionary service at Kacheliba and is the first Pokot to be ordained, after more than 30 years of Comboni presence in the area. He completed his studies at Lima (Peru) and took perpetual vows on 3 April. Benjamin Avoga, from the diocese of Kisii, did missionary service at the parish of Amakuriat, among the Pokot and took final vows on 27 March. Benjamin Studied theology in Nairobi (Kenya). Ahiro David Khayesi, from the parish of Kakamega, in Nakwamekwi, in the area of Lodwar, made his perpetual profession on 6 April and studied with Abramo in Lima.

The celebration was very beautiful and especially meaningful for the fact that the two ethnic groups of the Pokot and the Turkana – usually in conflict – joyfully celebrated together.

PERU-CHILE

Easter Week Meeting

On 30 March, following a longstanding tradition of the province, the Comboni Missionaries working in the central Sierra and the Peruvian forest gathered at Palca for their Easter Week meeting. Some of them had to travel for five hours from Huánuco and from San Martín de Pangoa, while those from Baños had to set out the previous day, but all of them went away happy after this experience. In fact, meeting with the confreres in a joyful and fraternal atmosphere, after the intensive pastoral work of Holy Week in the parishes, was a Paschal experience.

During Morning Prayer, they remembered the seventh anniversary of the death of Fr. Gianni Pacher. Under the guidance of the new community superior, Fr. Jorge Tapia, and with the help of Fr. Carmelo Casile’s material on mercy, as it was lived and practised by the Founder, each of them could speak of their community experience and pastoral work, especially during Holy Week, with its joys and sorrows, good results as well as the less satisfying ones, which are always there but which, if lived with awareness, become transformed into a possibility for the evangeliser’s personal growth.

Also this time – it is nothing new in Peru – it happened that the ten participants were from six different nationalities, some of whom had been in the Province for fifty years while others were new arrivals.

SOUTH SUDAN

Workshop on evangelisation and education

From 5 to 8 April, 2016, in Juba was held the annual workshop on evangelisation and education with the motto “The truth will make you free”. There were 46 participants between religious, diocesan priests, catechists and lay people working in Institutes of Catholic Education and Catechetical Centres. After an updated overall view of the situation in education in South Sudan, it was presented the new programme of studies launched in 2015, which indicates that the Ministry is trying to promote quality education and that it is aware of what has been done in this sector by the Comboni Missionaries, despite their limited resources, in the County of Fangak (Jonglei).

After going through the history of evangelisation in South Sudan, the following themes were tackled: the importance of catechists and the use of the local language in spreading the Gospel; to which extent should the Church challenge or embrace local cultures and how to transmit Christian values and behaviour in a meaningful way. The issue of trauma healing was also discussed since it is an issue of great importance for this people so afflicted by war in the past years, by a civil war now in course and by daily violence. It was reaffirmed that it is only with this healing that the process of transformation, leading to real change in the lives of the people and society, can take place.

Spiritual exercises and renewal of vows

From 10 to 16 April, 2016, the course of spiritual exercises organised by the community of Rumbek and preached by Fr. Salvatore Ferrao, SJ, took place. Eleven Comboni confreres and a Sister took part. The retreat provided extended times for prayer, silence and encounter with the Lord, and also time to reflect on the challenges the country presents at this moment.

At the conclusion of the retreat, during the final Mass, Bro. Patrick Lumami Mwanza and Bro. Fafa Peter Ayih renewed their temporary vows. Early next August, they will go to the CIF in Nairobi to prepare for their perpetual profession which they will make in their respective countries (Togo and Congo). After their holidays at home, they will resume their service in the missions of Wau and Lomin.

Let us pray for our beloved dead

THE FATHERS: Fidel, of Fr. Rico Hernández Rafael (KE); Kaspar, of Bro. Johann Eigner (SS).

THE MOTHERS: Pasqualina, of Fr. Palmiro Mileto (I); Pilar, of Fr. Pavía Martín Ambrosio Antonio (E); Giselle, of Sc. Théophile Atti Razak (T); Concetta, of Fr. Antonio Patanè (I).

THE SISTERS: Emma, of Fr. Eugenio Palla (I); Domenica, of Mons. Giovanni Migliorati (ET); Antoinette, of Sc. Jean Nestor Amegnaglo (T).

THE COMBONI MISSIONARY SISTERS: Sr. Antonia Maria Manini; Sr. M. Jolanda De Girolamo; Sr. M. Leonina Fantin; Sr. Rosa Ancella Martini; Sr. M. Giovanna Marcello.