Familia Comboniana 784 - April 2020

HAPPY EASTER

OF RESURRECTION

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

March 2020 Consulta: General Notes

1. Coronavirus and the Comboni Missionaries

The Coronavirus pandemic is claiming victims in almost all the countries of the world. We too, as Comboni Missionaries and members of the Comboni Family, have been hit hard by this pandemic with the deaths of Confreres and Sisters whom we ask the Lord to welcome into his Kingdom of light and peace. Let us also remember all the others who are still threatened by the virus and accompany them with our prayers. We thank the Lord for those who have recovered completely from this sickness.

As an Institute, we continue making common cause with the holy people of God and we adhere to the decisions taken by the civil and religious authorities to avoid infection. We especially observe social distancing and hand washing.

Due to the pandemic, the members of the General Council have cancelled all their planned visits both within Italy and abroad in the months of May and June 2020 and ask the circumscription superiors and the various secretariats to consider whether it is necessary to cancel all provincial or regional meetings planned for the same period.

We suggest the use of the social media to send messages of comfort and hope to all those with whom we share faith in the God of life who overcomes death and gloriously rises from the dead.

2. Appointment of Circumscription Vice-Superiors

The GC, during the last two Consultas, appointed the following as Circumscription Vice-Superiors:

A            Fr. Mejía Domínguez Víctor Alejandro

BR          Fr. Raimundo Nonato Rocha dos Santos

CN         Fr. Pesquera Roa Eduardo

CO         Fr. Bolaños Palacios Martín Adolfo

DSP       Fr. Turyamureeba Roberto

E            Fr. Llamazares González Miguel Angel

EC          Fr. Jaramillo Arias Pablo Eduardo

EGSD     Fr. Eibu Dominic

ER          Fr. Estifanos Helafu Weldeghiorghis

ET          Fr. Asfaha Yohannes Weldeghiorghis

I             Fr. Aldegheri Giorgio

KE          Fr. Bwalya Andrew

LP          Fr. Alvarado Ayala Javier

M           Fr. Villaseñor Gálvez José de Jesús

MZ         Fr. Kasitomu James Milward

NAP       Fr. Ochoa Gracián Jorge Elías

P            Fr. Manuel António da Silva Machado

PCA       Fr. Barrios Morales Candelario Romeo

PE          Fr. Gaiga Gianni

RCA       Fr. Fazion Stefano

RSA       Fr. Riegel Bernhard Josef

SS          Fr. Maku Joseph

T            Fr. Kondo Komivi Antoine

TCH       Fr. Magoma Maripe Donald

Those of Mozambique and Uganda have still to be appointed.

3. General Secretariat for Finance

The letter concerning extraordinary contributions to the General Administration, usually sent out each year at this time, will be sent in some months’ time.

The GC and the Secretariat wish to thank publicly the North American Province for their most generous contribution sent to us at the end of 2019. Thank you for sharing with the General Administration and the entire Institute.

The date of the general assembly for bursars, planned for November has been changed slightly: the assembly will start on 8 November and end on 19 November when the participants leave. Instructions will be sent directly to the interested parties as soon as possible.

4. General Mission Secretariat

4.1. Appointment of the GMS members, 2020-2022

The GC appoints the continental representatives who will be members of the GMS for the triennium 2020-22: Fr. Dario Bossi – America/Asia, Fr. Kyankaaga S. John Richard – APDESAM, Fr. Giorgio Padovan – Europa, Fr. Edmond Dimonekene Sungu - ASCAF

4.2. Programme for ministeriality

The GMS has proposed for the Circumscriptions a programme of community reflection on the theme of ministeriality. The GC is fully aware of the times we are living in, so marked by COVID-19 which conditions us psychologically and spiritually. Since our pastoral activities may have been suspended out of civil responsibilities, this may now provide us with an opportunity to dedicate our time to the suggested process. For this reason we invite all Circumscriptions to make an effort to adapt the material and try to relate the proposed themes to the situation each country is going through.

4.3. Outlining social ministry in the Circumscriptions

The outlining of the social pastoral is under way. The material hitherto assembled provides some very valuable elements for a systematic reading that will help in an analysis of the impact we make towards the transformation of society. It also allows us to compare our mission with the signs of the times and to grow in missionary fecundity. We encourage all the circumscriptions that have not already done so to contribute actively to this exercise.

4.4. Comboni Social Forum on Social Ministry (CSFSM)

The meeting is planned for 18-22 June, in Rome. However, the CSFSM committee is looking into the possibility of postponing the meeting to a more suitable date to be soon confirmed.

5. Revisiting and revising the Rule of Life

During the meeting of circumscription superiors, in February, the work done so far was presented to all the participants. All those present had the opportunity to verify the corrections suggested by the confreres of the different circumscriptions and also to discuss some points of the text of the RL considered more controversial. The corrected text, prepared by the central commission for the RL, has been sent to all the circumscriptions with an accompanying letter indicating the path to be followed up to October. After that the commission will meet to prepare the final text to be presented to the GC, before the 2021 General Chapter. All confreres are therefore invited to familiarise themselves with the corrections and to propose further comments and amendments, sending them to the central commission before the end of August 2020. We regret the proposed corrections are only in Italian: in the communities and provinces the confreres will try to help each other understand the text.

6. Code of Conduct

On 10 October 2019, the General Council approved the Code of Conduct and sent it to all the circumscriptions in the various languages (Italian, the original language, Spanish, Portuguese, English and French). Almost all the provinces have printed it in their own language so that all confreres may have both a digital and hard copy of it.

The GC wishes to extend lively thanks to all the confreres who helped to translate and carefully review the Code in the various languages.

Now we find ourselves in the most important phase of this process, that of getting to know the Code at personal, community and circumscription levels; in this way, all the confreres will know the Code well and will keep to the norms indicated in it. The circumscriptions may also organise sessions of dialogue among the confreres to help everyone know the Code. A ceremony may then be organised during which each confrere signs the form of acceptance of the Code, to be found in the appendix of the Code itself.

The GC hopes that this document may help us to live more intensely and with integrity our missionary vocation at the service of the weakest members of the society of today.

7. General Secretariat of Formation

There are 36 novices completing the novitiate, 35 in our novitiates (Namugongo 14, Sarh 11, Nampula 4, Xochimilco 6) and 1 at Isiro-Magambe, in Congo. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the celebration of their first vows will take place in the novitiate houses, in a sober and simple manner, without the participation of externs. The appointment of the newly-professed to their Scholasticates/Brothers Centres will be carried out, as far as possible, in May 2020, when the number of newly-professed who can be accommodated in our scholasticates will be decided.

In the Francophone sub-continent there are 31 postulants in their final year. The house at Sarh can take 18 novices and that of Cotonou has at present 17 second-year novices and so cannot accommodate all those remaining. The sub-continent of Anglophone Africa and Mozambique has a further 34 postulants in their final year who are ready to leave for the novitiates of Namugongo and Nampula.

The GC also appoints a further 3 members of the Formation Council for the next three years, 2020-2022: Fr. Fernando Domingues (Europa), Fr. Habtu Teklay Tiluq (APDESAM) and Fr. Léonard Ndjadi Ndjate (ASCAF). The fourth, Fr. José de Jesús Villaseñor Gálvez (AMERICA-ASIA) had already been appointed.

8. The Beatification of Fr. Giuseppe Ambrosoli in Uganda

The Beatification of Fr. Giuseppe Ambrosoli is due to take place on 22 November 2020 at Kalongo, Uganda, provided the coronavirus pandemic, which is afflicting the whole world, does not render this impossible. The availability of Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu to go to Kalongo as the Pope’s representative at the Beatification ceremony has already been submitted to His Holiness. Meetings have been held between the General Council and the Provincials of Italy and Uganda in order to involve the respective provinces and the Local Church in preparing the event. We invite everyone to understand the missionary significance of this beatification which will take place in the mission as a true expression of being missionary: the exchange of gifts between sister churches, almost identification in which, in all credibility, a missionary – in our case the soon-to-be-beatified Fr. Ambrosoli –, is glorified amongst “his own people” in Kalongo. For the present, we must not cease to invoke the intercession, in this so worrying time for humanity, of one who faced up to sickness with illuminated determination, but above all with supernatural faith and charity

Holy Redeemer Guild

April                 01 – 15 CN           16 – 30 EC

May                 01 – 15 ET           16 – 31 I

Prayer intentions

April – That cooperation with all people of good will may stimulate each one of us to contribute, in our particular ministry of service to the Gospel, to a more just world and a more dignified life for all. Lord hear us.

May – That those in positions of responsibility may entrust themselves to Our Lady in order to perceive the presence and wisdom of God in their decisions and actions and so serve with greater joy and effectiveness. Lord hear us.

Comboni renewal Course

The next edition of this course will start on 4 January 2021 and end on 31 May of the same year. It is aimed mostly at confreres between the ages of 50 and 70, but especially those who have celebrated, or are about to celebrate, their 25^th anniversary of ordination, or in the case of Brothers, of their perpetual vows. The Course will end in the Holy Land (final three weeks).

Those interested, with the approval of their circumscription superior, should contact the Course coordinator Fr. Elias Sindjalim – e-mail: esindjalimess@hotmail.com

N.B. To enter Israel, the African confreres will require a visa which can only be obtained having first acquired a residence permit in Italy. Since at present it takes about four months, from the date of one’s arrival, to obtain a residence permit in Italy, those involved should come to Rome at the beginning of December.

Confreres who do not know Italian need at least three months to study the language here in Rome. They should plan to come to Rome at the end of September, so as to be able to start studying the language in October 2020.

LET US PRAY FOR OUR BELOVED DEAD

THE FATHERS: Arlei, of the Sc. Zanioli Gonçalves Deivith Harly (BR), Rafael, of Fr. Rafael Güitrón (M).

THE MOTHER: Amelia, of Fr. Michele Tondi (C).

THE BROTHER: Claude, of Fr. Joseph Ngumba Lelo (RSA).

THE SISTERS: Rosalia, of Fr. Fernando Madaschi (PCA); Annamaria, of Fr. Werner Nidetzky (DSP); Afra, of Fr. Josef Pfanner (DSP); Angela, of Fr. Luigi Sala (I); Pierina, of Fr. Modesto Generali (I); Amalia, of Bro. Arsenio Ferrari (M).

THE COMBONI MISSIONARY SISTERS: Sr. Marylisa Ceccato, Sr. Maria Lucia Bogliotti, Sr. Giannadele Angeloni, Sr. Anna Maria Casorio, Sr. Angelina Ferranti, Sr. M. Donatella Reghenzi, Sr. Argenta Brignoli, Sr. M. Martina Chiodi, Sr. M. Ausilia Lecchi, Sr. Lidianna Anzi.