Familia Comboniana 794 - March 2021

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

GENERAL NOTES

Consulta held in February 2021

1. Appointment of the new General Secretary

The GC appoints Bro. Giusti Daniele Giovanni, mccj, as the new General Secretary as of 1 April 2021. The GC sincerely thanks Fr. Umberto Pescantini, mccj, for his long years of generous service as Secretary General.

2. Legal Representative

The GC has appointed Bro. Giusti Daniele Giovanni, mccj, as Legal Representative of Daniel Comboni International College (District of the Curia, Rome-Paris).

The GC has decided to separate the office of treasurer general from that of legal representative despite the fact that RL 163.2 indicates that normally the legal representative is the provincial or general treasurer. In fact, one of the more recent Church documents, CIVCSVA, “The Economy at the Service of the Charism and Mission” n 65, suggests that, wherever possible, it is best to separate the service of provincial or general administration from the office of the legal representative.

3. Assignment of confreres

The pandemic is restricting the life of a great number of people and institutions, including our own. Many confreres are unable to obtain visas to travel to their new destinations. The GC will take this into account when making assignments.

4. Meeting of Circumscription Bursars

The residential meeting of the circumscription bursars planned for April has been postponed but the telematic continental meetings will go ahead as already programmed.

5. Webinar of the Forum on Social Ministeriality of the members of the entire Comboni Family

The webinar will be held on 5 and 6 March telematically. It will concentrate on the situation of social ministry mapping. We encourage all to take part in it.

Perpetual professions

Sc. Nyinga David Dunga (CN)        Pangoa (PE)     08/01/2021

Sc. Chichole Paul Makokha (KE)   Lokichar (KE)  16/01/2021

Sc. Muhindo Gratien M. (CN)        Kinshasa (RDC)      31/01/2021

Ordinations to the priesthood

Fr. Mponda João Mponda (MO)      30/01/2021

Fr. Ngbo Fufunga Justin (CN)       Bondo (RDC)   07/02/2021

Fr. Nkumileke Macaire Mbo (CN) Kinshasa (RDC)      27/02/2021

Holy Redeemer Guild

March    01 – 07 CO                    08 – 15 E       16 – 31 DSP

April       01 – 15 CN                    16 – 30 EC

Prayer intentions

March – That the ministry of the Comboni Family may strengthen “gender justice” and especially the protection of women and girls. Lord hear us.

April – That the Secular Comboni Missionaries may always live in the paschal dynamic of death and resurrection in the certainty that the Spirit will continue to guide them on their journey. Lord hear us.

Publications

Guido Oliana, Omelie ai Seminaristi su Gesù Cristo “Via, Verità e Vita”, Nairobi, Paulines Publications Africa, 2021. This book is a collection of homilies preached by the author at Juba Major Seminary (South Sudan). They seek to clarify how the Word of God becomes life in the personal context of each one of us. They sometimes reiterate what had been explained in class and the dramatic situation of South Sudan. They express a Trinitarian dimension. The theological dimension concentrates on the primacy of the action of the Father. The spiritual dimension instead, emphasizes the action of the Holy Spirit which makes man capable of penetrating the meaning of the Word. And the Christological dimension shows how to put the Word into practice in life in the light of the incarnation of Christ.

VIA ZOOM

Meeting of Combonis involved in communications

With the XIX General Chapter in mind, some Combonis involved in missionary communications at the Institute level have felt the need to commence between themselves a process of reflection on the theme of communications and missionary passion lived in the development of this ministry.

As a result, on 4 February, they met via Zoom, from 16.00 to 17.30 (Rome time), to give the confreres of the various continents the possibility of participating. There were 20 participants, including some Chapter delegates.

The meeting marked the start of a journey of discernment aimed at bringing the theme of missionary and Comboni communication today firstly to the Precapitular Commission and then to the Chapter itself.

“In the context of ministeriality, we wish to give its value to this specific pastoral – the missionaries emphasised. Missionary animation has contributed a great deal to the Institute in terms of economic resources for 150 years, but today we are in a deep crisis. We must value the enormous informative potential we have in the Institute: including informal communication done by confreres using humble means and with no specific training”.

Looking at each of the Comboni circumscriptions, in the historical context in which they live, we can clearly see the effort to promote courageous innovative developments in the field of communications.

It was recalled that some Institutes have already worked in a specific way to elaborate a vademecum or directory of communications. Considering the Comboni reality, it is a matter of bringing out the proper identity of our communication, of integrating the traditional means of communication (magazines, newspapers, books, etc.) with the new digital means and having the courage to launch together new forms of collaboration and communication, of missionary sensitization and creativity so as to have a greater impact on the life of the people in the places where we are present.

LET US PRAY FOR OUR BELOVED DEAD

THE FATHER: Iván, of Bro. César Chacón Huamán (PE).

THE MOTHERS: Cesarina, of Bro. Antonio Soffientini (I); Glafira, of Fr. Mario Alberto Pacheco Zamora (M).

THE BROTHERS: Ricardo, of Bro. Sergio Gómez Cuadros (PE); Pablo, of Fr. José Delgado Domingo (TCH); Corrado, of Fr. Fulvio Cristoforetti (†); Rocco, of Fr. Rodolfo Cipollone (I); Manuel, of Fr. Carlos da Silva Neves Sobrinho (†); Placido, of Fr. Francesco Laudani (CN).

THE SISTERS: Mariana de Jesús, of Fr. Fernando Eduardo Flores Avila (CO); Anna, of Fr. Eduard Falk (PE); Maria, of Fr. Fidelis Pezzei (DSP).

THE COMBONI MISSIONARY SISTERS: Teresa Tortorella, Flor Castro Romero, M. Palma Goretti, Anna Maria Grimoldi.

THE SECULAR COMBONI MISSIONARY: Teresa de Palma.