Perpetual Vows and Holy Orders in Egypt: “The Dream Comes True”

The 25^th of April, 2022, witness the perpetual profession of one of our Egyptian confreres, Mina Anwar Habib Atia. An occasion graced by the presence of Christians from many nationalities, but especially those who accompanied the son of the soil towards his life-long commitment to serving the Lord in the institute of the Comboni Missionaries. We also had the occasion graced by the presence our fellow Comboni Missionary and now the Bishop of the Latin Vicariate of Alexandria, Bp. Claudio Lurati who was the main celebrant during that Eucharistic celebration.

Such an occasion that brings to reality the dream of Comboni becomes for each Comboni Missionary a sign of God’s fidelity to the desire of our founder. Many religious congregations and orders can witness to the shift of vocations towards the African and Latin America continents. It puts into clear context what once was a wild dream that anyone would listen to then, and make fun of, but now has become a mind blowing reality when the then situation is linked to the present.

All roads led to a place called Imbaba at the Church of the Virgin Mary, where on Saturday, 29^th April, 2022, after close to 32 years, the Comboni Missionaries family in Egypt witness the ordination to the deaconate and to the priesthood of two of the sons of the soil. The invocation of the Holy Spirit and laying on of hands of Bishop Tomas Adly of Giza, Fayum and Beni Suef brought us forth this historical gift of a priest (Fr. Mina Albeer Tawfik Kalds Abdelshahid) and a deacon (Mina Anwar Habib Atia).

It does not come as a surprise that the very venue that was an animation harbor becomes the place in which the once young and path seeking men take their perpetual commitment to follow Christ in the footsteps of St. Daniel Comboni. This is no doubt the fruit of the confreres and sisters who witnessed to the gospel by their way of living and thus allowing the efficacy of the Word to become flesh in their lives and in turn draw others to this path. It still draws us to what Paul VI stressed that people only listen to witnesses and even if they listen to teachers or preachers, it is because they are witnesses. The witness, in deeds, of all those who animated payed off with what we as a Comboni family in Egypt pride ourselves of: New workers in the vineyard of the Lord.

With these historical events before us, we turn in thanksgiving to God for the gift of vocation that he only can be responsible for. We also thank Him for the wisdom in setting up this Centre at Cordi Jesu whose focus is the animation especially of the youth. Blessed with such an initiative, the shrine is also home of a University Chaplaincy that takes care of especially the spiritual nourishment of foreign university students in Cairo who were at the heart of the animation of the celebration of the perpetual vows held at the shrine especially in the singing during the Eucharistic celebration. The Centre also extends its care to the south Sudanese youth studying in Cairo with future prospects of having the Egyptian youth joining in too. All these events are a visible conglomeration of the “dream” of Comboni coming true. We are now witnessing in our own days saving of Africa by Africans.