Familia Comboniana 817 - April 2023

See attachment below

Happy Easter 2023

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

Meeting in Rome of the Comboni Missionary Superiors with the Comboni Survivors’ Group

On 21^st and 22^nd March 2023, the Superior General, Father Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie, together with the members of the General Council and the Provincial Superiors, past and present, of the London Province met in Rome with the members of the Comboni Survivors' Group . The meeting included a forty-minute private audience with the Holy Father, organized by Father Andrew Small, OMI, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

For the members of the General Council and for the superiors of the London Province, the meeting was a very valuable opportunity to personally meet the members of the Group and hear their testimony. Cardinal Nichols presided over the opening and closing sessions of the meeting, which was also attended by Father Andrew Small, and, at the express request of the Group, by Archbishop Marcus Stock, the current Bishop of Leeds. A communique was released on Wednesday evening, at the end of the meeting. Here is the text.

“Joint Statement following the Meeting in Rome of the Comboni Survivors’ Group and the Comboni Missionaries, March 21^st-22^nd, 2023.

From the Comboni Survivors’ Group:

Recently, Pope Francis urged Church leaders to respond with concrete actions to the experience of survivors of child sexual abuse by clergy. As the Comboni Survivors’ Group, we have asked for concrete actions for many years from the Comboni Missionaries and we have been met mostly with either silence or doubts about the veracity of our claims. Many other victims have experienced similar reactions from Church leaders. This atmosphere of fear and recrimination has started to change for us over the past several months as we have met with and been welcomed by the leadership of the Comboni Missionaries, past and present. In our latest Meeting, we were joined by the leadership from the London Province of the Comboni Missionaries, who were responsible for dealing with our requests for help and engagement over the past twenty-five years. We shared our painful histories of abuse and the devastation brought on by the dreadful response we received from the London Province when we looked for help. During our Meeting in these past few days, which included a meeting with Pope Francis, we feel that we were not only heard, but believed by the Comboni Leadership, something that has brought us a sense of calm. This has been a transformative experience for us, vindicating our search for justice and dialogue as the only path of healing for those impacted by the wrong that was done to us. We look back at all the mistakes and misunderstandings we experienced over the years from the Comboni Missionaries and feel a sense of despair at how so much suffering could have been avoided. With goodwill and a common commitment to dialogue and action, the frustration and hurt we have carried for so many years can be channelled into making things different not only for ourselves but all those who face similar experiences to us. Pope Francis encouraged us to stay the course of dialogue and encounter, even during the darkest days. We are deeply grateful to the Comboni Missionaries for their kind invitation to come to Rome and we see in them allies on the path to healing and renewal. We are more hopeful than ever that this common journey is heading in a different and healthier direction for all of us and we are committed to walking this road together.

From the Institute of the Comboni Missionaries:

We thank the Members of the Comboni Survivors’ Group for accepting our invitation to come to Rome and to address Members of our General Council and the leadership of the London Province, past and present. While we too have been impacted by the wrongdoing of some of the past actions of our Confrères and lay co-operators, only recently have we come to fully understand the impact of lasting harm this abuse has caused to the lives of those entrusted to our care all those years ago. We deplore and condemn what happened. We also regret the misunder-standings and missed opportunities when responding to the Comboni Survivors’ Group that unfortunately led to more harm and hurt to those who have suffered so much. We are truly sorry for the times we have not responded adequately, and we ask once again for forgiveness. We hope our time together can bring some peace and healing and we commit to further concrete actions to ease what has been a difficult road for them. As Members of the leadership of the Comboni Missionaries, we have heard their experiences and we believe their stories of pain and disappointment and we want to make things better as much as we can. We commit to learning from these experiences and to incorporate them into our Institute’s Child Protection Programmes to ensure we can learn from the past and prevent any such abuse in the future. In dialogue, we will seek to find ways to provide needed pastoral care and support to each one of them, as much as we are able. And lastly, we thank Pope Francis who met with us, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Bishop Marcus Stock and Fr. Andrew Small, OMI and all those who have helped bring us to this moment of grace. We call on the Lord’s help who alone can make all things new.”

Ordination to the priesthood

Fr. Byron José Valverde Arce San José (PCR)          25 March 2023

Holy Redeemer Guild

April                01 – 15 CN           16 – 30 EC

May                 01 – 15 ET           16 – 31 I

Prayer Intentions

April

For those who live in the great overcrowded cities: that they may find there a place of welcome, work opportunities and respect for their welfare  so that humanity may be restored to the cities. Lord, hear us.

May

That the celebration of the Day of Prayer for Vocations may stir up in the hearts of young men and women the awareness that the mission needs them to respond freely to the call of Jesus to go out to all the world and bear witness to him. Lord, hear us.

APRIL

Meaningful anniversaries

MAY

Comboni liturgical calendar

Meaningful anniversaries

MAY

CURIA – ONGOING FORMATION CENTRE

Comboni Renewal Course – Rome 2023

The Comboni Renewal Course (CRC) is a sabbatical period that the Comboni Institute offers to confreres between the ages of 45 and 65. This year, there are eleven missionaries attending the Course at the Generalate in Rome, from January to May, interrupting their activities to make a wise re-reading of their lives and then return to the mission.

This year's participants come from nine countries and from different ministries in the various sectors of missionary ministry. Their ages range from 55 to 74 years. The CRC is coordinated by Father Fermo Bernasconi and Father Alberto de Oliveira Silva.

During the CRC, much importance and time is given to community life, to reflection, and to personal and group prayer, which allows each one to share more freely and easily experiences of personal life and mission, and to get to know one another better.

Usually, a formation theme is presented every morning, with the aim of helping the confreres to review the various stages of personal, community, religious and missionary life. For this reason, week after week, different themes follow one another, which include the different dimensions of life and help each missionary to re-read his own individual and community life, to be renewed from a spiritual and vocational point of view, to remember the life and writings of Comboni, and to review his lifestyle in the face of the various challenges of the mission today, also taking into account the Acts of the XIX General Chapter.

The CRC includes several outings together for study purposes and to create a community spirit. The group has already been to Greccio and Fonte Colombo – the land of St. Francis, the great inspirer of the simple life and mission – and Subiaco, the land of St. Benedict, and has already visited and participated in various celebrations at the nearby Monastery of “Tre Fontane”. A final visit was made to the community of Castel Volturno, an authentic “pilgrimage” to the challenges of the Comboni mission in Europe, at the service of the many immigrants and the local population, for mutual enrichment.

There are still two very special visits scheduled, which arouse great expectations in all: to Verona and Limone sul Garda, the land of our Father and Founder St. Daniel Comboni, and, during the last few weeks, to the Holy Land, to get to know the biblical places and the roads where Jesus walked as he accomplished his mission.

Father Pierino Landonio tells us how the course is progressing, despite the small number of participants, and how the group is experiencing it personally: «We were well received by the two communities present in the Generalate, and we are accompanied “masterfully”. We find the topics covered very interesting. We have no doubt that the course is evolving into an enriching experience for each of us. After decades of life engaged in various countries on missionary service, sometimes exhausting or apparently not very fruitful, retracing one's steps and reserving more time to be with Him in a contemplative dimension, will in the end only be for the good of the Mission itself ».

BRAZIL

The Catholic diocese of Roraima welcomes its new pastor

The seat of the Catholic diocese of Roraima remained vacant since Bishop Dom Mario Antonio da Silver was transferred to the archdiocese of Mato Grosso in May 2022. During this period of about ten months, the diocese was entrusted to Fr Lucio Nicoletto, a Fidei Donum priest from the diocese of Padua (Italy), as diocesan administrator.

Last 25^th January, on the occasion of the feast of the conversion of Saint Paul, Pope Francis appointed Dom Evaristo Pascoal Spengler, O.F.M., 62 years old, former bishop of the diocese of Marajó, the tenth bishop of the diocese of Roraima.

The beautiful Eucharistic celebration of installation took place on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, 25^th March 2023, in the central square of the city, in front of the Cathedral “Cristo Redentore”, in the presence of the Cardinal of Amazon, Dom Leonardo, of various bishops, priests, men and women religious, and government officials. Numerous lay faithful from the diocese and elsewhere also attended.

The episcopal motto of Dom Evaristo, which appears on his coat of arms, is “Put out into the deep”, the words of Jesus to Peter, inviting him to cast his nets in deep water (Luke 5:4).

The new bishop is well aware of the challenges he has to face in the diocese where he has been placed at the helm. Among these, the situation of migrants and Indian groups stands out. The city of Boa Vista, the capital of the state of Roraima, is the destination of many migrants, mainly from Venezuela. The diocese welcomes them and offers them the necessary support.

The state of Roraima has the highest population of Indians in Brazil. They are subdivided into various groups: Macuxi, Wapichana, Ingariko, Yanomami, etc. The Yanomami have often attracted the attention of local and international media because, in their ancestral homeland, they are plagued by the growing number of illegal mines and illegal occupation of Indian lands, as well as by hunger, pollution, high infant mortality and diseases such as malaria. Since 2003, the Comboni missionaries have been working among the Macuxi and Wapichana Indians.

In his homily, the new bishop reiterated the preferential option for Indians and migrants. He said: «I know that the Amazon is in the heart of Pope Francis. Called to be faithful to the Gospel, I see my coming to Roraima as part of God's plan for me and for this local church. Therefore, I intend to act in communion with the whole Church, in a spirit of synodality”. He then concluded by thanking his predecessors and the diocesan administrator for the service they rendered to the local Church. (Father Teddy Keyari Njaya, mccj)

España

Meeting of the Comboni Family

The Comboni Family of Spain met on 11^th and 12^th March 2023 in Madrid. The central theme of the meeting was the sharing of the journey that we are pursuing at the world level, also taking advantage of the occasion of the General Chapters of the Comboni Missionaries and of the Continental Assemblies of the Comboni Lay Missionaries (CLM) in America and Africa, all recently celebrated.

The meeting was opened by Father Pedro Andrés, who recounted how the General Chapter took place, while Saturday afternoon was used to get to know better the Chapter of the Comboni Sisters.

On Sunday, there was a presentation by the CLM. At first, Isabel, the  coordinator of the Spanish coordination group, spoke about the last assembly and the challenges we face as a Spanish group: in particular, the need to understand how many we are and where we are present, and the initiatives that we conduct. Immediately afterwards there was sharing on the meetings celebrated this year at a continental level in America (Lima-Peru) and in Africa (Cotonou-Benin). The most important aspect was above all the possibility of deepening our understanding of the richness and weaknesses of our CLM in these continents.

Finally, the leaders of the three “branches” who participated in the meeting, as they said their goodbyes, invited the meeting to continue this family commitment.

The meeting concluded with a Eucharistic celebration during which a special moment was dedicated to Father Pedro Andrés who, after spending years as provincial of Spain, is leaving for Peru. (Alberto de la Portilla, Coordinator of the Central Committee of the CLM and member of the CLM of Spain)

ETHIOPIA

Drought among the Borana – Visit to the stricken areas of the Vicariate of Hawassa

From 10^th to 13^th March, the archbishop of Addis Ababa, Cardinal Berha-neyesus Souraphiel, and the representatives of the Vicariate of Hawassa, Mgr Juan González Núñez, Apostolic Administrator, Father Nicola Di Iorio, delegate vicar, and Don Tsegaye Getahun, director of the Catholic Secretariat of Hawassa, went to visit the region of Borana, located in the south of the Vicariate, inhabited largely by the ethnic group of the same name, one of the areas most affected by the drought, to bring aid and, above all, hope to the many victims.

In Ethiopia, it is said that if you ask a Borana for water, he will offer you milk. Today, however, these generous people can offer you neither milk nor water: the people and their livestock are literally dying of thirst.

The Borana occupy the southernmost part of Ethiopia, bordering Kenya. Their land is a perpetually dry steppe, but, if the rains are regular, it can support two or three million cattle, as well as large herds of goats.

Unfortunately, the normal pattern of rainfall in the district has drastically altered. It has not rained for five years, and the region's capacity to cope with such a catastrophe is now completely exhausted. One by one, all the water wells dried up and almost all the livestock died. There is talk of at least two million head of cattle that died of hunger and thirst.

We have to go back to 1984 to find such a tragedy. I witnessed it firsthand. In that terrible year, the victims among the Borana exceeded one million. Today, the government promises it will not let a single person die in the drought. They might even succeed if they lumped all the Borana into camps for displaced people. However, it will not be possible to know with certainty how many victims will have been caused by malnutrition and hunger. Gradually, most of the people have already moved to camps for displaced persons set up by the government.

The delegation of the Catholic Church, led by the Cardinal of Addis Ababa, visited the Dubluk camp, which, with 80,000 residents, is one of the largest in the area. The displaced live mostly in tents, some are housed in real huts, others still in pole shacks covered with plastic sheeting. The people appear clean, decently dressed and well-fed: clothing and food are provided by the government and charities. But there is a sense of despondency among those who were once wealthy and have lost everything. As mentioned above, the drought has now lasted for five years: the longest people remember. From the very beginning, the Vicariate of Hawassa has been there, helping the displaced in every possible way. Among the Borana, there are three Catholic missions run by the Spiritan Missionaries, who have distinguished themselves for their social work through schools, student residences and digging water wells.

The Vicariate as such has always assisted the affected population. But we don't know how long the emergency will last. To date, we have managed to assist around one and a half million Boranas, distributing to them the large quantities of aid received from organizations such as Caritas America, Caritas Austria, and others.

The day after our visit to the displaced people, it started to rain. Now, of course, people will say that it was the Catholics who brought the rain! It would be a curious misunderstanding. We know well that only God is the Lord of all that his providence places at our disposal. (Mons. Juan González Núñez, mccj)

ITALIA

Feast of the relatives of the Italian Comboni Missionaries in Padua

“It was nice to be together, meet again and enjoy a day with the family”. These are the comments that were heard on the lips of the relatives of the Combonis, gathered last Sunday, 12^th March, at the house in Padua, for their annual meeting. Together with the confreres of the community, there were about ninety people, happy and grateful for the beautiful day spent together. Someone commented: “The style of our meeting today was different than usual: the atmosphere was really like that of a family”. After all, the protagonists of the day were their relatives, who spoke about their missionary sons or brothers.

Father Gaetano Montresor set the tone for the celebration, reaffirming, once again, that «each Combonian makes his whole family a “Com-bonian”, so that one's family becomes everyone's family, and every Combonian feels at home when he visits the family of a confrere”.

The meeting began with a succession of stories of Comboni life. Then, there was the intervention of Father Eliseo Tacchella, who took up some points of Pope Francis' recent visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. To summarize the strong messages pronounced by Pope Francis during his trip, he quoted the following sentence: “Hands off Africa!”. Father Eliseo also presented the situation of the real looting of minerals in the DR Congo, and the truly terrible ways in which the exploitation of the mines is perpetuated. Finally, he listed the unspeakable suffering of the population and described the state of absolute poverty in which they are forced to live.

Responding to the question raised several times as to the reason for the presence of Comboni missionaries in Latin America, an institute founded mainly for the evangelization of Africa, Father Alessio Geraci explained, with documents in hand, how the Institute has, in truth, responded to very specific and insistent requests coming from the Churches of Latin America and warmly supported by the Holy See itself. «If the Church calls, the Comboni Missionary answers». Today, Father Alessio continued, the Comboni Missionaries are seriously engaged in proclaiming the Gospel in those lands, with particular attention to the gigantic challenges caused by the ever more savage destruction of ecosystems, the tragic situations in which some ethnic minorities are relegated, the increasingly frequent outbreaks of violence, and the weakness of some democracies.

This intense session of stories and information was followed by the celebration of the Eucharist, which made a strong contribution to making the spirit of the Comboni family grow in all those present. The names of the recently deceased relatives were remembered, in particular the mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers of Comboni missionaries, and also of numerous Comboni fathers and brothers, both originally from our area and confreres who served in this community. (Father Gaetano Montresor, mccj)

Workshop on integral ecology

On 3^rd and 4^th March 2023, the Casavatore scholasticate promoted a workshop on integral ecology, animated by Father Fernando Zolli and Brother Antonio Soffientini, members of the Commission for Justice and Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) of the Italian Province, and by Mrs Monica Fioretti and Mr Vittorio Moccia, promoters and supporters of the resistance of the grassroots movements of the Campania Region, against toxic waste dumps and soil and air pollution.

In the light of the “Gospel of Creation”, of the theological orientations expressed in the encyclical Laudato si' and in the apostolic exhortation Querida Amazonia of Pope Francis, and of the experiences lived in the territory – called Campania Felix by the ancient Romans and today referred to as the Land of Fire – the scholastics understood:

• the meaning of the interconnection that exists between creation and humanity;
•  the importance of growing in awareness of the havoc that the technical-scientific system inflicts both on Mother Earth and on the poor and excluded;
• the urgency of gradually eliminating excessive emissions into the atmosphere of carbon dioxide (also called carbon dioxide and known by the chemical formula CO2), to stop the process of climate change;
• the need to denounce the savage and systematic looting of common goods, with dramatic consequences for the populations of the southern hemisphere;
• the importance of growing in the commitment to assume the defence of the common home, as an integral part of evangelization.

As concrete commitments, the scholastics have adopted the Vademecum Laudato si' of the Italian province, to educate themselves to live new lifestyles and ecological relationships; they have decided to join the Laudato Si' Platform (LSPA), promoted by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, of the Vatican, and indicated as a priority by the XIX General Chapter of the Institute; they expressed their willingness to grow in “ecological spirituality”, making their commitment to create a new Heaven and a new earth, as guardians of creation and of the weak, according to God's primordial plan and revealed by Christ,   «The plan, that is, to recapitulate all things in Christ, those in heaven and those on earth” (Eph 1:9b-10).

PROVINCIA DE CENTRO AMÉRICA

Priestly ordination of Byron José Valverde Arce

The parish of San Giuseppe Patriarca, in the province of Heredia, Costa Rica, celebrated the priestly ordination of one of its sons, the deacon Byron José Valverde Arce, on 25^th March, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord.

Having entered, in 2011, the Comboni postulancy located in the Barrio Sagrada Familia, in San José, Byron José moved on to the Novitiate in Xochimilco in 2015, concluding with first vows on 13^th May 2017. He then went to the Scholasticate of Casavatore (Naples, Italy), where he remained until 2021.

After completing his theological studies, he carried out his missionary service in the parish of San Luis, Petén, Guatemala, where he made his perpetual vows on 20^th September 2022, and received the diaconate shortly thereafter.

Byron was ordained a priest by Msgr. Vittorino Girardi, mccj, bishop emeritus of the diocese of Tilarán-Liberia. The confreres wished to show him their spiritual and physical closeness by attending his ordination in large numbers, alongside his family, friends and benefactors.

The parish was deeply moved by this unique event, prepared for by a week of animation and prayer and solemnized by a very lively celebration of the feast of its Patron Saint Joseph.

During the joyful ordination Mass, Mons. Vittorino exhorted Byron to continue to say his “yes” to the mission, to missionary passion and to service, following the example of Mary, the Lord's servant. The whole congregation echoed the bishop's exhortation with thunderous applause.

LET US PRAY FOR OUR BELOVED DEAD

THE FATHERS: Calixto, of Fr Victor Hugo Castillo Matarrita (RCA); Roger Arnaud, of the Sc. Tabasse Taramboui Ebed Melek Ruben Dario (RCA); Maurice, of Fr Longba Guéndé Godefroy-Médard (RCA).

THE MOTHER: Lindóia Carolina Matzembacher Reghelin, of Fr Valnei Pedro Reghelin (BR).

THE BROTHERS: Giacomo, of Fr Bettoli (A); Giovanni, of Fr Carmine Calvisi (I);

LA SISTERS: Norina, of Fr Gino Melato (I); Paula, of Fr Alois Eder (DSP); Evelina, of Fr Erminio Pegorari (+1999); Giuseppina, of Fr Antonio Di Lella (I); Maria, of Bro Johannes Valentini (DSP).

THE COMBONI MISSIONARY SISTERS: Sr Giovanna Blanchetti; Sr Stefania Bassan; Sr Luisa De Berti.