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Official visit of Brother Alberto Lamana to the Comboni Province of Ethiopia
Tuesday, July 18, 2023
Brother Alberto Lamana, Assistant General, made an official visit to the Comboni Province of Ethiopia. He arrived in Addis Ababa, the capital, on 26th June and returned to Rome on 15th July. During his three-week stay in Ethiopia, which is the cradle of a culture so ancient that it is rightly called ‘the land of origins’, Bro. Alberto visited the eight Comboni communities: four in the Vicariate of Hawassa (one in the Vicariate headquarters, for missionary and vocational promotion, one in Daye among the Sidamo, and Haro Wato and Qillenso among the Guji); two in the diocese of Bahir Dar-Dessie (Gilgel Beles and Gublak, among the Gumuz), and two in Addis Ababa (the provincial house and the postulancy).
Br Alberto also met with Cardinal Berhaneyesus Souraphiel Demerew, Archbishop of Addis Ababa, the Provincial Superior of the Comboni Missionary Sisters, the head of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition, the Apostolic Administrator of Hawassa, Msgr González Núñez Juan Antonio, and his Vicary, Fr Nicolino Di Iorio.
During the visit to the communities, Bro. Alberto dialogued with each missionary individually and met with each community to present the current situation of the Institute, both in terms of personnel and ongoing post-capitular processes. These meetings were strong moments of true communication and communion. All the confreres told brother Alberto that they really felt at one with the whole Institute. Bro. Alberto also visited several chapels in each of the missions he went to, meeting with numerous groups of faithful. This enabled him to see the missionary pastoral vision, strongly based on ministeriality, conducted by the confreres of the province.
(Provincial Superior), and Fr Nyakundi Sangwera Isaiah. Br. Desu Yisrashe Banksra, who was attending the Formation Assembly in Uganda, was not present.
Before concluding his visit, brother Alberto wanted to meet the Provincial Council, in the Comboni House in Hawassa. He told them that he felt warmly welcomed by all the confreres. He went on to explain that his visit to Ethiopia was truly an opportunity to meet “all the confreres, no one excluded”, and to get to know the ministries to which they dedicate themselves. He said he was happy to have found an intercultural and serene Province, characterised by a strong sense of unity and clear common goals, and made lively by the presence of many young missionaries “full of the fire of mission”. He repeated several times: “The Comboni mission is very much alive in Ethiopia.”
However, the Assistant General did not overlook a few ‘weak points’ he felt in the province, in particular “the disproportion between too many commitments and the limited number of personnel available, and the surprising shortage of missionary brothers (only 3, out of a total of 26 members)”. He concluded, however, that he had found “happy and committed missionaries” in the province.
The provincial superior, Asfaha Yohannes Weldeghiorghis, and his councillors thanked Brother Alberto for sharing his spirit of optimism, braving the cold of high mountain missions and the mud of some roads, and brilliantly overcoming the fatigue of long journeys. Br Alberto replied with a smile: “I wanted to speak to each of the 26 confreres to thank them for their ministry and encourage them to remain faithful to the charism of St Daniel Comboni”.