Familia Comboniana 829 - May 2024

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

Ordinations

Holy Redeemer Guild

May                 01 – 15 ET           16 – 31 I

June                01 – 07 ER           08 – 15 LP              16 – 30 P

Prayer Intentions

May – For the victims of the many armed conflicts of today, especially innocent children, women and families who suffer because of so much violence. May the Lord of Peace touch the hearts of those responsible for such evils and bring them to an end. Let us pray.

June – That, following the example of St Daniel Comboni, we may keep our eyes fixed on Jesus crucified to assimilate the sentiments of His Heart and bear witness to this through communion between us, with the local Churches and with the poorest. Let us pray.

Comboni Liturgical Calendar

MAY

JUNE

Meaningful anniversaries

MAY

JUNE

EGYPT-SUDAN

Formation of volunteers for palliative care in Port Sudan.

The nursing team of the Comboni College of Science and Technology has begun the training of 50 volunteers who, once the training has been completed, will accompany people with terminal and chronic illnesses in the community. The first training session took place at Al-Wifaq Health Center. The Center was rehabilitated in 2022, thanks to a project carried out by the Italian Association for Solidarity among Peoples (AISPO - a non-governmental organisation linked to the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan) and financed by the Italian Agency for Cooperation in Development (AICS).

The training program, still ongoing, is the result of collaboration between the Comboni College of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Health of the Red Sea State, the Italian NGO AISPO, the AICS and the Catholic parish of Port Sudan.

The situation of the Combonians in Egypt and war-torn Sudan

Last April 15^th marked one year since war broke out in Khartoum, Sudan. On that occasion, times of prayer for peace were observed such as the Mass for peace celebrated in Sakakini (Cairo/Egypt) on Sunday 14th, and the ecumenical prayer held in El Obeid (Sudan) on Saturday 20th April. Unfortunately, as early as Sunday the 21^st, loud shots were heard in El Obeid in the airport area, not far from our house. The conflict seems to be protracted and the Church is wondering how her presence will have to adapt to this ‘new normality’.

In Port Sudan - which is effectively the new capital of the country - schools reopened on April 14^th. We Comboni Missionaries run a secondary school in the city centre and four primary schools in the suburbs. Currently, the secondary school is also home to the Comboni College of Science and Technology, which in recent months has moved its programs online, with the exception of the nursing program, which requires laboratories and hospital practice.

Last April 20^th, the University held the final exams for the 2022-2023 academic year, which had been interrupted at the beginning of the war. These exams were held in these centres: the Catholic University of South Sudan in Juba, the Holy Family School in Helwan (Egypt), and the secondary school in Port Sudan. The nursing faculty will continue its activities in the coming months, including the course for palliative care at home for terminally ill patients, which will be held within the parish of the Sacred Heart in Port Sudan.

This year the distance between the date of Easter according to the Gregorian calendar, March 31^st (followed by the Latins and Maronites), and the date according to the Julian calendar, May 5 (followed by the majority of Easterners, including the Copts, the Eritreans and the Melkites), is five weeks. The difference is felt most strongly in Cairo, where the two calendars coexist. So, while some of our parishes were celebrating Easter, others had just received the Ashes. We need to pray a lot so that one day we can achieve a joint celebration of Easter.

ITALY

A Laudato Si’ OASIS in Florence

On Low Sunday, at the house of the Comboni Missionaries (Via Aldini, 2 – Florence), the first Laudato Si’ Oasis of the diocese of Florence, but also of the whole of Tuscany, was inaugurated.

After a training course on the themes of the encyclical Laudato Si’ of Pope Francis, which began last year, which saw the participation of several groups, from the Saint Ignatius Association to the Laudato Si’ Circle of Coverciano – founded in the parish of Saint Catherine of Siena – from the Comboni Lay Missionaries to the Florence 7 Scout Group, it was decided to create a place open to all, a place – an Oasis in the city, precisely – in which one may reflect, become familiarised and pray in the light of integral ecology. A real hub, in which to meet to convey and discern the needs and urgencies (environmental and social) emerging from the territory, providing an integrated and integral vision of reality since the cry of the earth must be combined with the cry of the poor.

The inauguration was attended by Antonio Caschetto – today advisor of the global project of the Laudato Si’ Circles for the Laudato Si’ Movement (MLS) – which is promoting the spread of other Oases in other dioceses of Italy and the birth – on 22^nd April, on the occasion of Earth Day – of the ‘Assisi Terra Laudato Si’’ project, the result of collaboration between the diocese of Assisi and the Franciscan families. Antonio Caschetto reminded us that the key words that drive these initiatives are: protect and cultivate.

Representatives of the Quartiere 2 Council and environmental associations also participated in the inauguration day, a tangible sign that the topics covered concern everyone, as believers and as citizens - believers or non-believers, Christians or non-Christians. In the group work and discussion, which took place in the afternoon, issues related to the city, lifestyles, responsibility towards future generations and conversion to integral ecology were addressed.

Opening the doors to the world is a distinctive sign of Comboni missionary spirituality. Numerous priests, coming from three continents (Africa, Asia and Europe) concelebrated, together with some Fidei Donum missionaries from the diocese of Florence and other dioceses.

Creating a network of Laudato Si’ Circles among the Florentine parishes is an important objective, since creating networks and weaving new relationships with other ecclesial associations - there were in fact representatives of the Franciscan Secular Order of Tuscany and of the Diocesan Office for Family Pastoral - is a necessary step if we want to address the current environmental and social crisis, characterised by the impoverishment of human relationships.

The Laudato Si’ Oasis is, therefore, a new gift for everyone. With respect to new environmental and social challenges, Don Milani’s teaching always remains true: “A problem for others is my problem. Ignoring it all together is politics; ignoring it alone is greed.” (Father Fernando Zolli, mccj).

Feast of the Friends of the Comboni Missionaries of Padua

“Twenty years ago, I entered this chapel for the first time. I was preparing my thesis and had come to this house to consult some texts. Then I felt attracted to the surprisingly ‘different’ Comboni world, and in this chapel, I met Comboni’s gaze. Those eyes spoke to me. From there my conversion to the faith began, followed by my missionary commitment. Here I learned to keep an open eye on the world, on the situations of humanity. Today I feel like a lay Comboni member and, together with others, we are working to give even more consistency and organisation to our being lay Comboni members.”

This was one of the testimonies heard on Sunday, 14^th April 2024, during the Feast of the Comboni Friends of Padua. It is an annual celebration, increasingly popular, which, like a river, brings together various streams, beautiful and lively, which give freshness to the Comboni charism. They found themselves together – some, after years – confreres who have made different life choices, people who have experienced years of Comboni formation, both in seminars and in youth animation courses (GIM), volunteers, collaborators, neighbours, frequenters of our house and of the sanctuary of Saint Joseph.

The result was a day full of memories, emotions, stories of past and ongoing activities, information on Comboni current affairs. There was no shortage of prayer and mutual thanks. People who were ‘Combonians at heart’ and who passed away were remembered with sincere affection. A phrase was reported from one of them that he often repeated: “They will call me an ex-priest, an ex-priest, an ex-teacher… But they will never be able to say I am an ‘ex-Comboni person’.”

Father Giuseppe Caramazza presented some statistics on the Comboni missionaries and on the changes taking place today, thanks to increasingly numerous confreres coming from African countries. He commented on some Comboni commitments in the mission: the Community of Açailandia (Brazil) and its concern for Creation which is especially threatened in the Amazon Basin; the commitment to the development of the Gumuz language by Father Marco Innocenti, working in Ethiopia; the social action to redeem ‘street kids’ in Kenya, carried out by Father Maurizio Binaghi.

Father Giuseppe also presented the surprising reality of Tangaza University College in Nairobi, Kenya, in particular its Institute for Social Transformation (IST, in the English acronym), created in 1994 by the Comboni Father Francesco Pierli as a centre of innovation and excellence for future leaders, in the practice of social transformation through academic and professional programs offered by the Institute. Father Giuseppe said: “These various activities, which present themselves as ‘social’, are in reality ‘a mission of evangelisation’, because they are a true testimony of charity towards the least, the poor, those whom God prefers and for whom the Lord Jesus was sent.”

Father Eliseo Tacchella, coordinator of the Lay Comboni Missionaries in Italy, recalled the beliefs that Saint Daniel Comboni had regarding the laity and the trust he placed in their missionary activity. He then solicited some testimonies from lay Comboni missionaries from Padua. This was followed by a rich sharing on the personal relationship with Daniele Comboni and with the Comboni Missionaries known in various circumstances, in particular in the community of Padua. There was talk of ‘GIM paths’, ‘mission fields’, missionary animation activities, catechesis in parishes, actions and evenings spent raising awareness on migration, ecology, human rights, attention to the poorest... The testimonies on the change of personal life that occurred after contact with Comboni.

The atmosphere of the meeting corresponded well to the splendid sunny day. There was an air of celebration, joy, brotherhood, mission and the Comboni spirit.

The Eucharistic celebration - with biblical readings that invited us to be witnesses of the risen Jesus - and the lunch together expressed and consolidated the joyful familiarity that always accompanies the missionary commitment of many Comboni friends. (Father Gaetano Montresor, mccj)

KENYA

Two new Comboni priests

Last 13^th April, in the church of Our Lady of the Annunciation, in the parish of Kiongwani, two Comboni missionaries, Joshua Mutinda Musyoki and Jacob Nzomo Muia, were ordained priests at the hands of Msgr. Paul Kariuki Njiru, bishop of the newly formed diocese of Wote, erected in July 2023 in Makueni County.

In his homily, Msgr. Njiru expressed his thanks to God for the gift of priesthood in the Church and encouraged Father Joshua and Father Jacob to be men of prayer, obedient and who accept every commitment assigned to them as an opportunity to serve God in his people. The bishop also encouraged the faithful present to help the priests in their ministry: “Your role is not to make the ministry of your priests difficult, but to be resourceful and help them carry out their service effectively.”

The celebration attracted a large crowd of Christians, some from the Holy Cross Parish of Kacheliba in the Diocese of Kitale, where Father Jacob served for more than a year as a deacon. A second delegation of Christians came from the quasi-parish of Rankau in the Diocese of Ngong, where Father Joshua spent a few months on diaconal service. Also present were some political figures from West Pokot and Makueni Counties.

The parishioners of Kiongwani welcomed the occasion of the ordination with jubilation, considering it a true gift from God and an invitation to deepen their faith. Many of those present spoke laudatory words towards the Comboni missionaries, recalling with gratitude the fact that their parish was started by the Comboni missionaries in the early 1990s.

During the celebration, provincial superior Father Andrew Wanjohi announced that Father Joshua has been assigned to the province of Egypt/Sudan, while Father Jacob has been assigned to Kacheliba, where he will continue his missionary service, now as a priest. (Father Andrew Wanjohi, mccj)

MÉXICO

Sahuayo Seminary– 70 years after the laying of the foundation stone

On 20^th April 1954, the first stone was laid and construction of the seminary officially began. In the historical archives (Bulletins of the Congregation n. 43, April 1955, and n. 45, January 1956) the documentation of that extraordinary day is preserved, with a detailed description of the event and the moving testimony of the participation and generosity of the people of Sahuayo.

At ten in the morning, the bishop of Zamora, Mons. José Anaya Diez de Bonilla arrived for the blessing and was received by the parish priest, Don Felipe Villaseñor, and by Father Amedeo Ziller, representative of the Institute. In the presence of numerous ecclesiastical and civil authorities and a multitude of faithful, the bishop blessed the first stone and signed the parchment which was then placed inside the stone, in memory of the day.

The excavations began on the first Wednesday of February 1954, because the seminary was dedicated to Saint Joseph in the hope of gaining his protection which never actually fell short: a year later, the first group of aspirants were received into the seminary.

Also, in the news of those years, the people made an enormous contribution to the building of the seminary. The fathers who followed the work could recount many moving episodes, especially of middle-class and poor people; all generously offered what they could give – money, jewels, building materials or their own free labour – testifying to how much all of them had always considered the seminary was, in a way, ‘their own’.

PERU

America/Asia Continental Formation Assembly 

The America/Asia Continental Formation Assembly took place from 15^th to 21^st April 2024 in Lima, Peru. The event was organised by Father José de Jesús Villaseñor Gálvez, general secretary of formation, and Father Elias Sindjalim Essognimam, general assistant responsible for the sector, and proved to be a moment of profound fraternity, dialogue, and mutual growth.

The assembly opened with a Eucharistic celebration presided over by Msgr. Juan José Salaverry, OP, auxiliary bishop of Lima and responsible for religious life at the level of the National Episcopal Conference.

During the assembly, there was a precious exchange of experiences and reflections, during which the importance of ongoing formation in our lives was underlined, in particular for the confreres responsible for accompanying young people. Particular attention was paid to the role of young people in our journey of service and commitment, recognising their vitality and potential for the enrichment of our communities.

This sharing was a unique opportunity to learn about and better understand the realities and challenges we are facing in the different constituencies in the vocational and training fields, as well as to strengthen the bonds of collaboration and solidarity between us.

We sincerely thank all the participants for their commitment and their help in making it such an enriching experience.

May fraternity, enthusiasm and missionary spirit continue to guide our steps on the path of formation and mission. (Father Nelson Mitchell, mccj)

PORTUGAL

Feast of the Maia Families

On last 7^th April, Low Sunday, the relatives of the Portuguese Comboni Missionaries met at the Comboni house of Maia for the traditional annual meeting. After the welcome, Father José Júlio Martins spoke about his missionary work in Mozambique, where he arrived for the first time in 1984. During these years he carried out his service in the dioceses of Tete, Maputo and Nampula.

In Tete, he dedicated himself to assisting people in need, at a time when the communist-Leninist government did not allow any religious activity and the region was hit by a long period of drought. In Maputo, he was able to carry out evangelisation activity that was freer and more attentive to religious values, without neglecting the social and cultural aspects. Finally, in Nampula, he dedicated a few years to the training of diocesan seminarians and young Comboni missionary candidates, trying to put into practice the dream of Saint Daniel Comboni: ‘Save Africa with Africa’.

The morning ended with a Eucharistic celebration presided over by Father Fernando Domingues, provincial superior, who in his homily recalled that every Christian is a missionary and that, animated by the Holy Spirit, is called to bear witness and communicate the love and mercy of God to the brothers and sisters he or she meets every day.

A fraternal lunch followed. Around 4.00 pm, the concluding prayers were held. The approximately 120 people present expressed satisfaction and joy at having participated in the meeting and thanked God for the gift of a shared missionary vocation.

SOUTH AFRICA

Provincial Assembly 2024

Held from 22^nd to 26^th April at the Maria Trost Pastoral Center in Lydenburg, the annual provincial assembly focused on three aspects: intercultural and intergenerational dynamics in our communities; reflection on the ‘merger project’ (RSA, MO and MZ) and the Review of our Provincial Directory. Participating in the assembly as special observers were Father José Joaquim Luis Pedro, provincial superior of Mozambique, Father Moses Huruwella, vice provincial superior of Malawi-Zambia, and Father Daniel Chisha, provincial councillor of Malawi-Zambia.

The theme of intercultural and intergenerational dynamics, discussed on the first morning by Father José Joaquim, sparked a lively debate among the confreres. Many highlighted how the cultural plurality of our communities is an added value for the human and spiritual growth of each one and, at the same time, a challenge that requires a commitment to recognise the equal dignity of the other’s culture, avoiding considering a culture superior to another.

The reflection on the ‘merger project’ (RSA, MO and MZ) was facilitated by the answers to the questionnaire collected in a document that each participant was able to consult before the meeting. Eleven confreres believe the merger of the three provinces is urgent and necessary; five agree, but are of the opinion that we need to have more time to reflect on it; nine, however, are against the merger. Therefore, it can be said that 64% of the confreres of the Province of South Africa are in favour of uniting the three provinces. Some difficulties are not underestimated, including communication in two languages (English and Portuguese), but it is thought that the merger could help solve the problem of insufficient staff in our province, which is why we cannot always guarantee communities with at least two confreres.

The assembly then addressed the revision of the Provincial Directory in force since 2014. The amendments to the original text were diligently discussed and approved, thanks above all to the work of the secretariats for mission, formation and economy, which prepared their proposals beforehand. Various changes were approved, including the one concerning the transfer of well-established and self-sufficient parishes to the dioceses, as hoped for by the old Directory. Given the difficulty of our communities in sustainability, the assembly instead voted in favour of maintaining economically stable parishes.

The economic difficulties also concern the problem of maintenance of the structures, as some of our communities have highlighted in their reports. These are churches, chapels, parish halls, as well as, in some cases, the houses in which we live, which have been neglected for a long time and are now in a state of decay. To repair them, financial resources are needed which we struggle to find and which parish communities often do not have at their disposal. There are no easy solutions to the problem. However, the assembly accepted the invitation that in every community we should keep ‘an eye on maintenance’ in order to intervene promptly with appropriate measures and prevent the deterioration of the structures.

Meanwhile, the path that has just begun towards the unification of the three provinces is a concrete step towards realising the request made by the last three General Chapters – 2009, 2015 and 2022 – and by the APDESAM Leadership in 2023. The road ahead is still long and the completion of the project requires the constant commitment of the interested parties, in discernment and dialogue, proceeding together to reach a consensus on fundamental points. (Father Efrem Tresoldi, mccj)

LET US PRAY FOR OUR BELOVED DEAD

THE FATHERS: Jesús, of Father Rodríguez Pérez Pablo Simón (KE); Stephens, of Father Sebopela Kgomotso Ronnie (C/RSA).

THE MOTHERS: Victoria, of Mons. Dominic Eibu, Bishop of Kotido, (U); Mary Ekutan, of Father Joseph Etabo (M).

THE BROTHERS: Raúl, of Brother Dela Cruz González Santos (EC); Recto, of Father Moisés Estacio Dela Cruz (PCA); Macario, of Brother José Godínez Pérez (M); Andrea, of Father Norberto Stonfer (EGSD).

THE SISTERS: María del Refugio, of Father Gustavo Guerrero Zúñiga (EC); Lucia, of Father Bruno Bordonali (I); Sr. Remei, of Father Isidro Sans Balcells (E); Maria, of Father Alois Eder (DSP); Giuseppina, of Father Mario Andrighetto (I).

THE COMBONI SECULARS: Maria da Costa Barbosa (P); Rosaria Castellano (I).

THE COMBONI SISTERS: Sr. Maria Tenderini; Sr. M. Emanuella Laner.