Daniel Comboni
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40th anniversary of Comboni Lay Missionaries in Germany
Saturday, October 26, 2024
On October 12, the Comboni Missionaries invited all former “Lay Missionaries” (=MaZ) to the Ellwangen mission house to meet each other again after a long time. In January 1984, Hans Eigner was the first Lay Missionary to travel to Kenya for his three-year assignment. Since then, over two hundred young men and women have followed and invested valuable time of their lives in solidarity with people in the Global South.
In doing so, they have gained a lot of life and faith experience, confidence and intercultural skills. Over thirty former MaZ Lay Missionaries came to Ellwangen for the anniversary, and the joy of seeing each other again was clearly felt. Everyone was grateful for the mission they had done in Ecuador, Peru, South Africa, Kenya and Uganda. Now there was plenty of opportunity for valuable encounters and exchanges.
The provincial superior, Father Hubert Grabmann, welcomed the guests and Comboni confreres. In his talk, he explained the situation and challenges of the Comboni Missionaries in the German-speaking province. Despite the aging confreres, we are still in contact with the Comboni Family in other regions, especially South Sudan, Uganda and Kenya, where our congregation is active.
Brother Hans Eigner described his personal journey in the Comboni Minor Seminary Neumarkt and as the first Comboni MaZ in Kenya, which led to his decision to become a Comboni Missionary himself: He said: "I went to Africa as a world improver and came back to Germany as a missionary."
Father Günther Hofmann explained the changes in the lay missionary program MaZ over the course of forty years, using photos of their local missions by then. Back from the mission experience, many of the lay people had to accomplish their professional training. Today, the MaZ are younger and usually live in a Comboni project for a year, for which they are well prepared and supported. The cornerstone of being MaZ remained the same over the years: living together, praying together and working together.
The former MaZ Christoph Koch introduced the group of Comboni Lay Missionaries (CLM), which was formed in Germany and is networking with the international movement in other Comboni circumscriptions. There are people with different life circumstances, such as singles and those living in families. All of them put Daniel Comboni's missionary charisma into practice in their own way.
In the afternoon there was an opportunity to meet in small groups to exchange ideas with other MaZ from the respective countries where they worked. Others reflected on Germany as a "mission country". The wisdom of life and many personal experiences of each MaZ were given a voice. The anniversary was concluded with a festive Holy Mass in which much gratitude and appreciation were expressed.