I am happy to inform you that the Administrative Council of St. Matthew’s Foundation in Memory of Cardinal Van Thuân has decided to honor you with the Cardinal Van Thuân Prize, Solidarity and Development 2008, for the project “Akamasoa”. This is the first time that this award is being bestowed. I would like to offer you my congratulations and tell you how happy I am that the Foundation is thus recognizing this work which helps poor families in Antananarivo.
November 15th, 2008P.Opeka: Cardinal Van Thuân Prize, Solidarity and Development 2008
November 15th, 2008Visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and to Congo Brazzaville,
The Superior General of the C.M. and the Daughters of Charity, Father G. Gregory Gay, narrates his recent visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and to Congo Brazzaville, where he met with the missionaries of the C.M., the Daughters of Charity, and diverse groups of the Vincentian Family.
November 13th, 2008The 225th anniversary of the Lycée Saint Benoît.
On Friday and Saturday, 7-8 November, Father General went to Istanbul to participate in a series of commemorative events. Friday evening, he participated in a dinner offered by the Lycée Saint Benoît on the occasion of the 225th anniversary of its foundation and gave the intervention below. The following day he concelebrated the Eucharist, presided by the Bishop of Istanbul, at the La Paix Hospital on the 150th anniversary of its foundation. Following lunch, the hospital patients sang and the employees of the hospital performed typical Turkish dances. 
The Lycée Saint Benoît is an institution founded by the Vincentians and still carrying out its original mission of education of young people. La Paix Hospital, owned and operated by the Daughters of Charity of the Swiss Province, houses the elderly and mentally ill people.
Intervention of Father General on the occasion of the 225th anniversary
of Lycée Saint Benoît in Istanbul
I am happy to be with you to celebrate the 225th anniversary of the Lycée Saint Benoît. It is for me a great joy to participate in this event. I recall, as Superior General of the Vincentians, how my confreres arrived here in 1783, in a context very different from today’s. They had the vibrant desire of serving the population of Istanbul particularly the young people. They also desired to continue the work of education of their predecessors, the Jesuit Fathers, who arrived at Saint Benoit November 18, 1583 as the result of the good relationship between the King of France, Francis I, and Sultan Suleiman the Great.
It is possible to evoke the faces of the Vincentians who committed themselves with passion and a spirit of service to this task. Let me mention, Monsieur Eugène Borè, who was a very knowledgeable person of this region and who, in the milieu of the 19th Century, when offered prestigious positions decided instead to become a Vincentian. “Monsieur Borè has a real and profound regard for the Turks whose spirit, in his own words, is made of rectitude and loyalty accompanied by a certain fire and courage.” (Yves Danjou, Histoire du Lycée Saint Benoît, p. 59-60). He was my predecessor as Superior General 1874-1878.
The Vincentian Fathers follow the same direction of their founder, Saint Vincent de Paul, who was in the 17th Century in Paris the defender of the poor and marginalized. For Monsieur Vincent, one of the best means to confront and solve the social problems of his time was to learn how to read and write and to teach the principles of justice and charity, in order to allow the less fortunate to take care of themselves and to rise above their misery. In this spirit, he founded the Vincentians, and later with the aid of Saint Louise de Marillac, the Daughters of Charity. The latter would say with reason: “Education is a right and a recompense for every person.”
It is in this spirit that the Lycée Saint Benoît continues with ardor its work of education. Its purpose is to give young people of this country quality teaching, opening them to the intellectual and cultural values of Turkey and of France, impressing upon them moral values in order to make them responsible citizens and to open them, respecting the consciences of each, to a humanism, a source of growth for all of mankind.
Let me take advantage of this occasion to give my thanks to all the education team of Lycée Saint Benoît, especially to its Director, M. Luc Vogin, for their devotion and the magnificent job they are realizing. They are careful to prolong with dynamism and creativity the pedagogical work that has been performed in this Lycée for 225 years. The many alumni present here are the privileged witnesses of this.
In our time when economic, political and religious tensions are not lacking, it is good to believe that union of hearts is brought about by the rapprochement of spirits. In our contemporary world, where the media keeps putting us side by side, it is possible, and we believe it, to live in a climate of respect and friendship, source of peace. In this sense we feel close to the thought of Atatürk, the father of modern Turkey, whose death we will commemorate next Monday, who said: “Peace in the country, peace in the world.”
Thank you very much.
November 4th, 2008Tempo Forte (6-10 October) Circular
From 6-10 October we held our tempo forte meeting. These are the major matters discussed and decided on in our most recent tempo forte meeting which I present for your reflection and information in regard to what is happening in the Congregation of the Mission at an international level.
November 3rd, 2008NUNTIA N° 10 - OCTOBER 2008
The Synod of the Word. From the General Curia: Farewell to Brother Lubo; Tempo Forte; The Superior General; Father Weldemariam Zerajohannes; Appointments and decisions; SIEV. CLAPVI: 13th General Assembly. From the Provinces: Holland; Colombia; Costa Rica; Turin:Tragic death of Father Giovanni Concas; USA, Eastern Province: Paris-St. John’s-Rome:
October 30th, 2008Interview with Bishop Souraphiel of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
We are at the Office for Communications in the Curia General of the Congregation of the Mission. His Excellency Monsignor Souraphiel Berhane Yesus Demwrew, Archbishop of Addis Ababa came to us. He has been participating at the Synod of Bishops here in Rome. Julio Suescun, C.M. Director of the Office asked him:
October 25th, 2008The visit of Abba Weldemariam /JJ, CM to Libya Jamahiriya
I went to Libya at the invitation of His Excellency Mgr.Giovanni Martinelli. Bishop of Tripoli and the surroundings. The Catholic Church in this area has only one place of worship and that is the St Francis Catholic Parish in Tripoli. Its faithful are international and multi cultural people All Catholics in the area rely on it for religious services as there are no other public worshiping places
On Saturday 27 September 2008, the entire Vincentian Family of Libanon came together around the Visitor Father Antoine NAKAD and the confreres of Libanon to celebrate the solemnity of our Founder Saint Vincent de Paul and inaugurate the festivities of the 225 th anniversary of the beginning of the Vincentians Fathers in the Orient.
October 15th, 2008Fr. Greg Visit to Madagascar
From 5-24 September, I was in Madagascar. From the second day, the whole trip was on land and on some roads in lamentable condition. After a few days I began to consider the trip to the different sites in Madagascar as a pilgrimage in which the holy places were the confreres’ houses and the meetings with the different branches of the Vincentian Family Read the rest of this entry »
October 15th, 2008New Sub-director of the International AMM
The Superior General, Father Greg Gay announces the appointment of Father Enrique Rivas as Sub-Director of the International Association of the Miraculous Medal.