NUNTIA, NOVEMBER 2008

Centennial of the Pontifical Approbation of the AMM. From the General Curia: The Superior General; CIF. From the Provinces: Meeting on Popular Missions; Saragossa: Meeting of local superiors; Madrid: Formation Workshop; Peru: New Bulletin “Luz Vicentina.”; Turin: The Mission in Madagascar.NUNTIA N° 11
NOVEMBER 2008
Centennial of the Pontifical Approbation of the AMM
The feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal is celebrated on the threshold of advent, which marks the Church’s way to meet the Lord who comes, who becomes present among us to share our life and our mission in the world.  the Superior General’s Advent 2008 letter invites us to welcome the Lord in the marginalized, excluded, and ill-treated, who live among us.
The feast of Our lady of the Miraculous Medal is at the center of the Centennial Celebration of the approbation of the Association of the Miraculous Medal.  This christian association, represents, in the Vincentian Family, our desire to go with Mary to meet the lord who comes.  As the journey goes on, desire has to grow, hope become strong, and love increase.
Our Superior General and Director General of the AMM wrote in a letter for the Centenary: As an Association and as members of the Vincentian Family, it is our desire to follow in the footsteps of Mary, united with her son, Jesus, and to discover Him more deeply in our sharing with the poor.
From the General Curia:
The routine of our occupations in the Curia was altered only by the presence of the Superiors General of Societies of Apostolic Life who, during a morning of work, prepared their meeting with all the Major Superiors in Rome and who shared lunch with us.  Father Robert P. Maloney also was with us for a few days, while attending the meetings of the Plenary Session of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
For the rest, in the midst of the Superior General’s comings and goings, those of the Assistants General, and the daily occupations of the different offices of the Curia, the new Superior and administrator, Father Mario Grossi, in the work of his own duty, strives to tackle necessary property repairs, accommodate house guests, and clean the surroundings in order that they emerge in all their brilliance and beauty.
The Superior General: filled November with his visits to Turkey, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand and with his participation in the different meetings of Superiors General in Rome.  On the 22nd and 23rd, he made a brief visit to Madrid to take part in MISEVI’s meeting.  The website, www.famvin.org/es, published this small summary, done by the Superior General himself, of his visit to Turkey:
“On 7-8 November, Father Claudio Santangelo, Secretary General, and I visited Istanbul.  We stayed with Father Franz Kangler of the Austrian Province in Saint Georg’s School.
The evening of our arrival, Father Claudio gave me a small tour of Istanbul’s old French neighborhoods.  Then we took part in a little artistic evening that took place in Saint Georg’s School, under the responsibility of some Austrian artists.  From there we went to the 225th anniversary celebration of the foundation of Saint Benoît’s School, an apostolic work of the Paris Province.  There we met a good number of brothers, CM missionaries, Daughters of Charity, and many students, former pupils of Saint Benoît, together with the Principal and Administrators.  It was a delightful evening with Father Cornée represent­ing the Paris Province.  We were Father Alain Pérez (Director of the Daughters of Charity of Switzerland), Father Claudio Santangelo, and I, with a good number of Daughters of Charity: the Treasurer General, Sister Rita Ferri; two Coun­cillors, Sister Christa Bauer and Sister Marie-Bernard Giffard; as well as the Visitatrix of the Austrian Province and the Visitatrix of the Swiss Province.  We spent a fine evening, with good food and we all were entertained with the Turkish-style songs and dances.
The following day we participated in the 150th anniversary celebration of La Paix Hospital, an apostolic work of the Daughters of Charity of the Swiss Province.  There we met the Bishop of Istanbul, who presided at the Eucharist.  The Nuncio also concelebrated with us.  Then we took part in some other activities.
From Istanbul I went to Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.  We will speak another day about that.”
The websites famvin.org and cmglobal.org will give a detailed account too.
CIF had a visit from Father Ubillús.  He tells us about it:
As in previous years, from 22-29 October, Father Ubillús visited the confreres who are at the head of the International Formation Center: ‘Saint Vincent de Paul’ (CIF), Fathers Hugh O’Donnell, José Carlos Fonsatti, and Marcelo Manimtim, who will assume the leadership next year.  After greeting the participants of the 23rd Ongoing Formation Ses­sion, he met with Fathers O’Donnell, Fonsatti and Manimtim to treat matters relating to their personal situations, community life, and the work that they carry out at CIF.  The evaluation that Father Ubillús makes of his visit is very positive.  Once again he has verified the good functioning of CIF.
From the Provinces:
Meeting on Popular Missions: The Provincial Bulletin of the Province of Barcelona inserts a brief chronicle of the 15th Interprovincial Meeting on Popular Missions.  It was signed Geli, in Gijón, on 2 October 2008.  From it, we select:
“The above-mentioned meeting took place in Saint Eugenio’s Center, directed by the Daughters of Charity, who, together with the team from the Barcelona Province, hosted the meeting, receiving us with signs of affection and giving us much attention.
Taking part in these missionary days were the Provinces of Barcelona, Madrid, Saragossa and Salamanca.  It is necessary to emphasize the rich plurality of the teams composed of Daugh­ters of Charity, Vincentian Fathers, and with full lay participation.
Father Jaime Corera presented the charac­teristics of the Vincentian mission in both the CM and DC Constitutions, as well as the participation of the laity in the new evangelization.  D. Eloy Bueno de la Fuente based his presentation on the tests and challenges of the mission today.
Father José Vicente Martínez Muedra, Visitor of the Province of Barcelona, expressed in his own name and in that of the absent Visitors their unconditional support for the Popular Mis­sions.”
Saragossa: Meeting of local superiors: The Visitor, Father Corpus Delgado, writes: “The local superiors of the communities of the Saragossa Province met on 9-10 October.  The meeting focused on the study of the documentation sent by the Preparatory Commission for the 2010 General Assembly.  After a presentation on the meaning of the Assemblies in the Congregation (by Father Corpus Delgado), there followed the presentations of Father Giuseppe Turati, Coordinator of the Preparatory Commission, on the documents and the methodology proposed to prepare the next General Assembly.  The presentations gave way to personal study of the documents and a rich dialog that emphasized the opportunity to dedicate time and hope in the coming Domestic and Provincial Assemblies.  The meeting, carried out in a joyful climate of brotherhood, with abundant exchanges and a well-planned liturgy, turned out to be a lively experience of provincial communion.”
Madrid: Formation Workshop: The pro­vincial secretary, Father Nicolás Cuadrado, writes: “From 3-4 November, in the afternoons, at the Pro­vincial House, a ‘Preparation Workshop for the Re­tirement Stage’ was given.  The speakers were: Fr. Manuel Carrasco, CMF, and Sr. María Luisa González, PVM, both teachers at the ‘Regina Apostolo­rum School” in Madrid.
The classes, clear and impregnated with spirituality, aimed at giving our retirement stage a better quality of life and keeping alive the flame of our consecration–mission.  Each afternoon, we began with a prayer.  This, well suited to the day’s topic, was held in a serene environment, full of color and music.
The subject matter of the program, ‘How to live through our stage of retirement,’ was divided into the following sections: 1) physical dimension, 2) psychological dimension, 3) social dimension, 4) pastoral dimension, 5) spiritual dimension or of a personal relationship with God.
Bearing in mind the relevancy of the topic, the whole community bent over backwards with its punctual and participative presence.  Only the sick of this large and aging house were absent from the meeting, very much to their sorrow.  Common opinion considered the meeting to be very positive.”
Peru: New Bulletin “Luz Vicentina.” The first issue of a bulletin of the CM students in Peru has come to us.  Fr. Pedro Guillén says in the presentation that the students “want to contribute, with simplicity and without many pretensions, some experiences of the academic, theological, and Vincentian reality of life that they are experiencing in the course of their voca­tional process.”  Because if “the center of semi­nary life is the deepening and progressive assimi­lation of the different areas that form the prepara­tion of candidates for consecrated life, … nothing will have meaning if all these dimensions do not help one to grow in the sense of identity, commitment and belonging to the Congregation of the Mission.”  And he concludes: “A bulletin with these characteristics can help to achieve this purpose….”
Portugal: The Vincentian Family commits to Formation: In the Bulletin, Communion and Mission, we read in free translation: The Vincentian Family in Portugal has advanced in mutual knowledge and in common projects.  It started by responding to the Superiors General, concretizing challenges and common topics that worldwide are a cry of the poor and a call to the followers of Vincent de Paul.  This led us to hold two Family Meetings and to joint commitment to Missionary Action in Valle Flores-Feijo.
In the meetings that those responsible for the Family held every two months, through the sharing of experiences and the organization of Meetings, Pilgrimages and Missionary Action, the way was opened to the idea of the need that they all felt for concretizing a program of Vincentian formation.  Objectives, means, dynamics, sites, topics and formators were defined.
The objectives are: to respond to the desires, calls, and challenges of various branches of the Family; to develop the sense of belonging and of Family; to make community for the mission of evangelization and charity; to learn from one another, sharing riches and poverties; and to live the exercise of charity in gratuitousness and availability.
In order to move forward with these objectives, a three-year program was developed, with three meetings every year, in three different places and with three different topics.
Turin: The Mission in Madagascar. The November 2008 issue of Communio is dedicated almost entirely to the account of the visit that the Visitor, Fr. Erminio Antonello, and the Pro­vincial Treasurer, Fr. Roberto Lovera, made to the confreres in Madagascar from 6-20 October 2008.
Through the description of all that is carried out in the different mission centers where the Italian missionaries work, is glimpsed a missionary activ­ity, developed in the last 40 years, which the author of the chronicle does not hesitate to describe as “legendary.”  An adventure, continues the reporter, Fr. Antonello, which has not ended yet, since even though reduced in number and beginning to suggest signs of second youth, they have taken a brave option: to remain with the poorest and isolated regions of the Madagascan bushes, leaving the most populous centers to the diocesan priests.  All the affection of the confreres of the province, who have stayed in Italy, is with these missionaries, for I dare understand this beautiful work as “daughter and sister” of the whole CM Province of Turin.  To it each one has contributed according to his possibilities, but all these energies have been united in a unique effort for the evangelization of one of Madagascar’s poorest territories.
Nominationes

Ordinationes

Necrologium

NUNTIA wishes everyone a holy Advent that the Light of the World shine in your hearts for all the poor, abandoned, marginalized, excluded, maltreated…
That will be a Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas