NUNTIA, December 2009

From the General Curia: Celebrations; Activities of the Superior General; Assistant for the Missions. From the Provinces: Ethiopia. Visit of Father Kapuściak; Costa Rica and Panama. Visit of the Superior General. Nominationes/Confirmationes, Ordinationes Sacerdotales. Necrologium

From the General Curia:

Celebrations: In December the members of the Curia were able to insert into their work, which is always that of being grateful, diverse celebrations.

On the 7th, the Second Sunday of Advent, the missioner-students of the C.M., who reside in the Leonine, had their traditional meeting at the Curia.  It was a prophetic gesture, an early Christmas in the hope of a renewed future through youth and in preparation for the apostolic tasks of the Congregation of the Mission.  Father Giuseppe Guerra, Postulator General, gave them an enjoyable and entertaining presentation on his participation in the Congregation’s work for its causes of the saints.  Then we had time to share the Eucharist and lunch, in conversation with friends who love one another.

On the 9th and 13th respectively, we celebrated, simply, but with much happiness and warmth, the birthdays of our Superior, Father Mario Grossi, and of Father Giuseppe Guerra.

On the 10th, the entire community went to the Paul VI Audience Hall in the Vatican to attend the ceremony awarding Father Pedro Opeka the Cardinal Van Thuân Prize for Solidarity and Development 2008 and to enjoy, in the presence of the Holy Father, the Concert for the Solemn Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Two days later we would have the opportunity to welcome at our table Father Opeka with his two sisters, who came from Argentina on a trip financed by the Government of their country.

On the 23rd, the Community went to Casa Maria Immacolata to share with the Daughters of Charity of this portion of the Quasi-Province of the Motherhouse the preparation for Christmas by singing the Novena and enjoying a fraternal dinner, with Christmas carols anticipating the Holy Night.

Activities of the Superior General: After a brief visit to the participants of CIF and the Daughters of Charity in Paris, he took part in General Council meetings on the 5th and 6th and then in a Tempo Forte session of the General Council from the 8th to the 13th.  On the 16th, he left to visit Central America and Panama, in conformity with the program that he himself reports to us below.  Returning to Rome on the 23rd, he left on the 25th for his private retreat in Siena from the 26th to the 30th

Assistant for the Missions:.Father José Antonio Ubillús communicated: “For four consecutive years, the International Center for the Animation Missionaries (CIAM) institution that depended on the Congregation for the Evangelization of the Cities of the Holy See, has granted  through the Assistant for the Mission, a scholarship for study, housing and meals for a participant from 10-27 November, in a course of formation that this year was on “Spiritual Direction”  for priests who work in English-speaking mission countries.  The beneficiary was Father Joel Recober León, C. M. of the Province of the Philippines.

From the Provinces:

Ethiopia. Visit of Father Kapuściak, recounted by himself: From 2-28 November, he carried out the canonical visitation of the Province of Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is a large country with a surface area of 1,133,380 km2 and nearly 80 million inhabitants, who are distributed in eight principal tribes, each with its own language.According to the latest census of 1994, the religious faith of the population is distributed thus: Orthodox: 50.6%; Protestants: 10.1%; Catholics (of Ethiopian and Latin rites): 0.9%; Muslims: 32.8%; traditional religions: 5.6%.
The Catholic Church is subdivided into ten organizationalunits: one archdiocese, two eparchies (of Ethiopian rite), five apostolic vicariates, and two prefectures.

The Vincentian presence in Ethiopia goes back to the time of Saint Justin De Jacobis, who, as Vicar Apostolic of Abyssinia, initiated in 1838, together with a group of Italian brothers, the apostolic work in the north of the country (Eritrea, Tigray).

The present-day Province of Ethiopia began with the arrival of the Dutch confreres in 1968, called by Msgr. Urbain Person, OFM Cap, to work in the southwestern part of the country.  In the territory assigned to the confreres, the Holy See created, first of all, the Apostolic Vicariate of Nekemte and, later, the Apostolic Prefecture of Jimma Bonga.

The Vice-Province of Ethiopia was erected in 1968 and transformed into a province in 1993.

The province today has four canonical houses, but the confreres work in 13 different localities.  The number of incorporated confreres is 46 (six Dutch and 40 Ethiopians) of whom there are 40 priests, one bishop, and one student in the pastoral stage.  In addition, there are eight admitted confreres preparing for the priesthood.

The confreres serve in four areas: 1) formation of the diocesan clergy (staffing two minor seminaries, a major seminary and, in collaboration with the Province of Saint Justin De Jacobis, the Ethiopian College in the Vatican); 2) formation of our own candidates (minor seminary, internal seminary, major seminary); 3) mission parishes (mostly in rural zones difficult to access); and 4) education (staffing three schools) and pastoral work with university students.  In addition the confreres also work in two ecclesiastic institutions (two confreres), a pastoral one for emigrants (one confrere), missions ad gentes (one confrere), care of physically handicapped children (one confrere), and provincial administration (two confreres).

During my stay in Ethiopia, I visited all the houses and nearly all the places where the confreres live and work.  I interviewed almost all the members of the province (except those who are out of the province: five in the United States, one in Ireland, one in England, and one in Mozambique).  In all the houses and communities I had a community meeting in which I explained the purpose of the visit and gave some information about the Congregation of the Mission throughout the world.

I had a meeting with the Visitatrix of the Daughters of Charity and visited the seven communities of our sisters.
I also visited the two places where the confreres of Saint Justin De Jacobis Province live and work pastorally: Alitena and Adigrat.

Visiting the communities and talking with the confreres, I noted that the Province of Ethiopia already has a good material structure and that it is very dynamic (the median age of the confreres is around 42 years).  Most of the confreres work with great dedication and enthusiasm.

The principal problems that the province confronts are tied to the dispersion of the brothers, with the consequent impoverishment of community life, economic dependency, and the decrease in the number of vocations.

Visit to Costa Rica and Panama. Visit of the Superior General recounted by himself: December 14-21 I visited Costa Rica and Panama.   Costa Rica is a vice-province of the Congregation of the Mission  and part of the Province of Central America of the Daughters of Charity  On this trip I had the privilege of being accompanied by one of my nieces who is hoping to do some type of service in Latin America later on in 2009.

We stayed in Colegio Seminario which is the Provincial House as well as a high school that the vice-province has.   Father Oscar Mata took us to visit the Daughters of Charity in their house in Alajuelita the first day.

At the seminary, St. Vincent de Paul, we visited with our seminarians from the vice-province as well as one member from the Province of Cuba.

We took a long trip to the mission territory in the province of Limón in the area of Talamanca.  Our first stop was Amubri  which had recently been terribly affected by the floods, as was announced via Famvin, and we saw the destruction that was caused. There are two confreres in that mission, Father Bernardo a German missionary who has been in the mission for more than 50 years, and Father William who is pastor and superior of the community.  He showed us some of the apostolic works as well as a cooperative that is being begun with the help of monies from the Vincentian Solidarity Office and other sources.

From there we visited the Daughters of Charity in Bambú,  a nursing home for 28 elderly people from different parts of central America, people who have literally been abandoned by their families.

We went on to the parish of Bribri where two priest confreres and a brother confrere live and work. They are also very  much involved these days with tending to the flood victims. We celebrated the Eucharist in both Amubri and Bribri, praying especially for solidarity with those recently affected by the natural disasters.

The next day we were at  Valle de la Estrella, a community of the Daughters of Charity where presently four Sisters are working in a variety of pastoral activities.  We met members of AIC as well as some Vincentian Marian Youth.

The main purpose of visiting Panama was to attend the 50th graduation of St. Vincent’s High School, an apostolic work of the Province of Central America of the Congregation of the Mission.  I had the opportunity to meet with the confreres of the Central American province as well as confreres from the Province of Philadelphia.

We traveled to Santiago de Veraguas where the high school St. Vincent de Paul is.  As the graduation was on the eve of the anniversary of the United States invasion of Panama, I prayed in my intervention that young people today, especially those graduating from any Vincentian school, might learn to look for peaceful means to resolve all conflicts.

After the events of the graduation, we went to the seminary for the Province of Philadelphia in Panama City, the capital. The day ended with a Eucharist with the Daughters of Charity in their children’s home in Malambo where representatives from all the different houses of the Daughters of Charity in Panama were present as well as Vincentian Marian Youthl

Austria. The First reunion of the Vincentian Family:  In October 2008 the Vincentian Family of Austria met for the first time for an entire day, called “Day of Dreams.”  Some 80 persons, Vincentian Sisters, Daughters of Charity, Missionaries and members of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society met for open dialog where they were able to present and discuss their dreams  for the poor in Austria.  The principal objective was to express together dreams for the poor who live among us and to find concrete ways to accomplish some of these dreams.

Turin. Meeting for the Assemblies: On 9 and Dec. 10 has been Pallanza a meeting to launch a period of the provincial assemblies that will be developed along the year 2009 in order to the General Assembly of 2010. Attended by 19 missionaries. Another similar meeting will be in Cagliari on 8 and Jan. 9.

These meetings had been requested by the Preparatory Commission for having the missionaries of the Province to live well the next workings of the household, so do not remain mere bureaucratic compliance.
Nominationes / Confirmationes

Ordinationes Sacerdotales

Necrologium