NUNTIA, 2009 MAY

Year of Priesthood.  Daughters of Charity: General Assembly. From the General Curia: The Superior General; The Assistants General; Visits and work meetings. From the Provinces:Naples: Visit of the Superior General; Lebano: Cevim; Saragossa: Internal Seminary in Teruel; Colombia. Meeting of Superiors and Treasurers; Europe: Reconfiguration of the provinces?

Nuntia May 2009

Monthly News Bulletin
from the General Curia of the C.M.

The charism of Monsieur Vincent is ardently timely and, together with his entire spiritual family, it is your duty to make it alive in the places where you are sent.  ………. Have the audacity of your founders to make the Church ever more present in the world of the poor and do your utmost to make the poor feel truly at home in the Church!  In your provinces and in your houses, be receptive to the riches of the people you serve in order to be able to discover in them the gifts of God!  Then, with the grace of the Lord, you can become easily understandable signs of God’s love for the poor and will create communities adapted to the reality of local situations, so as to carry out the mission of the Church.

(John Paul II, to the Daughters of Charity, 2/05/1997)

Year of Priesthood:
Our Holy Father, Benedict XVI, has proclaimed a Year of Priesthood to encourage priests in this striving for spiritual perfection on which, above all, the effectiveness of their ministry depends.  The year will run from 19 June 2009 to the same date in 2010.
The Superior General has received a letter from the Congregation of the Clergy, signed by Cardinal Hummes, Prefect of the above-mentioned Congregation, and Cardinal Rodé, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.  In it is underlined the importance of interesting each priest and each house of priestly formation in this event, so as to bring about a fruitful celebration of the Priestly Year.  It will be, it is said, an important occasion to discover the beauty and importance of the priesthood and of each of the ordained, sensitizing the whole people of God, consecrated persons, Christian families, the sick, and, above all, the young.

Daughters of Charity.
General Assembly: It opened on Monday, 18 May, presided by Father G. Gregory Gay, Superior General.  Its role is to concretize the journey traveled from the last Assembly in 2003 and to promote fidelity to the charism of the Company.  In addition, the members of the Assembly will have to determine Lines of Action for the future and elect the Superioress General (June 1) and the members of the General Council (June 8).  The missionaries certainly accompany them with their prayer and follow the development of this very important event through the Website of the Daughters of Charity (http://www.filles-de-la-charite.org/en/), where they can find a multitude of news, photographs, and videos.

From the General Curia:
The Superior General:
Before going to Paris on 16 May, he left us a detailed agenda of his activities, the ones carried out in the previous days of May and those planned for the rest of May and June.
From 1-3 May, accompanied by Father Mario Grossi and Brother Fahed, he was in the region of Verbania.  Father Mario’s family lives there.  There is also a community of missionaries, caring for the area Church and the Sisters, and the Daughters of Charity have a Retreat House.  A group of missionaries from the Turin Province was finishing an annual retreat.  The Superior General was able to share a bit with them.  The following day he celebrated the Eucharist with the Daughters of Charity of the Retreat House and Sunday morning he dedicated to the elderly Sisters, with the celebration of the Eucharist, a meeting, and a meal with them.  On Sunday night he was back in Rome.
On Monday morning he went to Naples, accompanied by Father Giuseppe Guerra.  There he met with more than 100 sisters, missionaries, and members of different branches of the Vincentian Family, speaking to them of the various activities planned for the celebration of 350th anniversary.  He also met with six of the young missionaries of the province, including one from Eritrea, and, the following day, with the superiors and treasurers of the province, together with the elderly missionaries of the Provincial House.  It was an open dialog on the activities that are being prepared for the General Assembly.  The Superior General set out his vision of the Congregation at this time and his hopes for the future and indicated to the Province of Naples the challenges for continuing its history, glorious in the past and full of possibilities for the future.  He finished his stay in Naples with the celebration of the 60 years of priesthood of Father Grillo, who in spite of his advanced age, continues working hard, as Vicar for Religious Life in the diocese.
On the weekend from 8-10 May, he traveled to Madrid, staying at the house that the Province of Salamanca has there.  This trip was motivated by the celebration, on the national level, of the centenary of the Pontifical Approbation of the Association of the Miraculous Medal.  On Sunday he concelebrated the solemn Eucharist at which Antonio María Cardinal Rouco Varela, Archbishop of Madrid and President of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, presided.  The Mass was broadcast by Spanish Television, and the video of it was published on www.famvin.org/es.  The Superior General took advantage of the trip to meet with some members of JMV’s International Secretariat and with MISEVI’s International Council.
From 18 May to 13 June he will preside the General Assembly of the Daughters of Charity.  He will be absent from it from the 21^st to the 25^th for a family commitment, to be present at the ordination, as a permanent deacon, of a young man raised in his house and accepted by all as one more brother.
The Assistants General: Father Gérard Du continues his visit to the Eastern Province of the USA; Father José Antonio Ubillús made the visit in Albania; and Father José María Nieto, before leaving for Rwanda and Burundi, left us in writing the following about his visit to Bolivia:
“From 2-16 May 2009, I visited Bolivia.  First, I spent a few days in our International Mission of El Alto, where four missionaries work zealously: Aníbal Vera (Peru), Abdo Eid (Lebanon), Diego Plá (Madrid) and Cyrille de la Barre de Nanteuil (Paris).  I conversed personally with them and we had three community meetings.  I also met with the Bishop of the Diocese, Jesus Juárez, to talk on the future of our mission in that zone.  Later, I travelled to Cochabamba to meet the Archbishop, Tito Solari, and, accompanied by Father David Paniagua and by Germán Sanchez, of JMV, I visited the parishes of Huayllani and Sacaba, in which a permanent community of JMV serves.  I was received in the Provincial House of the Daughters of Charity in Cochabamba, where I shared community life, prayer, and conversation on the country’s difficult situation.  Both coming and going, I passed by Peru, where I greeted some missionaries and visited, in Lima, the Internal Seminary of the Provinces of the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile, and Peru.”
Visits and work meetings: The few small rooms that this house has to receive guests have been packed.  Msgr. Hector Vera, bishop of Ica, Peru, with a companion who is very close to the Peruvian missionaries, and Msgr. Raymundo Reboredo, C.M. were in Rome for the Ad Limina visit and spent a few days with us.  Msgr. Jorge García and Father Fernando Escobar were returning from the Vincentian Heritage Course at CIF.  The Finance Commission was in plenary session, with all its participants.  Several other missionaries came to Rome and the Curia for diverse motives.  Within the limitations of the house, we were careful to welcome them with all our kindness and we cordially thank them for their visit, which breaks our daily routine.  The absence of Brother Fahed, on vacation in Lebanon, required that the Local Superior, Father Mario Grossi, add to his two duties, as superior and administrator, of themselves already demanding, that of chauffeur for the many trips it was necessary to make to the airport.
From the Provinces:
Naples: Visit of the Superior General: In addition to the Visitor’s lovely welcome talk, which does not fit within the space of NUNTIA, we were sent this note, which we transcribe:
On 4-5 May, the Vincentian Family of Naples had the happiness of receiving Father G. Gregory Gay, Superior General, who was visiting the missionaries of the province.  We had but a few, intense hours, with time for prayer, sharing, and enjoyment.  On the evening of the 4^th, in the assembly room at the Provincial House of the Daughters of Charity, filled with sisters, missionaries, adult and young Vincentian laity, Father Gregory met with the Vincentian Family that received him warmly with friendliness and affection, listened to his words, and told him of their activities and projects, including those with a view to the Vincentian year that we are approaching.  On the morning of 5 May, the Superior General met the superiors and treasurers of the houses at a provincial meeting.  His fleeting presence in Naples was closed with a Eucharist during which the 60^th anniversary of Father Grillo’s priestly ordination was commemorated.  Father Gregory was affirmed with feelings of esteem and gratefulness for his service to the whole Congregation.  The entire Vincentian Family offered him heartfelt thanks for his animation, which invites its members to remain united and creative, giving testimony to the Vincentian charism, being together with the least ones, living totally dedicated lives, and trusting in Providence in order to be increasingly more visible collaborators of hope for the poor and Gospel workers in everyday life.
Lebanon: As was already said in the last issue of NUNTIA, the Province of the Orient welcomed the annual meeting of the CEVIM to Lebanon.  Unfortunately, NUNTIA does not have sufficient space to narrate all the activities, commitments and difficulties, projects and hopes that the Visitors could hear from the lips of Father Antoine P. Nakad, nor to describe all the beauties that the missionaries contemplated in that small, but lovely, country.  Lucky, the Turin Province’s May 2009 issue of Fraternal Letters: Communio, n. 51, has published a very interesting article in which the whole Congregation can look in on what our missionaries in Lebanon live and do.  Communio can be seen at this address: http://famvin.org/it/pdf/Communio51.pdf
Saragossa: Internal Seminary in Teruel. CEVIM has decided that the Internal Seminary of Southern Europe will be held in Teruel, in the Province of Saragossa.  The Director will be Father Corpus Juan Delgado Rubio, former Visitor of Saragossa.  Collaborating with him will be Father Alberto Quagliaroli of the Province of Rome and a French-language missionary who will be present every now and then.  The Visitor of Turin will teach Vincentian spirituality, which will allow him to follow closely the formation of the young men.  The seminarians, seven or maybe ten, will do an intensive Spanish course in Pamplona and will begin the Internal Seminary on the feast of Saint John Gabriel Perboyre, 11 September.
Colombia. Meeting of Superiors and Treasurers
Avance Vicentino, Informative Bulletin of the Province of Colombia, in its January – March 2009 issue, number 317, tells us, in an article by Father Mario García I., about the Meeting of the Province’s Superiors and Treasurers, which was held in January 2009.
We highlight from the meeting the attention and reflection given to the letter that the Superior General wrote, echoing the visit made by the Assistant General, Father José María Nieto.  From an attentive reception of the voice of Saint Vincent’s successor, the participants passed to reflection and dialog in groups that resulted in a rich, enthusiastic, serene, and substantial exchange both on the encouraging vision that invites them to deepen the Congregation’s and Church’s history in Colombia, gathering from the heritage received, and on the symptoms that force them to discernment in order to learn what they hide and what must be the remedy for healing the possible illness.
Europe: Reconfiguration of the provinces?
The Superior General sent, with Father Nieto, a letter to CEVIM assembled in Beirut, in which it was suggested, among other things, to ask themselves about the possibility of moving from “collaboration” to interprovincial “reconfiguration” with a view to the mission in Europe.  We must realize, the Superior General writes, that we are one congregation only and it is important that a European conscience of the Congregation grow.  In the letter, some questions were formulated on the meaning of reconfiguration, the difficulties and obstacles that might surface, the methodology and the pace that must be followed, in short, the collaboration initiatives that are working already and seem to be fruitful and effective.
CEVIM had two fundamental reflections: First, the concept of reconfiguration includes the idea of collaboration and this is already being done and must be increasingly intensified especially among provinces that speak the same language; second, if by reconfiguration is understood a juridical-administrative merger or unification of several provinces, by decree from on high, such an operation entails rather complex problems, of which the first would be to obtain the shared consent of the missionaries.  Because for the time being this is difficult, it is thought that the process of a possible (probably inevitable) future unification would have to be prepared from a distance, by means of an ever-closer collaboration, especially among provinces that share the same language and culture, interesting the province’s youngest missionaries.  Therefore, the most important collaboration has to be on the level of formation.

Nominationes / Confirmationes

Ordinationes sacerdotales

NECROLOGIUM